Canada 'a land without walls'

                                  

2.   Niagara – a water fall from the heaven

The wish to see the Niagara Falls is more than forty years old which was sprang up to my mind when I saw it first on the big screen, in a Malayalam film in 1970s titled ‘Ezhamkadalinakkare’, in which KR Vijaya, the late Tamil actress and an American guest artist performed the duet ‘Suraloka jaladhara ozhuki, ozhuki..’    The lyric of song says that, in Niagara the water is falling directly from the heaven itself, which tickles the mind. There the sky draws a picture of colours.

The distance from my host’s apartment to the Niagara is 140 kms which was supposed to be travelled in a car in two hours. But we took three hours to reach there not because of any traffic block or any problems like that. Vadely, my niece’s husband was told to drive the car slowly so that I could enjoy the sights on either sides of the express highway.

It was in this journey I could understand the standard and quality of the roads and the road traffic system in Canada. Less occupied land of Canada might be the basic reason for the straight and flat roads even in the midst of the cities and towns which showed the excessiveness of land to lay-outing the network of roads even to the friendliest neighbouring country, the US. As the roads are straight almost all vehicles are moving above 100 kms/hour. But some are moving at a terrific speed of more than 120 kms/hour. Still the driving is safe and hassle-free.

During my stay in Canada for 20 days, I couldn’t see even a single accident on the country roads, National Highways and Express ways, which were something unbelievable for someone from India, where 1, 40000 lives are sacrificed on the roads and railways every year. I noticed the front, back and sides of the cars and other vehicles without any scratches, to audit the discipline in driving. Out of the thousands only five or ten cars were seemed to have met with small accidents or brush with another vehicle while taking them from car shed or underground parking areas of apartments.  

When we reached Niagara-on-the Lake, it was 1.00 pm where the tip of the street was thronged with tourists and the parking yards were packed with small and big passenger vehicles. As the roads were slightly steep into the spectator galleries, I felt the same resemblance of the Kovalam beach in Thiruvanathapuram, lest the roads in Niagara were with more width and beautified with plants and meadows. 

Niagara-on-the Lake is the official name of the town that has a small population of 17500 only and that has been scattered in 132.81 km². After the preliminary observation of the town and the water falls we queued up for entering the boat that takes the tourists near to the water falls through the river. There were two boats equally participating in the services, one owned by the US for the tourists from US border and another owned by Canada for the tourists from Canada border.

The US takes the tourists from the US harbour just opposite to the Canada harbour. The US tourists have blue rain coats while their counterparts from Canada have orange rain coats. Though it was a sunny and bright after noon, first I didn’t understand the need of the rain cost per tourist whose price might have been levied with the journey ticket worth of 30 CAD (approximately Rs. 1550). The use-and-throw rain coats are protective for the passengers to keep themselves dry when they are approaching the Horse Shoe portion of the falls. On the way to Horse Shoe portion, on the left side one can see other two; the American falls and next to that the Bridal Veil Falls. When the boat approached the Horse Shoe first there experienced a sprinkle of water, gradually it was a drizzling and at last it was a heavy rain as the boat was close to the 51 metre height drop.    As the name itself denotes the tourists and their boats were trapped in an area shaped horse shoe, where there were hue and cry from every mouth out of the tickling when the cold pure water was sprayed on the cheeks and eyes. In the thunder sound of the falls the hue and cry were not heard even to the person who stood next on the deck of the boat that was dangling like a pendulum on the surface of the river for a moment when the speed was controlled. When looked up to see the peak of the Horse Shoe, what I could see were the mist and the sky that merged together as I couldn’t see the upper ridge of the falls, but was feeling that the water was falling from the sky itself, where there was a slit of sky from the atmosphere. 

At that time I couldn’t resist myself the flashing of the scenes of the ‘Ezhamkadalinakkare’ in my mind, returning from the visit what I did immediately was replaying on the small screen that particular part of the film talking Youtube. To my surprise what I could see was some changes on the bank of the river on the US side with three or four more skyscrapers. Within the forty years of the film production and the present time, almost other things like galleries, parapets, roads and landscapes were not much affected with construction of buildings. Both the US portion and the Canadian portion of the towns are known as Niagara, though they are in two different territories of two different countries. Though Canada has a considerable legacy with the UK and France in language, culture and day-today-life, the proximity compels Canada to accept US as a big-brother, which had been welcomed by both the countries. 

Another thought that was flashing through my mind was ‘how amicably both the countries, the US and Canada are caring for and protecting the cluster of three drops of water and has opened them for the entire people of the world.’ It is said that nationals from 150 countries visit the falls at an average rate of 82000 per day. Canada and the US are linked through bridges across the Niagara River, where there is liberalised entry for both countries’ citizens and for the easy transport of goods. Someone from India, which is always disturbed of the border issues and political feud of motherland with neighbouring countries, may feel envious of the co-operation and understanding of the US and Canada on their trade, commerce, transportation, language and culture.

Niagara-on-the Lake is a serene and a fashioned town with all modern amenities like motels, restaurants, casinos, amusement parks, shops and food stalls of different tariff that may suit to the taste of thousands of international tourists who throng daily. It was curious to know from Mr Vadely, that there was a Kerala hotel in Niagara and that too was run by someone from Ernakulam, my curiosity reached its peak.  We got the noon meal from the hotel at 3 o’clock with almost all same recipe of Kerala, cooked by someone from Kerala and served by a native Canadian. 

                                                                                                        

The smallest church                                       

While returning from Niagara-on-the Lake it was 5.30 evening, when Vadely, my host and our ‘tour guide’ told about the smallest church in the world. Seeming his enthusiasm to enquire about it with a friend over the mobile phone, I responded to my curiosity to see it, whereas it was on the way back to our apartment at Don Mills in Toronto. Though he had heard about it months ago, he hadn’t seen this ‘smallest wonder’ on the side of River Road between Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls.

 

As the sky was cloudy and the heavy rain had been started we couldn’t find out the smallest church on the wayside, where the straight village road that prolonged like a ribbon. Left side of the road the vast and boundary-less vineyards with brisk sprouts of the newly planted saplings were bent due to heavy rain. On our right side Niagara on-the-Lake flows downwards with its all fury in between the two countries, the US and Canada.

The Living Water Wayside Chapel, the smallest church is rectangular in shape, fully made of wood, even the thatched roof would have been made of some kind of seasoned-wood. Though I didn’t measure the length and width, the plinth area of the church comes approximately eight feet width and 10 feet length. The only entrance opens to outside where there is a small platform facing the road.

The space inside the church has been managed stringently with 10 seats for the worshipers on three pews on left side and another two pews on right side. The church has no alter as the churches of Roman Catholics or other churches. At the end of the ‘hall’ the holy Bible had been opened on a small stand. That was the only holy article one could see in the smallest church, no tabernacle, statues, bell and candles. At the first look itself I could understand that the smallest church belonged to any non-Catholic group in Canada. At least 10 believers and the pastor might be assembling in the church once in a week for prayers and for reading Bible as a community which binds them stronger. The flyers kept on a small table at the right corner next to the entrance, have several Bible quotes that represent the beliefs of the devotees.

 

While flashing the cameras of the phones at the threshold of the chapel one must say unknowingly ‘small is beautiful, smallest is most beautiful…’ 

The pastoral landscape around the smallest church reminded me of the landscape of Great Britain drawn in the novels of Dickens and the poems of Wordsworth, though I haven’t seen the landscape of Europe directly. On the vicinity one sees houses and farm houses outside each, two or three cars, tractors and a trolley on which a mechanised white boat is fixed to be towed to the near-by lake or river. Though grapes are the staple crop, apple and high yielding vegetables are growing in the field so as the produces be marketed in the village itself. Seeing the ‘Country side market’ at the end of the front yard of the smallest church, this conclusion of mine took its evidence.

The veranda of the country-side market was open for the farmers to come with the produces and sell them to the first buyer who runs the market. The buyers of the public or the passers-by can buy them from the owner of the market. The shop and store of the market had been closed much earlier than the usual time due to the heavy summer-rain. An elegant and enthusiastic woman of sixty came to us and told ‘sorry’ for the inconveniences made by her by pulling down the shutters much earlier than the usual closing schedule.  Though we couldn’t buy anything from her country-side market, she allowed us to have a look through the grills of the shutter, where hand-made chocolate and some other produces from the farms and small scale units were piled up for sale.

Canada ‘a land without walls'

 

1.   What Indians dream in Canada?

…

I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.  

…

These are the lines from Robert Frost’s poem ‘Mending Wall’ that was written in 1914.

It involves two rural neighbours who meet one spring day to walk along the wall that separates their landed properties. They are about to repair the wall.

The speaker in the poem is a progressive individual who starts to question the need for such a wall in the first place. The neighbour beyond the hill is a traditionalist and has, it seems, little time for such nonsense of caring for the wall.

No doubt the setting of the event must be somewhere in North American continent. Most surely, the US.

But after I journeyed the provinces of Ontario and Montreal and the cities of Toronto and Ottawa, I believe that the setting best suits to Canada, than the US. There in Canada, front yard of the houses, if there is anything like that, is open and unprotected without any wall, fencing or gate as one sees in Kerala and elsewhere in India. This unprotected or uncontrolled welcome to homes or apartments was something new which I couldn’t believe when I observed them first. Only a few houses or buildings have wall or fencing at the fringe of the green-carpeted backyard, that too is weaker, with some ornamental plants or wooden planks. The four sides of the apartments, schools, government offices, hotels or supermarkets were open from any side, without compound walls.

“The person who makes walls is an introvert or greedy”. Once a friend of mine had told me. The natives of Canada may also think the axiom true, that is why they don’t make walls or mark and fortify the entrance with a gate or arch.

This openness is reflected in the immigration policy of Canada, which has become an attraction of lakhs of aspirants from different parts of the globe to reach the dreamland at the earliest, beating the hurdles of immigration. Several youngsters in India, especially from Delhi, Haryana, Maharahtra, Karnataka and Tamilnadu cherish the dream of migrating to Canada, either for higher education or employment. Ask any ten of the fresh graduates and post-graduates in Kerala about their future plan, at least two will say “… planning to Canada.”

It is against this background I thought of writing this first segment of my travel book, illustrating the real picture of the Canadian economic and social life, than the vagaries that may embarrass the prospective immigrants.

I visited Canada in May - June 2019.  It was thanks to the invitation of my two nieces and their husbands, who had been settled in Toronto seeking their fortunes there. One of the nieces was well settled in Bangalore with her IT job, and the husband of the next was one migrated to Canada four years ago for doing a course in Management Science after his BTech in India.

The reason for the Canadian policy of welcoming efficient, qualified and English speaking immigrants to their land is easily comprehensible;

Canada is three times bigger than India. While India has 3,287,263 km² of land, Canada has 9,984,670 km² of land. But the population is just 40 lakhs more than that of Kerala, i.e. 37,602,103 only. If this 9,984,670 km² of land was equally divided for 37,602,103, 0.266 km² would be the share of each citizen. Indian citizen’s average share of land in their homeland is 0.002 km².This is one of the reasons for their welcoming efficient, qualified and English speaking immigrants to their country. The fertile land, fields, land locked lakes, rivers, forests, prairies and unlimited natural resources tempt the people from all over the world to reach there and live a happy and prosperous life. The liberal immigration policy has become the hook of fish-line that appeases many to reach this ‘land where honey and milk flow…’

No doubt that among the 163 countries, Canada ranks sixth in the year 2019 and continues its sixth position from 2015 onward in the list of Global Peace Index (GPI). This rating of the GPI has been produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Sydney, Australia.  The GPI methodology of 2019 considered 23 indicators like; internal and external conflicts, intensity of conflicts, criminality in the society, political instability and impact of terrorism. In 2019 India slipped 5 places to 141 on Global Peace Index while Iceland topped first.  Afghanistan which has 158^th rank is now a least peaceful country in the world, sometimes better than Iraq, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and Somalia.

Yet another reason for promoting immigration to the country might be the dull increase in the rate of growth of population, which is calculated to 0.73% with 140^th rank among the world nations, while India’s position is 95 with 1.17% growth. No way, this rate of growth of population is hopeful to get manpower to be spread over the land in the coming decades.

A fourth reason for the liberal immigration is the mind of Canada that had been formed to welcome population from other nations. The present natives are mainly the descendants of the immigrants who came from France and Britain for permanent settlement in 18^th and 19^th century, which had already been turned Canada into ‘a paradise of immigrants.’ The Chinese immigration started in 1850, where their share is 5.1% of the population of Canada, while Indian share is 4%. The mind of Canada for immigration had been formulated positive through the Europeans, Chinese and the Afro-American communities. So a country, whose culture, language and day-today-life had been formulated on the platform of global immigration, be welcoming the rest of the world to enjoy the nature and natural resources available there. Thus the ‘sons of the soil’ argument shall not be emerged easily there in Canada.

I happened to see several immigrants from India doing their educational programmes in different institutions in Toronto and nearby places. The diploma and degree programmes take: one, one and a half years or three years for completion. I don’t know whether there is any programme, whose expenditure is below rupees, fifteen lakhs. In order to meet the two ends, almost all these immigrant students from India work in different places.

There in Canada, the migrant Indian students shake off their delusion on the ‘dignity of job’. What is their delusion on the dignity of job? An average Indian in his/her homeland believes and behaves that any job that demands physical effort is of lower standard and wretched, especially household responsibilities of cooking, washing plates, washing clothes or cleaning floors. In their homeland they won’t wash even a kerchief or clean the wash basin even in any emergency. They sometimes, throw away the plates when mother asks them to wash them in the kitchen, or protest by wearing un-ironed dress when mother seeks out help for ironing. Requests of mothers for cleaning the living-room using a broom or cleaning the toilet using a brush by an adolescent may result in ‘mishap’ in relationship. Parents also inculcate misconception on degrading manual labour on the pretext that those jobs were reserved for women and the ‘weaker sections’ of the society.

But when they reach a foreign country for existence they get rid of their basic approach of considering manual labour as a disgrace. Except a few unlike the one Indian youth I saw near ‘Food Land’ in Toronto, almost all Indian students are somewhat happy with the part-time job they have to raise some ‘fund’ for their education in Canada.

Near the ‘Food Land’ he was cleaning the side path of the road after someone had cut the grass using light machines. This Indian youth looked dull and uninterested in his work and was scanning several times whether he had been observed by others. While his native co-workers had proceeded their task with much interest and attentiveness, this young man from India, seemed dissatisfied with his piece of work.

The minimum wage rate for labour is around 20 CAD for one hour. An Indian youth from Kodanad in Kerala, a salesman in a supermarket in Don Mills, another one from Ernakulam who works in a coffee shop in the Down Town, Toronto, and yet another two girls from Angamaly, who serve Biriyani in a food stall in Scarborough were seemed extremely happy with their part-time jobs that fetched handsome income to support their living and education in Canada.  

With three or four hours of work per day or 20 hours of work in a week, their life in Canada become busier to busier including attending classes on working days in the college or university. Why do they take such a sacrifice is understandable, it is for making a footing in Canada during the course of study or term of stay-back, to experiment with their fortune. Part-time jobs awaiting immigrant-students go like; grass cutting, cleaning floor, cleaning the toilets in public places, serving at the counter of outlets, working in coffee shops. Attendants in supermarkets, volunteers in tourist places and so on are general category jobs for which no experience or no special training is necessary. Opticians, teachers and drivers are the highly demanded jobs now, for which license or a sort of authentication from Canadian government is necessary. So, such jobs could be attained by those who had been educated in Canada for these jobs,   through which they become eligible for these professions.