New York

Dec 3-8, 2007

I landed dreamy eyed in the Land of Dreams.

There was some rigorous passport control by the Schwarzenegger look like officers who look at you in the eye like they have done you the world’s biggest favor. I gathered my impressions about JFK airport while standing in the serpentine queue for immigration. A huge functional airport and a boring contrast to all the bling I had left behind at the Dubai airport. I guess my eyes needed some rest.

I tried to pull a trolley cart to lug my heavy bag along. It dint seem to move. Then someone enlightened me – You hafta put 3 dollas in there. 3 Dollars! Well huh – the bag wasn’t that heavy after all. A 2 hour drive where I put my jetlag of 10.5 hours behind me took me to Madison City, New Jersey.

Madison hotel where we were put up for the meetings was a cozy one and far removed from the urban din. It was a very pretty locality with pine trees kissed with flurries of snow and nestled in a thick white sheet. There were little stand alone cottages with their little gardens and shrouded in the woods. Was I still dreaming or looking at my dream home!

I soon met my colleagues and we took the train into town. The whole set up was very Europeanish. It was a charming little town with a few bars and restaurants – and too cold to be walking on the streets. We got a good feel of the place and returned to brace ourselves for the marathon meetings. We needed a good night’s sleep to keep awake the next two days.

The day started with a sumptuous American breakfast and a good round of introductions. The fruitful discussions spilled over into the fruity smelling train we took into New York that evening. We had some able American colleagues who took us straight to Times Square.

My first glance of New York City and I knew instantly why people love to hate this place. The place oozes with American dreams. It had so many sky scrapers that you lose sight of the sky. The brilliant lights, the attractive shop windows, the numerous stretch limos whizzing past, the massively lit up hoardings, the colourful tourist buses doing the rounds, cartoon characters dancing on the streets – all add character to the place.

Then we popped into a Deli for dinner. When I sheepishly asked for a vegetarian option the waitress politely told me –‘It’s a Deli darling!’ The dishes were named after famous personalities. So people derived a lot of pleasure by devouring into an Adolf Hitler or a Rudy Giuliani. The portions were in true American size – humungous enough to feed a family of four. Well they taught the world to dream big – dint they?

We continued to stroll around 5th avenue and Times Square Centre for a while after dinner and I was truly amazed by the crowds on a cold winter night at -2 deg. C. With 2 jackets, 2 pairs of gloves, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of trousers I was almost officially frozen.

Next day it was back to work in the morning followed by fun in the evening. We were taken to US office at Giralda farms followed by an evening of line dancing at a Rodeo style club. After some dancing lessons where everyone dances in a uniform style standing in a line we were drawn to the main attraction – a mechanical bull. It was mounted on a red rubber enclosure and dimmed with some red lights for the ambience. The trick lied in holding on to the bull’s horns for as long as you can before the bull yanked you off. Some strong hearted people did indeed put on their cowboy hats and tried a hand at it.

The next morning after all the goodbyes to my dear colleagues I headed into New York City again. With a splitting head ache and a cabbie that just would not refuse to stop talking I was ready to jump off the cab. Then again it was a refreshing change from the grumpy cabbies I meet back home who sometimes suggest to me to walk up the distance instead.

I reached Madhu’s house, my school friend who I met after 8 years! I was delighted to be feasting on some Indian food and reminiscing with her about the good old days. We then decided to venture into the city and meet the lady herself – Statue of Liberty. We decided to take the last ferry from Battery Park into Ellis Island only to be told that the last ferry is normally cancelled during winter. We had to be content watching her from a distance. The cold air made my nose look like a cherry and my skin as dry and flaky as fish scales.

I then decided to see the city on one of those Hop on Hop Off buses. The tour operator offered different loops. I decided to do the night loop – to see NY when it sparkled. I did get a good feel of the place when the eloquent bus guides explained and sang songs for tips. Starting from Times Square we passed by Empire State Building, Rockfeller centre and the Christmas tree there, the colourful Macy’s windows, Central Park and Manhattan Bridge. While I wasn’t all that impressed with the traffic scenario I was definitely impressed with the energy in the city.

Then I took the subway back to Madhu’s house at Queens. Following the instructions to precision I felt rather accomplished reaching home on my own. Queens is one of the five boroughs of NY – Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island. And coming back to Queens from Manhattan was like coming into a different world altogether. It is a very live-able place with down to earth houses, shops and eateries. A predominantly Asian area - I even saw a saree shop!

The next day I felt like quite a veteran taking the subway back to Manhattan to complete my tour on the hop on and hop off bus. People sing songs, recite home grown poems, and play the guitar to earn a living on trains. The country takes everyone in its fold. Whether you are dressed in Armani suits or flannels nobody gives you weird looks. So everybody has a distinct identity. That’s when I realised that this county is the gateway to dreams. The differences enrich them. Hard work is well rewarded. I would imagine people to be hardnosed but to my pleasant surprise they were very polite. Every single person I asked for directions or help helped me out with a genuine smile. It did justify the tag of ‘most polite city’ given by Readers Digest.

I finished the Downtown Loop and the Brooklyn loop of the tour and managed to get a bird’s eye view of the city. From Ground Zero to Harlem, Chinatown to Greenwich Village, Wall Street to Trump Tower I did manage to get some fleeting glimpses of the important landmarks that make the big apple.

As I got off the tour bus to take the subway back flurries of snow gently perched themselves on my face. I looked up and received them with a content smile. I looked back at the glitz and looked ahead into the musty unglamorous subway station where a band was playing – ‘We built this city… We built this city on rock and roll’.