glimpses from nyc

My sis imitating my blog pose! Looks like she's having a good time.. :)



Yummy chinese in Chinatown - suprisingly the only place we found when we went hunting for chinese in that neighborhood!



The cosy beautiful serendipity - with a menu full of crazy big desert specials.



The angels and christmas tree at the Rockefeller center.



The art cart. Street vendors selling interesting images of the city.



Brooklyn bridge? Maybe. It was shit cold and I wasn't listening to the commentary on the cruise. Just a nice looking bridge..

!!sister power!!

I might just be losing my blogoholic tendencies. I have so many posts in my head from the last 4 days that I was in NYC but i'm too tired to track back the million thoughts.

I had the most fulfilling time with my sister - the best we are capable of having at this point in time.
We did the laughs, the confessions, the giggles and the confrontations.
We did the walks, the talks, the shops and the hops.
We travelled on the train, in the bus, by the taxis and on our feet.

We spent this morning having desert at Serendipity (yes, the one in the film by the same name). It was spectacular.
We circled Manhattan on a cruise two days back - we saw the famous statue of liberty which made us both feel sick somehow; we saw the building where our friends stay (rachael, monica, joey, etc.); we saw the financial district with the missing twin towers; we saw the beauty of new york city as evening dawned on us and lights glittered all around.
We had the most fun walk on 5th avenue late at night when all these famous expensive stores were closed down - we saw the Trump tower, the Disney store and other famous cars, clothes, shoes and jewellery stores.

I learnt more about her and hope she got to know me better too.

I have a strong feeling that she didn't get all that she had expected from the trip. I was afraid of this. With distance, people create romantic illusions about each other. It's only been four months but I could tell my sis had sort of forgotten how not-nice I am. I'm sure she knows now. I tried hard. But it was tough. Her monster-like energy levels and her obsessive cleaning around my house made me feel dizzy. Imagine B, what would you do if I came to your house and started cleaning around everywhere, all the time??! :)

So she's on her way home now - I'm sure counting every second before she is reunited with her 7 month old.
The last 10 days were full of ups and downs and in-betweens. Hoping the new year is just as colorful.. :)

NEW york NEWs

It is official now. I am addicted to blogging.

So my pending post was about my stupidity over the past few days. I have a problem - just don't know what it is.

I get the strangest of mood-swings. They range in extremes. It's like my inability to express my emotions in a human-like fashion that leads me to behave passive-aggressively, which in turn irritates the hell out of me and everyone around.

The new development is the belief that it is okay for me to be wrong - I mean I always thought that I should try to be the best I can - but now I think that its okay to have shortcomings and to live with them. I would like people who care to understand these shortcomings so that I don't have to feel guilty about having them. I want to be proud of my shortcomings instead of desperately trying to iron out any crease that I notice in me before people see how imperfect I really am. Maybe I'm trying to get over my very well-hidden self-esteem problems.

One thing troubling me over the past some days was becoming aware of changes in someone else's life. It's not that I don't approve of these changes (because I don't think I have the right to approve or disapprove) but the changes are not positive and make me extremely uncomfortable. But I just don't have the guts to come out and say it. I never did.

The funny thing is that when A told me that she bitched about me on her blog, my heart sank. I was nervous about reading what she wrote. But thankfully it doesn't seem like she hates me despite my recent tantrums. The irony is that we both have restrained ourselves from talking to each other due to the fear of offending each other which led to greater problems!

This plus my interaction with my sister B makes me think that maybe I should stop being afraid and just speak my mind. It is so much better for the other person to know what is really in your head than for them to keep guessing and misunderstand everything. I almost wish that we humans were less complicated - but I stop myself. That doesn't sound like any fun!

So here I am in a room with A, B and roomie R blogging away to glory - whereas people like Mad Momma and others are off living their real lives away from their blogs. After the shocking incident with the con man, we decided to order pizza in our room and hibernate in the relative safety of our hotel - though our Pakistani taxi person told us about some recent robberies in hotel rooms in the city! He also told us about the "kalu-land" (african-american ghetto) lying between our hotel in Brooklyn and Manhattan, which ensured our non-activity for the night. It almost seems like my Mom sent the con man and the Pakistani taxi man to scare us off!

But tomorrow will be a new day. Hopefully our scar will fade somewhat and we will venture out into the BIG APPLE - see the main attractions and find a safe spot to spend new year's eve in new yorker style.

For now, its goodnight from the city that never sleeps...

conned in new york

Lots of pending posts but this one is urgent.

The first person I speak to in NYC turns out to be a con-man! And I get to be the lucky victim!

We were standing in the taxi line for what felt like an eternity when a nicely dressed man comes promising us a ride to our hotel. The relieved me followed him down the street and the rest of the process of his con-act is too painful to describe. In short, this man made $40 in less than 5 minutes and vanished in thin air. Thankfully he left us with all our luggage and a taxi with an old Pakistani driver. I sat through the long ride feeling almost more stupid than ever before.

My first taste of the big city. I felt so exposed - so vulnerable. The many cars, people and big buildings reminded me about life back in Delhi - where a lost life is nothing extraordinary. Such a scary feeling. But I also dreamed of a day when I will know this city like the back of my hand - when I will know who to trust and how to survive. It is so alive. I think I should be ready for it in about three years time :)