Clarion Calls: Autumn Leaf Festival

First published on September 27 of 2014, here it is 6 years later.  The reason posts are slightly delayed is that blogger for now does not allow to schedule old posts, which makes it difficult for me to constantly be on time.  I wish they would change it.  But until then, will write to put it up some time on Friday if not at midnight, as it was done for the last year or so.

This time ini Pennsylvania was the most beautiful. Till today nothing beats Pennsylvania --- in autumn colors.  I light up, even when I think of it.  Clarion introduced me to it.  I had dreamt of Pennsylvania even in India.  I had read about the Amish in Reader's Digest.  Then heard about that movie, 'The Witness' with Harrison Ford.   I was forever attached to the colors.  We get some colors in Delhi--being north and sort of temperate climate.  We do get five seasons and since they are spread out, both autumn and winter intermingle over three to four months. It goes pretty fast.  Up in north of India, in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh (check it out online) the colors are more beautiful. It seems like they are prettier than Switzerland.  But for a Delhite like me, it was restricted.  The long drawn out autumn of about three months in Pennsylvania, made me fall in love with it. It was for that I returned to Pennsylvania in State College. While I met great people, and learnt much.  It did not bear well in the long run.  So my advice, be attracted to a place but always know why you are returning.  Always have a well thought of plan and a clarity on your own goals and needs.  You may not get what you planned, but if you go with the flow and only on emotion, it may cause you to feel some regret later on.  But that is where mentorship comes in.  Be a mentor, teach others, be guides.  So many of us are lost. 

I do my best. I have been a mentor to my nieces and nephews and 100s of students, who still keep in touch. I spoke to one of my first students from India. Who I taught only for 6 months.  I was barely 20.  But to connect with him and speak to him for 3 hours and then speak to his teenage daughter was such a delight!!  In those moments do I feel the completion and a sense of what I am....and where I am in this world.

May you all find--joy in your hearts this autumn, and connect with a passion that burns to serve the world....like the colors of autumn that burn till the end, to delight our eyes and give us long and languid benignly sunny days!!

PS: Here is a post from Penn State that you might enjoy.  

A shot of Main Street during Autumn Leaf.  Note:  This picture was taken from the net (click here to see the source), as were the other logos. 

Pennsylvania was a dream for me.  Clarion, with its simplicity and quietness made it happen for me.  It was the hardest of times in more than one ways, but visually, it was ‘many sights to remember.’  My memories of first autumn in the US are from Clarion.   Clarion is synonymous with ‘Autumn Leaf Festival’, when everything turns red, yellow and orange. 

I attended about four of those in Clarion, two as a student. One as faculty, and one as a visitor. 

The sleepy little town comes alive--for weeks before the actual day.  There are reminders on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, in stores and in schools and universities.  There are sights to see, and smells (mainly food, talking mainly food) to smell and memories to make.

It should be around anytime soon now.  For me though, autumn is always reminiscent of the first time I saw the nature burst in color--in Clarion.

Its a town that still remains unknown (one American student had asked me, 'so is Clarion really famous in your country?* with a reference to us landing in Clarion as students.

Nope,it had a department I was looking for and the admission fee was not too high. She had smiled.

But my heart was also set on Pennsylvania, ever since I had seen pictures and read about the Amish.  

That love affair lasted over a decade.  I don't know its politics, nor do I know much about special laws, rules and regulations if any apply ---(except that there is an exemption of taxes on computers and electronics stuff every february--and no taxes on clothes)--but I know all about candied apples, blueberry muffins, pumpkin spice ice-cream, and of course autumn's leaves!!  I can smell Pennsylvania on crisp days, I am back in Pennsylvania every year on the first day of snow, and I wake up in Pennsylvania every year when daffodils make their appearance in spring, or trees blush at their own coming of age in autumn.....

And wonder if the school children I saw march in bands in Clarion, are now bringing their children to the autumn leaf festival this year......