Friday, January 21, 2005
New York Moments - II
01/07/2004 - 01/10/2004
Stepped out of the house and had my first snow-fall experience.
No, not that! I've seen snow falling before, but this was the first
time I slipped and fell in the snow. Ouch.
And of course, the first time I had to do the scrape-snow-off-the-windshield
routine...
Looking for this audio cable, walked into an electronics store. The salesman,
a middle-eastern guy, asked for $20, then reduced it to 15 (Oh, you're
Hindu!), then to 10 (Oh, you're a student). I wasn't still happy, so we
politely said 'f*** you' to each other (literally) and parted ways.
Got to eat a real Russian dinner on Staten Island that evening. Awesome!
IPod: NYC's obsessed with that little toy. White earbuds abound whereever
your eyes wander, and everyone's into customizing their iPod with it's
own little cover and accessories. Coming to think of it, makes a whole
lot of sense in this city, where everyone's trying to detach themselves
from the next person,establishing personal space and so forth. The iPod
provides yet another means of communicating: 'No, I am NOT interested
in talking to you!'
2nd attempt at sushi turned out much more encouraging. The rolls even
resembled the real thing, albeit remotely. Time to try some fillings
in there!
Movies:
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind: Goooooood movie. Looked even better
second time around. One of those movies that make you think, really. And
contemplate. And get something different out of it depending on your state
of mind.
Coffee and Cigarettes: Wierd wierd movie by Jim Jarmusch. Short skits
revolving around (surprise surprise) coffee and cigarette situations.
Famous actors playing cameos of themselves. Great movie for a hangover
on a rainy gloomy Sat morning.
Eating cheap in NYC:
While it's ridiculously easy to spend money on food in NY
I could probably write a book on eating out parsimoniously
for < $10 a day, and that would include breakfast/lunch/dinner :)
And gooooood food. let's look at the options:
1) Breakfast: Forget starbucks. Have a warm coffee (or tea/decaf
if you are so inclined), with a (low-carb) bagel with (low-fat)
spread all for $1.00 ($1.50 at most!). Join the snaking queue
at any of the little street trolleys which spontaneously spring
up all over at breakfast time.
2) Lunch/dinner:
a) Any of the street vendors peddling gyros/shwarma/kababs
in a sandwich ($3) or on rice($4-$5).
b) Pizza : $1.50 - $2.50 a slice. Thin-crust, lighter cheese than
Houston, it does not leave you feeling like an exploding grenade.
c) Lots and lots of $4-$5 lunch specials.
d) A sandwich at Mamoun's Falafel near NYU $2. The best
falafel in the worrrrrld!!! And add a LARGE juicy gorgeous
mmmmmmmmmm baklava for $1.
e) Dumpling platters in Chinatown for $2-$3.
f) A vietnamese sandwich (Banh mi)in chinatown for $2.
g) Kosher delis/pastry shops in the jewish areas on the
lower east side. An eclectic area with jewish/mexican/
italian/middle-eastern immigrants. Also known as the
'Bargain district'. So it is cheap!
h) Try cooking yourself. If you have kitchen space, that is.
These are only a sampling of the numerous hole-in-the-wall
places with cheap delicacies that NYC has to offer. Stay out
of the touristy areas (between 4th and 7th Avenues) and explore
the fringes (1-3 Avenue or 8-9 avenue), chinatown, lower east,
harlem, and you are bound to run into more culinary delights!
Chinese textbook in subway
Taking a subway across town, and getting bored. Took my Chinese
textbook with the intention of catching up on missed classes this
sem. An old old little chinese man across the aisle, starts squinting at
me strangely. After a while, gets up, totters across, peers into
my textbook until his nose nearly touches it and looks up at me
bewildered, as if searching for any Chinese characteristics in my face.
Apparently he did not find any, for he just walked back to his seat
shaking his head. I was so tickled I could not even get the obligatory
'Ni Hao' out!
Stepped out of the house and had my first snow-fall experience.
No, not that! I've seen snow falling before, but this was the first
time I slipped and fell in the snow. Ouch.
And of course, the first time I had to do the scrape-snow-off-the-windshield
routine...
Looking for this audio cable, walked into an electronics store. The salesman,
a middle-eastern guy, asked for $20, then reduced it to 15 (Oh, you're
Hindu!), then to 10 (Oh, you're a student). I wasn't still happy, so we
politely said 'f*** you' to each other (literally) and parted ways.
Got to eat a real Russian dinner on Staten Island that evening. Awesome!
IPod: NYC's obsessed with that little toy. White earbuds abound whereever
your eyes wander, and everyone's into customizing their iPod with it's
own little cover and accessories. Coming to think of it, makes a whole
lot of sense in this city, where everyone's trying to detach themselves
from the next person,establishing personal space and so forth. The iPod
provides yet another means of communicating: 'No, I am NOT interested
in talking to you!'
2nd attempt at sushi turned out much more encouraging. The rolls even
resembled the real thing, albeit remotely. Time to try some fillings
in there!
Movies:
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind: Goooooood movie. Looked even better
second time around. One of those movies that make you think, really. And
contemplate. And get something different out of it depending on your state
of mind.
Coffee and Cigarettes: Wierd wierd movie by Jim Jarmusch. Short skits
revolving around (surprise surprise) coffee and cigarette situations.
Famous actors playing cameos of themselves. Great movie for a hangover
on a rainy gloomy Sat morning.
Eating cheap in NYC:
While it's ridiculously easy to spend money on food in NY
I could probably write a book on eating out parsimoniously
for < $10 a day, and that would include breakfast/lunch/dinner :)
And gooooood food. let's look at the options:
1) Breakfast: Forget starbucks. Have a warm coffee (or tea/decaf
if you are so inclined), with a (low-carb) bagel with (low-fat)
spread all for $1.00 ($1.50 at most!). Join the snaking queue
at any of the little street trolleys which spontaneously spring
up all over at breakfast time.
2) Lunch/dinner:
a) Any of the street vendors peddling gyros/shwarma/kababs
in a sandwich ($3) or on rice($4-$5).
b) Pizza : $1.50 - $2.50 a slice. Thin-crust, lighter cheese than
Houston, it does not leave you feeling like an exploding grenade.
c) Lots and lots of $4-$5 lunch specials.
d) A sandwich at Mamoun's Falafel near NYU $2. The best
falafel in the worrrrrld!!! And add a LARGE juicy gorgeous
mmmmmmmmmm baklava for $1.
e) Dumpling platters in Chinatown for $2-$3.
f) A vietnamese sandwich (Banh mi)in chinatown for $2.
g) Kosher delis/pastry shops in the jewish areas on the
lower east side. An eclectic area with jewish/mexican/
italian/middle-eastern immigrants. Also known as the
'Bargain district'. So it is cheap!
h) Try cooking yourself. If you have kitchen space, that is.
These are only a sampling of the numerous hole-in-the-wall
places with cheap delicacies that NYC has to offer. Stay out
of the touristy areas (between 4th and 7th Avenues) and explore
the fringes (1-3 Avenue or 8-9 avenue), chinatown, lower east,
harlem, and you are bound to run into more culinary delights!
Chinese textbook in subway
Taking a subway across town, and getting bored. Took my Chinese
textbook with the intention of catching up on missed classes this
sem. An old old little chinese man across the aisle, starts squinting at
me strangely. After a while, gets up, totters across, peers into
my textbook until his nose nearly touches it and looks up at me
bewildered, as if searching for any Chinese characteristics in my face.
Apparently he did not find any, for he just walked back to his seat
shaking his head. I was so tickled I could not even get the obligatory
'Ni Hao' out!
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
New York Moments - I
12/29/2004 - 01/02/2005
Who says NY people are rude? On the train from the Airport to Penn station,
an old old lady stops me and warns me not to place any valuables in the back
pocket of my trousers, since pickpockets abound in the city.
NYC: as crowded as ever. Lugging my bags through the city, must have trod
over a few kids. It's New York yaar. Chalta hai.
Found I have more friends in the city than I thought of...so the period
around New Year turned out to be full of fun and food :)
Hopefully these three weeks in my favorite city will help me resolve the
little quarter-life crisis I am going through right now. You know, just
give me some perspective on things and stuff.
01/03/2005
Out in the city today taking a walk. Time passes SOOOO fast in this city, just woke
up at 8 and it was 11am in no time at all. Tried to catch the 11:20am from Dobbs Ferry.
Despaired to see the train pass by, leisurely stop and move away while I was busy
looking for a parking spot. Sigh. Caught the 12:20 (just barely) and squeezed some
groceries in between.
My noble goal of studying (!) at the public library was foiled by the minor
fact of the library being closed on Mondays. And my plans with Marina got
postponed coz she got delayed donating blood. So much for plans :)
Decided to walk around and take some more pix. As I was standing with my camera,
a young man walked past and slipped on a drain cover. After catching himself to
barely avoid an embarassing fall, he looks at me, the only eyewitness, with absolute
equanimity and says 'I am particularly concerned about you with that camera there.
These covers are known to be slippery so be careful!'
Now THAT's chutzpah, New York style :)))
01/04/2005
Out of Grand Central, and got jostled into an adjoining Dunkin donuts. Ok,
might as well get a bit of warmth. The 2 desi-looking ladies inquired,
amidst all the chaos, if I was Bangladeshi. When I replied in Bengali, they
pretty much held up the line and chatted for a few mins with me, asked me if
all my family/friends were OK after the Tsunami. Sweet.
Explored Chinatown to death yesterday. Just when I had thought I had
seen it all, spied a little lane with some more chinese stores. On
walking into it, it metamorphosed into an even bigger unexplored section. And
THAT was really chinese, no non-chinese people in sight for miles (not that
the visibility extends much beyond a few meters coz of the crowds).
Only in NY Chinatown can u find a bunch of Hispanic vegetable hawkers shouting,
'ni hao senora. liang ge yi kuai senora!' Surreal.
First attempt at making sushi rice is, well, not an utter disaster, but won't get
me any job in a Japanese restaurant. The rice was too firm, and the rolls, well,
just looked sad. Next time.
01/05/2005
Am sitting in an NY public library supposedly working, but instead writing this.
And agonizing over the hard hard decision of where to have my lunch.
New York has the bestest food. So many international cuisines, some of which, I
am sure, are not found anywhere else in the world outside NYC.
Set my heart on Hungarian food today, and found exactly two places in NYC with the
name 'Hungarian' in them. The first is a restaurant inside the First Hungarian
Literary Society. Oh well. Walked 20+ blocks up there only to find that it's only
for dinner. Lesson learnt: CALL wierd places before you go!
Next stop: the Columbia University favorite called 'Hungarian Pastry shop'.
For this, took a subway upto 110 street and walked E-W across town. These areas
start getting somewhat seedy. Passed a group of people making commotion coz a kid
had been mugged minutes before and his iPod stolen. A dose of reality there. I
remembered my iPod and laptop in my backpack and decided to walk and pray hard!!!!
Well, what do I find next to the Pastry shop? A cheap restaurant called
Cafe Bengal. How can I miss, after all that walking? The old lady in the restaurant
was only too glad to give second helpings to a fellow bong. Sweet. The hungarian
pastries were nice too.
Readings - been reading some good stuff lately.
Khalil Gibran - The Prophet. Wonderful book. Short sweet pithy. Yes, seems to answer a
lot of questions we are all looking for answers for. But sometimes I feel that reading
books to find those answers is like taking a shortcut through life, trying to learn about
life without actually experiencing it.
Stanislaw Lem - Had to read more of his science fiction after 'Solaris'. Just finished 'Return
from the stars'. He's always sooo thought-provoking again. What happens to a world which is
so egalitarian that any sort of danger and risk-taking mentality is medically removed? Beautiful.
Enjoy!
The Technophobic Geek
Who says NY people are rude? On the train from the Airport to Penn station,
an old old lady stops me and warns me not to place any valuables in the back
pocket of my trousers, since pickpockets abound in the city.
NYC: as crowded as ever. Lugging my bags through the city, must have trod
over a few kids. It's New York yaar. Chalta hai.
Found I have more friends in the city than I thought of...so the period
around New Year turned out to be full of fun and food :)
Hopefully these three weeks in my favorite city will help me resolve the
little quarter-life crisis I am going through right now. You know, just
give me some perspective on things and stuff.
01/03/2005
Out in the city today taking a walk. Time passes SOOOO fast in this city, just woke
up at 8 and it was 11am in no time at all. Tried to catch the 11:20am from Dobbs Ferry.
Despaired to see the train pass by, leisurely stop and move away while I was busy
looking for a parking spot. Sigh. Caught the 12:20 (just barely) and squeezed some
groceries in between.
My noble goal of studying (!) at the public library was foiled by the minor
fact of the library being closed on Mondays. And my plans with Marina got
postponed coz she got delayed donating blood. So much for plans :)
Decided to walk around and take some more pix. As I was standing with my camera,
a young man walked past and slipped on a drain cover. After catching himself to
barely avoid an embarassing fall, he looks at me, the only eyewitness, with absolute
equanimity and says 'I am particularly concerned about you with that camera there.
These covers are known to be slippery so be careful!'
Now THAT's chutzpah, New York style :)))
01/04/2005
Out of Grand Central, and got jostled into an adjoining Dunkin donuts. Ok,
might as well get a bit of warmth. The 2 desi-looking ladies inquired,
amidst all the chaos, if I was Bangladeshi. When I replied in Bengali, they
pretty much held up the line and chatted for a few mins with me, asked me if
all my family/friends were OK after the Tsunami. Sweet.
Explored Chinatown to death yesterday. Just when I had thought I had
seen it all, spied a little lane with some more chinese stores. On
walking into it, it metamorphosed into an even bigger unexplored section. And
THAT was really chinese, no non-chinese people in sight for miles (not that
the visibility extends much beyond a few meters coz of the crowds).
Only in NY Chinatown can u find a bunch of Hispanic vegetable hawkers shouting,
'ni hao senora. liang ge yi kuai senora!' Surreal.
First attempt at making sushi rice is, well, not an utter disaster, but won't get
me any job in a Japanese restaurant. The rice was too firm, and the rolls, well,
just looked sad. Next time.
01/05/2005
Am sitting in an NY public library supposedly working, but instead writing this.
And agonizing over the hard hard decision of where to have my lunch.
New York has the bestest food. So many international cuisines, some of which, I
am sure, are not found anywhere else in the world outside NYC.
Set my heart on Hungarian food today, and found exactly two places in NYC with the
name 'Hungarian' in them. The first is a restaurant inside the First Hungarian
Literary Society. Oh well. Walked 20+ blocks up there only to find that it's only
for dinner. Lesson learnt: CALL wierd places before you go!
Next stop: the Columbia University favorite called 'Hungarian Pastry shop'.
For this, took a subway upto 110 street and walked E-W across town. These areas
start getting somewhat seedy. Passed a group of people making commotion coz a kid
had been mugged minutes before and his iPod stolen. A dose of reality there. I
remembered my iPod and laptop in my backpack and decided to walk and pray hard!!!!
Well, what do I find next to the Pastry shop? A cheap restaurant called
Cafe Bengal. How can I miss, after all that walking? The old lady in the restaurant
was only too glad to give second helpings to a fellow bong. Sweet. The hungarian
pastries were nice too.
Readings - been reading some good stuff lately.
Khalil Gibran - The Prophet. Wonderful book. Short sweet pithy. Yes, seems to answer a
lot of questions we are all looking for answers for. But sometimes I feel that reading
books to find those answers is like taking a shortcut through life, trying to learn about
life without actually experiencing it.
Stanislaw Lem - Had to read more of his science fiction after 'Solaris'. Just finished 'Return
from the stars'. He's always sooo thought-provoking again. What happens to a world which is
so egalitarian that any sort of danger and risk-taking mentality is medically removed? Beautiful.
Enjoy!
The Technophobic Geek
