Locomotoring

I am busy preparing for autumn – cleaning gutters, trimming plants and trees, harvesting the summer crop. But I find myself feeling unsettled. It isn’t a new feeling, it just happens around this time of the year and lasts all the way to the new year. So I look for avenues to distract myself. Filoli had promised an autumn show – “Crisp air, golden light and pumpkins everywhere”. I had picked the last slot of the evening. I had modest expectations from a weekday night from a neighborhood garden estate. Filoli surprised me with their extensive Halloween display. What surprised me more were the number of people, thousands had turned up late on a weekday, many were in costumes, lots of kids.

Night had fallen by the time we arrived. We were directed to the overflow parking. The overflow parking itself was overflowing. These were ticketed and timed entries, so I concluded that the previous batch of visitors hadn’t left. I should have realized right then that it was a good show.

The walk had two options, starting at the the redwoods or the main house. We decided to start with the redwoods. The first thing I saw were the magical firefly lights. The dirt path led to a Pumpkin field, a Haystack Critter Trail, a Haunted Railway and a Witches Outpost. Tucked in between were places for people to sit, eat and spend time with their families. The Meadow by the main house offered more pumpkins, food truck, a bar. The historic house itself offered a champagne lounge and was decorated from top to bottom in Halloween theme. It was clearly an immense effort. While every show has a commerce angle, this one felt like effort of love.

I had chosen a night away from the weekends. It had coincided with Dussehra, last day of Navaratri and Bijoya, last day of Durga Pujo. My husband’s family celebrates the former and mine the later. Different Gods, different stories. In both, the bad guy is vanquished on the day. Dussehra is end of Ravana in hands of Lord Rama. Bijoya is end of Mahisasura in the hands of Goddess Durga. Here, half way around the world, I feel a little unsettled, and discombobulated. Part of me wants to do a good job with Bijoya and Dussehra. This year, I made us some bhoger khichudi (link) to celebrate Pujo. Part of me wants to do a good job with Halloween. I think I will squirrel away some ideas from Filoli for next year.

My hands hurt a lot more this year. I had a good three year streak. It started with Kumropotash (link), a character from Sukumar Ray’s Abol Tabol. Then it was Ravana (link). Last year, I attempted Goddess Kali (link). A friend of mine, Antonia, told me about butterflies symbolizing souls coming home. She wasn’t sure where the symbolism originated and I looked it up. The stories seem to belong to many cultures around the world (link). I chose monarchs, since they are visiting Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz right about now (link).