A concrete jungle interspersed with all kinds of human personalities and enterprises – that was my first impression of New York City. Getting on a plane from Los Angeles on the eve of July 4th weekend had its set of challenges. I was a bit anxious having read various articles about expected delays and cancellations. Thankfully, all went well, and we got to Laguardia airport on Friday night as planned. Getting the iconic NYC yellow taxi from the airport was super-convenient and we were lucky to land one with a transparent Tesla-like roof, giving us a glimpse of the sky, some famous streets, bridges, and tall buildings right away. It also worked out the hotel was in downtown NYC making most of the landmarks walkable as we discovered over the next couple of days.
It all began with a hunt for food on night 1. We stepped outside the hotel at 11:30 pm to look for a nearby restaurant. The first thing we found was a food truck right round the street corner. We walked for around 15 more seconds and reached an intersection with humongous electronic billboard and tall buildings. The crowd around reminded me of Dadar station in Mumbai, with hardly any space to walk and non-stop chitter-chatter. The difference of course was that most people, including us, had their cell phones out clicking pictures of the ostentatious displays advertising everything from fashion brands to upcoming movies and shows. Summer informed me that this was the famous Times Square, and we were surprised that this was barely a minute’s walk from the hotel. We clicked a few photos and continued our search for dinner which ended with a food truck close to the hotel. As always, it was Indian food to my rescue with a kind man treating us to some delicious chicken rice for a cost less than half of a restaurant meal.
The hotel itself was fascinating with a ship-like structure and really small but cute rooms. However, knowing that this trip was meant to be more outdoors than indoors, I didn’t mind the size of the room and quite enjoyed the fact that the location of this hotel was perfect. This trip was mostly about meeting friends after years and in doing so, witnessing a glimpse of NYC streets and the infamous fast pace everyone talks about. Being from Mumbai, I wasn’t alien to this but was still looking forward to getting a slice of the so-called best city in the US.
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Next morning, my dear friends Gayatri and Sandeep drove all the way from Philly to meet me. We spent the day reminiscing university days, walk in the famous Central Park, eating Mediterranean food and then having drinks and tacos at a hep pier restaurant named Watermark. All of this was great fun, but the best part was just seeing these two lovebirds after 2 years. It was crazy to think that I used to meet Gayatri almost daily for 2 years and had then gone without seeing her at all for another 2.
It felt like I was back at Northside Drafthouse with her, telling her some story about my day which she already knew. Ha! Thanks to their car, we also got a chance to drive through some of the NYC streets and check out some more of the typical buildings before it was time to bid goodbye to them. With a heavy heart, I bid farewell with promises of meeting soon – perhaps in LA next time.
Later that evening, we met two more of my close UT Dallas friends. Nivesh, who was particularly excited about my NYC visit, had been planning to come see me as soon as possible. He took a subway ride all the way from Jersey and we then walked to a nearby restaurant – Mama Mia – to catch up like old times. Anirudh joined us a bit later and we all had some fancy pastas and pizza. In this duration, we also had an incident with a homeless person – another infamous thing I had heard about NYC. We were sitting outdoors in the streetside restaurant, and this homeless guy walked up to us asking for cash. Summer gave him a few dollars and he goes – “I am gonna give this back to you and ask you to buy me food”. We were not sure how to deal with this other than just saying “No, sorry”. But he went on almost in a threatening tone – “If the waitress gets here, she will call the cops and I will get in trouble (but what he was implying was he will give us trouble). So just give me $8 or buy me food. We all then looked in our wallets and gave him some more cash, making us feel like we have been extorted for money.
Nivesh then told us that this is common in NYC and the common thing to do is not budge. Anyway, we learned our lesson and enjoyed the rest of our meal in peace. Nivesh, as a tribute to one of the running jokes Gayatri and he had on me, gifted me a Belated Happy Father’s Day card (because I am much older than these two).
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The next morning, we met Summer’s friend Eddie at Bryant Park for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon walking on the streets, exploring part of the city. They showed me some famous landmarks which were all just a few minutes from each other – Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, MET. It was awesome that people could just walk to all these places, as compared to Los Angeles where it’s unusual to get anywhere without a car. Our walks also gave me a chance to observe establishments, coffee shops, bagel places, stores, parks and listen to voices, conversations, accents – and tried to compare these with what I had seen in Dallas and Los Angeles. It became quite obvious to me that NYC clearly had its own distinct character, pace, vibrance and aura. It also became clear to me that I was perhaps more of an LA guy by now 🙂
Finally, it was the 4th of July, and we hadn’t made any plans for the evening. Thankfully, I was able to get a reservation for the evening fireworks at a place Nivesh recommended – 230 5th rooftop bar. And I was glad later that I did. We spent the day walking on the streets again – we picked up bagels for our friend Bettina from Essa bagel, bought coffee from a small shop on the way, and then had lunch later at a German bar. When it was time in the evening, Nivesh, Summer and I showed up at the rooftop bar which was bustling with well-dressed people excited about the upcoming Macy’s fireworks. Our table happened to have a clear view of the Empire State Building lit up in USA colors. There was fun music playing and around 8 pm, the fireworks started. It was a great experience listening to music, watching these fireworks in a new city, with an iconic landmark (KING KONG!) in front of us. We captured a bunch of pictures and videos and walked back to the hotel after stopping for a donut on the way.
It was time to say Adios to NYC the next morning and rent a car from Avis near the airport. The taxi guy this time was Harminder who talked to me about his neck of the woods in NYC and how it is full of Indians. We spoke in Hindi, and he told me it’s not usual as even Hindi-speaking Indians prefer conversing in English when in NY. we were dropped off safely and as it has been customary to lose something on every trip, I dropped my sunglasses somewhere while deboarding Harminder’s cab. We rented a cool hatch back and drove to Connecticut, where one of the best places I have experienced in the US so far awaited me. More on that in my next post…