Monday, May 28, 2018

Hawaii trip 2018 - Day I

Due to the 6 hours of time difference between Hawaii and the US East Coast, I was up early in the morning. Sandwiched in between phases of staggered sleep broken by a dash to the bathroom to empty my bowels at midnight induced by my body clock which still thinks it's early morning in Georgia - the hungry me grabbed a sandwich and egg with its sunny side up to watch the Sun go up behinds the misty mountains, as if trying to replicate the reddish hue of the poached egg.

From our 20th floor Hotel "A room with a view" the pararomic sight of the undulating mountainous landscape on one side and ocean on the other was breathtaking. Hawaii has a transactional weather - from the balcony I could see raining on the mountains on my left and tourists flocking sunny beach on the right, barely a furlong away.

The small Island chain of Hawaii is surrounded by the vast, endless Pacific Ocean which churns in rain bearing clouds, showering the islands before drifting away to bless it back with sunshine. This endless cycle continued throughout the day, reminding me of this song we used to sing during my childhood days when occasionally we used to get sun and rain coming together -
KHARA HAUCHI, BARSHA HAUCHI.
BILUA NANA, BAHA HAUCHI.
transliterated from Odia..

It's Sunny, It's Rainy.
The Daddy Jackal is having his,
Marriage Ceremony.

The Oahu Island of Hawaii has a million population, plus a quarter million tourists. Apart from the United States they come from all over the world, especially from Japan, Australia and New Zealand - the 3 nations with spending power located close to it, still thousands miles from it separated by the vast Pacific Ocean. They come to celebrate honeymoons, getting married, trips with family, with girlfriends, wives or concubines (not wife and concubine I suppose).

Amongst the tourists, the Japanese take the lead - they are everywhere, same as Bengalis in the township of Puri, Odisha. A la Puri has Bengali written all over, one can see Japanese, from the restaurant menu to billboards all over Honolulu. My hotel room has books of both "Teaching of Buddha" and "Holy Bible". If Bengalis for some reason decide to boycott Puri its economy will collapse like a pack of cards. The economy of Hawaii will take a hit if minus the Japanese tourists.

The similarities with Puri doesn't end there. Honolulu feels like Puri in the month of December sans dirt and trash. I saw tall, lanky coconut trees as well as betel nut trees bearing orange nuts - a very typical of the milieu surrounding the temple town. Though the beaches of Honolulu were a lot cleaner, it can't beat the sandy beaches and rolling sea waves, only visible in between Puri and Chandrabhaga. More later....

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