THE FALL AND THE HALLOWEEN: THE DREAD AND BEAUTY

          When I first experienced the Fall, I felt as if nature was showing me a new kind of festival. Trees were covered with bright colours; yellow, red, orange, and sometimes even purple. I had never seen such a sight before. Back in India, seasons change slowly. Only in a few places do we notice leaves turning colours. But here, every tree seemed to celebrate.

          The leaves looked as if someone had painted them carefully. When the wind blew, they fell like flower petals and covered the ground like a soft carpet. Walking on them made a gentle, pleasant sound. I often stopped on the roadside just to look at the trees. They shone so beautifully in sunlight that I felt they were glowing from inside.

          It was peaceful. The air was cool, and the evenings turned darker earlier than usual. Sometimes I simply stood in my neighbourhood admiring the colours. I thought nature was giving a message that even when things are ending, they can still be beautiful.

          But soon, something surprising came along with this beauty. Slowly, October brought another face of this season, Halloween.

The other side: While walking around my neighbourhood, I was shocked to experience the other side. The same peaceful streets were now full of strange and scary decorations. I saw skeletons sitting on chairs, skulls kept on the lawns, and even fake bodies hanging from trees. Some houses had huge spiders made of plastic. There were webs stuck on the walls. Some had pumpkins with faces carved on them, and a few even had red marks as if they were bleeding.

          At first, I could not understand what was happening. For me, coming from India, these scenes looked like something from a horror film. I felt strange. In our country, we decorate houses with lamps, flowers, and rangoli during festivals. But here, people decorated fear itself!

          One house especially caught my attention. Outside, there was a carved pumpkin with scary eyes, made to look like it was crying blood. Beside it, a fake tombstone stood near the mailbox with “R.I.P.” written on it. I felt a bit strange and almost laughed at the same time.

          I could not help thinking, how can people enjoy putting scary things in front of their houses? But everyone around seemed happy and normal. No one looked troubled. Children walked around without fear, pointing and laughing.

          Slowly I learned that Halloween is a fun festival here. People dress like ghosts, witches, superheroes, cartoon characters, and even animals. Children go from house to house collecting chocolates and candies. Even though the decorations look frightening, the feeling in the air is playful.

          Halloween is about laughing at the things we fear. By making scary things funny, people learn to face fear. It is also a time for imagination and creativity. Some houses show simple and cute decorations. Others make it look like a full ghost play! Families spend time together planning themes for their homes. For them, it is one of the most enjoyable times of the year.

          People here do not treat fear as something serious or sorrowful. Instead, they play with it, and in that way, they overcome it.

          Fall teaches us that everything changes. Nothing stays the same forever. Leaves fall, seasons end, but they end in beauty. Halloween teaches that fear is a part of life too, but we can face it with courage and humour.

          I began clicking pictures, some of bright trees shining in the sun, and others of funny skeletons standing proudly in lawns. It showed how two completely different feelings could exist side by side.

          In this mix of dread and beauty, we can find a new way of looking at life.  The world is full of different shades, just like the golden trees and the scary pumpkins and just like a storybook, one page filled with peaceful colours, and the next page full of ghostly fun. But both belong to the same book, and both make the story complete.