Café do Monde and Beignet
I came across recently an old photograph taken in 1980’s by
me in New Orleans that showed the famous eatery, ‘Café du Monde’. located in
the city area known as French quarters. That triggered my thoughts and I was
surprised that I still remembered so many details of the place vividly even
now.
‘Café du Monde’ was located on Decatur Street, opposite
Jackson square where a grand equestrian statue of General Jackson stands. This
street was usually so much jammed and crowded that it was almost impossible to
find parking. I remembered that we were dropped in front of the café by Mr.
Vinayakarao Athavale (He is the husband of my aunt Mrs. Neera Karve-Athavale)
to pick up New Orlean’s famous snack “Beignet” from this café. Since there was
no parking place, he kept going around in that area, until we picked up a few
‘to-go’ Beignets. Café-du-Mond in those days was a cosy roadside café with a
nice-looking small fountain in front. Most of the people went there to have a
Beignet and a coffee.
Beignets (Pronounced as Ben-yey, बेन्ये ) were first
introduced to the city by the French-Creole colonists in the 18th century. The
concept is simple – dough is fried then covered with mounds of powdered sugar –
but the result is extraordinary. When served hot, they are absolute perfection,
especially when accompanied by chocolate milk. For my Indian palate they tasted
somewhat like “Chirote (चिरोटे)”.
While on subject of eateries of New Orleans, two more places
immediately come to mind. First one was called as ‘Ground Round’. This one
served typical American food. What was special about this place was that they
served large bowls of roasted groundnuts in shells to all customers. You were
encouraged to drop the empty shells on the floor. So whenever anyone walked on
the floor, he/she would make crunchy kind of sound.
There was another place called ‘Spudleys” or something
similar, that was famous for its baked potatoes. They would serve huge oven hot
baked potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil. Potatoes were served with a cut in the
middle which would be covered with mustard and other sauces.
New Orleans then, was called food capital of US, with so
many specialty restaurants. Obviously, I have no idea about the present status
particularly after Hurricane Katrina and great flood of 2005.
Niagara Falls: a total letdown
Way back, when I was planning to visit US for the first
time, I wanted to visit Niagara Falls more than any other place. In those days,
to find information about any place was very difficult. There was no internet
and not very many people I knew, had travelled to US. My in-laws had been there
a few years back, but they had seen the falls from Canada side. My travel agent
told me that for Canada visa, the passport must be sent to Delhi, and it could
take a long time to receive it back. I had really no choice but to see the
falls from US side. I found out that the nearest airport with regular flights
was at Buffalo town and there are busses that take you to Niagara in the
morning and return in the evening.
With this much information, I and my wife landed on Buffalo
airport and checked in a nearby Ramada Inn. I checked on the reception counter
and booked two tour tickets for the next day. Our journey to Niagara town was
nice and comfortable and we reached there sometime late morning.
As, we would do at any tourist place, we first visited the
Visitor centre and found out to our dismay that the ferry that takes you around
the falls does not sail after October. The Niagara River after it falls is at
least 25 to 30 meters below Niagara town and to take the travellers down to
riverbed level, an elevator is normally in place. However, since the ferry is
closed, this elevator area is also closed.
Our only choice therefore was to see the falls from an
international bridge across the river that joined US and Canada. This was no
problem for us as our Visas were multi entry. We therefore decided to have a
cup of coffee and then walk towards this bridge.
The first surprise was however waiting for us, when we stepped out on the road. From this road no river was visible. A thick forest stood between us and the riverbed. Because of the fall season all the leaves had acquired golden yellow hue and looked stunning. We were disappointed however, as we had come to see the falls and not fall colours. It was also biting cold. The temperature must have been single Celsius digits. We wrapped ourselves in our clothing and started walking on the road. Soon, we reached US immigration office, where we handed over the immigration card and stepped on the bridge, from where we could at least see the riverbed.
Even greater disappointment awaited us, as from the US end
of this bridge, famous horseshoe falls are not seen at all. American falls can
be seen clearly from here, but as our luck would have it, there was very heavy
mist created by the bitter cold and water spray and not a trace of falling
water was seen. We walked further on the bridge and finally saw a small area of
horseshoe falls. Rest of the horseshoe falls were again covered by mist.
We knew that we had no Canadian visa and cannot enter the
Canadian coast. Yet we thought that may be from the outside of Canadian
emigration office, we might get a glimpse of horseshoe falls. Canadians however
had built the immigration building in such way that view of the falls was
completely blocked. We, as a lost resort, requested immigration officials to
let see the falls through windows at least. They flatly refused and we found
the windows heavily curtained.
Dejected, we walked back on the bridge and completed US
immigration procedure. Niagara falls had become total letdown for us. Now a
days, I believe that there is a huge observation centre built on US side, from
which all the falls area can be seen any time of the year. Most important thing
is that all the information is available to a traveller through internet.
Case of the missing exposure meter
In the same US tour, we also visited
Disney World in Orlando. This was really the first time, when we had visited a
real theme park and naturally found it very exciting. We had stayed in Miami
with one of my close fiend’s brother and had booked a two day bus tour. The bus
would pick us up from Miami in the morning and take us to Disney World and drop
us back in the evening. We found the various rides very thrilling. Essentially
they were all roller coasters, where a small buggy shaped in different shapes
runs down on tracks at great speed. These tracks normally have many ups and
downs and give that great ‘going downhill’ thrill. There was one ride, that was
known as ‘Big thunder mountain railroad’ This was described as a family-friendly
roller coaster train ride in a mine with drops, turns, and dark caverns. We
bought tickets for this ride and sat in a buggy with seat belts on.
At that time I had an old Leica camera of WWII vintage
belonging to my father. It had separate knobs for controlling aperture and
exposure. There was no built in photometer like modern cameras and we had to
use a separate ‘Weston’ make exposure meter. Both the camera and exposure meter
had separate leather cases with neck straps, which I would normally wear in a
cross fashion.
We found the thunder mountain ride very exciting and
thrilling and were quite satisfied. But when we alighted from the buggy and
came out I realized with horror that the neck strap of my exposure meter had
broken and the exposure meter was missing. I couldn’t imagine my father’s
feelings when he would know that his favourite exposure meter is lost. We
returned back to Miami in rather a sad mood.
In the night, I told my host, what has happened? He just
smiled and said don’t worry, you are in US. Tomorrow morning when you reach the
reception counter just go to the ‘Lost and found’ counter nearby. Even though
he consoled me, I couldn’t sleep properly that night.
Next morning, as we approached the front gate and reception
counter of Disney world, I saw the ‘Lost and found’ room next to reception
counter. With pounding heart I approached the lady behind the counter and
described her my lost exposure meter. She asked a few more questions and then
asked me wait and went inside an adjoining room. She must have taken a few
minutes to return but those minutes seemed to be like ages.
She was back in a short time and as I watched with a
pounding heart, she held something in her hand. Bingo, it was my exposure
meter. A wave of happiness spread over me. I had never felt so happy before. I
thanked her and walked out after signing some papers.
The case of missing exposure meter was solved just in a day.
21 December 2025
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