New York New York

New York Day 10:

Today marks my tenth day in the city of New York. Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to come here, see the city, figure out what it is all about. The skyscrapers, the statue of liberty, 9/11 and of course the romanticized idea of the city, spawned in my mind by shows like Sex and the City and FRIENDS.

I am yet to do any tourist-y stuff, dependent as my schedules are on those of my friends, but there is still time to do all that, so I am not that worried.

In terms of first impressions, being here was in a way anti-climactic. New York is huge, its loud, its congested and DIRTY…It is almost New Delhi, that is why probably I felt right at home from day one. The BIG AAAH moment that I was hoping would hit me, as soon as I landed in New York, never really arrived. Other US cities I have visited have been strange, alien. Too clean, too white, too quite or too ritzy. New York on the other hand is cacophonously crazy 24 hours of the day. Here, I do not miss the hustle bustle of Indian life, the fact that I see so many Indian faces around all the time, also helps the cause I guess.

Every day when I walk to work, I notice some thing or another that reminds of me New Delhi. Today, I made a mental list of it, so here goes

Things/Situations common to New York & New Delhi

The word New in the name (heh, sorry bad one, could not resist).
Street Food: Chat pakoris, chicken soup and parantha stalls in New Delhi. Kebab, knish, falafel counters in New York.

Tall buildings: Okay, so buildings in CP are no match for the high rises in the midst of Manhattan, but the feeling somehow is the same. Tall new buildings, mingling with small, ancient ones, past and the present existing together. Something or another is constantly being rebuilt or torn down!

Dirty streets, smelly subways: I seriously believe that smells emanating from a New York and New Delhi subway, are 97.6% alike, human urine (or should I say male urine?) mixed with random garbage of an unidentified nature. Either way, breathing in both is impossible. In no other US city, have I seen garbage openly strewn in streets. Bags upon bags of garbage, openly filthy street corners…the whole nine yards. No New Yorker can ever complain about the filth in New Delhi, at least as long as they are honest to themselves..

Beggars, homeless people: Yesterday, while walking back from work, I was approached by a lady speaking a foreign language I didn’t identify, gesturing me to read a laminated sheet she held in her hand. I kept walking as I knew what it was. Today I saw a homeless person, along with his homeless dog, sprawled in the corner of a street looking dead. Not that any one of us stopped to check if he really was. Do I even need to mention the number of times; we run into such people in India? The only noticeable difference is that I am yet to find a single child beggar.

Honking: As a pucca Delhiite, I missed the jarring horns of vehicles of all shapes and sizes….Much to my delight, New Yorkers have this in common with us. Elsewhere in the US, its considered rude to honk, here its almost mandatory to, much as in New Delhi

RICHSHAWS: It surprises me that while the Indian government talks about phasing out cycle-rickshaws, as they are too laborious, in cities like New York and Toronto, these are actually a tourist attraction.

Congestion: I don’t think any other city in the US is a match for New York in terms of the human traffic and congestion. No matter what time of the day, there is always a sea of people walking in your direction and away from it. Buildings may be sky-high but New York apartments hardly have any space. I have friends living bang in the middle of city in apartments that are small as pigeonholes, smelly, non-airy and yet they pay close to $3000 or above in a month’s rent alone. I have never rented a place in New Delhi, but I have been told it’s quite true for the home city as well.

That is it so far, I am sure though I will stumble upon more..