They say that if you want to know the history of a place then have a look at the cemetery first. So one morning I pedaled down to the cemetery and found the origin of the name Schaumburg in Illinois.
The original 1842 township survey, names the grove as Sarah's Grove. Three families lived near a grove of woods on the northwest end of the township, and each family had a woman named Sarah (Sarah McChesney, Sarah Frisbe, and Sarah Smith)
At a township meeting in 1850, citizens debated new names for the town. A wealthy landowner named Friedrich Heinrich Nerge, at one point during the meeting, slammed his fist on the table and said in German, "Schaumburg schall et heiten!" ( "It will be called Schaumburg!").
At that point, the township became officially called Schaumburg
Above Black and White picture clicked by Duane Rapp
German was the first language of the majority of households until the 1950s.
The cemetery, with 2600 total grave sites, continues to receive burials today.
Lightning struck the church steeple on July 11, 1904, and set it on fire. The fire, which burned slowly downward, was extinguished by the bucket brigade.
But the steeple was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The bell was cracked and made useless. In 1956 the Men's Club replaced the bell and memorialized the founders of the congregation by placing it as a monument on the front lawn of the church.
The Schaumburg Center School was one of the five public schools founded in Schaumburg Township in the 1870s.
Originally located at Schaumburg Road, northwest of Roselle Road, (and numbered as 54) it was moved in1981 and restored on its current site on St Peter Lutheran Church property.
This one room schoolhouse is owned by the Village of Schaumburg and is leased to Schaumburg Township Historical Society. Unfortunately I could not have a look inside as it was closed for repairs.
Made a short video of all that I could capture in the morning. The squirrel at the cemetery lawn was eyeing me suspiciously "should I share my breakfast with this guy on a bicycle?"
On the way back I noticed these birds (a Great Blue Heron and Swallow) in the grove. (things that we don't notice when we zip past in a four wheeler)
It is so good to see all the greens against the morning sunlight. Had been to the main market (Mandai) in Pune at the crack of dawn.
The indoor stalls were also well lit, but trying to keep the source of light out of the frame was tricky.
What a treat for the eyes with aubergines (brinjal) of different shapes and colours.
It was also a day for the members of The Urban Sketchers (Pune) to capture the place with their painting and sketching, to show the colonial impact on Pune.
Some of them did a wonderful job of capturing the place on canvas.
One of them was using an ipad to do his paintings. He said he has downloaded a software to do it.
Mayshir (in the comment below) says it is an iPad Air and the software is SketchPro by Tayasui.
When I looked through the view finder my first reaction was “the space ship is landing to beam up the vegetable vendors”
My favorite vegetables, Cauliflower and Cabbage. When ever I see them in the market, I am reminded of wifey’s instructions “Don’t buy cauliflower, there are already two in the fridge”
Catching up with the latest news while waiting for customers.
This lady’s saree goes well with the carrots and the jalopies
Here is a lady dip dying the earthen pots to convert them to black colour. I wonder what it is used for.
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(PS 12th Jan) Reproducing the comment given by Satish Deshpande given below : Hi Joe, nice trip to Mandai.
This is harvesting season for many things. Sugarcane, green peas, plum (Bher) Gram (chana), rice...... There is a custom of offering these pots filled with all such things among married ladies, especially newly married, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. That is where the pots are used. - Satish Deshpande
It is the orange season and most of the fruit stalls have a heap of oranges.
Talking of season, it is also the season of the green peas. The best time to buy fresh ones, peel them and stock in the freezer.
I didn’t see anyone sketching this boy with the bell. I had written about him in an earlier blog about the story of the bell.
The boy’s statue was installed after the tragedy in 1993 when 38 school kids lost their lives when their bus was hit by a train at an unmanned level crossing at Phursungi. Initially the boy used to ring the bell every hour, but now it is non functional but the bell and the statue still stands.
Have made a short video combining both the vegetable vendors and the Urban Sketchers in action.
While clicking the pictures outside Mandai, saw a bunch of cyclists zipping past. Couldn’t resist a quick pan shot of one of them.
Calcutta
(now Kolkata) is the only city in India where the trams are still running and I
am happy that the government is not planning to take it off the tracks.
Visited
Calcutta last week for a family function and I made it a point to have a ride
in one of the old jaunty jalopies. It runs at its own pace, the frequency
between trips may be far and few in-between, but it takes you from point A to
point B, does not pollute, and is cheap.
The
closest point for me to board the tram was the Maidan station and I am glad I
did that as I could capture these slow moving carriages against the backdrop of
lush green surroundings.
Brought
back memories of the trams we had in Bombay which went off the tracks in 1964
(did write about it earlier)
While
I took the ride, I was observing the driver and realized how alert he had to
be. He has his left hand on the accelerator, his right hand on the brake and
his leg operates the warning bell.
There
are no rear view mirrors, so every time when the tram stops he goes to the side
and looks back to see if all has boarded and then takes over the levers. There
is no way he can apply sudden brakes, so he has to be always proactive and on
the look out for the pedestrians crossing. His worst night mare must be driving
through the thick of the city traffic, so his leg is continuously jangling the
bell.
At
times the carriage is almost empty and the conductor is relaxed.
We
had a mother daughter duo who was begging while making an attempt to sing a
Hindi song with the help of two pieces of tiles to keep the rhythm. (it worked
something like a castanet)
I
did capture some good still and video shots of the journey and tried to make a
five minute video of it.
Holding
the camera steady in the tram was a challenge. So having the elbows (and knees)
slightly bend I made it work like a steady cam. Many did not know that I was
holding a camera so that ‘staring into the camera’ situation did not arise. I
managed to capture some shots of the passengers inside and some lovely view of
the race course and its fence outside.
After
putting together all the snippets, the final task was to wave that magic wand
known as Music. Somebody rightly said that music adds magic
to any video.
Getting
the right music for this video was the challenge. Went through many Bengali
songs but none of them went with the tempo of the movement of the tram. I tried
the popular song Ekla Cholo Re by
Kishore Kumar (a very old one) with some lovely Bengali music but it did not blend with the rhythm. But when I tried Ekla Cholo Re by
Amitabh Bachchan, it blended perfectly with the slow pace of the tram. After
completing the video, one of my friends commented “this song goes unnoticed
in the original movie (Kahani) but here the song and the video compliment each
other perfectly”
After
a few days the same guy said “why don’t
you put it in a CD and send it to Amitabh? I am sure he will like it”
I
said I just know that he stays in some Jalsa in Mumbai and don’t have the
proper mailing address. Moreover, he is such a busy man making so many people
crorepatis with his multiple choice answers that he won’t have time to look at
a 5 minute CD from an ordinary mortal from Pune.
"Don’t you worry about that" he
said "just burn the CD and keep it ready,
I will get the address for you"
Now
I am really tempted to send that CD as I am mighty pleased with the outcome of
the video. Maybe something rubbed off on me from the homeland of Satyajit Ray.
