Come September

Schools began early September, and I was reminded of this time a year ago….

We moved into Scarsdale at the end of August2013. Beautiful neighborhood, charming houses. Nice.

What we missed in Scarsdale were people. Those big houses must have people in them I thought, and there must be children in those too! After all, Scarsdale is supposed to be one of the best school districts in NY. And where there are children, there must be noise. But the neighborhood was quiet. Quiet as a mouse. The only sound was that of the lawnmovers and cicadas.

In those first few days, my ears hurt with the absence of noise.

Until the first day of school in September when Scarsdale seemed to wake up from its long summer. All of a sudden, much as in the Pied Piper of Hamelin, kids started to pour out of every house. I was astonished to see that my street had so many kids of different ages. They stood on the street waiting for their various school buses. The High School kids with their noses in their phones, unwilling to make eye contact with anyone else. The Middle Schoolers chatting away, and the Elementary ones with their grand parents or parents who were also making conversation.

The whole place buzzed with the kind of happy noise only children can make.

There was a sharp increase in traffic that day. More than five cars at the traffic signal seems like a jam on regular days, but that day there were scores of cars at every traffic signal. And just like everywhere in the world, people were breaking rules with impunity…zooming off at the orange light going red, cutting into the line to beat traffic, honking impatiently. And ofcourse, there was traffic police manning all important junctions, making sure children walking to school were safe.

That first day of school, people spilled out on to the roads. Mothers started their fitness regime after dropping kids to school, people caught up for coffee and breakfast in the little cafes at the Village.The Library was full of people, and toddlers were there for their day of singalong with the guitar man.

I was relieved to find out that Scarsdale did indeed have a fairly large population, and there were loads of children to fill up those beautiful school buildings! I was also amused that like a perfect school village,  Scarsdale springs into life primarily during school days and hours. After these spikes, Scarsdale folds back into its peace and quiet.

Over the next few days I got used to all the noise and traffic. I learnt that traffic spikes happen three times in the day. Mornings are the worst because various schools start between 8 and 8.15 am and the office goers make a beeline for the 8.18 or 8.32 train to make it to Manhattan on time. Afternoons when schools get over and then 6-7 pm when trains get officegoers back are not the ideal times to go for a walk ,grocery shopping or a Starbucks coffee! I learnt that there will always be that one driver who will edge his/her way into the traffic at the Middle School, oblivious to the danger to the kids . And Seniors in HS are young adults and will speed, play loud music and show off in their cars!

I find it charming. And so very different from Mumbai which is constantly buzzing – with traffic, with people, with everything on the go – all the time. Except ofcourse, when the local political party declares a shutdown and people are forced to be indoors, or when an important cricket match is on! Then the lack of noise outdoors hurts the ears there too!