AMERICA- WHAT I SAW - PART ONE

They say that there is not much to see in USA. This is obviously always in comparison with what India has to offer to tourists. India has beautiful temples, great architecture, paintings, frescoes and a huge history behind it.

America is relatively new. It does not have a great and ancient civilisation.

It is a newly found continent. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, who was under contract to the Spanish crown. He reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous people.

The original inhabitants were driven away by the new settlers. They were termed as Red Indians for whatever reason!!

People originally from England, that tiny little island, which conquered almost the entire world, were amongst the first inhabitants of this vast land mass. Having crossed the mighty Atlantic Ocean, they must have been amazed to see the vastness of this place. They stayed on and to keep alive the memories of the land that they had left behind, they named their hamlets by the names of the places of their origin. It is really amazing to see the names of the places. We have a New Hampshire, New England, New York, New Glasgow,New Jersey, New London, New Oxford. Besides this there are some which do not have "New" with their names like Boston, Birmingham, Chelmsford, Manchester, and yet are names of cities of England. Besides this, when people from other European countries came to USA, they also named places from their towns back home, and so we have a Warsaw, Frankfort, Moscow, Berlin, Paris and many more such names. The ancient names that the original inhabitants of America had given, were too long and complicated. A few lakes and places still do carry their original names.

This country actually is inhabited by people who came here from some other country, but made this their homeland. This country is called the country of opportunities and everyone wants to make it their destination.USA is therefore an amalgamation of different cultures and people of different backgrounds who have come together to make this wealthy nation even wealthier.

Although they do not have architectural wonders as heritage, they have built up and developed a lot of natural places as tourist attractions.The land mass is huge and there are a lot of beautiful natural places to visit. The most famous of these are the Grand Canyon,The Yellow Stone National Park which has a number of active geysers, The Sequoia National park in California which is home to the largest trees in the world. The oldest tree in this park is between 2300 and 2700 years old. "General Sherman" is the name of a Giant Sequoia with a height of 275 feet. The volume of its trunk measures about 1487 cubic meters, making it the largest non-clonal tree by volume. The Rocky mountains, the White Mountains, The Great lakes, the massive rivers,Yosemite National Park, are amongst  a lot more natural places to see. 

Besides these natural wonders, there are a lot of other things that one notices of the American people.What I see here are a lot of smiles all around. People are very friendly, congenial, helpful and welcoming. Every stranger that you pass will invariably smile and say something warm and friendly. People in shops are very inviting. They will help you and even if one declares that one is only looking, their demeanor does not change. Their smile and friendly conversation will carry on nevertheless. In India on the other hand a bored salesman will ask, what exactly do you want...even if you want to buy a saree and surely would like to see a few before selecting one. 

In America one never is tense about safety on the roads. People are very cautious and when a car approaches a pedestrian, the car steers absolutely clear of the pedestrian. It is as though the pedestrian is actually the owner of the road!!

Traffic rules are followed to the T. Seat belts, traffic signals and even Stop signs where no other traffic is coming too are followed religiously.Every road sign is marked very boldly, leaving no scope for mistakes. Instead of a "No Entry" sign, one will find a huge board saying "Wrong way".

There is no place for ambiguity. All signs on medicine bottles also are very clear. Traffic lights, signals and pedestrian crossings are in abundance. Pedestrians simply have to press the button when they want to cross a busy road and the sign for walking lights up brightly. There is even a beep beep sound which makes it clear that you can walk across. Even when there is no light, but a pedestrian crossing is available near a school, as soon as a pedestrian stands near it, all cars stop automatically and wait patiently allowing people to walk across, without hurrying them up.

There is no nudging, jostling or pushing in a queue, people wait for their turn patiently. Patience is a virtue which is found in abundance. In public transport , say in a bus, all conveniences are made for the travelling public. People on wheel chairs are given immense help. There are amenities to enable a person on a wheelchair to get on the bus without assistance.

Parks for children are clean and safe. Children are taught to wait for their turn.

Cleanliness and hygiene is given utmost importance. At most super stores where carts are available for picking up grocery, sanitised hand tissues are available near the carts, so that one can wipe the cart handles and carry on. All public toilets are exceptionally clean. Toilet paper, liquid hand soaps,are available in plenty. Now toilet seat paper too is available, so that one can really use the toilet without any fears.

There is no littering anywhere. Trash cans are found all over the place. As a matter of habit people do not litter the roads, playgrounds, or public places.

In the nursery school where my little grand daughter goes, there is a wash basin at the height of these babies and they are encouraged to wash their hands before eating. Eating is on the table and all children sit together and eat.

In the TV shows for children a lot of emphasis is given on cleanliness and tidying up. Even my 2 year old grand daughter knows that after coming home she has to keep her shoes back in the shoe rack. She also puts her toys back in their baskets after playing with them.

People are extremely helpful. This I experienced when we were leaving Boston. We were three passengers and were all seated very far apart. The plane was a Jumbo jet,yet it was jam packed. The person at the drop bag counter went out of his way to get us seated together. He went to three counters, called a passenger back and managed to get all of us seated together. He must have spent at least 15 minutes to do all this. I was very impressed by his natural helpfulness.............................................More to follow.