Hoboken Art and Music Festival

Hoboken is a small town in Jersey City, New Jersey State and is just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. One fine sunday we came to know about an ongoing one-day Music and Art festival out there on Hoboken streets, and we free souls ( hardly had anything to do on that sunday rather than roaming on the streets) rode a Path train to Hoboken to enjoy. It was a sunny day and people were in full mood to enjoy it. That particular city street, which would have been very busy with vehicles on any other day, was full of nothing but people, eating, drinking and talking people.

The mood was cheerful with wonderful music coming from the stage on one corner of the street where a band was displaying all their hidden charisma with chivalry. Delicious smell of food was coming from different stalls all around. Yes the smell was delicious, but don’t even think that I have turned non-veg, I'm just describing what I could read from the faces of the crowd. I too found my solace from the Oreo Cookie Shake at famous Johnny Rockets which was real yummy and tasteful to the last drop. Shish-ka-Bob was a dish that was looking quite famous on the various billboards on street and was nothing but the name-change of Indian Seekh-kabab. But hey, the festival was also about Arts and it was visible in all those shops with different styles of paintings, artificial jewellery, local artifacts, wooden work, show-pieces, decoratives and other artful works where the artists themselves were present to showcase their art and were more than willing to tell the art involved in it.

All in all it was no different than any small town mela in India. Everything was very much same. I saw a grandmother holding hands of her grandson telling him what is good about this festival, a father having his daughter on his shoulders eating pretzel and hot dog with a lemonade. Some friends like us were also gathered and were enjoying the weekend after a hectic week in the city. And towards the end of day, a cosmetics stall of had a marvelous offer that you can fill as many boxes or tubes as you can in a bag they were supplying for $25 and people flocked that shop like they do in Re.5 any item shop in India.
While coming back I was thinking about the differences between India and US...or was there any difference at all.......

Birthday bash !!!

It was the first time I was out of India on my Birthday (May 11th for those who don't remember) No matter how old (or young) I get, my birthday is a day which I always want to be special and I hope the case is same with most other people. For me this day was special because I was completing my quarter-century this time . It was also one of my longest birthdays till now as people started wishing me from 12 midnight in Malaysia, then it came to Singapore, then India, UK and finally ended in west-coast USA.

I got calls and mails from almost everybody for whom I care and was amazed to see my scrapbook in orkut scaling new heights. Some of them got me up in the middle of the night (5 AM) to wish me, but it really makes me happy to know that so many people care. I wasn't very sure whether my colleagues would be aware of the specialty of the day, but the moment I reached office, everybody wished me with a smile and asked for a party. I agreed to it and left the choice of venue on them as I wasn't that aware of city at that time (it was just 10 days since I came here). It was decided that everybody will reach Sunny(my boss)'s house by 9 and then we will go to some place.

Not even in my distant thoughts could I have ever imagined that biggest surprise of that day was waiting for me in the evening. When I reached Sunny's house, a gala dinner and all of my colleagues from IVP were there waiting for the birthday boy :). The icing on cake was my Birthday cake (a real delicious chocolate cake) which I cut while Sunny, Manavi (Sunny's wife), Amit, Tarun, Rohit and ever-smiling Jassi (sweetest sardar I've ever met) were clapping and singing "Happy Birthday" for me. We also posed for several photographs while having the cake with Haagen-Dazs' yummy ice cream. That was a wonderful evening with such good people who were so thoughtful and I will cherish it all my life.

Later I came to know that this surprise was brain-child of Jassi and Manavi, and I can’t thank them enough to give me one of the best Birthday presents ever.

Friday Night Frenzy....(FNF)

If you want to see how people enjoy after a hectic week...come to NYC
If you want to understand what nightlife means...come to NYC
If you want to know what FNF means...come to NYC

It was my first Friday in NYC. I just came out of the office and it hit me like Tsunami would have hit Indonesia. It was all over and I got splashed, squashed and swashed. Everybody was in double hurry to reach their destinations and start partying. The very expensive NYC cabs were hard to find that evening and there were scores of people waiting for them. We really had to do a lot of search and fight to get fast into the cab before anybody else catches it.

We had a company get-together in an up market restaurant earth-NYC which had a beautiful decoration with thousands of candles adorning its walls and other decorations and antiques displayed giving it a slightly Indian looks (actually it was owned by an Indian who dint look like one but was speaking beautiful Punjabi). We had a long dinner spread over numerous courses where actually everybody wanted to taste all the dishes from the South-East Asian menu spread across Mumbaiya Bhel puri to Punjabi samosas and Fried Bhindi to Palak paneer (sorry I always forget Non-veg menu as I am vegetarian) and sip all the cock-tails and wines on the list ranging from Vodka-Pani puri to Mango Martini and Merlot.

Our looooooooong dinner finished at around 10 and it was the time when earth changed its colors. The music started getting loud and the place started getting crowded. earth-NYC is an open vodka bar after 9:30 and they serve free shots of Vodka in exactly the same way they used to serve Chai on khokhas in India, the very same glass carried in that steel framed tray. Soon after a few shots everyone was on the dance floor shaking their booties on hippest songs which even included some Punjabi hits from saadda India.

When we came out of earth, it was a very young night outside waiting for us. Every street was having fun with the mad people swarming all around. Especially in the Village area which hosts a host of clubs, discs and pubs, you can see people enjoying to the fullest. There were drunks doing buffoonery, gays getting cozy with their mates, friends fighting and enjoying amongst each other, lovers having a good time and wanderers like us watching each and every person and enjoying just by the feel of being in that place at that time...and feeling the FNF.

Even more beautiful Evenings

After a hard days work when you are in a hurry to catch your subway or a path to get home, the busy sidewalks and over-busy streets makes you wait at the crossings and have a look at your surroundings. May it be Bryant Park at 42nd street or the little triangular sitting place with a beautiful statue at Broadway-6th Avenue crossing, they all invite you to sit down with a friend and have a little gossip. Central Park is so huge and so enticing that you can spend whole day wandering inside.

The same frenzy that we see in the morning can be seen in the evening too when everybody hurries up to reach their loved ones, its just that the direction of the traffic reverses. People generally live in suburbs and do up-down daily to their offices. You can see even the high-flier executives of big hot-shot companies traveling with you in subway as traffic in real pain in NYC and then Parking is just as hard to find as it is to find stray dog there. Whatever available parking is there, its so damn costly that only real good paid guys can afford. Taxies are again very costly which leaves you with the only option- The Confusing Subway and Path.

Actually people use many modes of transport in NYC. I saw tricycle-rickshaw (almost like you see in India but much more comfortable and costly), two wheeled scooters, and even roller-skates or skate-boards used by many people of all nature. Here people are only concerned of their convenience and nothing else. They don’t give a damn for what you think of them. If it suits them, they will go for it and that’s a good attitude to live life....really.

New York Morning

NYC looks beautiful in the morning. These days its the start of summer here so the weather is also very sweet. You can just wear a light jacket and roam around without feeling cold. In morning, its like a one way traffic towards the Manhattan and other office-centres. All around, you can see people dressed-up for the day, sipping coffee, eating bagels and pretzels while breezing through the sidewalks under straight-up bulidings, the energetic vibes are all around to feel and that is what gives you enough enthusiasm to hit your day.

There are hoardes of breakfast vendors with their little moveable or immovable shops all over Manhattan. American hit Starbucks is also full with customers in mornings as it is throughout the day. Starbucks is like a temple in USA where everybody goes as a routine to have their favorite coffee. The funny thing I found about starbucks is that in their menu a TALL cup is the smallest one that you can order :). I dont know whether its meant to keep the prices high or to encourage people to drink more coffee. But I guess its the second one as Americans always tend to do everything KingSize, may it be tall cup of coffee or tall buildings like WTC.

Office-Office

My first few days in office were cool, actually there was nothing to worry about as the work was pretty much the same that I was doing back home, only difference being that in India I was in office during night, while here it is daytime. And for the first time in my professional life except for the initial training days in
i-flex, I was coming to office and 9 AM and leaving at 5:30 PM. Isn't that great. My manager from client side is almost a replica of Bill Gates (really he looks very much like him except he has a slightly less crooked nose and a gentler face). For first two day I was struggling to get my PC on...some hardware problem and a support guy Angel (yes he was a guy and even I was amazed to know that) fixed it up with some Jugaad. They too know some tricks ;). This Angel was a martial arts champ and keeps telling you about his practice for his upcoming fight sometime in August.

Since work is cool, it is easier for me to spend some time blogging in the evening. My office is situated between the McGraw-Hill and UBS offices and is very close to Times Square and Empire State Building (almost in the middle). We (me and my colleagues frequent some good restaurants here around our office where we taste different kind of cuisines everyday. If its Italian Pizza or pasta at Bocca's one day, then American subs at Subway the other. Some days are for Europa Cafe's delicious Mexican Burrito's then others are to bear Chinese rude waiters in Vega. Since I don’t eat non-veg, the choices are very less for me but still its not a coz of worry as it was when I was in Caribbean island Bahamas where it was as tough to find veg-food as it is tough to find a Pearl in sea.

Sometimes, sitting on the 37th floor, my mind wonders and tries to feel the situation of all the people sitting on the more than 100 floors of twin WTC towers who just cannot imagine anything like a plane hitting their safe environs, and how would they have reacted to the catastrophe which took lives of so many of them.
Then again a question comes to my mind....

Why do people hate !!!

more...City

There are so many things in this City to rave about but my favorite is the Manhattan Skyline view in the night from across the Hudson River. Its marvelous, mind blasting, todu-fodu and mind blowing. While in NYC you can see the corporate buildings of many Fortune 500 or other bigwig companies. NYC is an island city just like Mumbai, its the financial epicenter of USA(or rather whole world) like Mumbai is for India, It is a crowded yet chic city with lots of places to hang-out and wonderful night-life just like Mumbai. Oh God...I can't stop comparing it with Mumbai...and even Mumbai scores up as it also hosts Bollywood while NYC doesn't :D. But this blog is about NYC so I should better concentrate on it :)

Its just the beginning of summers in NYC, so its a little cold in morning and evening and in noon, the sunshine is enough to get the sweat out of you. People really like this season here as they are able to do many things for which they are restricted during the frozen winters. NYC is a very bubbly city, full of activity. You can expect to see live musical performances anytime of the day at any point of your way to a subway station. All marketing gimmicks are first tried and tested out in NYC which are so versatile the you cannot stop being surprised with them.

Before coming here, I have seen, heard and read a lot about NYC and after coming here I am finding it more enticing and enchanting. I am dying to see the Trump Tower owned by Donald j. Trump, one of the biggest celebrity of US and the Real-estate champ of NYC. He is the host of "The Apprentice", one of my favorite Reality shows on TV and I can't stop humming the introductory song "Money, money, money maaaney.....maaney" of his show while roaming thru the deep streets between high buildings of NYC. One day I want to be The Apprentice:)

and...The City

The city that’s called NYC is unique in itself. A metropolis, where you can find people of all origins, food of all tastes and clothes of all fashions. The city is as experimental as it is conservative. At points people are so conservative that they stick to blacks, greys and whites (all conservative colors) for their attires, and at points you can find the most amusing buffoons on the streets entertaining people in their own unique way. People tend to be self-involved in their own work, hardly noticing the guy walking by them (and staring too) sometimes passing a gentle smile that’s no more than an indication:"Mind your own work and watch your steps or you will run over me". The city is filled with hustle and bustle throughout the day, not even sleeping in night (really, the NYC transit subway runs all night here).

People say you can find everything in the city, for nature lovers there are lush gardens (biggest and most famous being the central park), for steel lovers there are great buildings, for fun lovers you can find all types of (night)clubs and for culture fanatics their are lots of events including art galleries, museums and above all The Broadway. The tickets are on a higher end, (exceeding 80-100 USD for a show at Broadway, a little less for off-broadway shows, but there are places where you can find cheap tickets (USD 50$ is what they call cheap :( ). Even with such a high price the shows are worth watching and an experience in itself.

I am yet to see any of it other than my office building so will post in detail later about the experiences with each one of them. But yes, did I tell you that I saw the Grand Central Station of New York, its really huge and marvelous building on 42nd street, Madison Avenue. The only comparison that I had for that building is CST, the good old VT station in Mumbai. In fact I couldn't stop comparing NYC with Mumbai. Or should I start calling it MC....naah, Mumbai sounds much better and familiar. But yes I felt many similarities in both the cities. The professional atmosphere, the cultural depth, the cosmopolitan culture...they all are imbibed in the air of both the cities and I kind of like that...very much.

The shock

The Next day, my first day in the city...I learnt many new rules like walking on the right side of the road (they say, we walk on the wrong side in India and may be they are right but I dont like the right things that much), be fast in everything(though it was not that new after staying for 2 years in Mumbai) and respect personal space of every personnel staying in...the NYC.

Though there were many other new things, but for the time being I was too busy to grasp these and decided to worry about others later. The most imminent one was to understand the city map and the routes of New york Subway. I just have to come to Manhattan using a Path train that connects NY to NJ, but after that the network of transit-buses and metro trains connects the whole city. The network is so big and complex that those who think Mumbai locals are tough to undertsnad can never get a hook of it. Their are 26 lines with different alphabet+color codes. To get confused you can visit www.mta.nyc.com and find out purple-3 in a triangle is different from red-3 in a square or a circle. The streets are rather easy to traverse if you have a little penchant for walkIng which most people do here in ...the NYC.

Poeple in the streets and Yellow NYC Cabs swarming through them look like ants and butterflies walking in lines when I watch them from my office window at 37th floor. My building is just a 60 floor building which looked very short when I saw the Empire State and other building touching or crossing 100 floors. Its all a jungle of glass and steel, with every structure trying to look more beautiful than the others. Numerous restaurants and street vendors can be seen all over the city which houses innumerous people. They have all kinds of food present in the world to offer and daily serve to people of every culture, relegion, color, faith or food habits in NYC, who live and work here to make Uncle Sam progressive. Thats what I call a truely, really and relegiously Metropolitan city...the NYC.

The awe

I used to see it in the movies, read it in newspapers and magazines, hear it from people...but when I really saw the real thing...I was simply awed. Yes thats the right word or maybe the best word that is so short and simple, yet can tell you exactly what it means, no less, only more to say about it... like NYC.

I reached Newark Int'l airport on Saturday night. After watching at least three-four movies on my personal TV on-board while sipping red wine and being served Malai Kofta with Dry fruit salad by fancy air-hostesses. It was a comfy flight with a little stopover in London. I hopped on a taxi to Jersey City, my abode for next fewmonths and on the way I got a glimpse of the statue, which everybody in the world looks up to as a symbol of freedom and lit with light green lights, she really is worth it. After reaching home I found out that sleep knows no boundary and after lying on a cozy bed, I slept like a dog and forgot all the excitement that I had for the three letters... NYC.

Next day was spent in knowing my surroundings which was full of Pakistani restaurants and grocery shops who claim to be serving all Indian items. In the evening, I performed an act that I was trying to pull-off all my life...a long jog, and that too around the Hudson River water-front. On the other side of the river is Manhattan skyline and in the middle on an island stands the statue which we talked about a little back. It is a scene that can not be judiciously captured by any camera other than the one that almighty god has provided us. In the night, Manhattan looks like a magic, a dream come true. All those well-lit, tall, steel and glass buildings, look great from that distance. The only such effect that light had on me was when I was cruising in a boat in Ganges on the day of Dev-Deepawali in Benaras, with surrounding ghats decorated with beautiful arrangements of diyas. I knew that next day I'll be in one of those high-rises doing the thing I value least but which will earn me the most powerful currency on earth in the most
wonderful city of this world... NYC