There is always an adventure in misadventure, thanks to the modern technology which could on occasions lead to confusion but turn out to be a blessing in disguise. We were on I-15 freeway traveling North, cruising at 80 miles per hour (the speed limit in Utah) to our destination of Pocatello, Idaho when the GPS went off air for a few minutes. When it came back on, it redirected us to take a rural route to our destination, arguably the most remote locations we ever drove through the inside of one of the innermost country area of the US.
It was 9.30 PM, getting nearer to sunset. In the twilight hours I saw cows 🐄 for first time on road in my 28 years in America. Puzzled, the black cows looking grayish from a distance were gaping us as we approached them. No sooner the bovines saw our car closing on them than they dispersed off to surrounding fields, the little calves following their mamas. The sun rays through the gigantic sprinklers spraying water on the massive potato plantations spreading their mammoth white wings were spraying golden hues of water on the petrichor scented air, creating gigantic sparklers in the air. Windmills at a distance seemed to be waving good evening to us, their huge hands reminded me of Sancho Panza of Don Quixote by the famous novelist Miguel De Cervantes. We saw a long tailed mountain Fox on road as it was getting dark closer to 10 PM. Caught on our headlights it looked flustered, got startled for a moment before jumping away from our path to its safety.
Next morning post our night halt in tiny township of Pocatello in Idaho, we continued our drive to Yellowstone through the semi arid area of sparcely populated vegetation amongst black rocks on gray, granular volcanic soil. The hills which looked beautiful from a distance looked drab and dry from close by, reminding me of the Odia "DHAGA" (proverb) "DURA PAHADA SUNDARA" - "the far hill looks beautiful".
On our way we stopped by at the Idaho Potato Museum in a small town named "Blackfoot". The museum was small but impressive, filled with tons of information on Potato, the most popular vegetable in the world. Spanish explorers brought the tuber from Peru and introduced it to Europeans in 1527. Then in 17th century, the early settlers from Europe brought Potato to North America where the root vegetable found its way to the fertile Snake River Valley where it grew as a bumper crop, so much so that today Idaho is the major supplier of Potato to the rest of the United States and beyond.
Potato continued to spread its tentacles far and wide. It is said that Potato and Sardarjee (Sikh) can be found all over the world. Many in Odisha still refer to it as "BILATI ALOO" (The English Potato) although it was Portuguese who introduced it to India and China in 1600s. Now a days rarely a meal goes without Potato which is a good source of carbohydrate and potassium. Potato soon became a staple diet all over the world, so much so that a devastating Potato famine in Ireland caused a lot of their population perish and many migrating to America which has a large number of immigrants from Irish origin.
I have an emotional connection with Potato. Both my mom and I love the vegetable. My father always complained of putting too much of it in hour Puri style home cooked dishes of Dalma, Machha Haldi Pani (fish curry cooked with turmeric) and Machha Besara (scramled fish curry). In the year 2008 when my mother visited us in the United States, I bought her some mashed potato from outside. After taking a bite she found it too bland for her comfort and spiced it up in our typical Odia fashion by adding some chopped onions and green chillies, followed by a few drops of mustard oil added to it to make her own "Paaga" (concoction). Then she sprinkled it with some "Dhania Patra" (cilantro/ coriander leaves). She is in heaven now, but I still remember it tasted heavenly. Wherever I go, whichever place I visit, my mother's memories will get tagged to me forever. Unknown to me, as I write this, my reflex action took my glasses off as I was wiping my couple of drops of tear, tersly reminded of this Hindi song, an ode to the nicest of human being whose repertoire of love and affection to me would waver -
"ZINDAGI SAU BARAS KI SAHI,
ZINDAGI KA BHAROSA NAHI;
CHAAND CHHOOP JAE KAB KYA PATA,
CHANDNI KA BHAROSA NAHI".
Transliterated..
Life is for living hundred years,
But destiny is unreliable forever;
Never know when moon can go into hiding,
For Moonlight is not worth relying for.
More later....
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