US Sojourn
- Part 2 -

By Yumnam Rupachandra *

Going back to Washington DC-Well DC is DC. There is so much to see in DC and you could spend a month and still need more time so imagine what we might have seen in just one day. Of the several museums located in DC we chose Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This was the largest of the 7 Smithsonian museum located at the National Mall-the stretch between the Capitol Hill the power site and the Washington Monument-the famous obelisk that dominate the DC skyline .

It has 18 exhibition halls and thousands of artifacts and specimens. These great museums are run by Smithsonian Institute founded by James Smith (1765-1829), an Englishman who devoted his life to research in chemistry, mineralogy and geology.

Sadly the day out in DC was a wet Sunday and we just breezed by most famous monuments taking some time out at Lincoln memorial on whose steps President Obama took the oath to the US Presidency. It was however an exhilarating feeling standing on steps where black civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr stood and gave his famous speech "I have dream…... Obama's election to the office came as fulfilment of that dream.

Another place we stopped at on the rainy day was the Vietnam War memorial. I had always wanted to see the black marble memorial to the soldiers who died in Vietnam fighting for a lost cause thrush on them by politicians with agendas. Years after we still found relatives trace the names of their beloved son or brother or a friend carved on the black marble. There were fresh flowers and memory, we found, was still strong.

DC is one of the most secured cities in USA-understandable given the list of its high profile inhabitants. It does not have tall skyscrapers like in other cities like New York. This, we are told was deliberate so that views of monuments and magnificent institutional buildings were not blocked and dwarfed by monstrous buildings.

The office of the US State department, our equivalent to Home Ministry, which sponsored our trip, is also located in the DC. When we were asked to carry our passports for entering the facility for security reason, my first thoughts were of a building swarming with US marines that you see on CNN manning gates of US embassies specially in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

I was in for a disappointment-I never saw even a single one of them. However went through a security drill that included walking pass a security gate, getting our bags x-rayed. Photography was prohibited and roads passing through the facility had automated barricades that would slide up should the situation warrant. What was conspicuous by their absence were bunkers manned by heavily armed guards that we are so used to in our part of world. In effect it did not seem so well secured.

But we were told otherwise. We were given to understand that should situation warrant marines in their hundreds would be swarming the moment a breach in security takes place. The security philosophy, one can understand was minimum visibility as against maximum visibility.

I bring this point up to make a comparison with our own security arrangement here. The philosophy here seems to be maximum visibility with minimum impact. Not only are our Government facilities guarded by heavily armed personnel our streets are littered with gun totting commandos. But this notwithstanding every second day we hear of a bomb being lobbed in someone's residence or someone being killed even in supposedly highly secured areas.

There is, though one thing we have in common with Washington DC, something not to be proud about. Washington DC despite its high profile is the worst hit city in US in terms of HIV prevalence. I am sure that rings a bell. The prevalence rate is 128.4 per 100,000. US is struggling is this area and despite billions of dollars pumped into the problem US is yet to find an answer. Manipur in India is the highest prevalent State in terms of percentage.

The Capital of Kazaksthan is Asatana and not Almaty as mentioned in the first part of this article.
My regrets,
-Writer

to be continued......