NYC

Yukk!

That was the one-word reaction from all four of us in the car when we entered Brooklyn. We were headed to explore the Big Apple, after having picked up her cousin at the Hilton somewhere in uptown New York. I mean, all of us have seen far worse places back home, but here, in the middle of the most swanky place on earth .. No, please!

The streets were worse than those in Karol Bagh or Chandni Chowk. She almost freaked out every time she ran her Celica into another bump or hole in the road. After much steering and obscenities, we exited Brooklyn and entered north Manhattan across some river (the Hudson?).

This was a much better place. Cleaner, well-maintained, but nowhere close to New Delhi. We taxied down along 5th Avenue and stopped at Central Park (Perk?!) to take a look at now legendary lawns. I took in a bit of history about the place and we headed further south towards the Empire State. Our destination was Times Square, where I had dreamt of posing before Nasdaq ever since I saw it first in a desi newspaper, flashing an ad of Infosys! That was 4 years ago ..

The place was lit like Diwali night! And we just stood there and admired the power the structures around wielded - Reuters, Nasdaq, NY Times .. the list goes on. I couldn't fulfil my other dream that evening - that of sitting in a cafe on Wall Street and watch people buzz past going about their business. Ah, those Hollywood movies!