Coming Up:

Expect the following posts to come up in the next few days:
1. The Dark Knight - Is it worth the hype? - Honest, unbiased review of the much talked about sequel to Batman Begins.
2. Lost Highway! - About a drive in the night in Delhi.

Cheers!

 

Next Stop: The Times Square!!

We boarded the train to go the the NY Penn Metro Station on our way to New Jersey, Ankit suggested the idea of going for a walk at the Times Square which is in Manhattan, NY. So, it was decided and we got off the train at the nearest station to Times Square. With two large bags (total 60kgs) and a huge back-pack, we climbed two staircases to reach the ground level. We exited and I found myself standing at the Times Square. It was an amazing sight with XXL Billboards and XXXL Buildings and not to mention the fact that every single THING was lit up with endless no. of bulbs. This was the condition at 2:30 in the night. We walked on the 42nd street. I saw what I had been hearing about for years… Broadway theater, Madam Tussad’s (Wax) Museum (With wax statues of Nicholas Cage and Opera Winfrey in the window displays!!!), Ripley’s ‘Believe it or Not!’ building and ofcourse, Mc’Donalds. We had a snack at Mc’D and then walked to the place where America welcomes its New Year (remember those visuals on your TV from NY showing thousands of people gathered for New Year?). We saw Macy’s and Virgin Store and mind you, we had walked for almost a mile to reach the (end?) of Times Square (this square is biiiiggg!). It was really irritating to walk back all that distance to reach the Metro station to New Jersey. But, so we did! I was tired but nevertheless, it was a great feeling to be sitting at the underground metro station at 4:00 in the night, waiting for the train and with the visuals of Times Square in the head! The train came, we boarded and an hour later, we were in Jersey (the garden state). A quick cab ride brought us to the doorstep of Ankit’s house at Mulock Place in Harrison.

We dragged the luggage to the second floor apartment and all I could possible do at that point was to get a good sleep. And so I did.

More on how my time in Jersey and NY was spent in next post…

 

Helllooooo New York!

Finally, the announcement was made. We had been flying over the outskirts of NY when I woke up. All I could see was an endless array of light bulbs glowing as if a billion lightening bugs were neatly stacked in blocks of varying sizes! The expanse of New York City was something that I had neither seen nor imagined. It was 1145PM on 03/Mar NY time. Our flight landed at the John F. Kennedy International Airport 5 mins later. Seeing the JFK made me realize that the Delhi Airport needs another 100 years to even come close to what JFK is today!

Anyways, we walked through the corridor towards the immigration counter, only to find a line for immigration. As I stood there waiting, I could feel my heart race with excitement about how I was finally here in US, my plans for the next two months and a million other things!! The gentleman at the immigration called out for me, asked why I was here and a few questions later, I was stamped for a max. stay of SIX months in US!!

I had to wait for half an hour for my luggage to arrive, the reason for which, as one could imagine, was that my bags would’ve been placed perhaps at the bottom of the whole stack as I was one of the few people on the flight who were flying from New-Delhi to New York. All that time was utilized in thinking and drafting an emergency backup plan in case my bags didn’t arrive at all!!! (hehe!) Guess what… it takes $3 (Rs. 120) for luggage trolley!! (All I could manage for this was… wtf!!)

I then reached the customs counter, which took away a pre-filled form, asked if I was carrying any food (No points for guessing the answer) and then, I was finally in the USA. I took an AIRTRAIN to the Howard Beach Station. It was an awesome experience riding in a train (slightly smaller than Delhi Metro) which runs on an elevated track (almost making you feel as if in air and hence the name). My friend (Ankit) had come to pick me up. It was getting late (around 1:30AM) and we decided to take a train to reach his house in New Jersey.

More in the next post!