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Montreal, the city of Great Heritage
Highlights
If one has an intense desire to visit a city as ancient as the Holy Bible in its heritage and as modern as tomorrow in civilization the city of Montreal generally strikes one’s mind. Although the author’s recent visit to the city was an official one, the intense desire to study as many aspects of life as possible of citizens of Canada in comparison with that of India was very strong but at the same time presumptuous.
If one has an intense desire to visit a city as ancient as the Holy Bible in its heritage and as modern as tomorrow in civilization the city of Montreal generally strikes one’s mind. Although the author’s recent visit to the city was an official one, the intense desire to study as many aspects of life as possible of citizens of Canada in comparison with that of India was very strong but at the same time presumptuous.
The most friendly disposition and courteous nature of Canadians make foreigners feel quite at home in a far off land. Another impressive factor is the pin drop silence people maintain even on the busy roads while clamour is the basic feature of relations even in households in India.
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An aesthete’s attention would be held captive with several tourist attractions in this ancient and totally pollution-free city which cannot be covered in two or three days if one wants to study in detail. The Basilica and the old fort are a few examples.
1. Old Fort in downtown Old Montreal is one of the stupendous structures of the city. The cobblestone streets of more than three and an half centuries old take the visitors to a dreamy past. Today art galleries, artisans’ boutiques, terraces and cafes conduct business in these gracious buildings of 18th and 19th centuries. One can visit the charmingly beautiful old quarter aboard horse-drawn carriages.
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2. The basilica has a historical, cultural and architectural legacy and has many outstanding works of art.
Traffic is perfectly organised. Footpaths are for the exclusive use of pedestrians while roads are meant only for vehicular traffic. When I walked a few yards in a road margin where a portion of the footpath was temporarily closed for repair, just following the footsteps of two local ladies, I was caught by the police for interrogation along with the two ladies.
I was asked to stand aside for a second. After the ladies were penalised despite pleas for exoneration, the Police asked me whether I didn’t observe the board indicating closure of pedestrian path. When I pleaded that I didn’t observe it in my hurry to reach the conference place in time I was let off with a polite advice that traffic rules are meant for our security only and whishing me ‘good day.’
I was astonished at the high civic sense of the public. Pedestrians never cross the streets when red lights are on although the roads are empty. There is free right turn for vehicles but the chauffeurs proceed only after the pedestrians are cleared. Their strict adherence to traffic rules makes life safe and secure.
Despite severity of winter, the activity of people commences daily at 7.30 a.m. itself. Officials are found practically striding on the footpaths eating bread and sipping juice in a hurry to reach their places of work within time. Smoking in public is not prohibited but cigarette butts are not found anywhere on the roads and they are thrown only in the baskets provided for the purpose. People take pains to carry waste papers or material in their hands till they find a dust bin. Waste material is recycled and recycle bins are placed everywhere.
Despite the fact that hugging, kissing and caressing in open form an integral part of the French culture, only sporadic cases could be seen, unlike the unusually large number of young unmarried pairs found in dark corners and shades of trees and buildings in the evening twilights in every city and town of India, performing deeds that well established traditions of India have strictly prohibited.
Life for an Indian in Montreal is happy, comfortable, jovial, spritely, safe and secure but for food. Life is not expensive if Canadian dollar is treated as the perfect Canadian counterpart of the Indian rupee but pang arises only when the Canadian dollar is converted into Indian currency. Ladies enjoy complete freedom and they share accommodation in dormitories along with men with least fear and with full assurance of safety and security to their lives and wellbeing. Disabled people drive motorised bicycles specially designed for them even on the busy roads, which seems desirable to be emulated in India.
Life is so organised that there is no scope for frustration to the civilized people. Perhaps life is well organised in all the west that might have prompted Bertrand Russell to say at the fag end of his 98 year life that “I found this life worth living and will gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.” Canada is a land of high morals, polite manners, highest values, and highly respectable etiquette with a helping nature if the need arises, total absence of crime, strict adherence to rule of law, unusually high civic sense which make life worth living. With all the thrill and joy in Canada and my admiration for Canada, I reached the soil of India, and felt like Walter Scott:
“This is my own, my native land, and
(My) heart has within (me) burned,
As (my) footsteps (I) have turned (to India),
From wandering on a foreign strand,” dreaming the dawn of similar civilization in India, my homeland.
By Dr.Chaganti Nagaraja Rao
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