Feeling like Columbus

There's one thing I've been thinking about over the past couple of days, you could say a week. To get in touch with a person you've once upon a time been close to, after years and years have rolled by is like knowing how to ride a bicycle or learning how to swim. No matter how long it's been since you've tried your hand at each you never forget how to do it. You never forget the skill, you never forget how you used to relate to that one person years and years ago.

I recently got in touch with a friend of mine, it's been 12 years since we talked last. I am also taking for granted that we certainly did not talk about things we are talking about now and yet I feel like it's been 12 weeks, probably 12 months to do it some justice, but 12 years baaah!

There's something about meeting such special people again, some magic that's rekindled, some distant memory that suddenly seems so hard to forget, and very very 'in your face' real. We've each lived our different lives, probably even become completely different people, maybe I am just generalizing but what are the odds that I'm wrong? We still talk and understand like we used to that long ago. It's like she was never gone, and all those small presents that were exchanged back then, have always hung around the room somewhere probably because the hope was always alive that I would be able to talk about them someday with the person who presented them. Maybe it's about keeping that hope alive. That's something I've always believed in. Well here's cheers to meeting a very old friend.....

Being in NY

I have one word for the much hyped city of New York and Manhattan in particular - Spectacular. It's anything but hype, it's pure grandeur. The skyline, the people, the madness, the pace, the food, the buzz of the city. This is Manhattan and as popular saying goes- I am NY

As I live two lives in this city, I can relate to both the curiosity and excitement of a traveller and the pride in working in the prime of the world's finance centre- alongside Wall street.

There's not enough said if my exploits of this city aren't further explained but there aren't adjectives enough to explain everything, some images that simply cannot be caught on the candid camera, some sights that simply do take your breath away, the calm waters of the Hudson river lapping against the shore of the Statue of Liberty (for all GS people the spotlight would be 30 Hudson from Manhattan); the empire state building spiralling into a foggy sky. In this instance, no matter what "mode" the camera was set to, it simply wouldn't capture, the overwhelming view from the 86Th floor of the Empire state, the sounds, lights and camera's of Times Square, Usher posing in Macy's for all Americans to see (this time the camera really couldn't capture, unless you wanted to see his hat);what's to talk about New York? You gotta see it to believe it.

Which reminds me, Ripley's believe it or not! For all you fans of the show, this museum has it all, the gross, the eye-openers, the nerve tickling, the oohs and aahs that the show has, and just next door is Madame Tussuad's. This chain of wax museums has something to say in it's own way.

Broadway! What's NY without Broadway shows. I went for Mary Poppins- nostalgic, immaculate and fantabulous. The only word on every one's lips after the performance was "supercalifridgjalisticexpealidocious" I have no clue if I got that right, despite the cast spelling it to us in every artistic manner possible. The show was simply flawless and the Set's were perfect, especially if you've watched Mary Poppins years ago, this is nostalgia home.

This isn't about the people, the citizens, this place is about the thousands of people who come to visit, who come to work, NY is about them too and that sense of belonging, I have not felt so strongly in such a short span of time on any foreign soil.

One evening, after work, not knowing what to do, we took the Staten island ferry to Staten island, a three Decker that ferries people between the two islands to facilitate constant passage as no other means of transport connects Manhattan and Staten island,we took it to view the two skylines simultaneously - Jersey and Manhattan. It could not get more picturesque! I was too fascinated watching the ripples of the water spread out from where the nose of the ship hit the water to take notice of the diminishing harbour and the picture perfect sight suddenly pop up. It will always be a sight imprinted on my mind for I felt like I was in a calender! The Brooklyn bridge sparkling on the extreme left, working into Manhattan where the Empire state was glistening red that night, the calm subtle waters of the Hudson that met the Jersey bay, it's not so tall buildings still shining splendidly, and the Statue of liberty slowly passing by us or rather us passing by her and it was this slow movement that ensured that we believe this was all real. We've watched all this on World traveller, probably some documentaries, read about it, but here we were witnessing the perfect setting - the backdrop of Saturday night live on NBC.

Talking about NBC and I am going in no particular order, we went one morning for the NBC tour, the Rockefeller tour and the Radio city tour. At the NBC tour we went to the actual settings of some regular shows and even got to witness a stint of a news reading and weather forecasting.

The Rockefeller tour was a bit different. who would have imagined that you could walk around five buildings and not have to glue yourself to the guide to hear all that he's saying. As convenient as ever, we were given headsets to ensure we could hear all that he was saying and yet take our own time to observe everything around us. So there we were, a bunch of us, weaving through the public, headsets on, looking up randomly and learning that Rockefeller Junior was the only courageous man to have gone ahead and built so many skyscrapers during the time of the great depression.

The Radio city tour was equally interesting, after a much hyped description of the Rocketts, a group of girls who performed these high kicks and meticulously planned and perfected dances at Radio city, we were led into this room where an actual Rockett pranced out and posed for us!

We took the metro to Jersey. Jersey is a bit different from Manhattan. More quiet, laid back, rather the calm country side. A perfect place for a summer house. A nice setting for a barbecue, shopping at the Wal-mart, a long pleasant night drive,well, that's exactly what we did!

This city has something to cater to the tastes of the international crowd it attracts. There's one thing though on every one's mind, a note of goodbye. I am NY.