Events in State College
Pennsylvania Festival of Arts
Each year during summer, on the month of July, Pennsylvania Arts Festival occurs in the state college which is arranged by the Pennsylvania State University. Artists and art lovers come from various parts of the state and also nation wide. That was the biggest event of performing arts in State College.We had visited twice( once each year ) and enjoyed this biggest gathering of people. That's like a fair( we had experienced many of them in our country).Good foods were available on the road side stalls.Performing art shows continued from morning to late night in different venues. Flower shows, fountains and other entertainments were also available here and there. Artists from different backgrounds gave their own stall and sat to explain their works to the general audience.The total event was very much well organized. Our experience was very good particularly during different kinds of performing arts and we were overwhelmed by the overall systematic management.
Winter festivals
We spend our full 2001 winter season in State college and observed many winter events including snow shower, cold thunder storms, flurries and even 20" snow fall on the city roads. We went out several times with in the snow and freezing cold. But surprisingly this time the snow level and snow fall rate were very low compared to the other seasons. I might have been brought warm wave with me in this reign of snow. So, I had experienced only up to -10 to -15 degree Celsius during the Christmas days and on the new year eve. But we had observed few snow falls also in late February and early March. We took few pictures of snow covered State College from our balcony. Usually people in state college don't experience snow in October but in 2002, it snowed constantly for two days ( 29th and 30th ) just before our return flight on 31st. We enjoyed enormously our last snow view in State College and also captured it in our camera. Surprisingly we had a crystal clear day on 31st. Probably nature fulfilled my last wish before leaving State college. In 2001, we went out in the severe cold nights to observe the Christmas and the new year eve celebration in State College. The experience was wonderful! The city was decorated with lights.Each year during this time the main winter event of State College occurs.The festival of Ice Sculptures.Few thousand tons of ice come from outside to build up huge structures and at night they are illuminated. It was an excellent experience for me.Amit already been present in this event before.We took few beautiful pictures and I hope the memories will prevail for life time.
Parties to Remember
When I came directly from India in March'01, I didn't know much about party's as they were so infrequent in Calcutta and specially for me as I was a very domestic animal in nature.I had attended very few of them in my earlier life but in USA everybody love party.Those might be of any kind-potluck lunch,diner,birthday party,special celebration either outdoor or indoor.I had attended a lot but may be only a few with compared to others.American culture is incomplete without them.People like to throw party even with a minimal reason to celebrate.On each weekend people spend hours in parties with/without drinks,foods etc.And people like students and visitors in the university from other parts of the world enjoy life in those occasions.May be, they try to forget their missing homeland and fellow people.These are the occasions where some known people meet,talk,eat and have some fun.This is life!These are the best ways to enjoy life in a very short period of life time! May be these are not my own evaluations but matches perfectly with the views of those party attendees.
But anyway I also enjoyed few of them of course. So, I wanted to share some memorable moments of those party life.
We were going to remember our birthday parties in abroad for the rest of our lives! No one else were invited other than two of us.We enjoyed every moment together.I dressed in traditional Indian sharee and ornaments.Amit also dressed casually, like bengali babu. My office colleagues also celebrated my birth day at my work place in 2002.Every body wished and presented me with birthday gift.I was overwhelmed by their hearty greetings.I cooked good Indian dishes in both of ours birthdays in each year.
In May'01 we invited the eminent physicist and Amit's senior, Prof. Abhay astekar,(also the director of the Gravitational Physics Center in the Penn State University) his family(wife,son and sister in law) and Prof.Jeorge Pullin( Asst. Dir of the center) his wife Prof.Gabriella and a visiting Prof. from Uruguay university. I cooked first time for 11 people! Me and Amit helped each other and enjoyed the cooking.We cooked chicken biriyani,rayta,suji and egg devil.That was a pleasant experience.Everybody praised our cooking.They enjoyed Indian dishes.
The next remarkable party event was with Amit's old friend Soma di, Soumyo da , their one year little girl and Somadi's parents.Soma di and Soumyo da came to State College to attend a conference from Germany and their parents came to take care of Sreya( their one year old daughter).The day they came to our house was Shreya's 1st birth day.I cooked new dishes and they were delighted.Soma di pictured us together as a pair and she also send those pictures later.We had Bengali chat time in an alien country and enjoyed those few hours enormously.
In October'01 Amit told me that an eminent physicist is coming to visit the Penn State University. He is a Nobel laureate and very famous in his own field.Amit was quite exited also to welcome his visit in State College.Then he announced that we were invited to attend a party which had been called to honor Mr. Hooft.That was going to be a pot-luck diner.I cooked Indian Aloor Dom and garnished that with eggs on the top.Every body loved and enjoyed it.We spend only few hours as we were preparing for our one week tour to Canada on the next morning.
In 2002 May, I invited Shirley and Walt Freeman (my office colleague and her husband) in our apartment for an Indian diner.They were fond of good Indian dishes.I cooked egg,potato and cauliflower curry, turkey cutlet and pea kochuri. Tomato-raisin-date chutney was served as a desert. They were really delighted and also learned how to make kochuri.We enjoyed appreciation of our Indian dishes!
We arranged a barbecue party in August to give farewell to Ashoke da and sumothi di.They were leaving State College for Italy. We bought food , picked them up and came to our barbecue ground around 5-30 P.M. Then we started our fire and it was real hard as that was a very windy day. At last the charcoal caught the fire and we prepared vegetable , chicken burgers, grilled corns, baked potato and eggplant. We prepared some salads also. It was real fun!.
The Last party in the US before our return journey was with Shirley and Walt Freeman. Shirley was my office colleague but we became very good friends in few months and she loved me very much. We stayed about 25 long days in their house as guests just before our departure. Those days were very much homely and sweet. They were so much accommodating and friendly that we felt like living in our own home. We had several delightful diners with them. But the last night before our departure was very special. We celebrated their 22nd marriage anniversary, Halloween night and also our last supper in a nice restaurant in State College on 30th of October'02. That was a gorgeous night! Everybody ordered their favorite dishes and we had wonderful time together! I wished that we could join again with Freeman's to have some good diner parties in India too. And they had promised to come to India and Calcutta in future. We had pictured few nice moments of that memorable night.
I always wished to share our memories and invaluable experiences in the US with others. Specially with our friends and relatives. I hope that everybody would find this web site an interesting and enjoyable one. I would welcome any comment or any suggestions regarding the information I provided herewith.
Good Bye !
This page is developed by Paulami Ghosh
E-mail: paulami_g@rediffmail.com
Few More Memorable Pictures