A Walk Down Memory Lane (2009)

1/20/09

I went on my favorite walk last night. I used to walk that route when I was doing my bachelors here. Whenever I would get too tense and needed to wind down, I found this walk to be very relaxing. It starts from the library on my campus and after making a semi-circle spanning around six blocks, reaches the downtown park. A lap around the park and it continues zigzagging through streets until it reaches the library once again. The whole trip's a little over a couple miles long.

I went to the library in the evening yesterday to return a book I'd checked out last week, and decided to go on my favorite walk on the spur of the moment. So I got a cup of coffee from the library cafe and set off. Stepping out of the glass doors of the building, I crossed the street and starting walking on the pavement to the left. On my right, across the street, I saw my bank - Washington Mutual. The financial crisis had hit them hard as well. So much so that they were acquired by Chase. I guess that's still better than getting bankrupt. At least our services haven't been disrupted and everything is going normal with our accounts. Imagine waking up and finding no money in your account! <-- This is posed to those who usually have at least some money in their accounts. :

Across from the bank, on my left, was another tall glass building that had seen better times. It was the headquarters of Knight Ridder, a large publishing house that owned many newspapers at one time. Over the years, it had gone through some pretty rough times, selling and cutting down on publications. The last I heard, it too was acquired by another company. The building retains its old name though. Glass windows through which you can see smartly dressed people sitting in front of their computers even at this time of the night makes you wonder if there is such a thing as a 'stable career' anymore.

On my right, a few steps down, I reached a store of Blockbuster Video. I used to rent a lot of movies from here before I discovered a very large collection of movies I could check out for free from the library. That was the last I stepped into this store.

Crossing another street, I was now on the second block and saw a Starbuck's Coffee on my right across the street. This, along with another Starbuck's a little closer to campus, were my favorite coffee hangouts where I spent many hours applying for grad school on my laptop two years ago. In fact, this was the branch where I got acceptance email from both Rutger's and Thunderbird, out of which I eventually ended up going for Thunderbird.

While crossing another street, I could see the HP Pavilion in the distance, a large football stadium from where supporters of the San Jose Sharks in blue and white jerseys are all you see on weekends whichever way you look.

The next street was my favorite Market Street. Beginning sometime in May all the way till late December, this street transforms itself completely on Fridays. During that time, it is home to the Farmer's Market which covers the whole block and where farmers and growers from all areas nearby bring their fresh produce to sell. There is a lot of color, celebration and interesting people to see during the day there - a lot of free samples, inexpensive good quality produce and nice people to learn from about food.

I took a left from there, walking towards the downtown park a couple blocks away. Here, on my left was the San Jose Art Museum. After it's over, there comes a wide courtyard on the left where, during the 'Christmas in the Park' Festival in the park a little down the street, they put a large ice-skating rink. The whole place is filled with christmas lights and small stalls selling all kinds of candy, beverages and snacks. One of my all-time fav pastimes during the festival was to get a cup of hot chocolate from a stall close-by, sit on the stone steps of the museum, and observe the people in the rink. The expressions on the faces of grown up people while they struggle with skating without falling, taking baby steps while clutching the railing as if their life depends on it (which sometimes really is the case), while watching little kids outdoing them and passing by snickering at them is hilarious.

A few more steps and another street crossing, and I was at the park. After the festival is over and all the decorations pulled down and trucked away, this place loses about 80% of its charm. It is a small park surrounded by busy streets on all sides. So basically, you can call it a big, green roundabout, really. Nevertheless, a full-circle walk around it is refreshing.

After completing the lap, I crossed the street again and started walking my most favorite stretch of the whole track. It is a busy little walking lane between two sets of buildings, with restaurants, cafes and shops heavily dotting both sides. There is also a small bakery across the post office that sells delicious cheesecake. Then on my left comes my old hair salon Tangerine which I have dumped for my cousin's hair salon in her garage. That one's free. :)

Crossing another street brought me to the second branch of Starbuck's Coffee I mentioned earlier. I remember this one more because of my weekend trips to a store I worked at a few years ago for which I used to take the light rail right in front of it. Those trips had to start with Caramel Apple Cider from Starbuck's or I refused to board the light rail.

There is also a Korean beverage house across from it that sells some of my favorite juice drinks. For some reason, it is very ineptly named Quickly Tea Cafe. :/

And then came my all-time favorite downtown stop - the Camera 12 cinema. Being a movie freak, I used to spend atleast one whole day of my weekend here. I used to go in the morning to catch a matinee show and come out at night after my third movie. Everyone knows me in there.

After the cinema, I reached the end of the lane and took a left to get back to the library a couple blocks away. But before my trail ended, there was one more place I remembered. There was, on this street, a balcony of an apartment on the first floor (or ground floor according to some). I saw the empty wooden chair as I got closer. There was no one there as always. It was dark and the curtains were drawn so I couldn't see inside. But that's not why I was there. There was something else I remembered so clearly about that balcony. I wondered if it was still... Yes. Still there. As I reached below the balcony, the familiar waft of chocolate cigar washed all over me.

It was always there at night. And it always took me back to our TV lounge back home in Karachi, where my dad used to smoke a chocolate cigar every other weekend. I loved its smell. This balcony reminded me of him.

A few more strides and I was back at the library, from where I started my 10 minute walk to my apartment, feeling refreshed and relaxed.

This walk never disappointed me.