The Colours of Nature

Rhea also said: Ma, enjoy the colours to the fullest now, for at the time when you will leave, you will see the other face of nature -- the trees will shed their colourful leaves and look like they are uprooted, as if they are upside down with their roots on top and everything will look completely different.

I have never thought that the colours of nature in Autumn can be so beautiful!! Belonging to atropical region, what I saw in the Windy City of Chicago was beyond my imagination.

In my recent visit to the USA, Iwitnessed nature in all its spectacular beauty.

I love nature, and my daughter is aware of how the natural world attracts me. She always wanted me to visit her during fall, asshe was eager to show me the colours of nature at its peak and vigor.

Accordingly, I landed in the beautiful Windy City of Chicago, in an early morning in fall that is the month of October. Rhea came to greet me with a bouquet of flowers to welcome me at the airport.

On the way from airport to her place she showed me the colourful trees, creepers, beautiful landscaped gardens, etc., and on seeing the look of admiration on my face, she said

“Maa, I have made some plans to show you more colours in the suburb.”

Rhea also said: Ma, enjoy the colours to the fullest now, for at the time when you will leave, you will see the other face of nature -- the trees will shed their colourful leaves and look like they are uprooted, as if they are upside down with their roots on top and everything will look completely different.

I really appreciated her observation on trees posed in an upside down manner and was eager tosee and enjoy all that she had described.

As I haveearlier visited a lot of other cities in the US, this time my intention was to stay at Rhea’s place as a mother and enjoy her company in her house.

I really loved the place where she lives. Her place is overlooks the beautiful Chicago riverwith a backdrop of towering skyscrapers.It was an excellent place and excellent view to enjoy. Everyday I woke up with sun rays peeping through the window, enjoyed a cup of coffee with the view overlooking Chicago’s magnificent architecture and cruise boats sailing down the Chicago river. Sometimes I would go down and sit on the benches placed along the river and enjoy the cool breeze.

For us, the mother-daughter duo has always been a perfect match and we both complement each other’s company. For me, little Rhea has grown up fast -- become a young lady and a friend of mine!!

She knows my tastes very well and has tried her best to show every nook and corner of her beautiful city, Chicago.

The Chicago Architecture tour, beautiful musical show “ The note book” at Navy Pier, enjoyable evenings at London house tower, breathtaking views of “thousands of lanterns” in the Botanical garden on Halloween day, lunch and dinner at star category restaurants in Chicago with food of her choice, were just a few of the unforgettable moments she offered me.

When she was at work and could not accompany me, she gave me directions to the venues where I could entertain myself. I used to enjoy walking at Magnificent Mile, Chicago’smost vibrant road, Millennium Park, the beautiful navy pier with a distant view of Chicago’s skyscrapers, at the Michigan lake side, waterfront, etc, All in walking distance from her apartment .

Chicago offers plenty of things to showcase its beauty and culture. I bought city passes at discounted rates to see lot of things in Chicago as Rhea’s entry is free. We enjoyed Chicago field museum, the aquarium, the planetarium, the Sears tower to look down at Chicago’sskyline, Lincoln Park, Chinatown, the list goes on.

Apart from that Rhea was keen to show methe beautiful markets of Chicago along with the Indian stores which are filled with Indian goods. I could buy a Diwali Diya and even a Lakhmi idol for her to celebrate Diwali.

The small place,Debon of course is a mini India,where you can savour Indian cuisine, buy Indian dresses, fish, etc. The Patel brothers’ grocery shop is incredible with all varieties of Indian items including fresh food and vegetables.

For cooking, I’m very dependent on Nanny so am a poor performer in the kitchen. Still I tried my best to cook authentic Assamese dishes in Rhea’s beautiful well equipped kitchen,buying the ingredients from the Indian stores to give her the taste of home cooked food.

The ultimate enjoyable moments we shared together waswhen we both were in nature’s lap in the suburb at Schaumberg and Arora. Travelling by train to the suburbs, staying in a luxurious hotel, enjoying her driving through the Autumn fall colours, were unforgettable moments for me.

I have never imagined that the fall colours could be so beautiful. The change in the colour of green leaves to various hues of yellow, orange, red is incredible. I learntto what colours the oak trees, maple trees, etc.,changed with time.

The extreme combination of colours in the suburb areas was an incredible eye-catching experience. When Rhea drove through the beautiful landscapes, we sometimes stopped our car and got down to watch the wondrous kaleidoscope of colours and took innumerable snaps and selfies, to preserve those moments for eternity.

Rhea being adventurous in nature, used to pick up the nearest destination where nature had unfolded at her best and drove me down to show me around. That way we visited the Dark Forest area in Arora, a few villages in Shaumburg and Arora and also the beautiful Lord Venkatesh temple at Arora. Of course, she took me to TopGolf too for a round of golf.

The days swiftly passed by with beautiful moments at the heart of beautiful Windy City of Chicago.

With the passage of timeI observed the beautiful leaves being shed and a few of the trees became totally nude.

The time had come to return. It’s difficult to say goodbye to the one who is wholly yours.

While returning, she showed me the trees and repeated her observation of the first day at airport ,while welcoming me.

Yes, she was correct. I could see the trees near the airport were completely barren and could visualise the way Rhea had described them

“The trees look like their roots are at the top. “

Such a beautiful observation and expression my child….

I really appreciate you for showing me the God gifted fall colours in such a delightful way.

Mousumi Deka