New York - The City that never sleeps

For the parents who have sent their wards overseas, it is customary to obtain visas to be able to attend the graduation ceremonies.  Going by this thumb rule, Sumathi and myself obtained our US visa in March 2017. However, we could not attend the graduation ceremony of Karthik held in May 2017.  Since then, USA has been calling us and we were eluding it.  Key personalities have limited time for leisurely affairs – Wow, what a thought to have not visited the country earlier.

Believe it or not, as the saying goes, it’s better late than never, we finally decided after 2 years to set our foot into the ‘so called’ land of opportunities.  Well, it was not to seek opportunity, but to live the moment with our son and of course complete the sight-seeing formality of the most advanced nation in the world.  With very limited shopping (for the longest overseas journey), we were all set to leave our motherland with just 2 check-in bags (one medium and one large).  I am sure that’s one major difference of having a son staying abroad as compared to a daughter who otherwise would have had her own requirements to be brought in which would have easily occupied 2 more large check in baggage.  This is a universal rule, so no offense meant.  I also understand the love & affection that is carried by the parents along with the items to their beloved daughters.  Hence, it’s not about picking a debate on what is right or what is wrong, but it’s about the nature of gender.  So, guys with daughters abroad, don’t squabble with me.

25 Apr 2019 – It was a ‘work from home’ for me till 4pm (an option that I exercise very rarely).  My friend had informed me of ‘Cel Cab’ for airport drop.  There is no concept of ‘surge’ price by these operators and invariably these guys turn up an hour in advance, which suits my temperament (otherwise my BP will unnecessary shoot up!).  The cab arrived by 2.30 pm for a booking made at 4 pm.  We reached the airport before 5 pm.  The check-in commenced by 5.15 pm for our Emirates flight at 8.35 pm to Dubai (all times in IST).  The connecting flight to New York was 3.5 hours later in Dubai.  The flight to Dubai started and landed on time.  There were clear instructions to passengers to take the correct exits – ‘Arrivals’ (if Dubai was their destination), else – ‘Connections’ (if they had to catch a connection flight).  We landed in Terminal 3 and our connecting flight was also from Terminal 3.  I thought it would be a walking distance from one Gate to another.  However, I was proved wrong.  Within the same terminal, we had to go 2 levels down, catch the airport shuttle train and move back to 2 levels up to reach the departure zone.   I am sure this information will be useful for first time travellers.

Our aircraft was Airbus A380, one of the largest fleets in the world.  However, the seating arrangements near the boarding gate was limited.  It was painful to see many people scrambling for seats as the waiting time to board the aircraft was more than an hour.  After boarding the flight, an announcement came from the captain stating that the flight will be delayed by about 30 minutes as ‘unfortunately a passenger has fallen ill’ and the check in baggage is being offloaded.  Apparently, the passenger had requested for a change of seat quoting that she is ‘not feeling well’.  The airline was strict not to carry passengers who were sick and the passenger was deboarded.  This incident led to over 45 minutes delay in departure.

26 Apr 2019 – We landed at JFK New York.  As we entered the immigration area, there were lots of ‘automatic passport control’ scanners.  We have to scan our US visa page, our finger prints and take a selfie on the camera installed on each of the monitor.  I combed my hair and tried to give a broad smile.  Pat, came a response on the screen – Dude be normal, no over-acting required.  This is not a matrimonial site.  I then became serious and stared at the camera.  Click, the photo was done and a slip came out with my full horoscope.  With the slip in hand, we stood in the serpentine queue.  Within minutes, a guy walked across to us and asked us if we were a family.  I responded saying ‘yes’.  He asked us to jump the queue and walk towards the Immigration counter.  I thanked my grey hair thinking maybe he thought I am a senior citizen and I am being given privileged thoroughfare. This happiness was short lived as within seconds, we were asked to stand in another queue which was having only family members, and this queue was bigger than the original one!   A simple lengthy granite seating slab will alleviate the exhaustion of the passengers who would have arrived the destination by crossing the 7 seas/7 oceans.   Not sure if this Is too much of an ask at the Immigration centers across the world.  The wait lasted for over an hour before we hit the counter.  Only one question and our passports stamped.  Like a parent trying to get admission to his child in a reputed school in Bangalore, we had prepared ourselves to answer all sorts of questions – thankfully, the mock runs did not go live.  The baggage had already arrived and was placed outside the conveyor belt.  We passed through the customs.  As we had not carried anything that is prohibited by the Law of the land, we had an easy exit. 

It was indeed a joyous moment to meet our son who had come to the airport to pick us up.  In an hour, we reached home in NJ.  The area is called Port Imperial, the city – West New York and the State – New Jersey.   The apartments are owned by area realtors and the building style looks like a posh hotel with long corridors and the main doors on either side of the corridor. As you enter the flat, you just need to say 'hey google, turn on the lights' or 'hey google, dim the lights' or 'hey google, change the color of the lights' and it's fun to watch it happen.  I am waiting for the days when the google will execute commands like 'hey google, get me dosa' or hey google, get me poori masala'  This will be a boon for the working Indian couple and also the 'Tamil homemakers' to watch  more TV serials. 

I was quite amazed at the amenities/club house of this apartment complex, as we explored the same after a few days. Some of them are:- a well-equipped gym, tennis court, swimming pool and a jacuzzi (I can hear, so what by some readers?). Have patience and read further!
A restaurant look-like hall with seating arrangements in the living hall and a kitchen (for family get-togethers). A self-learning yoga room with a big TV and a panel to select pre-recorded ‘yoga’ sessions.  A mini-theatre with 16 sofa seaters and a big screen to have a private watch of movies/ matches. A dedicated internet-café look-like desk seats for those who are bored of working from office, avail work from home facility but want to work undisturbed by the spouse!  It also has a scanner/printer facility.

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The best thing about this location was the dedicated walk-path alongside the river measuring over 2 kms.  An evening brisk walk takes about 25 minutes to complete one way.  Every second person comes with a dog of different shapes, sizes and breed (so cute they are – I meant the dogs).  These dogs are also well behaved and do not bark at their counterparts.  In fact, they wag their tails seeing their counterparts.  Unfortunately, I believe my tail has been cut by my primary school teacher whom I still remember saying – “children don’t try to wag your tail with me, I will cut it”, else I could have tried my luck !  There are also ‘dog- poop’ bags freely available through the stretch to clean the place after the dog relieves itself.

On 28 April, we visited one of my ex-colleague – Jyotsna’s house in Eddison, NJ.  This place was over an hour’s drive from our place.   Jo’s husband, Ashutosh picked us up and enroute we visited NJ Bridgewater Balaji Temple.  This temple had all the Hindu idols (with Balaji as the main deity).  There was Lord Shiva, Ganesh, Subramanya, Ayyappa, Rama, Anjaneya, Radha Krishna, Durga, Sridevi, Bhudevi, etc.  It was basically a joint-family of Gods and I believe it becomes easy for us to see all of them together and place our requests for a recommendation letter to succeed in our tasks.  It is similar to the chances of a child getting a chocolate from one member of a big joint family than trying to persuade his ‘strict’ parents and succeed in getting his wish fulfilled.

Despite being in her advanced stages of pregnancy, Jyotsna had prepared nice ‘masala vadas’ and tea for our evening snacks followed by a sumptuous dinner.  It was an evening well spent and will remain in our memories for ever.  Many thanks for your kind hospitality Jo and Ashutosh.  You have become part of our extended family. 

Karthik’s apartment is a 15-minute bus journey to Times Square, New York.  I was asking my son where do we buy tickets.  He said, dad it’s all through smart phone app.  You just enter the destination, number of tickets in the app and the money gets deducted from the card (similar to booking a movie ticket in India).  I was wondering why the silicon-valley of India does not have this kind of system.  This will relieve the hardship of the poor bus conductors. 

Varuna, the Rain God, seems to be very pleased with our visit.  Whenever, we planned to visit places (Niagara, Washington DC), he accompanied us.  This made the sight-seeing difficult.  However, we still touched upon the major hotspots to put a tick in the box.  Let me now give some synopsis of key places that we visited:

Lincoln Tunnel/Port Authority Bus Terminal:  Lincoln tunnel is 2.4 kms under the Hudson river joining New York and New Jersey.  By road, there are two tunnels and one over bridge that link these two cities (Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel George Washington bridge).  We always used to take the Lincoln Tunnel to reach Port Authority Bus Terminal, Midtown Manhattan in New York. The Bus terminal has several floors and the information boards display the floors from which the buses would depart. This bus terminal was situated in the adjacent street of Times Square and was very convenient for us to reach the heart of Manhattan.

Times Square:  Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination and entertainment centre.  It’s one of the world’s busiest pedestrian areas.  Scores of advertisements – electric, neon and illuminated signs vie for viewers’ attention.  It’s also the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop.  The area is full of sky-scrappers.  My wife and myself decided to give some exercise to our necks – we were lifting our head to the maximum extent to see the tip of the buildings trying to touch the sky.  Every building is unique in its shape and design and I must take this opportunity to appreciate the various architects.  For the next three weeks, we made several visits to this place as this was the alighting point for us when we reached New York.

Grand Central: Grand Central Terminal is a commuter rail terminal covering 48 acres and having 44 platforms, all below the ground. The main concourse is located on the upper platform in the geographical centre of the station building.  The distinctive architecture and interior design has earned it several landmark designations and is one of the most visited tourist attraction.  The terminal’s main concourse is often used as a meeting place and is especially featured in films and television.  The terminal contains a variety of stores and food vendors.

Central Park:  It is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City measuring 800+ acres.  It has been the site of concerts since its inception.  Horse drawn carriages takes the visitors through the park.  The rate was $ 54 for the first 20 minutes and $ 21 for every 10 minutes thereafter.  I could hear a comment that for this rate we can buy a horse itself back in our hometown.  

Statue of Liberty - One of the wonders of the World:  We had to take a ferry to reach the Liberty Island, New York Harbour to reach this place.  The Statue of Liberty is a figure of Libertas, a robed Roman liberty goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed in Roman numerals with "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet as she walks forward. The statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, and a national park tourism destination. It is a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.  This is a copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. 

New York Stock Exchange/Charging Bull:  The New York Stock Exchange is located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City.  It is the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies.  The charging bull is referred to as the Wall Street bull.  The bronze sculpture stands at 11 feet tall and 16 feet long and weighs around 3200 kg.  It is a symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity.  It stands as one of the most iconic images of New York.  People on The Street say you've got to rub the nose, horns and testicles of the bull for good luck.  As usual, we were half-informed, hence we touched only one of the above parts of the bull (now don’t ask which one – I leave it to your guess).  A funny and a crazy act indeed!

One World Trade Center / Ground Zero:  One World Trade Center is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. One WTC is the tallest building in the United States.  It is indeed a sad sight to note that the two iconic buildings of New York (referred as Twin Towers) was targeted by the terrorists in Sep 2001. I still wonder why the brain of human race think of such devastating incidents.  1 WTC currently stands as the tallest skyscraper of New York.

Brooklyn Bridge: The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City. It connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, spanning the East River. The Brooklyn Bridge is at a height of 276 ft above mean high water. It is one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States and was the world's first steel-wire suspension bridge.  An icon of New York City and one of the most popular tourist’s attractions.

Niagara Falls – 1^st & 2^nd May 2019:  We chose the mid-

week as we were told that the weekends would be over-crowded.  It was a long bus journey.  We boarded the bus around 8 am at China Town in Manhattan.  These tour operators are predominantly Chinese and most of the tourists were also from their homeland.  There were only 3 Indian families in the bus.  We had a lady Chinese tour guide who kept informing us of the programme and the significance of the landmarks enroute, both in English and Chinese languages.  After reaching Niagara around 6.45 pm, we checked into our hotel called Quality Inn.   

The hotel was good and was situated within 10 minutes walking distance from the mighty Niagara falls.  After freshening up, we were taken to a Food court, which had multi cuisines including Indian.  Thinking of having some safe food (as my stomach was not in my control), we ordered 2 plates of Idlis and it turned out to be the costliest Idlis (16 $ per plate) that we had ever had in our lives – twice the cost of this dish in New York.  The cost filled the stomach more than the dish!  After dinner, our troupe was taken to the Falls by the tour guide.  It was drizzling and there came a beautiful rainbow on the sky to see us.  With open umbrellas, we saw the Niagara water falls.  Though the colour lights were on, the mist blocked the otherwise full colourful view of the Falls.  After some stroll and some photo sessions, we returned to our hotel room.

The next day morning, we were asked to check out of the hotel by 7 am.  Apparently, the tour operator wanted to take the group to some ‘not so interesting’ place.  Like many others, we also chose to drop out of this programme and we started to explore the surroundings on our own.  We again went to the Niagara falls and admired the beauty of the nature in all its glory.  We were very few in numbers and had all the time to be spent with Niagara.  However, it was unfortunate that we were not able to take any of the famous rides in Niagara as these were still not open for the public.  I understand these open up only in the last week of May as the river was still frozen with ice and it is not considered safe for the tourists to take the boat rides when the ice has not melted fully.  Perhaps, Niagara wants us to revisit him/her/it (not sure !).   On our return journey, we boarded the bus around 11 am.  After a visit to the Corning Glass museum enroute, we reached New Jersey around 8 pm.

Washington DC - 4^th & 5^th May 2019: We made a dashing trip to Washington DC.  Boarded ‘megabus’ from NYC around 8 am and reached Union Station, Washington around 12.15 pm (non-stop journey).  It is a double-decker bus with ‘restroom’ facility plying to over 100 destinations in the US (as claimed by the operator).  The bus also has power sockets and free ‘WiFi’ facility (don’t read otherwise and blame me for your disappointment).  The seats are based on ‘first-come-first-served’ basis unless you reserve them if you are specific.  

After alighting at Washington, we had to take a metro rail to reach Shady Grove (45-minute train journey).  The metro ticketing system is fully automated.  We had to select the destination, the fare based on peak/off-peak timing and insert the credit card. A metro card with a ‘one-time’ fee of $ 2 pops out.  We had to do this thrice as there is no option to select the number of travellers/cards. 

Upon reaching Shady Grove, our family friend/relative Meena Vishy picked us up and drove to her place in Maryland (another 30-minute drive).  We finally reached her place around 2 pm.  Had a good lunch and took some rest.  All that we learnt was life in the US is hectic and not all that ‘rosy’ as people tend to think.  Their weekend was fully packed with routine schedule of multiple ‘pick-ups/drops’ of their two children to various classes.  In the midst of this busy schedule, they also invited my nephew Mohan and his family to their house for a family get-together.  The evening was well spent by the three families.  The ‘gentlemen’ group discussed varied things right from H1B visa process misuse and its implication, the Democrats and Republic policies and more importantly the ‘escapism’ if one were to forget his wife’s command - Thanks Vishy for teaching that.  Do you think I will be let inside their house next time, I wonder!  In any case, many thanks Vishy and Meena for your kind hospitality.  These moments will be cherished in our memories forever.

The next day Vishy took us to a nearby Hanuman Temple. We had a good darshan of the Lord with butter alangaram. After breakfast, Vishal (Seshadri’s son) came and picked us up around 11 am.  We headed back to Washington DC in his BMW.  As mentioned before, Varuna, the Rain God accompanied us throughout the journey.  Vishal, being a skillful driver managed to drive safely and reached Washington around 12.00 noon.  For the next 2 hours, we had glimpses of some of the famous tourist spots.  We had to walk across a small patch of the land covered with grass.  As it had rained, the grass was wet and slippery.  I slipped and had a skating experience.  Luckily, I managed to escape the fall, else there would have been a Tamil film comic scene with the slush all around me.  Great escape for others and myself.

Washington Monument: The Washington Monument is an obelisk (a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top) on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States.  This monument measures around 555 feet in height and was officially opened in October 1888.

World War II Memorial: The World War II Memorial is a memorial dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as civilians during World War II. Consisting of 56 pillars and a pair of small triumphal arches surrounding a square and fountain, it sits on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  The memorial consists of 56 granite pillars, each 17 feet tall, arranged in a semicircle around a plaza with two 43-foot triumphal arches on opposite sides. Two-thirds of the 7.4-acre site is landscaping and water. Each pillar is inscribed with the name of one of the 48 U.S. states of 1945. A Freedom Wall on the west side of the plaza has a view of the Reflecting Pool and

Lincoln Memorial behind it. The wall has 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war.  In front of the wall lies the message "Here we mark the price of freedom".

Lincoln Memorial: The Lincoln Memorial is an American national memorial built to honour the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument.

The Capitol: The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the home of the United States Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, particularly with the addition of the massive dome, and expanded chambers for the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives in the south wing and the Senate in the north wing.

Madame Tussauds, New York: This is one of the tourist attractions located in 42^nd street close to Times Square.  It has 5 floors of attraction space with over 100 popular figures comprising of actors, musicians, sports persons, leaders, characters, fashion and TV personalities.  Karthik had booked the tickets online, but we were insisted to have ‘printed’ tickets.  There was an additional charge levied to print the tickets and do the scanning at their end.  In an environment friendly paperless world, I wonder the need for this requirement.  Indian popular personalities included Amitabh, Shahrukh, Aishwarya, Hrithik, Priyanka and Mahatma Gandhi.  In order to have humour, I did try to compete with Rihanna’s posture.  On our exit, we were informed that the wax models keep changing every 4 months and we were asked to re-visit the place.

Empire State Building – 86^th Floor Observatory: The Empire State building is 102 story skyscraper between 33^rd and 34^th streets in midtown Manhattan, New York city.  Built in 1931, it stood as the tallest building for almost 40 years.  It is mentioned that construction started in March 1930 and the building was opened in May 1931 at an average construction rate of four and half floors per week.  Quite astonishing – Isn’t it?  A symbol of New York City, the tower has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.  Karthik had bought the tickets online.  

We visited the place around 7.30 pm to be able to have a night view of New York city from 86^th floor. The hi-speed lift took less than a minute to reach 79 floors.  We were asked to change over to another lift to go up the balance 7 floors. The cars on the road looked like tiny toy cars.  It was a place to see the diverse ethnicity of the world jostling to take a photo of the illuminated city in all the four directions (NEWS).  After the photo shoot, some people did not want to move and stood there admiring the glory.  For a minute, I was wondering if the Tirupathi crowd monitoring mechanism was in place to give a fair chance to the bystanders, then the facial expressions of the varied ethnicity would make you laugh and you could have moved closer to the photo shoot points chanting Govinda Govinda!

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Temple, Robbinsville, New Jersey: This temple was inaugurated in August 2014.  The mandir is built of hand-carved Italian carrara marble, Turkish limestone and Indian pink stone.  The marble obtained from quarries in Europe was shipped to Rajasthan, India where hundreds of artisans carved the stones.  After the finished pieces of stone were assembled at workshops in India, engineers sequentially numbered the pieces, which were then packed and sent to Robbinsville.  Upon their arrival, the pieces were organized using the numbering system to facilitate the mandir’s construction.  The carvings are very intricate and is a boon to the eyes.  One must acknowledge the skilful craftmanship of the Indian artists.  Thanks to Tejas, Karthik's roommate who drove the 7-seater car for us and made this visit happen.  Thanks to Ganesh also who accompanied us and helped us keep lively discussion throughout the journey that lasted over an hour, one way.  

St Patrick's Cathedral: St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest decorated Neo-Gothic-style Catholic cathedral in North America and can accommodate 3,000 people aprpox. It is located on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets in Midtown Manhattan, directly across the street from Rockefeller Center, The main block of the cathedral is made of Tuckahoe marble.  It takes up a whole city block, between 50th and 51st streets, Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue. At the transepts, it is 174 feet wide and 332 feet long. The spires rise 330 feet from street level. Having studied in a school run by Catholics, I felt blessed visiting this place.

The Lion King - Musical Broadway show: The Lion King is a musical broadway show

based on the 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated feature film.  The broadway shows are similar to our stage drama shows exhibiting 'live' performance of the artistes.  The only difference was these broadway shows had wonderful stage settings - revolving stages which could transform into a multi-storied stage.   The lights and the costumes were exquisite. No photography/videography was allowed inside the auditorium. I had missed to watch The Lion King show in London a decade back.  Karthik made it happen.

A very big thanks to both Tejas and Ganesh who made our stay very comfortable.  The house did not look like a 'bachelor's den'.  It was well maintained, no clothes strewn, no mess in the kitchen.  A place for everything and everything in its place. Our travel plans to Orlando and Chicago had to be dropped due to certain personal/official issues.  Perhaps, the Statue of Liberty was obsessed with us that She did not want us to leave New York, instead have her etched in our memories for ever.  If that was the wish, we stand fulfilled. Thank you New York for the wonderful time !

20th May 2019: It was time for our return to the garden city of India.  We reached the airport 3.5 hours prior to our flight departure. The lady at the check-in counter insisted that we carry only 7 kgs of weight in our cabin baggage and this necessitated some re-arrangement of stuff in the 2 bags that we carried.  We were only 3 passengers in a row of 4 seats.  This paved way for us to have a comfortable journey.  This day also happened to be Sumathi's birthday as per passport. She was given a surprise with some chocolates, fruits and a flower by the air hostess. Thank you Emirates for this gesture.  We reached Dubai on 21st May around 7.45 am Dubai time.  After a layover of almost 6 hours, our flight to Bangalore took off at 1.45 pm and touched Bangalore around 7.15 pm India time.  It was a pleasant surprise to note that the immigration, baggage screening and baggage collection got over in 25 minutes at Bangalore International airport. We reached our 'sweet home' by 9.30 pm on 21st May thus ending a memorable vacation.

Source of information on key tourist spots: Wikipedia