NY Pilgrimage

Why such a long hiatus you ask? well, its not that I reached a point where I had nothing to say anymore. Nor is it the fact that life in Miami is so engrossing that it leaves no time for anything else. Its just that I couldn't get my damn phone to transfer some photos to my comp. See, I had to say goodbye to NY/NJ properly before I started writing about Miami. You know they say you could live in Paris all your life and still never see the Tour Eiffel. Same thing happened to me in NJ. I had never been to the Statue of Liberty and a couple of other places. So before leaving I did a blitzkrieg visit of the all the famous sites. Then I visited some other places which were special for entirely different reasons. I humbly present the following:

1) Tom's Restaurant - Seinfeld

Throughout my teens I watched Friends while skipping the weird show that preceded it on Star World. How could I be so oblivious, so short sighted? Seinfeld is one of the greatest TV shows ever. EVER! Now, I find Friends lowly, even pedestrian. Seinfeld is avant garde. Seinfeld will still be hilarious 50 years from now. We need to beam Seinfeld into space so that Aliens realize that humans too are an intelligent species capable of much genius. Every Seinfeld episode is quotable. Seinfeld should be part of school curriculum. So I had to pay my respects at the below holy shrine before I left. The exterior shot of Monk's Cafe that is shown in almost every episode. In reality its Tom's Restaurant and they didn't actually shoot anything here, just the exterior shot. There were other people taking photos too.

2) Central Park - Marathon Man

Method actor Dustin Hoffman, actually ran a mile or two before each scene so he really appeared out of breath in the film. The following scene takes place just before the Nazi guy's brother crashes his car. Marathon man is such a fine film, it makes me wanna go out and run, even though its not exactly about running marathons.

"Is it safe?", "Is it safe?", "Is it safe?"

3) Washington Park - When Harry Met Sally

The following pic is Where Sally dropped off Harry after they share a long drive home from college. WHMS probably is the quintessential "can a guy and gal just be friends" film. Its not a chick flick, its not a romcom. Its a drama set around a relationship. I took the pic from the wrong side though. If you lean into the screen and spot a yellow car in the pic to the right, thats Sally's car right there. Go on .. lean in.

4) Manhattan Bridge - Once upon a Time in America

This is one heck of a film. Part male bonding/ friends through the ages, part Crime drama and part mindf*k. Sergio Leone may be known for his "Stranger with no name" flicks but this right here is undoubtedly his masterpiece. The following pic is not only the poster but also one fine and poignant scene from the film. This was the hardest place to get to and even though I though I was in the actual point, I should have maybe moved a couple of hundred yards closer.

5) The Soup Kitchen - Seinfeld

The place featured in this epic episode is now closed down. So indeed, No soup for me. There's a board that says that its available for rent. When I went around looking for it , I knew I was in the right place but just couldn't spot it. I asked a shopkeeper if there was anyplace to get soup nearby, he said there was, but if I was looking for the Seinfeld place, it was closed down. He pointed me in the right direction and said a lot of folks came by asking for the place.

Now that that's done, hopefully I can start writing about Miami!

Bye Bye NJ/NY

I am scared of my boss. THE Boss, the owner of the company, that is. He has really thick fingers with rings on them and wears expensive shirts with cufflinks, like all rich people do. But when I actually had a chance to talk with him I realized how wrong I was. He was as easy talk to as anyone else in the office. That is one thing I like about America. No matter how old the person is you can talk to him like he is your own age, with the same air of familiarity. So about two weeks ago he called me to his office and asked me straight away , How would I like to move to Miami? Now my office is on the 30th floor. Beautiful NY skyline view, you can see both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge. I have a cubicle, and whenever I have to go to one of the cabins and talk to the really important guys, even though I am talking to them, I am actually looking just over their heads, admiring the skyline, nodding my head and jutting in at the right moments. But that question brought me right back to the room. The perfect answer at the time would have been "I need time to think". I said to myself thats what I am going to say. And I said, No I wouldn't mind moving to Miami. Like those moments when the waitress asks if you are ready to order, and you are not but still you blurt out whatever you see on the menu. I was going to Miami, then and there in that room, it was decided.

I cant get NY out of my head. Within this orchard of concrete & glass trees, within this perfect lattice of bitumen resides the quintessential notion of a city. It is a personal life goal to live in this city for some time. I like to think that this place has never changed. A place where time accumulates, layer upon layer, era upon era. That afternoon as I was munching on the Pizza bought by The Big Boss (he buys lunch for the entire office whenever he is in town) I looked down upon a nearby Building - an apartment, with its open windows. A lady was sunbathing on the roof/penthouse. A person had his bed propped right up to his window and had an amazing view of the denizens on the street. A baby grasping the window and trying to stand as its mother/nanny looks on. Another apartment was filled with books. Everywhere. All so Woody Allenish.No, Woody Allen is NYish. All those people getting to live their lives in the city, and I was going away. It broke my heart, it did, that merry rent controlled downtown red building.

So Miami it is. Where Dexter and Burn Notice take place. Tony Montana's town. I hear they show Mallu movies in the theaters there. It cant be that bad ,rt? But I will miss this place. I guess more than NY , I am in love with the idea of NY. The life it represents. There is you and the city and the endless possibilities of life. With Simon & Garfunkel playing in the background. Even when you don't want it to.

New York Commute Pt.2: Commute Harder

Why do people lean onto the tracks to see if the train is approaching? It is going to come when it comes, leaning is not gonna make the train engineer make it run faster or feel bad for arriving late. Its just some things people do. You want to tell if the train is here, close your eyes and just stand at the platform. When you feel the wind suddenly picking up pace, almost a gust, thats when you know the train is here.

I have 24 minutes everyday from when my office lets out to when the 5:54 NJTransit trian leaves NY Penn station. I have to rush out of the office everyday if I have to catch the subway. It runs at every 6 minutes during the evening rush hour and 4 minutes during the morning. Yes,I have timed it. I try not to get all tied up about being late, because ,hey , you get there when you get there. Right? But going to the office and to a movie are the only two times I am hyper , alert and really flummoxed abt getting late. It irks me to no bounds when the people in the subway try to get in even when its fully packed. Its a true measure of the nature of the people of a city how they behave in the mass transit system, and let me tell you from what I have seen , theres no difference between NDC and NYC. This last Thursday, it was a true case of Hexagonal closed Packing . You can tell if you are late at the platform by the number of people waiting at the platform, naturally. It was overflowing. Apparently an A-express was cancelled. So we all waited. The next to come was a local C and suddenly I saw some ppl running further down the platform. I knew it must be some newyorker trick so I followed them and the train stopped way down the platform and I was right in front of the last car. I got in as did the whole platform. It was hell. and the door closed and opened several times with the engineer pleading ppl to stand back and wait for the next train. Finally we started moving. The next station was Spring St. If we couldnt fit in ppl at the last station why bother now , I thought .But there are always ppl getting off , silly. And again, ppl trying to wedge in as much as possible. I couldnt understand how where they fitting in. I looked over to the other side to see if there were ppl spilling over from the doors and windows like a priyadarshan movie, but no. Some ppl were actually taking a run and plopping into the mass of human meat. Like a bucket filled to the rim but still not overflowing from the drops that keep dripping into it. At the next station I wanted to actually put my arms across the door and stop ppl from getting in. Cant you see? We are full. No more!! The crowd thinned away as we got closer to NY Penn. And what happened just 2 stops before NY Penn?? The train stopped for some reason. My NJT train had already left , so I was no longer worried. So we all just stood there looking at each other, looking away when abt to be caught only to catch someone else who was staring at us, look away. I saw two ppl discussing a blueprint and I knew they were brothers of the same cloth. Civil Engineers. Why does it make me so giddy to know that they wield the same sword, the same shields?? Nearby a curly haired dude tries to read from the book , a old black lady is reading. She frowns at him and he looks away. A stop arrives. People get off. We rearrange ourselves. And now the curly haired dude is trying to decipher the blueprints. He even rubs his chin in mock wondering. The new cargo of ppl has with them a large black man who pleads with us to confess our sins and come under the lord's shadow, offering his own story to convey the power of JC. "I stole from my mother" "What answer would I give , when I die and the lord asks me , How is it that you were a lousy christian but an extraordinary crack head " "i was beyond redemption, but if I can see the light , hail the lord, so can you". The subway comes with its own brand of entertainment. I have actually seen this guy before peddling the same "wares". Have you wondered what would happen if two eccentrics were put in a ring and asked to have a go at it? Thats what happened the other time, when a drunk guy started loudly agreeing with everything the large dude was saying, putting him off and then leading to a loud argument resulting in the large guy getting off at the next station. The drunk guy beamed triumphantly.

My stop arrives and I get off. I have 15 minutes till the next train. All around me food tempts me, calling out to me, weilding a magnetic pull on my wallet. I give in and grab a white slice and join the scores staring at the info screen , waiting to know which platform are they docking my train. I get on.The train enters the tunnel soon after and you cant tell when its out because its dark outside when it comes out, as dark as the inside of the tunnel. It stops at Newark Penn, a station I have had a long relationship with. People cram in, among them Punit Kataria , Lavesh Gupta and Samir Dudani, complete with the french beard he has had since he was 9 years old, only its a trio of desis who remind me of them. Thats how Ms.Marple solved crime , you know. She was old and had met a lot of people in her life and could compare anyone to one of those people and predict how they would act and how they would have acted in a certain situation. I can tell they are consultants. Oh how some F1 students detest consultants, who arrive here on a direct H1B. I pretend to read but I am listening to their conversation. The ever eavesdropper. It gets boring after a while and I stop. I try to look at what the guy sitting next to me is holding. He has fell asleep with his wallet open displaying his train pass. He has some 20 $ bills, a few cards and why is he carrrying his SS card around. Dude , not safe. I reach Edison where the train spews out the last of the FOBs, the H1Bs, the ABCDs, the F1s and every other kind of desi including me. I put on my cap and my gloves and crush the snow as I walk to the other side. And I wait for my ride. Squash awaits and arrogant victory too.

New York Commute

Living in New Brunswick/Highland Park , I have had to commute to Trenton and Newark before for internships. Commuting when school is not in session is the worst because of the awful bus schedule. Now I have to commute to NY everyday for work and surprisingly its not that bad.

Apart from getting up at ungodly hours and sitting in a car that just wont warm up, there aren't any major hiccups. I get the train from Edison in the morning, a station that is closer to Highland Park but for some reason none of the desi junta ever goes to. I guess thats because the Rutgers bus doesn't run thataway but it is much nearer and very convenient if you have someone to drop you off at the station. Edison and the two stations after it, Metuchen & Metropark are hot spots for working desis. Its crowded with desis and as the train approaches Metropark you can see the hordes crowding the platform. The funniest thing is people running from afar trying to catch the train. Even though this happens to me at the Edison station, I find it funnier when it happens to others. But I cant understand why they keep on running even though its plain obvious they are gonna miss it. I have actually waved at an uncle , after the doors closed right at his face. Haha! I love NJTransit. Its very convenient and comfortable. I mostly read. As does the rest of the train. I on a lowly paperback while several on their Kindles and Sony Readers.I gave up sleeping after once I missed Newark Penn and landed at NY Penn. Also internships have taught me the absolute necessity of sleeping on time. You have to get your 8 hours of shut eye or you end up drooping at work and feel the debilitating grip of the sandman.

Its annoying when your train gets queued up before entering the Tunnel to NYC. I would reach spot on time if it weren't for that 15 minute delay that is now happening very often. Its an endearing sight that greets you just as you emerge from the tunnel and witness the skyscrapers and the NewYorker building among others. Stepping out of the train I dash for the Subway as does everyone else. You have to actually swim through a a deluge of people headed the other way , exiting the station. In the evening this river flows upstream. Also in the evening you have people transfixed like flies, glaring at the LIRR updates. They are another roadblock you have to skip over. You have to navigate slowpokes and old people as you reach the subway. I take the A express and thats the best part of the commute. You get to see the NewYorkers!! Ah, those vibrant multicultural species. So many kinds and shapes and odors and hairstyles and clothes. The only thing common would be the ubiquitous white iPod earphones. Even when people are talking to each other they don't take it off. Its almost rude. Whats the other thing thats off? Just like in the DTC and several other mass Transit systems in cities all over the world, people love to huddle up near the doors. No one likes to go to the very end. Of course in the DTC it would literally be impossible to get out at your stop in time if you are way inside the mass of humanity, it is not so in the MTA. Why don't people just move in then?? Once I reach my stop , I have a direct entry to my building through the subway and that is that. Although its not the easiest or shortest commute it is not too tiring, however it does eat up 3 hours of my day, prompting me to think of shifting shop in the near future. Wouldn't it be a dream to live in NYC?

Time for some...

......Penn station humour.