MY WALK ON SONGS THROUGH CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK

Thousands of people go to the Central Park in New York every day: walkers, runners, strollers, cyclers, picnickers, sightseers, lovers and all. Add one more whenever I am in New York, me. 

Ruchir's apartment being just across the road on the south-west corner of the Park makes it ideal for my evening walk. And I have another reason to do so: the many attractions in the Park make me recall some lovely songs which I hum as I walk by.

What better way to start than entering the Park from 72 W. Street and immediately sight the lovely circular 'Imagine Mosaic' created by masons in Naples as a memorial to The Beatles' John Lennon who was shot dead by a crazy man just 100 yards away. 'Imagine', as everyone knows, was Lennon's most popular song  wistfully dreaming of 'One World'-

"Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too....

Imagine all the people, sharing all the world,

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one."

Imagine Mosaic is part of the 2.5 acre 'Strawberry Fields' which was given that name from The Beatles' number "Strawberry Fields Forever". Walking through the trees and shrubs with beautiful flowers, I hum-

"Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to strawberry fields'

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry fields forever."

I reach a road, turn left, and soon hear joyful sounds of children enjoying themselves in 'Diana Ross Playground.' Diana Ross and The Supremes were big hits in 1960s and the song I remember, though admittedly not quite matching the mood of the Playground, is "You Keep Me Hanging On", perhaps because it was also sung by my favorite, Tom Jones. "Set me free, why don't you babe, get out of my life, why don't you babe, 'cause you don't really love me, you just keep me hangin' on"!

I reverse direction and on my left is 'Shakespeare Garden' which brings to mind the troubadour singing "What is Youth" in Franco Zeferelli's classic "Romeo and Juliet". And then the 'Cherry Hill Fountain' appears leading to the 'Cherry Park' where Cherry trees blossom in the spring. It is time to recall the 'King of Mambo', Perez Prado and his "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - 'when your true lover  comes your way'"- with the exceptional undulating trumpet of Billy Regis. 

From Cherry Park and past Bethesda Fountain thronging with visitors playing music and dancing, I reach Conservatory Water and a bronze sculpture depicting characters from the Lewis Carroll classic "Alice in Wonderland". Nearby is a statue of Hans Christian Andersen with his hat by his side and reading his story "The Ugly Duckling" to, who else, a duckling! I remember the movie with Danny Kaye playing the main part and singing "I'm Hans Christian Andersen" and "Thumbelina-'What's the difference if you're very small, when your heart is full of love, you're nine feet tall.'"

Time to turn South and head for 'The Mall'. Though it is also called a 'Literary Walk', The Mall has a musical beginning from this end. On the right is a bust of Beethoven and I think of a light, short piece "Fur Elise" or, in a more serious mood, "Ode To Joy" which is the highlight of his 9th Symphony. 

Right opposite is 'Naumburg Bandshell' which provides the stage for concerts throughout the year. It has also featured in many movies, notably in the sweet "Breakfast At Tiffany's". And so I launch into-

"Moon River, wider than a mile, I'm crossing you in style someday....

Two drifters off to see the world, there's such a lovely world to see,

We're after the same rainbow's end, waiting 'round the bend....

Moon river and me."

At the end of The Mall is a statue of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns. Whether familiar with his poems or not, all of us know his famous work “Auld Lang Syne" which we unfailingly sing to bring in every new year.

Across the road and at the southern end of the Park, there is 'Wollman Rink', a popular venue for ice skating in winter and currently, in summer, for a new game I see for the first time, 'Pickleball', which seems akin to Tennis on a smaller and Table-Tennis on a larger scale. But I will always remember the Rink for its featuring in the heart-rending movie, "Love Story". The scene showed the two young lovers having fun in the ice rink with Francis Lai's 'Skating Theme' playing in the background. And if you think of "Love Story", would you be able to resist humming its beautiful theme, "Where Do I Begin"?

A turnaround to the interior of the Park brings me to the kids' favorite, 'Carousel', with beautifully painted handmade horses. I recall the Broadway musical of the same name with the unforgettable song "If I Loved You" and the emotional theme, ‘The Carousel Waltz’, which, like a carousel, goes round and round and up and down in my head.. 

A little further up, in the "Sheep Meadow" is the "Nell Singer Lilac Walk" which is a narrow path through a small grove of lilac trees with varieties from all over the world. At the height of its popularity in mid-1950s, there were many nice versions of the song "When the White Lilacs Bloom Again" and the best for me was by Lawrence Welk And His Sparkling Strings which invoked visions of bubbly champagne while admiring the lilacs.

It's been quite a walk and near the exit is "Tavern On The Green". I sit down and order a drink thinking of Mary Hopkin and her nostalgic "Those Were The Days":

"Once upon a time there was a tavern, where we used to raise a glass or two,

Remember how we laughed away the hours, think of all the great things we would do.

Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never lose, for we were young and sure to have our way...

Just tonight I stood before the tavern, nothing seemed the way it used to be,

In the glass I saw a strange reflection, was that lonely woman really me?"

And finally, a really old song which had its origin in 1883, "There's A Tavern In The Town "- 

"....where my true love sits him down, sits him down,

 And drinks his wine as merry as can be, and never, never thinks of me.

Fare thee well for I must leave thee, do not let this parting grieve thee

And remember that the best of friends must part, must part.

Adieu, adieu kind friends adieu, adieu, adieu,

I can no longer stay with you, stay with you

I will hang my harp on a weeping willow tree,

And may the world go well with thee."

ZURICH 2.0

A second trip to Zurich wasn't really on the cards; it just worked out that way. 

Akhila and I had ticked off Zurich on our list of travel destinations after a visit, albeit a short one, in 1987. Then this year, Shiven qualified for a 3-week Creative Writing course in Columbia University, New York, and Shumita made plans to visit US with her two boys. She wanted us to come and Ruchir insisted that we should also be in New York with them. He said he would book us by Swissair via Zurich and that tempted us to take a  break there. Ruchir, who loves Switzerland and has made a number of business trips there, has a good friend, Natasha, in Zurich and organised a car driven by Mahu-ud-Din, originally from Pakistan, for our stay.

Mahu-ud-Din met us at the airport on our arrival on a Sunday morning and drove us to our hotel, Mandarin Oriental, centrally located near the south-west bank of Limmat river which starts from Lake Zurich on the southern side of the city and flows northwards. That afternoon, Natasha met us and took us on a short walking tour by the bank of Limmat. It reminded us of our '87 visit when we had roamed around the same area and seen the (same?!) white swans swimming in Limmat. Our tour ended with a climb up to the hilltop park, Lindenhof, from where we could get a panoramic view of the old town of Altstadt, the 12th century twin-towered Grossmunster Church and the Limmat River. On that Sunday afternoon, Lindenhof was crowded as it is a favourite meeting point of people particularly chess players who flock to play the game in the serene surroundings.

We walked back to the hotel and as it was early enough, Natasha said we could do some out-of-town sightseeing that evening. So Mahu-ud-Din drove the three of us to the famous Rhine Falls, just over an hour away from Zurich. The Falls are the most powerful waterfalls in Europe with a height of 75 feet and width 490 feet near the border with Germany. The river flow is spectacular from a viewing platform accessed from the Laufen Castle which also houses a restaurant where we sat down to have a much needed Cappuccino.

On the way back, we took a detour to visit the ancient village, Stein am Rhine. Unfortunately, it started raining and became dark, so we headed back to Zurich and I made a mental note to visit the village on a later date if we had the time.

Natasha's Swiss husband, Adrian, joined us on our return to Zurich and they took us out to a lavish all-vegetarian buffet dinner which had the largest number of vegetarian dishes I have ever seen. Incidentally, Natasha has a Swiss mother and an Indian father and I was reminded of one Group Captain Sabhaney who did the NDC course in 1966 when I was there. The Group Captain had a Swiss wife and I wondered if there was any connection but there wasn't.

It had been raining a lot but we woke up in the morning to a fairly clear day. Mahu-ud-Din suggested we go to Engelberg for a cable car trip up Mount Titlis. We reached Engelberg in just over an hour and got into the cable car which took us to Trubsee, Stand and finally the summit of Klein Titlis above the glacier at an altitude of 10000 feet. We got out of the enclosed area where it was freezing cold at -5 degrees C. Fortunately, Mahu-ud-Din had lent me a jacket and Akhila had prudently rented one at a shop while buying the tickets. We then got into a rotating cable car, the first in the world, for a fascinating panoramic view of the peaks, glaciers and valleys. Back at the cable car station, we got into an illuminated glacier cave, actually inside a glacier, which was a unique but a shivering and slippery experience!

Outside the station there is a lifesize cardboard cutout of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol from their popular old movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge". This was Yash Chopra's favourite film shooting site and there is a shop selling souvenirs from his films. In fact, the place seems to have been taken over by Indians with restaurants and cafes serving Indian fare and many visitors from homeland.

We too had a bite there and then got into the cable car for the trip back. We took a break at Trubsee for a walk along the tranquil lake before returning to Engleberg.

Lucerne was not too far out of the way so I requested Mahu-ud-Din to take a little detour. We drove around the town looking at some traditional frescoed buildings and came to the big 'Welcome' gate opposite the train station. We walked to the Lucerne lake and the wooden Chapel Bridge dating back to the 14th century repeating what we had done in 1987. Once again, we were greeted by many graceful and friendly swans swimming in the lake.  

Having got our money's worth, happy but exhausted, we headed back to Zurich. 

The next day, Natasha advised us to go to Liechtenstein, again about an hour's drive from Zurich. Sound advice as it satisfied my ego of a self-styled traveller ticking off a new country. Officially named Principality of Liechtenstein, the country is the fourth smallest in Europe after the Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino, and the sixth smallest, after Nauru and Tuvalu, of all recognized countries in the world. It is just 25 kms long and 160 sq. kms. in area with a population of 39790. It is also the smallest country in the world to share a border with two countries, Switzerland and Austria. Boasting of the highest GDP per person in the world when adjusted for purchasing power parity, it is no wonder that its citizens are quite content with their independence and the tiny size of their country.

We visited its capital Vaduz which has as its landmark a medieval castle on top of a mountain peak overlooking the city. The head of state, Prince of Liechtenstein. resides here. With its origin dating back to the 12th century, it was expanded in the 17th century and underwent a major restoration in the early 20th century. We also saw the beautiful St. Florin Cathedral and the Planken municipality before bidding goodbye to Liechtenstein. In three hours including a break for lunch, we probably covered more than half of the country!

On the way back, we had decided to see the Lindt chocolate factory in Zurich but, en route, Mahu-ud-Din first took us to another famous one, Laderach. We did a quick round, tasting and buying before landing up at Lindt. It was a fascinating tour starting at a big chocolate fountain in the main hall. More tasting and buying and our tour was complete.

I don't think I had ever visited a chocolate factory till December 2022. Since then, in the last 1 1/2 years, we have done four: two small ones in Puducherry and Munnar, and now the giants, Lindt and Laderach. 

On the final day of our stay, we took the toy train, reminiscent of Simla and Darjeeling, for a 20-minute ride to Uetilberg mountain, which is the highest point in Zurich 451 metres above the city. To get to the top from the railway station, it is a 68 m. climb but worth the effort for a spectacular panoramic view of the whole of Zurich and its lake. To take in the scenery at leisure, there is enough seating all around and a hotel and restaurant for refreshments.

We were finished with Uetilberg early in the afternoon so I seized the opportunity to fulfill my desire to go back to Stein am Rhein and am glad we did. The small village, all of 6 sq kms with more than 75% of land used for agricultural purposes and forestry, lies by the banks of River Rhine.  The main street is like a fairyland with beautifully painted buildings dating back to the 12th century. No vehicles are permitted on the street and the river bank and the frescoes adorning the facade of the buildings are cute and lovable. The river bank is lined up with restaurants and cafes filled with tourists. And, of course, the white swans are here too!

Reluctantly, we left the village and drove back to Zurich. With the late summer sunset, there was time enough for a farewell stroll on the streets seeing the 853 A.D. Fraumunster Church distinguished by its green clocktower and famous for stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall added in 1970, the imposing Zurich Opera House, the high-end shopping street Bahnhofstrasse, and more swans in the Limmat.

Next morning, Mahu-ud-Din took us to the airport for our flight to Miami. He had been good company for the last 4 days keeping us entertained during the long drives with stories of his own adventurous life, three wives though not at the same time, and his views on the political situation in Pakistan. Right till he saw us off checking in at the airport, he was insistent that we stop over in Zurich on our way back to India with him making all arrangements. 

There surely is a lot more to Zurich than had met our eye at first sight.