The Calabasas City Walk

Preface

For three decades, Calabasas has been our home, away from the village in India where Shanta and I were married in 1968. While we have walked several times every week in the neighborhood of the city for three decades, the water bottle has accompanied us but not the camera.

During the same time, we have travelled to seventy-five countries of the world and captured photos to memorialize our experiences. Having never found the pumpkin patch that the city has stood for since 1890 or the Hollywood celebrities who have remained anonymous here, the routine city walks during the COVID-19 pandemic brought a unique state of mindfulness and discovery.

I had looked but not seen the beauty around us. I had enjoyed the landscape but seldom felt its elements. The scenic variations of the time of the day had gone by unnoticed. Discovering rare glimpses of breathtaking beauty during the walks was an antidote to the Coronavirus as they reduced boredom caused by the quarantine!

Looking up and down the redwood tree reaching out to the sky; staring at the sun to catch an x- ray perspective of the tree; stooping down to see the petals of a rose; walking backwards to recover the hidden view; witnessing the simmering colors produced by the webbed feet of the Canadian geese; feeling the texture of the bark of the redwood tree; measuring the elongated shadows of trees before dusk; and, reading the inscription on the bronze plate of the chairs commemorating an individual who loved the lake, I have had unprecedented experiences.

I discovered the Canopy of the Oaks, the serpentine Calabasas Lake, the Commons, the stream hidden by the forests on Park Capri; and the Leonis Adobe structure in Old Town Calabasas built in 1844. These provide a sanctuary for me during the pandemic.

I wish to share a perspective of the city pristine without the clutter of cars and pedestrians which the pandemic enabled me to capture. Walk with me and discover the beauty of our city Calabasas.