I remember, Part III: Cherries and the Big Apple

I despised Mike Monahan without ever having met him. He was an American colleague of my father - briefly stationed in Bangalore. He advised my father that for a year at least, I should not travel much outside Buffalo, being 'new' to the country. And, Daddy's girl that I was, I obeyed him and hence obeyed Mike Monahan and therefore, despised him.

Now that this bit has been explained, let me tell you how I loved the beginning of Spring in Buffalo. Imagine being buffeted in by snow - on any given day 2-3 feet easily - clumping through the whiteness in snow boots that, because they needed to be functional, looked like worksman's boots. [Perhaps some graduate student threw them out eventually - I left them in the lab as a gift for my erstwhile labmates] All the snow was to blame for the 30-40 pounds I packed on real fast. It feels so much better now that I can blame snow for my obesity.

The first sight of Spring in Buffalo came in the form of tiny pink cherry blossoms. A single sighting at 8 am would bring a smile to my face. And, when the whole tree burst into bloom, cherry blossoms and Spring brought with them a dear friend to Buffalo. Lets call her Winnie. The Pooh. Okay, just Winnie. I have a picture of her wearing a long flowing black/brown dress patterned with pink flowers - standing beneath a cherry blossom tree. Smiling. Although, she ceased to smile when she entered my room and took to cleaning with vengeance and a broom. On Winnie's insistence (and considerable indignation at being locked up in a closet-like room for 3 consecutive days), we made a day trip to New York City. And, THAT was my first trip outside Buffalo.