The city
New York is truly cosmopolitan, probably the most out of all the mega cities of the world. One can see people of so many different races that it instils respect both for the city and for its people for being so tolerant. So if you notice a black wearing his pants just above his knees with boxers peeping out you can only criticize to your satisfaction.
The city comprises of 4-5 islands Manhattan being the one with all the glitz and glamour associated with NY be it the Times Square, Wall Street and Financial District (the people responsible for the recession work from here!), Central Park and the Empire State.
A typical Manhattan street view comprises of a lot of pets with their owners, cool cars(actually cool becomes a gross understatement when you ogle those stretched hummers), cute babies in strollers, awesome chicks with ultra small clothes, suited men, tall skyscrapers and the famous yellow cabs. Yes it is that crowded! Live in Manhattan and you would be probably paying a hefty amount even for being crammed in a studio but I guess the satisfaction that you live in one of the most happening places on the planet more than makes up for it.
Times Square is one place you need to visit (especially at night). It is a humbling experience which cannot be put in words.
New York being my first megacity abroad made me appreciate how meticulously these cities and their systems are planned. Parks every few blocks, subway connections etc all make it seem like a city
You plan in a Sims simulated computer game.
The people
They say a place is only as good as its people. I could easily notice the stark difference between us desis and natives of the first world countries. Smiling to a stranger while walking on the street, being polite, offering your bus seat to an old lady were all things commonplace in New York which are so alien to us. I guess that is pretty much because of the overwhelming amount of people in India we are wired to think of them as competition for our already limited resources.
The heights of civic sense in these people can be gauged by the fact that they do pick up their dog’s shit if it takes a dump on the pavement. Although there is a pretty hefty fine otherwise!
New Yorkers seemed to be really health conscious. One can see people jogging at all times of the day. I was amazed as to how particular these people are about each and every thing. Each street no matter how small has a name with a proper sign board. There are wide pavements and at each street intersection there are sloping pavements for the physically disabled. Some people even have special mats installed to stop noise coming from water drops dripping on their ACs outside their windows.
Air India
I so want to bitch about Air India. I have travelled to US twice once with Etihad and the second with Air India. Both the experiences were starkly different! Firstly Air India's Air hostesses are not exactly the “see and keep seeing when you get bored on flight” types. Not that it is the most important thing but still it adds to the experience!
They say they fly to New York non-stop from India and that is when you realize that the morons pick you up from Bombay and dump you on the Delhi airport asking you to do the entire security check in process again to come back to the same seat on the same aircraft(with additional passengers from Delhi)! What was more frustrating is that even their crew didn’t seem to know of this drill creating a lot of confusion. The plane from India to JFK is quite empty and hence it is amusing to see desi junta fight over the vacant seats painting a sorry picture in front of the few foreigners travelling with Air India. At Bombay they use a single 30 seater bus (packed Bombay style) to unboard a plane of 500 passengers taking more than 2 hours just to unboard the aircraft.
The crew has an air of casualty doing only the bare minimum on the flight that is so typical of any government organization. Not to forget the “Kursi ke peti bandhne ka sanket ab band kar diya hai magar phir bhi aap kursi ki peti bandhe rakhe” fiasco by the air hostess!!
Time for Credits
To baby Rushil who was the prime reason for this trip! To my two sisters who are doctors in New York without whom this trip and hence my first blog entry would never have taken place! And ofcourse to dad for paying for it :P !
:)
ReplyDelete