Everybody Loves New York...

The day was spent in travelling. We took flight from New Delhi to Dubai to Dallas to Orlando. We finally reached Orlando around six in the evening. This is the first time that I took such a long flight (about 16 hours from Dubai to Dallas). I finally learned what jet lag is all about. Otherwise I always thought people made a big fuss about nothing. I wrongly believed that any adult can get used to a lack of sleep. It is not quite so simple though when your head refuses to stop spinning even four hours after landing. What made it all the more worse for me was the fact that I had landed from Mumbai about three hours before the US flight. So you can imagine the scrambling and shouting which would have ensued before we finally managed to catch the flight to the US.
Since we had travelled business class, I think it warrants a mention or some sort of an acknowledgement. I have some issue with luxury…always have. I seem to be in awe of it most of the times but start feeling uncomfortable after a short while. I feel like an imposter, like I don’t belong there and something will happen which will bring the dream to an end. Anyway, the fact of the matter is that I enjoyed the business class as much as I could.

Since I am writing this blog long after the trip is over and done with, I will start from our last stop and not the first one. For the record, we travelled from Orlando to Washington DC to Buffalo to New York. The last stop was the big apple, New York City. I have visited a number of metropolitan cities and most of the cities have a different personality but still there is nothing quite like New York. It is characterized by imposing skyscrapers. Like most of the big cities, it is situated along a river, Hudson river.

I realized during this trip that unlike earlier, I absolutely love the city life J. As soon as we landed in New York, we could feel the excitement, the energy associated with a big city. Though I enjoyed Niagara Falls as well, New York was simply amazing. I absolutely loved the rush, the vigor of New York. Though it is a cliché, NYC is the land of endless opportunity and possibilities. I would love to stay in this city.  

The Times Square is the hub of the city and our hotel was right on Times Square. In the evening, the place is full of all sorts of performers--from painters to people roaming around in cowboy gear to dancers--you name it. The billboards here tell a story of their own.  It is a melting point of different cultures and very difficult to describe. You gotta go there to feel it.

You cannot write about NYC without mentioning the twin towers. It is so much a part of the recent history. We are used to calling it Ground Zero but New Yorkers don’t appreciate using that name now. They say that it is no longer a site of destruction since they are in the process of constructing an even taller tower (Freedom Tower), so it cannot be called Ground Zero anymore. Our tour guide spent a considerable amount of time at this site and insisted on singing the national anthem with pride palpable in each and every syllable. It was an unforgettable moment. We have had our disasters (in fact many more than the US has) but we don’t honor our people the way they do. I wish we did.