Schenectady - State Street in 1969. (Photo Credit: The New York Times Company)
Schenectady - State Street in 1969. (Photo Credit: The New York Times Company)
Halloween Evening.
It was late in the evening on the last day of October. I had just moved to a small but spacious one-bedroom apartment on the corner of Glenwood Boulevard. The apartment was one of four such units that were in the building. A narrow path from the corner of the street just before the stop sign ended in a short five-step wooden staircase that led into my apartment. My father – who was visiting me for a week to help with my move – had just returned from a trip to the Indian Grocery store on Albany-Shaker road and was busy arranging the cookies, spices and basmati rice in the kitchen. I switched on the television to watch the Sunday episode of the Simpsons . Today, it was the ‘ Treehouse of Horror X’ episode. My dad came out of the kitchen and asked me why they were showing ghosts and scary cartoons in the Simpsons, and I told him I had no idea. Just then, we heard a knock on the door. At first, I thought it was from the television and ignored it. A few minutes later, I heard the knock again. I got up reluctantly from my cozy tv-chair and opened the door.
Superman has Landed.
He looked no more than a foot tall; his head just in level with the staircase post. He was wearing a light blue superman outfit, complete with the red trunk, a crude hand made “S” emblem and a long silky red cape hanging off his back. I thought it was a joke.
“Yes Little Clark? Did you lose your way?” I asked, struggling to hold back my giggling.
The boy looked bewildered. He stepped back a little, extended a small plastic pail that he was holding, and said “Trick or Treat?”
Now it was my turn to be confused.
“What?”
“Ah-mm. Trick or Treat?” he asked me again.
Just then, the boy’s father emerged from the narrow path leading to the stairs.
“Oh Hi ! It’s Halloween. He is looking for some candy ?” he said.
“So what am I supposed to do?” I asked the boy’s father.
“If you have some candy, can you give it to him?”
I knew that I did not have any candy at home.
“Oh, Sorry. I’ll be right back” I replied.
All this time, my father was standing behind me wondering what was going on outside. “Do we have any sweets?” I asked my father. He went into the kitchen and brought two packs of Britannia biscuits and shook his head. I took the biscuits and went outside, hoping that they had not left.
Superman was still there. He was now holding his father’s hand and standing right next to him.
“O.K Superman, here are some cookies!” I said and dropped the biscuits into his pail.
The boy was thrilled.
“Aren’t you going to fly?” I asked him.
“Pow !” He pointed his fist at me and quickly made his way down the stairs with his father running closely behind him. “Thanks.”
I was still wondering what all this was about, when my neighbor Doug came down. Doug was a retired teacher from Union College.
An American History Lesson
“So you are already celebrating Halloween?” Doug asked me.
“No. What is this? None told me that kids will start coming around asking for candy and stuff” I complained.
He laughed and gave my father and me a quick history lesson on the Halloween Festival. Halloween is supposed to have originated among the Celts in Ireland and is celebrated on the night of October 31 every year in the united states and most of the western world. It is mostly celebrated by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candies. They ask you “Trick or Treat.” If you say “Trick”, they perform something for you and then you are to “Treat” them with candies or other goodies.
Now, I felt guilty that I had cheated poor Superman out of his Candies.
So I drove to Price Choppers and bought over twenty dollars worth of various chocolates and other colorful candies they had. And it was as well, because plenty of other kids knocked on my door through the evening, and at the end of the day, I realized this was how it was going to be from now on.
No more Diwalis; No more Holis. Plenty of Halloweens !
