SIGHTS AND SOUNDS Sudha Devi Nayak
Corvallis, meaning ‘the heart of the valley’, a tiny town in Central Western Oregon, has its great charms
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After a tedius 22 hours of air travel preceded by three hours of wait at airport to catch the flight, I land all in one piece at Portland, from where a three-hour drive through scenic landscapes takes me to the US city of Corvallis.
Corvallis, meaning “the heart of the valley”, is a tiny town in Central Western Oregon in the Pacific northwest of the US. Situated in the heart of the Willamette valley, it is an outdoors enthusiast’s paradise, renowned for its parks and natural environs. A university town nestled among the captivating hills and magnificent peaks, steep waterfalls, and the lush green surroundings.
The area is dotted with houses of wood and stone, like fairytale cottages, their front and backyards made alluring. The charms are many to behold. Flowers smile at passersby on leisurely walks or glance curiously at the avid joggers fighting the flab.
Individual citizens as well as the local administrators have joined hands to keep the place spruced up and clean, have the urban sprawl in check and preserve Corvallis’ natural wild.
There are subtle changes of weather on a daily basis. Drizzle and mist, sunshine and clouds, all of them gently surprising a newcomer. There are the nature’s endearing odours — of grass, leaf and flowers — which are a treat in themselves. They seduce us with their beauty and charm.
The place is full of trails, where young and old are seen moving about in their trekking gear in a bicycle-friendly town. Bike lanes have bikers whiz past in gay abandon. Deer from the forests around gently walk across to take a look at those who pass by.
Back in your drawing room, you are with your cup of coffee. Every window in the house reflects in them the glorious sunrises and sunsets.
Attractions outside are many. The downtown, or the market area, is filled with beautiful shops for clothes, books, and handcrafted wares. There are the multi-cuisine restaurants, and historic buildings, a walk through which can be rounded off with a look at the scenic Willamette riverfront. Tall trees cast their long shadows in the waters.
Saturday is the Farmers’ Market. Residents come forward, exhibit and sell their organically-prepared produces. Vegetables like turnips and radish and artichokes and spinach are a great draw. As also the dairy products of organically fed and reared livestock, not to speak of homemade jams and sauces, chocolates made of cherries and ice-creams.
This, though, is more than an occasion for shopping. It is a rendezvous, a social circuit where residents meet and exchange news and pleasantries. The atmosphere is enlivened by musicians old and young strumming a guitar or violin or lending a voice to the din while the more enthusiastic ones shake a leg in a happy camaraderie.
A visit, one day, to a home on a hill overlooking a large expanse of parkland with flocks of white fleecy sheep. Come lambing time, the place would be filled with little woolly, bleating lambs. It reminds one of Gabriel Oak, the sheep farmer and the lengthy lambing season during which he had to be on call all times of the day. Thomas Hardy’s Far from the madding crowd, that’s.
Guarding the sheep is a llama, an animal halfway between a camel and horse, that keeps off predators from the forest. How such a gentle animal could guard against the beasts of prey? Well, llama is not so much a physical protector as a spiritual protector for the sheep!
One relishes the famed musical performance, Les Miserables — “The Miserable” at the theatre, an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel that describes the struggles of an ex-convict and the experience of his redemption in a world circumscribed by poverty, degradation of women and children, and persecution which ultimately led to the Revolution. The acoustics, the music, the stage props, the acting finesse, the artistry and directorial brilliance kept the audience spellbound.
A drive down to the Corvallis-Oregon State University Symphony Orchestra, where the audience was treated to compositions by American and Russian composers. The orchestra of trained musicians and feisty conductors, and a great variety of instruments like cellos, violins,flutes, drums, lute and piano, the soulful strains, manic moments, and the crashing climaxes when the kinetics of music reaches a crescendo.
It would be soon time for me to say goodbye to Corvallis, its cultural treats, its forests and fields, fascinating in the sweep of its fog and frost, its connect with the natural world and its compelling call to get off the pavement and on to the trail. Time flies!
