New York, New York! 

And there I was - in the land of the free and the home of the brave! WOOHOO!
The Airbnb guy was so nice - I called him at 8.30 in the morning asking if I could come over and dump my bags though it was so early. Not only did he agree to that, he offered to come in his car to pick me up from the Skytrain station at Jamaica. He must have felt sorry for me.
​As soon as I opened the door of the airport and walked out, I realised why he was feeling sorry for me! IT WAS VERY VERY COLD! BRRRRR!
‘No problem!’ I thought. ‘I have come packed for Antarctica after all. I will just put on my awesome parka.’
And it was at this point that I realised that I had lost the parka. I must have forgotten it somewhere - in the hotel …or in the taxi…or in the bus…or in the plane…
Ah - Dammit. That parka - apart from being useful in NY - would have been a nice souvenir of the trip.


But it was OK - I was well equipped even without it. I went to the Skytrain and caught a train to Jamaica. The train was free to go from terminal to terminal, but you have to buy a ticket to get out of the station at Jamaica.


The good Airbnb host was waiting for me at the station - WOOHOO - and he whisked me to his place. It was a really good thing that he had come to collect me - because there was no way I could have found it on my own!


And there I was! Ensconced in a warm and cozy apartment at 8.30 in the morning. What a relief! In any other place they would have told me to get lost and come back only after 3 pm - the maximum adjustment would have been to allow me to drop off my bag and store it till check in.  What luck to find such a nice guy! All hail The Patron Saint of Idiots and SWMBO ! And Brian Chesky!


It was a 4 bedroom outfit  with one shared bathroom - but I was the only guest there, so it was most comfortable. It was like a penthouse just for me! Only - this was a basement. The exact opposite of a penthouse. Think of it as an underground penthouse!
The host showed me how to work the lock and showed me the kitchen. There was a coffee machine - one of the those fancy pod ones! No cheapskate instant coffee powder here! And he had instant noodles, snacks, bottled water - all on the house…part of the service!  It was a tiny basic place - but what more did I need? The hospitality of the manager made it a 5-star as far as I was concerned.

I love NY - and it has a nostalgic connect with me, as it was the first foreign big city that I had ever seen - way back in 1998! The company I used to work for at that time had organised a junket for its employees and had taken us all - hundreds of people - to New York. It was a very big deal at that point - foreign travel was a very rare thing for Indians, and going all the way to the US - with friends and colleagues - and for free - was simply amazing! We explored all the touristy hotspots of NY at that time. I came back to NY for a visit in 2012, and now was back in 2022!  WOOHOO!
My aim was to get to the MOMA - the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.


I finally got out of the subway at some place - what a relief! - And  started walking towards the place. It was very cold - but luckily it was bright and sunny, and there was no snow or ice or slush.


It was a lovely walk through NYC ! It was a beautiful day - and the streets were empty. I guess all sensible people were indoors with a hot cup of coffee. I was desperate to eat some tasty street food - and my eyes lit up when I saw a shawarma stall! YES! After that ghastly bland food in Argentina, I was desperate for some spicy tasty food - and that Shawarma really hit the spot. Ah! American food! I love it!
It was a real relief to enter the MoMA building. I didn’t even recoil when they demanded $25 for a ticket! I didn’t shout incredulously -  ‘TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?’  I just said ’T-t-t-take it! T-t-take it! Just me let me into this delicious centrally-warmed building! BRRRRRRR’
After MoMa, I decided to walk to the Empire State Building  and thence to Times square to see the bright lights. This walk would take me over a fair amount of Manhattan - the Radio city building, the Rockefeller centre, the Simon and Schuster building… (That’s not exactly a landmark - but they are one of the largest publishers in the world! Imagine being a best-selling author at Simon and Schuster! What a feeling that must be.)
I was impressed to see free Covid testing booths set up all over the city (well, at least where I was walking) - and was even more impressed to see people manning those booths even in that severe cold! The US seemed to be finally waking up to the epidemic - though this was only when the epidemic was getting over.
But what I found especially interesting was that there were bright green trucks parked all over the place - selling weed! They were from a company called ‘Weed world’ and were painted with all kinds of cool trippy green graphics.


Weed! Out in the open! Advertising home delivery! (Yes…weed deliver!) Wow! What was this?
The other thing which impressed me was a book store - owned by Amazon! ‘Amazon books’!


How amazing! Amazon is the ultimate ‘anti-bookstore’. Their whole Raison d'être was that you do not need to go a physical book store! You can browse all the books you could ever want online and in the comfort of your own home. Forget physical book stores - you don’t even need physical books! Kindle ebooks are so much better than ‘dead tree’ books which just clutter up the place and are much more expensive.


For such a company to start their own book stores was like…. The Zoom video-conferencing guys opening a conference-room rental building…or …. Airbnb opening their own brand of hotels…
It was getting dark now, so I went to Times square to see the lights - and then quickly went back to Penn station to catch the LIRR - because it was getting very cold! BRRR.
The next day my Antarctica cruise-mates - Tushar and Prajakta - drove down from Virginia to come and meet me in NY. I sent them my address and they came and picked me up from my Airbnb place - and we went exploring around NY.
Tushar wanted to see the Grand Central station - so we went there first. It is a big train station - and the architecture is very grand indeed!  The distinctive architecture and interior design of Grand Central Terminal's station house have earned it several landmark designations, including as a National Historic Landmark. Its Beaux-Arts design incorporates numerous works of art. The terminal's Main Concourse is often used as a meeting place, and is especially featured in films and television. We stood around a bit, goggling at the huge space, the murals on the roof and the overall …grandeur… and took selfies.
We all got into the car - and looked at each other.
‘Where should we go now?’ Prajakta asked
‘I have had my turn.’ Tushar replied ‘Now let Ketan choose.’
‘Twin towers!’ I replied quickly. ‘The World Trade centre - the 9/11 memorial. It’s been stuck in my head for days!’
The 9/11 museum was strangely incongruous. The first thing you see from the street is a gaily painted beer garden!


It’s quite startling!


I was expecting some morose grey/black colours and an air of mourning - but the first thing you see is ‘Welcome to the World Trade Centre Beer garden’! Let’s PAAAARRTY! LET’S GET SMASHED!
Oh NY - why wasn’t I staying longer?


But it was time to leave - and Tushar and Prajakta dropped me off at JFK.


It had been a short but sweet visit to the big apple.