Oh, Niagara !

Having spent a lot of years in the Malanad region, I was always in awe at the Jog falls. The foggy misty milky falls during the monsoons and winters were nothing but a treat to the eyes. 

When it was my time to visit the Niagara falls, my dear friends gave me mixed reactions - 'Must go', 'Overhyped', 'Do you really want to go', 'You should not miss', 'What!'. Easily soothened by water bodies, I became lenient and put Niagara as one of those things in the checklist as a 'let's go and finish seeing'. Had no expectation whatsoever. And the date was fixed , mid October. 

Drizzling and the October cold made the place a not so convenient for me. The otherwise tropical lady that I am, a drop in temperature by a celsius - I easily pull out the socks and the muffler from the wardrobes. I was looking all stuffed up and a ready to post envelope like. People who know me, wouldnt have imagined any different !

'The maid of the mist' - such a fancy name I thought, for a boat ride. I have seen a plenty of pictures of family and friends from the same boat ride and I never liked the blue rain covers that invariably flashed in the pictures. Well, the rain cover this time for my turn was a pink, in support of Aids prevention. 

There I was, wearing the pink rain cover boarding the Maid of the mist boat. I went up the stairs and stood on the deck. The losing attempts of capturing the journey in the camera gave way to the drizzles. Drizzling and 'see I can also smoke' foggy made me stay numb to the cold. When the boat slowly started off, I felt the ride as a normal ride in the river water. In the wild breeze I gazed at the falls that was far off. Thoughts of  'yes, its overhyped' passed on my mind couple of times. The counter positive side of my mind said 'look at the huge gush of water falling down the horse shoe bend - it surely is beautiful'. I ushed both the sides and started enjoying the ride. 

The boat slowly moved towards the falls and the falls started appearing as a gigantic beauty. The water as pure as the virgin snow displayed nothing but the beauty with the power. The droplets touched my face and i was at the closest safest point to the falls. There it stood - the mesmerizing, marvelous, spellbound flowing beauty in white. For a moment, I couldnt believe if it was real. I pinched myself twice to make sure that it was real infact and not a 3d movie scene. Surreal and a memory for the life time ! It was a sight of the nature showing its purity and power at the same time - Bliss ! I stood there awestruck, not to miss a single second of how it looked. Stood there, still in the time etching the sight and making memories. 

The boat moved back towards the shore, I couldnt help but keep looking back at the falls and the wonderful experience it gave me. 

Niagara is a beauty, a spellbound beauty !