Its getting colder at Penn State........brrrr yesterday was 14 degrees Celsius with wind and rain. And I was out moving only in a shirt and jeans and my umbrella. And it seems today is colder, but I haven't bothered venturing out. Speaking of umbrella, it now has a new significance for me....we've been having parties all week long now......me going over to some people's place or people coming over etc etc. And whenever the parties happen in the building I stay, the song that HAS to play is
And just yesterday S told me that whenever she hears this song 3 years from now, its gonna remind her of the first week at State College. New friends, people, surroundings, relationships this is all so much fun. Though I catch myself thinking of all my years in Bombay and especially the last 5-6 eventful years and how I just have to get in touch with all the people but I just don't get around to doing it. Bra, bawa, akki, pavi, krits, dips, soo-zay, pj, shitty,dave,vg,kp....all you guys......I do plan to mail soon :D Please don't give gaalis! :D I've had such awesome fun times with you guys........it would have been so fun if all were here at Penn State.
And here's to all new friends........and more parkway parties and a whole new sem and so much fun that I can wirte about you guys in my next blog like this 2 years from now when I am somewer else!
For all those who were not there......
whobeinlilreminiscent
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
Of Glittering pavements and 3 inch shorts
So, I had my first true do-it-yourself trip of my life. "Look at New York City", planned oganized and executed by me. They were the best 24 hours I have had in a long long time. Beginning on 1st August at 4:30pm from Bernardsville Station, NJ it ended at the same station at 4 pm on the 2nd.
Having had a full itenary planned out, it was all blown to bits when my frined (whom I was supposed to meet at WTC), called saying a meeting came up and he had to rush back at 8. So, anyway, we decided to meet at WTC.While waiting for him to arrive on the hot NY sidewalk, I observed the people moving past me. Indians, Chinese and Americans.......these were the headings under which I classified them. Each of them dressed in formal clothes or suits, they had this air of purpose, a look of determination and some sort of destination to which they purposefully strode, pushing others out of the way, sometimes with an "excuse me" or else a shove. This was so much like Bombay.....it was instantly apparent they are called sister cities. No one but yourself. Just for kicks, I felt like asking for directions to Wall Street, so I asked one white guy dresssed in a classy suit to help me out. The guy turned around to hear me out, but didn't stop walking! So I'm hurrying behind him asking him and he continues walking while giving me perfect directions to Wall Street leaving me displaced from my resting place by a 100 metres ! Again total Bombay-style.
Mah friend came, we caught up and then I realized I needed to pee. So what does he suggest? Go up to this Indian Restaurant (which served naan for $3, paneer-mutter for $6) and ask him if I could use the loo. So, thinking Indian-Indian bhai bhai, I did that.
"May I use your bathroom? "
Stares..........20 seconds.Then a nod of the head and a finger lifts in the genral direction of loo.
After I'm done, "Thank you"
Nod towards exit.
Unbelievably rude behaviour! But again, Bombay :D.
Anyway, then we had slices of cheese pizzas, beer and then went to Times Square at 10:30 in the night. Stupendous is not quite the word which does justice to the scene that greeted us. Flashing neons, a mass of humanity omg, Times Square has to be visited once in the night! Friendly, jovial people, tourists and couples mainly. The footpaths again reminded you of the street stuff in Bombay, with various people coming up with innovative ways of earning money.Potrait painters, entertainers, robo-impersonators, stall owners, name em and you find em. Indians, Pakis, Albanians, Chinese, Koreans saw all of them side-by-side with the French, Africans, Italians. Roaming around in Times Square I saw the flashiest wheels on one side of the road, while just next to me there lay an old homeless guy in deep sleep on the pavement!!!
And the pavement, oh my god !!! It actually glitters because of some granite or whatever it is that they have put in it whie making it. So in the faintest of lights you can see it glimmering and shining in front of you, twinkling away, and that makes you feel so good coz you feel like you are walking amongst the stars :D :D
These are the pics of the night :D. Enjoy them and then continue reading !
Cut to 2nd August, morning 7:30 am. After spending time at Times Square till two in the morning (and seeing lesbians and straight couples make out on subway stations ) and spending the whole night awake chatting to friends and uploading pics, and seeing the sun rise in New York City, I was out on the streets again, heading to Rockefeller Centre. On my way I stopped at a roadside cart for coffee (really watery crap) and an onion bagel (cold as an ice-cube, hard like rock). Eating and walking while looking at hurrying locals on their way to work in the sweltering sunny weather made me feel goood in a sadistic way ! :D That I was here, free without a care in the world while they had to go do work and routine boring crap!
Reaching Rockefeller before 8 meant I had sometime to hang around before they opened and let me up onto the observation deck. I spent that time chatting up an Italian couple, Antonio and Camella, from Napoli who were der on their honeymoon (wedding holiday as Antonio put it in his broken English!) and were also waiting for the place to open. NYC from the 70th storey offered a good view, but the dirty yellow-brown smog around the whole city showed the sorry state of afairs Again, made me think of Bombay and its haze. When we went down from the observation deck, in the gift shop below, Iwas waiting while A & C shopped around. We'd decided to go to Times Square together next, coz I already knew the loaction and they didn't have anything specific in mind. So while I was waitin, I got chatting with a black guy at the counter. Turned out his granddad was Indian who went to Guyana and did stuff with the locals there which led to this guy being born. :) His name? Justin Singh. Was funny and awesome at the same time........
Anyway, then we went to Times Square, I'd wanted to see the Ripley's Museum there. On our way to the place, me and Antonio were trying to converse in however way we could, gesticulating, speaking, mouthing syllables. Finally Camella had a brainwave. Digging into her backpack she handed Antonio an Italian-English dictionary while I got an English-Italian dictionary. So der I was explaining that Madame Tussad's was a "muesmo de cera" while he told me he was a "book-keeper" (he meant he had something to do with finance, I gathered he was a fin. consultant or something) and that "mechanical engineering has great profit in Italy". Ohh, it was fun.
After Ripley's I was just moving around in NYC, on the streets looking at the various shops and the goods they had.....did yo uknow you got fake branded stuff on the streets in NY and that you could bargain for it ? I thought that happened only in India ! The 3-inch shorts, by the way refers to the length of the clothing worn by the girls in NYC. The most ostentatious display of legs- fat, thin, wrinkled smooth however the condition, the shorts were ubiquituous. Either that or a tight mini-skirt. Perfect.
love
wholikestravelling.
Anyway, then we had slices of cheese pizzas, beer and then went to Times Square at 10:30 in the night. Stupendous is not quite the word which does justice to the scene that greeted us. Flashing neons, a mass of humanity omg, Times Square has to be visited once in the night! Friendly, jovial people, tourists and couples mainly. The footpaths again reminded you of the street stuff in Bombay, with various people coming up with innovative ways of earning money.Potrait painters, entertainers, robo-impersonators, stall owners, name em and you find em. Indians, Pakis, Albanians, Chinese, Koreans saw all of them side-by-side with the French, Africans, Italians. Roaming around in Times Square I saw the flashiest wheels on one side of the road, while just next to me there lay an old homeless guy in deep sleep on the pavement!!!
And the pavement, oh my god !!! It actually glitters because of some granite or whatever it is that they have put in it whie making it. So in the faintest of lights you can see it glimmering and shining in front of you, twinkling away, and that makes you feel so good coz you feel like you are walking amongst the stars :D :D
These are the pics of the night :D. Enjoy them and then continue reading !
Cut to 2nd August, morning 7:30 am. After spending time at Times Square till two in the morning (and seeing lesbians and straight couples make out on subway stations ) and spending the whole night awake chatting to friends and uploading pics, and seeing the sun rise in New York City, I was out on the streets again, heading to Rockefeller Centre. On my way I stopped at a roadside cart for coffee (really watery crap) and an onion bagel (cold as an ice-cube, hard like rock). Eating and walking while looking at hurrying locals on their way to work in the sweltering sunny weather made me feel goood in a sadistic way ! :D That I was here, free without a care in the world while they had to go do work and routine boring crap!
Reaching Rockefeller before 8 meant I had sometime to hang around before they opened and let me up onto the observation deck. I spent that time chatting up an Italian couple, Antonio and Camella, from Napoli who were der on their honeymoon (wedding holiday as Antonio put it in his broken English!) and were also waiting for the place to open. NYC from the 70th storey offered a good view, but the dirty yellow-brown smog around the whole city showed the sorry state of afairs Again, made me think of Bombay and its haze. When we went down from the observation deck, in the gift shop below, Iwas waiting while A & C shopped around. We'd decided to go to Times Square together next, coz I already knew the loaction and they didn't have anything specific in mind. So while I was waitin, I got chatting with a black guy at the counter. Turned out his granddad was Indian who went to Guyana and did stuff with the locals there which led to this guy being born. :) His name? Justin Singh. Was funny and awesome at the same time........
Anyway, then we went to Times Square, I'd wanted to see the Ripley's Museum there. On our way to the place, me and Antonio were trying to converse in however way we could, gesticulating, speaking, mouthing syllables. Finally Camella had a brainwave. Digging into her backpack she handed Antonio an Italian-English dictionary while I got an English-Italian dictionary. So der I was explaining that Madame Tussad's was a "muesmo de cera" while he told me he was a "book-keeper" (he meant he had something to do with finance, I gathered he was a fin. consultant or something) and that "mechanical engineering has great profit in Italy". Ohh, it was fun.
After Ripley's I was just moving around in NYC, on the streets looking at the various shops and the goods they had.....did yo uknow you got fake branded stuff on the streets in NY and that you could bargain for it ? I thought that happened only in India ! The 3-inch shorts, by the way refers to the length of the clothing worn by the girls in NYC. The most ostentatious display of legs- fat, thin, wrinkled smooth however the condition, the shorts were ubiquituous. Either that or a tight mini-skirt. Perfect.
love
wholikestravelling.
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