It was one of those days, the kind that you'll remember for the rest of your life. Woke up early after a long time, 7:30 am. Otherwise, early is 10! Got ready quickly so that I can have my day date with Aa. She's been waiting for this a while, even reminded me not to forget (sent me the cutest message ever). Plan was simple: do a public transit trip around downtown Toronto. For me it'll be the last time for a while, and for her, one of the first times. Myself, it was a bitter sweet good-bye to my home for more than 25 years, for her it was a "WOW". But for me only, it was the exact untangling I needed before staring on my long journey ahead.
She was late as usual, but not in her control. While waiting I got some last errands done and everything seemed in place. We drove together to Scarborough Town Center by 10:30. Aa was in her jogging pants and I wasn't impressed. Offered going to Sears and buy some jeans so that she could change. Needless to say, she furiously declined. We then proceeded to head to the RT station. This required walking through the mall. And that's where the first surprise of the day occurred.
Saw a group of folks holding hands of someone who may not necessarily be their loved one. Weird at first, but not one, two, but a whole bunch of these people. It was my old accountant, and he wasn't by himself. He too was holding someone's hands who I didn't recognize. On further inspection, I realized the commonality: it was a group of mentally handicapped children on a field trip. My accountant stopped to say hello when he noticed me. He was in a rush, but quickly offered me his greetings and seeing my puzzled face, he explained what I had already sorta figured out, that he was chaperoning the group with some other adults as well. The kid he was holding pulled on his hand as a sign to keep on moving. He left hastily without a chance for me to say that he was doing a very nice thing. Though saying such things may actually take away from his nice deed. I think the happiness on the face of a child is all the thanks one needs at times.
Now it was Aa tugging on me to continue our trek. We got a day pass, seemed to make the most sense since we were going to be TTC hoping. The station felt almost the same as always. The long hallway between the mall and the station was identical to how I remember it. Contrast that with the mall which had new hallways interweaving into the horizon and store names which I could hardly pronounce. The long hallway reminded me of the many times where I would wait on the mall end expecting, lets call them friends, to arrive from the station end. These friends and I would then walk hand-in-hand (similar to the accountant) around the mall, more often then not, ending up at the back of the cinemas. But alas, that's a story for some other time.
Toronto still has the best public transit system in the world IMHO. From STC we took the RT to Kennedy. The day wasn't overly cold, and the snow was still out. That became more of a nuisance since I couldn't make out many of the usual landmarks that I was once familiar with. I was eagerly waiting to show Aa where my pops used to volunteer his free time to get work experience, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it wasn't the snow, but the many new buildings, roads, construction, or hordes of people blocking my view. Warden station reminded me of the many times the gang of 5 would go watch movies. It seems crazy that we would travel to this station to watch movies when other perfectly nearby cinemas were readily available. Ah, the complexities of youth.
Next stop, Yonge & Bloor. As a child, I always felt that this trek took forever. It was normal for rush hourers to fall asleep at this time, and it was no different now as well. Actually, I caught the snooze fever, and laid my head on Aa's shoulder. She's a sweetie. Surprisingly, we didn't speak much during our trip. I think we both had our own reasons to be together today, and the company was all that we needed. Partly woke me up when she giggled "Castle Frank, next stop". Easily amused I guess. The stop was busy as always, loads of people moving hither and thither. Now it was southbound to Dundas, or was it Union? Got caught up in the scheduling of things and I couldn't figure out how to proceed. I figured we go straight south to Union so I could show her the train station. Then we could head back north to Dundas square.
The station was alright, she seemed to be all open-eyed. Wow, it's just like Grand Central, but smaller! After 20 minutes or so, I figured it was time for some quick lunch. We stepped outside, and Aa screamed "hot dogs"! I knew she was a sucka for veggie dogs, so we proceeded in that direction. The lady was all alone, and that was good. I asked for 2 jumbo veggie dogs, well done. She sliced it down the middle so that it can also cook from the inside, thoughtful act if I may say so. We must have gobbled them down in no time flat and Aa wiped the mustard off my chin. Next stop, well that was an unknown.
I asked her if she was still hungry, she nodded affirmatively. I figured the next stop should be Island Foods, my all time favorite roti shop. It was on the other side of town, and would involve some walking and street car hoping. I figured that was a fair exchange for digesting off the dogs. That's when Aa reminded me of our last trip to the CN Tower. We were waiting on the bottom to go up in a long queue, probably the longest I've ever been in. We were minding our own business, when a little boy just couple of feet in front of us puked his lunch out for the whole world to see. Now don't get me wrong, this wasn't the usual puke one is accustomed to. No sir. This was a sight (and smell) to behold. Cabbage, carrot, chicken legs, half-long hot dogs, and what seemed like pepperoni but could have easily been any other deli meat. The stench was unbearable as well. It smelled like 23 skunks had just finished performing a mating ritual (don't ask me what the odd one did)! And all this from an innocent little boy. More like the devil's child in disguise. The parents had the audacity to not even apologize to me since some of the puke landed right on my shoes! And remember, all this while we're still waiting at the BOTTOM of the CN Tower to go UP! Everyone around us were covering their noses. The staff didn't arrive for a good 5 minutes, and by that time, I'm sure other folks had already joined in on the puking session (naw, just joking). I started to question Aa if she still wanted to go up knowing that the elevator ride combined with the stench we just felt, would become a very difficult situation to withstand. She's always been brave, and held my hand to actually address my own fears! Told you, she's a sweetie.
Before we had a chance to complete of our reminiscing, our stop arrived. It was 12:15 by then, and Island Foods was up to its old tricks. The line was out the door. I asked Aa to wait inside and get us a table. Ordered the usual, potatoe roti with no potatoes, and extra sauce on top, times 2. I knew Aa wouldn't be able to finish this, but I wanted to see. It was her first time at the place, and for that matter, her first time even trying rotis. Ah, the warm smell of the rotis are mouth watering. Aa was hooked. I was done mine again in no time flat (I'm a quick eater ok!). She took it more easy this time, savoring every little bite. She wanted to watch a movie now, so I started flicking through my iPhone to find that app. On launch, crashed, stupid iPhone 3G. I'm an Apple fanboy, and bought this only 2 months before the 3GS came out. Till date, one of my stupidest expenditures ever. Actually giving the phone to my sister now since I'll be starting a new journey soon where I won't need it anymore. As much as I feel duped by Apple on the whole 2 month thingie above, giving away my baby isn't going to be easy. I live, breath, and eat this thing. It's been my companion and friend (sick I know) for what 2 years now. It too has battle marks like I have. It too goes haphazardly to sleep after long wars. And being my personal DJ, my iPhone keeps me rocking. I'm going to wait until MacWorld 2011 when stupid Apple comes out with their next phone, well they better!
The app started, and found that Dundas AMC was playing some movies of interest. I perused the listing to narrow down to a couple. Iterated them to the boss, and she replied, "Tangled". "Good choice" I confirmed, since I wanted to see this as well, recalling the huge movie poster I saw at Square One few weeks back. I asked Aa to chug the food down faster so that we can make it in time. But she couldn't, and I knew she was giving up. Being the kind guy/pig I am, I offered to do the needful. After my last bite, we dashed out the restaurant and proceeded to the bus stop. I held her hands as we jay walked the road. But we missed our bus nonetheless. Next was right around the corner so wasn't too bad. In less that 20 minutes we were back at Dundas Square. Aa took it all in, and again made the comparison to New York. "Ah, Times Square". By this time I just let it go. I'll be a states guy soon too, so whatever. but the place is really nice. The city's done a great renovation to the downtown core and should be applauded for their hard work. It really brings the people out, and more importantly, together, these sorts of public and free venues. I pointed out CityTV station and then we made a quick dash to the AMC. Luckily for me I had a free coupon so just had to get one more ticket. Funny thing was that the cinemas was playing like 3 Bollywood movies, unreal. One of them I really wanted to see, Ghobi Dhat, but Aa gave me the fierce eyes, and I had only option to comply. We thought we'll be the only ones in the cinemas, but it didn't take too long before the crying baby to make its presence felt as well. Ok, well it was a toddler, and she wasn't too bad. Actually, she had the sweetest laugh, and during the movie I even recall being amused by her giggles. Her mother took the toddler on her laps and they sat on the stairwell just for kicks. It's always adorable to see the affection of a mother on her children. The father, just sat their on the chair enjoying the movie. Ok well, he wasn't that oblivious, he held the popcorn and the drinks, and fed it to the child. By no means was it a three's company for them. One happy little family out to watch one great movie....
I admit, I wasn't going in expecting much from this movie, but I came out with something more than I could have ever bargained for, the feeling of freedom. Disney put out all the stops for this one. Their 50th featured animation film, and it was golden. I even think that Disney may have purposely wanted to keep this as their 50th, because they knew how great the story was. Forget everything you've seen in the past decade or so. Forget the special effects and CG. Forget all the Oscar winning actor voices and music. And try to go back to the early days of Disney, when things were more, well just magical. This movie did a full circle back to that golden period, and I for one, applaud this great gesture. No more cars that can talk. No more sarcastic adult comedy going into the ears of little ones. Instead, Disney went back to the Original Recipe. An orphan girl, evil step-mom, dashing hero, noble kingdom, lovable animals that don't talk, a moving score, revenge, youthful curiosity, love lost and found, with a sprinkle of magic here and there. The question of fate and destiny were explored in this movie, even at times jokingly. The loss of a child, the kindness that can be found in even the roughest of people, and the human-like intuitions in animals are just some of the things that made this movie so worthwhile. The funniest was how they used a satchel as a weapon. My favorite scene, and the one that resonated with me at this point in my life, was when the two main characters were stuck in a cave quickly filling up with water, and they had no way out. When it almost seemed as all hope was lost, the magic, which only Disney can bring, happened. This took me back 2 weeks when Aa and I watched Toy Story 3. There's an extremely powerful scene towards the end where again it seems like all hope is lost, and everyone is close to death. Then faith intervenes and all is good. Life can be good. Good things can happen, and they will. Tangled, became untangled at the end, similar to how I was feeling by the conclusion. These interweaving strands of memories of my past too needed to be untangled. And I only realized it now.
We left the movies fully satisfied. I can't recommend it enough. Watch it with your children, your loved ones, or just on your own, but watch it. If it doesn't take you back to your childhood innocence, well then, God be with you! It was only 3:30 by now, and I quickly reported to Aa that plans had to be changed. We needed to head back to Scarborough so that I can cut off some strands as well. By 4:45 we were in my car driving to my grade 1 school where life all began. As it approached closer, my heart started to beat faster and faster. Things always look bigger than they actually are as a child. I was surprised to see how small the school actually was. It was a gifted school, but by no means was I gifted. But I think Churchill Heights did do some magic on me, and performed some of the original carvings on me to be the guy I am today. Memories of a girl's school funeral by the hill, my ESL teacher, my sister holding my hand to school, and tobogganing flashed through me. I would be lying if I said that my throat didn't have a lump in it by now. Till date I've always believed that my ESL teacher paved the way for making me the strong student I was to become. Aa wanted to go inside, so we tried. But as we were about to enter the school, the principal was just on her way out and asked where we were heading. She asked that I return the next day when the school was open. I don't think I really needed to go inside, since as kids, it's really the outside play field, the grass, the soccer post, the hills, and the four squares that we remember. And I saw them all, and felt a strand come loose.
Next stop, West Hill high school. Now this was a roughneck school, even back then. Going on the TTC school bus, all one could hope was not to be titled over by the bullies as the swung the bus from side to side down the steep hill. I relayed that to Aa and she chuckled. The school was closed by now, but I could see through the windows the school auditorium. I performed in some fashion shows back in the days (yeah I wasn't too shabby then). Then drove to the back of the parking lot to see the football field where the coach would make us do laps. I always hated running long distances. In track I would be on the relay team, do only 100m, and that too the last runner. If anything that's been a fault in my life. Really need to be a better runner, I'll get the inspiration soon enough I think. As I was turning back to exit the high school, glanced over at one of the doors and recalled a moment with a girlfriend. The morning bell had already rung, and we were too busy pecking! The coach saw me and directed the lady to her class, and I got detention! Sexist I tell ya!
Next stop was Alexandar Sterling. I spent grades 4 to 8 there, and undoubtedly, the happiest time of my life. The gang of 5 was formed along with countless memories. Showed Aa my old house that looked the same. Though my school was what I really came to see. I did it all there. My friends loved me, my teachers respected me, and my future always looked so bright. My first love, my best friends, my wins and defeats, and French class, it was all here. The school has been something that I've cherished in a special place in my heart all my life. But it's a mere building, nay, the people who I met meant so much for me. I'm not on FaceBook (story for some other time), so I don't even know how they are doing. We parted ways long ago, but I think I needed to revisit this school before I headed off on my own journey.
I think the movie helped me realize how tangled my life had become. I still feel like I've got a bad perm, but I think I'm on the right path. God is great, especially on a day like today....
