Amazing sights...

...that I see

15 days gone by since I made my way from Chennai, India, to Chicago, USA. Across lands, across seas and oceans, across time zones, but not across space, not across God. I've come from a place which has a National motto of 'Satyameva Jayate,' (Truth Alone Triumphs) to a place where 'In God We Trust,' is a Constitutional statement printed in all official emblems.
In Chicago, and I'm sure the general principals must be the same in the rest of America, I see a beautiful order in civic life. Rich with space and resources, I love the self-reliance I see everywhere. And the public life here has worked it way around such self reliance. It amazes me to see senior citizens making their way around shopping malls with a triangular flag sticking out of their wheel chairs. The parking lots earmarked for the physically challenged, with a high penalty for violations - I love the care such signs show.
I love the traffic. I love the way cars, that travel at superfast speeds, are not in a hurry to start when the signal turns green. I love the silence on the roads where nobody honks. Only once recently, I heard a senior citizen honk to alert his wife to get into the car. The sound alerted more persons than just the lady it was intended for and I knew it was not so good to sound horn here from the number of abuses that happened around as a reaction.
I love the picture perfect residential quarters, with neat roads leading to each other in a grid. I love the way cars stop totally to let the pedestrian cross first.
The houses here, though apparently identical, have an individual character. Now covered with snow, icicles hanging from the ewes, present an idyllic picture of beauty, peace and silence. I like the houses merging with the road and with each other, without a separating compound wall.
I am amazed at the convenience of the credit card and the home computer has brought to lives here. Anything one wants can be done from home, through the phone, PC and credit card. In India, the forehead of cars have their religions written in bold letters - My Presence Shall Go Before Thee, Masha Allah or Om Namashivaya. Here it's all plain glass except for a small strip of card called here as the I-Pass, EZ-Pass, which registers the number as the car moves across a toll plaza and automatically deducts the amount from a credit card.
I love the neatness with which houses drop off their wastes in neatly tied covers on a particular day of the week, though houses here are yet to get an idea about segregating the bio-degradable and non-biodegradable wastes at source. I love the resilience with which the postal staff work, dropping packets and covers door to door unmindful of the snow.
I love the instant immediacy with which the police, traffic and fire departments respond in case of an accident or an emergency.
Most off all I like the way total strangers greet each other with a smile or a "Hi!" In just a few words, here I see Yoga (oneness of the individual and the cosmos) in the life of matter and organisation of resources.
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