San Francisco

[Guest guest]

Dear SP Sir,

You are in for the treat of your life. Berkeley is very near the Bay

area and Pier 39, both great areas.

When in San Francisco, do visit the world's crookedest street. You

cannot go there by bus because buses can just never negotiate the many

twists and turns. However, you can alight from a bus nearby and see

the street first hand on foot. (Wow! What a sentence!)

Close by there is a straight avenue with beautifully painted and

façades houses. The San Francisco city pays to keep this entire street

in that pristine and preserved condition! The unique thing about

houses all over here is that they are built on mobile foundations.

This is to prevent their collapse during Earthquakes. San Francisco

sits on the San s fault and is prone to earthquakes. If you

notice carefully, adjoining houses never touch each other, so that

they do not fall like a pack of cards during a tremor.

Another beautiful area is the Wharf. The seals basking on specially

made platforms and making queer barking noises are very unusual. The

nearby area has beautiful cafeterias (however, I am afraid there will

be nothing much there for a vegetarian, SP Sir! - you can admire the

pseudo antique marine architecture). We enjoyed exquisite fish

sandwiches here with tangy tartar sauce( a bit heavy on the pocket

though!). The shops are tempting here, but do not buy here. A better

place to buy is in the Chinatown area. You can have some good,

vegetarian, Chinese food there too. The taste is akin to our Indian

spices.

Besides the main bay area, San Francisco has various small marinas and

beaches close by, like San Marino and San o, etc. These will

remind you of Anjuna beach of Goa. However, it is advisable not to

linger at these remote beaches too late after sun down!

There is a museum made of the Alcatraz jail, which is located in the

middle of the bay! Now, the first thought that struck me was that only

an imbecile would have thought of putting a jail in such a picturesque

spot. The first thing I would have thought of would have been a five

star hotel!

I have purposely ignored mentioning the Golden Gate bridge. For people

of San Francisco, that is their Taj Mahal. However, I was sorely

disappointed by it. I mean, how long can you stare at a bridge and say

" Wow! " ? The people there tend to get lyrical. They mention the length

and weight of the cables and how long it took etc. etc. and all you

see is a bridge, that, by the way, you have seen umpteen number of

times in movies and pictures. Then they take you on a bus ride to the

other side of the bridge to show you, (Can you guess this?), the other

side of the bridge. Then they take you on a small excursion by the

side of the bridge to show you, you'll never believe this, the side of

the bridge. Not satisfied with this, they board you on a motor boat

and show you the bridge from far. Then they approach the bridge and

show you the bridge, hold your breath, from near. Then comes the

climax. They take you beneath the bridge, and I'm sure that you'll

never ever guess this in a million chances, to show you the under side

of the bridge. There is a grand finale, when your boat leaves the

bridge and shows you the bridge while it is receding!!! When I

returned to India, a friend of mine suggested that we play a game of

bridge. He required 14 stitches and a massive transfusion to survive!

Another word of advice is that if you drop anything on the streets of

San Francisco, be very careful when you bend to pick it up. Why?

....because Frisco is the pink city. Not 'pink' as in Jaipur, but pink

as in gay. In fact you will see many rainbow coloured flags dotting

the whole area. This is the flag of the Gay movement! So if your

neighbourhood guy seems very friendly, be afraid ... be very afraid!!

A quaint attraction of Frisco is the antique tram service. It chugs

along on selected routes. It might help to wear a white beard, because

they charge half fare for senior citizens! The streets of Frisco are

also ruler straight, however, they may dip and ascend at crazy angles

every now and then!

Some call San Francisco one of the most beautiful cities of the US. I

do not agree! It is THE most beautiful city of the US!

Kishore Shah 1974