Shanti Thokchom's Life Experiences
- Part 28 -
"Garden of Gods" - Colorado

By Shanti Thokchom *

We then proceeded to drive towards Colorado directly from Chicago to visit yet another Tangkhul family who had invited me there. I had planned my itinerary in such a way that I could cover the places without any loss of time.

That particular lady was on her medical leave and so she wanted us to visit her and it suited our schedules too. The fact that she also passed out from the same nursing school in Assam made it all the more important to reconnect with friends, be it seniors or juniors !! Yet another 14 or 15 hrs of driving..... 956 miles from Chicago....to get there!!

After a good breakfast at the Chicago host's house, we started our trip to yet another unknown but exciting territory!!! The hosts were so kind enough to have the Google road maps printed out for me and also gave me the initial directions on how to get onto the main connecting highways.

I am really thankful to him for his great and valuable tips and suggestions for a better drive!! We were so blessed to be staying in their house and get to know them better. Their two kids were the most cutest and sweetest I came across!!

I would say its a perfect family....Ham Do Hamare Do.. (we two..ours two.).... ha...ha..ha... I know their mother is working hard to raise them in the best way possible!! I just dont know how in the world does she manage to keep her house so neat and clean all the times!! She must be having some kind of magical powers!! ha...ha..ha...!!

You can know a person better when you meet them in person and have a very clear idea of them. I had my own reservations before as I thought may be everyone would start asking me whose family I belonged and what I did and vice versa.I did not feel comfy thinking about that but I was totally wrong cos everyone was so happily introducing one another and having a good time there in that house while in Chicago .

The spectacular vistas of Colorado

Anyway, we left the windy city around 9.30 am. I felt a little sad at leaving this good hearted family behind after all they made us feel so welcomed and valued and that touched my heart very much!! She gave us a bag of frozen "Nga Thongba" , a special fish dish from the NAMA lunch, a Tongningkok plant (a herb used for making a hot Manipuri dish ) to take it with us there to Colorado!!!

I then reminded my son about our road trip pact that we made and after getting a "yes" nod from him, I started driving on I-90 until I got onto the main highway. It was a very busy day on the Chicago city roads as people were in a tearing hurry to get to places they were supposed to. There were few toll roads before I could get out of the city roads.

I then got onto I-80 towards Iowa border !! It was pretty much driving into a no-man's land all the way to Nebraska but fun and educative!! It was a very straight route and not a bumpy ride at all. I made sure I looked at the right road signs pointing towards my destination..

Now I was more worried about the high gas prices !! Here it was a little cheaper than in Chicago. We really enjoyed the greenery around the countryside... On the way it sometimes rained for a short while and the weather forecast kept me pretty much informed about it all the time on the radio..

I also was enjoying the radio talk show by Sean and Hannity Colmes. I like his frank and brutal opinions about politics ..especially this year's presidential elections here. Others may find him a bit more radical but he gets to the point!! I find the media very biased towards the female democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton but she is a very smart lawyer and I hope to see her get elected in 2012!!

Anyway, coming to the long drive to Colorado, I kept constantly in touch with my friend to let her know where I was and how long it may take us to reach her place.. My phone battery went dead at one point so I had to stop at a gas station for a multi-purpose break.. fill up gas, rest room visit, food for my son...etc..and recharge my battery there !!!

The gas station worker told me that we would soon be crossing into the mountain time zone after we passed the store, which meant we were 1 hour backwards from the central time zone we are so used to here in Oklahoma. It was a real pretty sight to see all the big hay stacks in bundles!!

My son was now sick and tired of watching movies on his DVD player and he began his questioning sessions again...this time, it was about why there were big hay bales in the fields and what did they do? I tried tried to answer them all to the best of my knowledge but at the same time I could not keep myself distracted on the road while driving.

It was getting dark now and I needed to be more careful as it was complete wilderness out there on this 1-80 stretch of the highway!! When I am on such roads it doesn't seem like I am driving on American highways but somewhere else....!! For others, ,America means tall buildings, sky scrapers, fast moving cities with smart people and lots of $$$$ which to some others might seem like to grow on trees !!! Reality check...it doesn't!! We all have to work hard and struggle too, if we have to!!

The spectacular vistas of Colorado

We finally reached Colorado around 11.30pm in their mountain time. Boy!! the family was so thoughtful and kept food ready for us to eat!!! Her husband also had just got back from work and getting ready to hit the sack but was nice enough to wait out for us until we got there at their house!!

Thats one good thing about our Manipuri folks!! We love to cook and feed our guests!! This family had 2 pre-teen daughters who were very sweet and good mannered.. They were glad to have us there.

We went to bed right after we ate some of the food. I wasn't really hungry but felt bad about not eating then since the lady of the house prepared specially for us!! I ate to make her happy!!

I was wondering ....how in the world was I gonna go to sleep with a full belly in the middle of the night!!! Well, I crashed out on the bed immediately as I was very exhausted and tired from the long drive!!! My son was already in la..la..land...snoring peacefully!!!The two daughters of the house were so sweet and very simple. They kept my son busy playing with them.

The next day the lady of the house made simple pancakes and egg breakfast and so yummy!! Her sister -in-law was so happy to be able to talk in Manipuri and hear it after 14 long years of being here. It was just pure happiness and excitement to get together and talk in the main lingo even though all of us belonged to different tribes but it did not matter there.

In our hearts, we were all Manipuris, period!!! We set about making "Samosas" and "chicken masala " and also "Kobi Singju" I had brought "Thoiding". We had to get the masalas from the Indian store somewhere!!

We were like giggly school girls on a fun mission !! I prepared the dough for it and the sis-in-law wanted to learn how to make mango "Lassi" so we did that too!! Their kitchen was a hub bub of full activity as we were busy doing this and that!!

Well, it was worth the efforts as they came to know what all involved in making these stuffs!! We made more than enough "Samosas". Nevertheless, they were very happy as they had something to share with their neighbors!! One funny thing was their neighbor ate up all the "Samosas" my friend had given them to share with their family ,not leaving anything for their kids!!!

They took us to the "Garden of Gods", where there were many red natural rocks to see.. We also met Lily from Churachandpur who was married to a nice American guy. They had a cute little 2 yr old son and so we made an all-purpose trip there to meet up and visit this beautiful place at Colorado Springs.

Mind you, we all had never met ever before but only spoke on the phone all these days!! We were all so excited to be meeting there and do lot of "Waathi Suba"..."..talk shop or just gal talk" and catch up with life...etc..

Well, when she came with her hubby and son in tow, all we did was talk, talk, talk, laugh, laugh over any silly things we said in Manipuri as we were all so happy to speak in Manipuri language. For the next 3 hours or so, we stayed put at that spot talking and more talking and no end of topics!!!

Her hubby was very understanding and did not mind one bit at our yakking away to glory in Manpuri!! I am sure any other man would have felt left out or neglected when we got to talking like "Chongas" (noisy birds..ha..ha..) all at the same time cos we had so much to share and laugh about ourselves and our families and life in general here!!!

The spectacular vistas of Colorado

We gave some "Samosas" to them and also some "Kobi Singju" ( Raw Cabbage Salad )take it home.. She was over the moon to see all those and could not stop raving about it...her hubby did not understand what and why she was raving about those stuffs....which to him did not look palatable as it had no butter and cheese.....ha..ha..ha..!

For us all, hot food lovers and eaters...we know it very well when someone makes "Singju" (salad), its time to shut up and get ready for our ears to burn and get red hot while eating this, literally speaking !! That why I keep and treat my "Thoiding" (sesame seeds) powder more than precious gold in my fridge !!! All of you would agree with me on that!!

Well, our visit at the "Garden of Gods" ended and we all had to say bye to each other...!! It was a very fruitful visit !! We had made a good connection and we want it to remain that way forever !!

The next day, me and my son got ready to leave Colorado and Lily wanted us to swing by her place on our way!! I agreed and she was very surprised to see me at her doorstep in an hour after I left my host's home.. We spent a good 2 hours with her...

I could see that she was very happy to see us and wished we had stayed a little more longer..! But we had more than 10 hours (773 mile) drive to get back to Tulsa from Colorado!! We enjoyed playing with her son for sometime though he was much too shy !!

We left around 1.30 Mountain Time there and passed through so much farmlands on our way!! Kansas was truly the bread bowl of the country for its rich and huge farmlands....!! We drove through miles and miles of no-man's land once again!!

I thank the almighty for keeping us all guided all the way home without any road troubles!! I would not know how to even change a flat tire....ha..ha..ha !! Its time maybe I should learn how to do it.... !!

Its really exciting to be able to see new places and meet our folks !! I am already planning for my next trip ....!! ha..ha...ha...!!

Check out this photo gallery here.

More stories later ...... to be continued ...!!

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* Shanti Thokchom, a resident of Tulsa, Oklohoma, contributes regularly to e-pao.net . She can be reached at sthok65(at)hotmail(dot)com . This article was webcasted on October 09, 2008.

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