More America

“The Grizzly Bear, sometimes called the Silvertip Bear, is a powerful brownish-yellow bear that lives in the uplands of western North America. They reach weights of 180–680 kg (400–1,500 lb); the male is on average 1.8 times as heavy as the female.
The Grizzly has a large hump over the shoulders which is a muscle mass used to power the forelimbs in digging. The head is large and round with a concave facial profile. In spite of their massive size, these bears can run at speeds of up to 55 km/h (35 mph).
They usually inhabit Alaska, parts of Canada, and states of northwestern United States including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Being omnivores, grizzlies feed on a variety of plants and berries, insects, large mammals such as moose, sheep, and caribou, and fish like salmon, trout, and bass. The year 2005 was a notably bad year for fatal bear attacks in Canada with 5 in span of only a few months, generating increased media attention on the subject. Wildlife conservation officials issued public warnings in certain areas known to have large bear populations in close proximity to humans.”
-- Edited text; source: www.wikipedia.com

My friend Leslie took me grizzly bear watching last Thursday. Something that I had so far seen on television and read about in books and magazines, stood right in front of me, barely 3 feet away, separated from me by two wire meshes. Thick, steel wire meshes. In spite of that, when the tallest and biggest of the group decided to check the two of us out -- and therefore stood up -- I backed away a couple of steps. He must have been at least 6 feet 3 inches or so tall. In other words, 6 feet plus of pure muscle, fur and grizzlie-ness. Leslie and I had gone to the Washington State University, to see the grizzlies on campus bred by their veterinary science department. Grizzlies of all ages, sizes, and gender indulging in all kinds of activities. So while there was a “toddler” grizzly frolicking in the water and taking occasional sips of the same, there was another who decided to walk the entire length with us and even stood up and rubbed his back against the wire mesh as part of his “check me out, girls” plan. A few, and these were huge, were safely tucked into sprawling cages…they chose to pace the cages continuously and occasionally looked in our direction to grunt and acknowledge our presence.

Not only did I not have my camera that evening, photographing them would have been particularly difficult. The wire between them and me (not that I am complaining!) would have rendered it nearly impossible to find a big enough spot through which to focus on them. However, Leslie has loaned me a picture to put up here. It shows her with a baby grizzly. Leslie’s friend works at the Washington State University, and has the onerous responsibility of taking care of baby grizzlies. Here, at her house, Leslie can be seen doing the same. Hopefully, before my return to Delhi I would have had a similar opportunity. As long as they are this size, picking one up and posing will not kill me with fright, it’s the 6 feet tall adults that I am not that enthusiastic about.


The next evening, that is Friday, was an adventure of a wholly different kind. The Latah County Fair, which I assume is an annual event in this Moscow, was held this weekend. On my insistence, my dear friend Parul trudged along with me to check it out. Even a small local fair, has so much on display that it’s mind-boggling. Food, animals for buy and sell, toys and games, and rides. Scary rides. We chose to be brave and hence tried out the two scariest rides that were available.

The first step of Ride 1 is to take its passengers-—seated in individual seats within a cage—-to a height of 250 feet (I checked the height with the operator) and leave them suspended there facing the solid ground below. Yes, you are facing the ground below, and not the world straight ahead. And then you are released from that height at a breakneck speed. From 250 feet up in the air, you rush down to meet the earth in a crazy marriage of fear and excitement. When you are absolutely at the top, the feeling is one of absolute paranoia. And then the cage waits for a tantalizing five seconds or so before its heady rush towards the ground. You can see the ground, oh so far, below you. There is nothing between you and certain death except this one layer of steel wire. In case that breaks, that’s it. It’s akin to bungee jumping, except that when you bungee jump, the actual jump happens only once, whereas in this crazy ride, it happens again and again and again.

Ride 2 looked like child’s play compared to this. That is, until we sat in it. The objective of this one is to go round and round in a whirr of speed, crazily oscillating height, and topsy turvy seats. The seats are such that your legs dangle in the air to create the feeling of you holding on to a bar of steel that's in front of your waist, while being thrown out of an aeroplane in midair. Again, if the bar breaks while you are in flight, you would actually “fly” a certain distance thanks to the momentum, before hitting the earth way below you.

Our reactions? Parul shut her eyes within the first fifteen seconds of each ride and then chose to keep them shut throughout. She also stayed absolutely quiet, probably in meditation or in conversation with God. I kept my eyes open but screamed my lungs out, as did several others around me. No wonder, our hearing seemed affected after that. Additionally I did think of the exact process in which I might die in case anything significant were to break in midair.

And oh yeah, American rides go on forever. So in that sense, they are worth every penny you spend on them.