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
# posted by technophobicgeek @ 6:15 PM 
