Halloween On The Lawn

Every seen a thousand kids running all over the place all at once? Well, I would consider myself lucky enough to have witnessed that earlier today. Today is the day before Halloween, and UVa holds its annual "trick or treat" on the Lawn. I'd always heard of this event but had never actually bothered to go out and see it for myself.

Its Friday evening and I'm bunking in Alderman Library for the rest of the day catching up on some reading. But I don't mind because what I'm reading is absolutely thrilling, 1948: A Soldier's Tale. After reading fifty pages or so, I realize that my attention span is waning. I start to count the checkered tiles on the floor, wondering if the designers of the "Quiet Room" intended to have these black and white checkers model a chess set or an Escher optical illusion. I'm in another world. Man, I need a study break. I look out the window and see a rainbow of colored costumes running all over the place. That's right, today they're celebrating Halloween on the Lawn.

Perfect, I find myself an excuse to escape the gory war scenes of 1948 to go grab a cup of tea from the corner and pass by the Lawn. On the way there, I am amazed by the spirit in the air. Both the kids and parents are dressed up in what seems to be an ocean of ghosts, monsters, vampires, princesses, and every other creative costume you could think of. I even ran into a banana on the way to Starbucks. I had never seen kids so ecstatic in my life. It seemed as if they'd waited all year for this event. Was it so they could dress up like creepy creatures? No, there was another motive behind it that I can attest to.

Omar and change into a new set of costumes. This is round two. We start on the apartments on the 25th floor and climb all the way down. We know our neighbors are creepy with or without Halloween, but we have a special mission, to pay everyone of them a visit and tax them with...that's right: CANDY! Isn't that what kids live for. As I walked down the Lawn, I realized how kids were running from one Lawn room to the next striving to collect as much candy as they can before the sun set. These kids were modest. Each had a little pumpkin-looking basket where they politely collected candy. I remember how Omar and I would go all-out when it came to candy. He and I would go around with those huge black trash bags, lug them around for floor to floor. We wouldn't return to the apartment until we'd filled them to the brim. I also remember how we'd go over to our friends' apartment buildings in New York City to candy tax the other tenets there. At the end of the 10/31 of the first three years of Halloween in NYC we'd collect enough candy to last us a decade. It was on my fourth year in NYC, when I was about 14 that I decided I'm over Halloween, I'm over my childhood. Since then I haven't worn a costume.

I kind of miss celebrating Halloween actually. The atmosphere at here at UVA is quite festive. People are really creative with their costumes. I've seen everything from Pirates to Wonder Woman. I think that I am above these childish games to myself, but really I have just lost another part of my childhood. I don't know if I'll dress up, but I want to celebrate Halloween this time around. I think I'll just spoil my Sunday school pupils with candy this time around.

I'm glad I got a glimpse of Halloween as it may possibly be my last time witnessing this great American tradition. Besides the tradition, it was absolutely endearing seeing every kid smile from ear to ear whenever he'd collect a new piece of candy to add to his appetizing collection. Moreover, Halloween brought back so many blissful memories of my childhood in New York and New Delhi where I'd been an ardent Halloweener.

Anyways, its back to the 1948 for now...