New York Trip

Before I start off on the trip, some background on this. It all started off, with Vijay mentioning that Kalyani was planning to go to New York with a friend of hers. He said he wouldnt be going, since he had already been there, and that she didnt have company. Well, my roomates had been the previous week, and I had no company as well. Good chance to see New York, I thought. But I was sceptical about the company, moreover it was a girl, I was travelling with!!! But I finally made up my mind. Its only once a lifetime opportunity, for me to be in the USA, so well, let's make the best of it...

Now I had to decide what to tell my roomates. Well, didnt want them to make fun of me, so I had to make up some cock and bull story to tell them. I had another friend in New Jersey, an ex-colleague. So I told these guys, am going to visit New York, with him, and a friend of his, who still works for our company. All said and done, was all geared up for the Trip.

Come friday, and we leave for New York. Whether work would be done or not, was not an issue, although I had a delivery to make to the client that day. Friday was hectic, and was really concerned, whether I would be able to make it or not. Was just hoping that Mallesh (Kalyani's friend, who was coming to pick us all the way from New Jersey) would be late, since he said he would be here by 7, and I wasnt yet finished with my delivery. Finally Mallesh made it at 8:30, and my delivery was done by 8, and now I was hoping he would make it any moment.

Mallesh finally arrived, and he had got another friend of his. Forgot his name tho. Anyways, the journey was not very eventful, and I fell asleep. We finally arrived at Dunkin Donuts, around 11. Most of the stores were closed, and was extremely hungry. Could eat anything edible that I could get my hands on. But after eating the Egg sandwhich, which looked more like a donut, then anything else, didnt really feel like eating the donut that I got alongwith the sandwhich.
We finally made it to a place called Madison, in New Jersey. I was supposed to spend the night with a friend of mine, called Manjesh. Was meeting him after a long time, and was glad, I had someone who could talk to me in Kannada. All the while in the journey, was fed up of listening to these guys converse in Tamil, and the same few songs repeating and re-repeating. Looks like Mallesh didnt have enough CD's with him, or was too obsessed, listening to the same songs over and over again.

Manjesh made me Parathas, which tasted good, and were different from the ones we get here. The ones we get here are made of Wheat, as opposed to the ones he fed me, which were made of maida flour. Anyways, happy now that I had something to eat, we retired for the night. Mallesh had left to leave Kalyani at Homewood Suites. The moment Mallesh left, Manjesh seized an opportunity, and started cribbing about onsite, especially about the language barrier, since the majority of the guys he was staying with were Tamilians. Well, had to console him, saying that everyone has to struggle onsite, and its not an easy task, unless you have good company. We chatted for a cpl of hours, and went to sleep, hardly realising that I needed to get up early the next day.

The next day got up early, and all ready. Heard Mallesh had a bad time, because he left the keys in the car, the previous night, when he went to drop Kalyani. Enterprise (the rental company from where he had rented the car) did not agree to send anyone in the middle of the night, but finally someone did arrive after Mallesh gave them repeated calls.

The first thing that we did, was to drop a friend of Mallesh's at Enterprise, who had to rent another car, to go meet his cousin. Then we went to pick up Kalyani. We headed for a place called Newark. On the way, Mallesh passed by an airport, and the view was amazing. Planes flying very low, and a plane landing once almost every 5 minutes. Once we reached Newark, Mallesh started describing the place like a professional guide. Newark is supposed to be one of the dirtiest cities, in terms of cleanliness... What were you thinking!!! Dirty mind...

Well, next stop Jersey city, where we had breakfast at almost 11. The place reminded me of India. Didnt feel like we were in the USA, and that too New York. FYI, in New Jersey, every third person is an Indian. Back to Jersey city, the streets here were narrow, just like in India. Even, the names of the road were Indian. There's this street called Indian Avenue, where we had Breakfast. The streets closeby were Indian as well. There was even a Mahatma Gandhi Boulevard. Well, Indian roads with an American twist!!! You could see only Indian people here, and all the stores were Indian. Last but not the least, there was pan strewn over all the pavements. Made me feel homesick.....

Well, next stop after breakfast, was the Statue of Liberty. Seemed like my dreams would be coming true today. Never seen the Taj Mahal in India, and here I was looking at the Statue of Liberty. What a shame!!! We never seem to recognise what we have, but always look at what others have. Anyways, here I was looking at one of the First wonders of the world, in my life, tete a tete.

Well, the Statue of Liberty located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, can be viewed from either the New Jersey side, or from the New York side. The ferry to Liberty Island is available from both sides, but its more expensive to park your car in New York. So we decided to ferry from the Jersey side. The view of Manhattan from the Jersey side is breathtaking. Its just like the view out of those picture postcards that I have seen. The skyscrapers, were awesome. Each one a masterpiece in itself, reaching upto at least 60-80 floors.

Finally, we got onto the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, and must say, I felt really bad staying in the sub-urbans, cos there are hardly any babes there. Boy this is a place to live, and freak out... Anyways, the ferry, takes you to Ellis Island before it takes you to Liberty Island. In case your interested in knowing more about museums, and about Ellis Island, check out http://www.statueofliberty.org/ We didnt get down at Ellis Island, heading straight for Liberty Island. Liberty Island was great. The Statue was huge. We started taking photo sessions. We saw this Chinki, posing with her hand held over her shoulder, as if the Statue was in the palm of her hand..... Mallesh inspired me to pose in a similar fashion, with the tips of my thumb and index finger, trying to hold the statue in my hand... We finally gave up and tried to get the Statue right in my palm, similar to the Chinki. The photos came out really well. Will put up a link to them, once I get them online...

Next stop, guess what??? Madame Tussad's!!!! We thought the entry would be pretty cheap, arnd 10 - 15$, especially since Mallesh was also with us. However Mallesh had never been to Madame Tussad's before, although he had gone along on trips to New York, for almost 7 times. Anyways the cost of the tickets were around 30+$. So we decided to spend all the time we had posing with the stars. Mallesh commented, "Try to get as much as you can of the 30$ we spent." Aye aye sarge!!!

The first snap we took was that of The Hulk. Boy was he huge. More than 20 feet tall. I could just fit in his palm!!!! Btw, did I miss mentioning that Oprah was right there to welcome us, at the entrance. Anyways, the first and the second floor didnt have much to offer. We took the lift to the fourth floor, and when the door opened, so many people to greet us... I just lost count... moreover, I dont know most of their names either. For the men, there was Julia Roberts, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Augilera. For the ladies there was Brad Pitt, The Rock, etc... doesnt matter to me really!!! ;) Did I forget, I got to pose with Jennifer Aniston!! And then there was Ozzy Osbourne as well.

The next room had a lot of surprises for us. There was George Bush, Mahatma Gandhi and of course Albert Einstein. Well, well, the amazing part was there was Princess Diana here, and she was taller than me!!!! She was almost 5'9". The next room was the Horror show, which didnt seem to be scary when we entered it, and we were about to leave, when suddenly we heard a noise, and Kalyani got scared. This roused Mallesh's enthusiasm, and we decided to go in. It didnt seem to be too scary, until, of course, a monster ran out of nowhere menacingly, knife in hand towards Kalyani, and she screamed at the top of her voice. Boy, what an adventure that was. The monster was just a human wearing a mask!!!

All said and done, we entered the next floor, which seemed to be playing a movie in 3-D or 4-D. The movie seemed to be playing on the dome shaped roof of the rocket shaped hall. It almost gave a thrill of being in space.

All weary but still not wanting to leave, we finally tugged out of Madame Tussad's!!!

Last stop for the day, Empire State. There's nothing worth in the building, even of course waiting in the que. The building is 80 floors high, to be precise 86 floors. We waited in the que for about 2 hours before we could make it to the top. The lift was an amazing experience. Till the 10th floor, it goes 1 at a time, and after that it just races off... 20, 30, 40, ... 80. You can feel the pressure in your ears, when you reach the top. Alright now that we made it to the top, let's have a view of Manhattan from here. Hold on!!! There's no hurry... There's another que here, and you got to wait in turn, for the others to finish, before you can make it to the roof. There's another lift from here, which takes you to the roof, the remaining 6 floors.

Finally we make it to the top of the Empire State, and open air. Was the view breathtaking!!! You look at the skies above you, the clouds are still high. Look down now, and the cars below you on the streets look so tiny, they look the size of ants!!! Earth and Wind, no its just concrete!!! Skyscrapers, skyscrapers, and more skyscrapers all around you. Look at the horizon, and you see how well civilization has progressed.

Well, that sure was tiring. But the day was awesome. Time to relax and go home. The journey back home would be another hour or so. Does it matter, am not driving anyways, and I never would understand Tamil. I could relax in the plush back seat of the car!!!

End of day 1........

.... Begin Day 2....

Well,