VISIT CANADA -8

We checked out of the hotel in Victoria but kept our baggage there and proceeded to visit the Museum. Canadians refer to the Indians -original inhabitants of North America- as First Peoples or First Nations while the Americans call them as Native Americans. I watched Malcolm X starring Danziel Washington last week and I could quite understand what Malcolm X meant when he asserted to his black audience that “We are not Americans”. The Museum was about these First Peoples and also about the first settlers in Canada. One enclosure showed life-sized cutouts of Canadians of all colours and creed and a proud Punjabi woman stared at you from a distance. There were wedding dresses on display and these included our own Rajasthani and Punjabi attire. Soft music played in the background and I could recognize a popular Punjabi folksong tune.

Our flight from Victoria to Calgary was scheduled in the afternoon. Airport at Victoria is small from North American standards and I found most flights going to Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle. We arrived at Calgary; some of the janitors at the airport appeared to be Sikh / Punjabi women and their second generation –young Indian Canadian girls-- were also at work as immigration, customs and other airport officials.

Calgary was not on our itinerary and we had decided to land there because of its proximity to Alberta’s Rocky Mountains and because it would be easier to rent a car there. Calgary, situated on the banks of the Bow River, is the largest city in Alberta. Calgary Stampede (started in 1912) is Calgary’s best-known tourist attraction. I recalled that Maharashtra Mandal from Silicon Valley had staged a Marathi play at Calgary in 2001, when the City had hosted the tenth convention of all such cultural bodies in North America.

We picked up a brand new Ford-Fusion from Hertz --the rental agency- and were on our way to Banff. We had decided to stop en route for dinner at an Indian restaurant. recommended by a Hertz official. We did find the place but it turned out to be a Take Away joint that was run by a Hindu Bangaladeshi. I was surprised to see many Ganesh idols but a solitary Durga statue in his shop. The place wore the look of a house and the whole family seemed at work with women doing the cooking. They obliged us by putting together a makeshift dining table and giving their own crockery. Mukul reciprocated by dropping a generous tip cum donation in the collection box kept on the counter.

It was late in the evening when we reached, first the entrance to Banff National Park and then Banff town but not before driving for an hour more, so it seemed…

 

    Banff Town