Oahu, 'The Gathering Place'

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‘The Gathering Place’ Oahu

Just exactly why people gathered on this wee little island, I will never know. Nor can I ever find just why on this particular island is the capital city of the state of Hawaii, Honolulu situated. One would expect that a city on the BIG Island would be the capital.

However, this is in keeping with the American system.

We used to play ‘quiz-quiz’ as children, and when asked ‘What is the capital of California’, even very bright children always came out with answers like ‘Los Angeles’ or ‘San Franscisco’, and felt cheated when they were told that neither Los Angeles nor San Franscisco had the honor but it is Sacramento.

Again, the capital of the state of Washington is Olympia, not Seattle.

Maybe the position of the island, midway between Hawaii and Kauai, makes it important.
Otherwise, it has no edge over the other islands that I can see. However much hyped the Waikiki beach might be or the Diamond Head, they just pale in comparison to the attractions of the other islands.

Maybe the Pearl Harbour and the Arizona Memorial make it important. The history of the attack on Pearl Harbour is well known. (I have a fundamental question here. Just when does history becomes ‘history’? Can the events of past one century be termed as ‘history’? Events of past one year (Tsunami of 26 Dec 2005 for example), however earth-shaking they might have been, are ‘history’? Do the events of past one day become ‘history’ today? How do you define ‘history’?

Maybe the ‘Polynesian Cultural Center’ makes it important. I do not know.

The statue of Kamahemaha, (Kam, Greatest of the Great is how I interpret his name. Kam is the God of Love in Hindu panthology.) adorned with ‘leis’ of all sorts of flowers, welcomes you at the very start of the tour in Honolulu. His story can certainly be termed ‘history’.

By the way, I have a copyright and a patent on this word ‘panthology’. I coined it from two words ‘pantheon’ and ‘mythology’. Anyone wanting to use this word has to take my permission in writing.

We had taken a ‘circle island tour’ because we spent only one day at Honolulu. The ship would be in Kauai’s Nawiliwili harbour the next day. We saw the Nawiliwili flowers in bloom everywhere on the islands, again reminding us strongly of India. It was the beginning of March and the Palash trees were just putting forth the red, velvety blossoms to welcome the Spring, the ‘Vasant Ritu’( Nawiliwili is the Palash tree of India).

Psst ! What a wonderful opening it will give me back home to point to a flowering Palash tree and exclaim ‘Look at that Nawiliwili’. My friends would be forced to ask me why I am calling that poor Palash tree names, and with great modesty, I will tell them that ‘ever since I have been to Hawaii, you know, I am mixing up Indian names and Hawaiian names, and I really meant Palash when I said ‘Nawiliwili’.”

This is known as ‘Hoomalimali’ (showing off) in Hawaiian.

If I know human nature, my friends will not remain my friends after this. So, tempting though the thought was, I definitely am not going to do any place-name-dropping.

The Hanauma bay, as we looked down upon it (literally, not figuratively) from the vantage point of a hill lookout did look very inviting. People were swimming, sun-bathing or snorkeling. The beach, carpeted with white sand, was dotted here and there with umbrellas for shade. We could even see a white cabin, probably the lookout of a lifeguard.

Pamela Anderson does not work as lifeguard on that beach, otherwise it would have been more crowded.

They also showed us a tree from which a pineapple was hanging. To my Indian eyes, it DID look rather odd and suspicious. Pineapples do NOT grow on the trees, do they? Maybe it is just a plastic tree put up for decoration.

No, the tree was real enough, and the fruit too was real enough, but it was not pineapple. However, majority of the tourists think it is pineapple and so they call it “Tourist pineapple”. Later, somewhere in a landscaped garden, saw a ‘Tourist pineapple’ in a beautiful shade of pink with golden green leaves and it looks SO good.

Some beaches on this island are surfers’ paradise. We DID see the attempts of an amateur surfer to put the surfboard on the crest of a wave and to put himself on the board at the same time, but the synchronization was missing.

The sight was hilarious, but it also brought the conviction home to us that the only surfing we can do is net-surfing.

When we reached Halona blowhole, it was not ‘blowing’ because it was the low tide time, so we really did not see it blowing. The coast is very wild and people have been swept away from it in the past and found three days later.

We also visited Macadamia nut factory. The garlic-flavored nuts were absolutely delicious, so, I am sure, they can’t be good for health.

The Dole pineapple plantation held no special attraction for us because we ARE from pineapple country. In Assam, hills upon hills have been planted with pineapples in diagonal rows and from a distance, the one whole hill looks like a giant pineapple.

Oahu locations have been filmed in many Hollywood movies, but we could not identify them before. Now we can, and it used to give me immense pleasure to point out to the TV screen and exclaim to my husband “Look, we have been there. Do you remember, we were passing the windward coast of Oahu? This is the same location.”

I will have to learn not to do it anymore, because, invariably, his response is “See!! I told you. What was the necessity of spending all that money and going to Hawaii, when you could see it in our own home and that too without any cost?”

I have never understood his point about money anyway. I keep remembering a Sanskrit quotation. A loose translation is:

There are three ways Money will go away, donation (Daan), enjoyment (Bhog), ruin(Nash)
One, who does not donate, does not spend it to enjoy, his money will go the third way (ruin).

I would rather spend and enjoy the money, preferably HIS money.

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Photos

Halona Blowhole
Halona Blowhole, which is not 'blowing' here

The Sandy Beach
The Sandy Beach