Atlanta......Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler, Tara,......."Gone with the Wind" where is all that? Has it all actually gone?? Actually vamoosed, JUST Gone??
I was on my way to Seneca in South Carolina and I had chosen to land at Atlanta to see the characters of my favorite book. Before we landed at Atlanta, my eyes were wandering far and wide. Was there some sign which would take me back to that quaint little town in Georgia, where all these fictional characters lived, created history, breathed romance, innocence, schemed, saw the city burning, witnessed a lot of pain, saw a lot of dreams dying, woke up to reality??
Those memorable sentences, "Tomorrow is another DAY"!!!
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!!"
Words, which meant so much…….. What magic was it that Margaret Mitchell used, to bewitch her readers with in her only book-"Gone with the Wind"???
Frankly my dear, I was disappointed. Atlanta airport brought me down with a thud. Wake up, this is the 21st century and all towns have grown up and are now metropolises, they all look alike. All those high rise buildings, and down town are almost like clones. They are all so identical!! The wind had blown over Tara……and I was back on Terra firma.
Seneca in South Carolina is a beautiful quaint little town. South Carolina is a state in the southern region of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. It was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was originally named in honor of King Charles I of England. Carolus is Latin for Charles. South Carolina was the first state to vote to secede from the Union and was a founding state of the Confederate States of America.
We had gone to Seneca to visit a college friend of TNN my husband. The drive to Seneca was really beautiful, there were tall green trees all over. There was so much of green - all shades of this gorgeous colour. I could see trees but no plantations, no fields, nothing to remind me of Tara. Seneca true to its name is really very scenic. It is very calm, peaceful, serene, green and very beautiful. There are lots of dogwood trees, which are all flowering now. As per folklore the wood from the dogwood tree was used to make the cross for Jesus Christ. The petals of this flower are four in number and have red colour on its tip, which is supposedly the blood of Christ. Please see picture above. Seneca also has lots of azaleas-bushes full of colourful flowers. The Appalachian mountain terrain is close by. The beauty of the place takes your breath away.
Nature has given in abundance to Seneca. It gave me the feeling of being in Tara. There are a lot of lakes near Seneca. The Lake Keowee, Jockasee and Hartwell are spread far and wide. There is a nuclear power plant near Lake Keowee. One can see vast expanses of water all around.
Seneca developed as a marketing and shipping point for cotton in the 19th century. During the harvest, wagons bringing cotton would line up for blocks from the railroad station. A passenger terminal, several hotels, and a park were built near the railroad tracks. This region is within the Bible belt. People are very religious. There are a lot of churches in this area. All shops open quite late on Sunday morning so that people can attend Church and then go to work. No liquor is sold on Sunday-maintaining the sanctity of the Sabbath.
Clemson is another small town, close by. It is a University town. We met Neeraj and Uma, here. They showed us around Clemson, which is all orange with the tiger's paw all over the campus. There is a beautiful botanical garden, full of magnolia, azalea, dogwood, and also indigo. Indigo or neel in Hindi -reminded me of the famous "neel ki kheti "of India. Indigo, a blue pigment and a dye, was used in India, which was also the earliest major center for its production and processing. Indigo, made its way to the Greeks and the Romans via various trade routes, and was valued as a luxury product. Indigo is among the oldest dyes to be used for textile dyeing and printing. The dye was also known to ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Britain, Mesoamerica, Peru, Iran, and Africa. India is believed to be the oldest center of indigo dyeing in the Old World. It was a primary supplier of indigo to Europe as early as the Greco-Roman era. The association of India with indigo is reflected in the Greek word for the dye, indikón . The Romans Latinized the term to indicum, which passed into Italian dialect and eventually into English as the word indigo. The ancients extracted the natural dye from several species of plant as well as one of the two famous Phoenician sea snails, but nearly all indigo produced today is synthetic. Historically, indigo played an important role in many countries' economies because natural blue dyes are rare. There was a lot of exploitation of labour in Bihar region for indigo farming during the British rule
Many indigo plantations were established by European powers in tropical climates; it was a major crop in Jamaica and South Carolina, with much or all of the labor performed by enslaved Africans and African-Americans.
My sojourn in Seneca took me back a century in memory, I experienced the return journey from a world of imagination to the real world, the American Civil War, the exploitation of indentured labour working in the Indigo farms of India and the slaves of Southern part of America.
I also experienced the vastness of USA. It is huge, in fact, gargantuan would perhaps describe it better. It is spread so far and wide. As one goes from North to South, one can find the difference in the vegetation and the trees, and the terrain. All that one can see is greenery, very wide roads and a lot of space. Perhaps that is the reason why people here give a lot of space to each other. They take care, give respect and yet ensure never to interfere in the private space of another member of the family. In India there is no concept of private space. There is interference, control and imposition of views. People seldom understand that every individual has a right to think differently. We believe that what was preached ages ago stands true even today. Having an open mind, trying to understand new concepts, new interpretations of old values, amalgamation of different ideologies, are difficult. However, it is only difficult, not impossible. One has to accept that every generation thinks differently. We have all rebelled in one way or another. All of us have moved away from the well trodden path and found new roads to achieve success as we wished to.
It was really a good experience to see old friends meet. The years seemed to melt away. Time seemed to stand still. Old memories, remembering old deeds and mischief, re - living those moments of pure happiness, rejuvenated the old bonds. I think it is really necessary to meet old friends, as it takes you back in time and one forgets the present day complexities of life. One can giggle with abandon, laugh at stupid jokes, remember old pranks, remember how deliriously happy we could be with not a care in the world. No money, no care, no planning, no headache. Life was just masti. We would see tomorrow when it came!! It was simply great re-living those days again. Talking of all those friends of yore, catching up, knowing about their children, talking about our children, where did those six days go away??? I don't know, but it was a wonderful experience.
It was indeed a lovely memorable trip down warm South from the cold cold North.
It was a step back in time to youth.
It was a journey from dusk to dawn towards sunshine.
Thank you Subin and Shanti.
