GSE TEAM MEMBER SRIJAT MISHRA WRITES ABOUT ADVENTURES IN TWIN FALLS

Twin Falls: A Gem of an Experience

Srijat Mishra is an articulate recorder of his experiences in Idaho.  Here is his blog for May 7.  Enjoy his comments and compliments.

Srijat with Don Lojek of the Boise Downtown Club

As I collect my thoughts on our weekend at Twin Falls, I can’t but appreciate the master craftsman in Jim Ponzo (Jim), the President of the Twin Falls oldest Rotary club, and the planner and executer in chief of our Twin Falls visit. The former military attaché’s execution is as smooth as butter and his ideation is Add to it his awesome sense of humour and the continuous barrage of observant one-liners, he is a gem of a person. So is his creation – our weekend at Twin Falls. Thanks Mr Jim Ponzo.



The moment we got the itinerary for two days, I had a feeling that our Twin Falls visit will be a little bit less hectic than the time at earlier locations. Interestingly by the end we carried the same impression – until I jotted down [for this blog] what all we had done and who all we had interacted with. However, the facts say that the two weekend days and the Friday second half were full of activities – every session we did something very meaningful and memorable while maintaining our freshness.



But I need to prioritise, and I will stick my neck out and talk more about what made the biggest impression on me. The 2 S’s – Shoshone and Symphony.



Shoshone Falls is not only a destination of natural beauty, it is an experience which is to be seen to be believed. The semi-circle rainbow across the canyon in the backdrop of white curly gushes of water is a sight worth the few thousand miles travel from the opposite end of the planet. It is not just a breathtaking blend of picturesque scenic beauty and the intimidating gush of water. It has as much history [and geography!] to offer. The story of the Boneville lake, the flood during the pre-history days, the creation of the canyon, the stories of explorers and their bravery [or foolhardiness for the explorers who would have been swallowed by the ravaging waters] are a complete package in itself. Worth adding, the Shoshone Falls are named after the Shoshonie tribe which thrived in that area. Thanks to Jim and Michelle we spent lovely time there.



As I close my eyes and look at Shhoshone Falls a whole set of anecdotes and history dance past. I can see the different picnics which would have been enjoyed in a lovely grass around, the books that must have read by elderly ladies under the summer sun, or the many ditties that may have been written by aspiring bards there. Or for that matter people kayaking and rafting upstream and children fishing. Further, downstream, the power of the Falls are harnessed to produce hydel power at the Twin Falls [interestingly, the ‘Twin Falls’ – two falls like a fork from the same place - from which the city gets its name, ceased to exist with the setting up of the power plant as the plant was set up on one of the falls].



Shoshone to me, is many ways seemed to have defined the character of the city’s psyche – well at least till the I saw the Symphony and stitched together the story around it.

The Symphony was held in the auditorium of the College of Southen Idaho [CSI], in which about 45 amateur musicians [Rotarian Richard played the French horn.] and their eminently articulate and presentable enthralled the packed theatre with a dozen odd scores from old Hollywood classics. The one hour at the theatre, will easily count as among the top ten musical performances which I have yet seen in my life. Amazing it was. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. This small city of 30 odd thousand people has 100 year old history of amateur musicians playing a band every summer. The band is the oldest continuing band in North US. This is even for amazing as the city itself is just over 100 years old. The band is again an excuse of congregation and camaraderie in the beautiful lawns in the summers and am sure has given many memorable moments to the citizens of the city. Even more importantly, it has created a passion and commitment among of the citizens to take to music to maintain this glorious tradition. Am told there are many families who strive to keep up the tradition. Nothing better that art & aesthetics to give subtlety and sanity to a community.



A pleasant story of Indian cuisine and the multiple rounds; typical Indian loud laughter was scripted at Sanjay Bhai [Dr Sanjay Gupta, professor in University of Idaho] is a resident of Twin Falls. It was a very thoughtful gesture of him to have hosted us for dinner. We also met all the other 4 Indian families [Ankur, Dharmendra and Gurmeet and their better halves and Bishwamitra – thanks to all of them] living in Twin Falls area. Bishwamitra is an Oriya from Bhubaneshwar, interestingly both of us got to know that we studied in the same university at the same time for 2 years. Can’t help but mention, that he had also prepared the Oriya delicacy of Chenna Poda [kind of Baked Sweet Cheese] – that was too ‘sweet’ of him. Thanks to Scott & Ignas and Jill of the Rotary fraternity who accompanied us there and with whom we had an opportunity to chat-up on a variety of topics from entrepreurship to vegan diet.



In between all of this, we did an opportunity for high quality shop talk, hand some pretty enriching sessions. Got to see at Hagerman the million year old skeleton of a look alike of horses / zebra, had some amazing food at Elevation 486 and Prasia, we also took time out to enjoy a little bit USA retaining ala Barnes & Nobles, JC Jenny, TJs, gas station stores. Another interesting part of our Twin Falls trip was our stay at Red Lions, it is the first time we stayed in a hotel and the first time we all stayed together. This gave us he badly needed opportunity for pending team activities. We could do our homework late into the nights and shore up our presenations for the clubs.



Kevin played a huge role in making our trip memorable – his courtesy and cameramanship were just exemplary we were very fortunate to have him around. It was also very nice of Richard to take time out from his Symphony preparations and escort us to Twin Falls. Thanks to Mrs Ponzo too, who is an adorable lady, and made us feel comfortable at the Symphony and the eats!



I ll miss out on something which important if I don’t talk of the Twin Falls Library which was initially donated by the very successful oil baron Carnegie Melon. I saw a building in Boise which was donated by him [unfortunately the city has since sold to an attorney firm] for the same purpose. The point that struck me most, that this successful businessman had so much of community that he wanted to donate a series of libraries to the country. Nothing better than giving a reading habit to a growing nation. Way to go! Mr. Carnegie Melon – that’s quite inspirational.



Hebgen Lake, Montana, USA

May 7, 2011