Has it been just five weeks?

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been just five weeks since we moved. We’ve done such a lot since then that it seems like ages. I guess I have to thank New York City for welcoming us so quickly and making us feel at home.

Quick Boston Trip

The week began with a bang, work-wise – with a series of meetings and web-demos and a short half-day trip to Boston. I had lunch in Midtown at the Salute Grill on Tuesday, and had to be in Boston for a meeting in the evening, and decided to use the La Guardia-Boston shuttle for what it is – a shuttle. For those of you who don’t know what this it – it’s a fascinating concept that is unique to Boston-New York and Washington DC. There’s a flight every half hour, alternately operated by US Airways and Delta. One of them is on the hour, and the other is on the half hour. Everything is set up to maximize speed and efficiency. I got into a cab in Midtown at around 1:20, and was in the Marine Air Terminal by 1:40, without a ticket or a reservation. I checked www.delta.com on my Blackberry on the way to the airport, and figured I could catch the 2:30 (I wasn’t bold enough to try the 2:00, but may have been able to make it). I walked up to a kiosk, swiped my card and bought a ticket, printed my boarding pass, and was taking my shoes off in the security line at 1:45. The flight pushed back right on time, and 35 minutes later, we were descending into Boston. It was a spectacularly clear day, and I got a lovely view of Providence, Rhode Island, hundreds of ice-covered lakes, and all of Boston.

The cabbie who picked me up for the ride to my meeting, which was in the suburbs, waited there for me, and I was back in the airport by 6:40 to just barely catch the 7:00 pm flight back. While I napped most of the flight back, I’m glad I was awake for the last phase, because we were routed at a comfortable 4000-odd feet all the way down the Hudson, around the Statue of Liberty, up the East River, and then for a curved approach into La Guardia. It’s quite something to have an Airbus 319 make a sharp turn a few hundred feet above the old Citi Field to line up with the runway – more like something I’d do in my Cessna 150. The view out of the window of Manhattan at night is something that one can never tire of seeing. Towards the end, Waterside Plaza was clearly visible just outside my window, I could’ve almost reached out and touched it. If you’re ever taking the Boston-LGA shuttle at night, make sure you sit on the left side to get this view.

Dhruv comes home from school

On Monday, we got a call from school to say that Dhruv had thrown up and that we should come and get him. Since I was busy, Sandhya went and brought him home. He seemed okay enough, but turned quite bad by the evening, and was unable to keep even a teaspoon of water down. We spent a miserable night nursing the poor child, but thankfully he was much better by the morning.

Kavi visits

My sister-in-law is a lawyer in Madras, and she had a partner’s meeting to attend in Los Angeles, so she decided to stop by and visit us for a few days. Since Dhruv was unwell, I was supposed to go to JFK and pick her up on Tuesday afternoon, but the Boston trip put paid to those plans. However, Dhruv seemed quite okay all morning, so Sandhya said she would go and pick her up. I suggested taking a cab or ordering car service, but Sandhya felt confident enough to take the Subway. She was quite happy that she did, and got there quite easily.

My sister-in-law’s brother-in-law and his wife live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan, and we had invited them for dinner on Tuesday. Since he had lived a few blocks from where we now live, and she grew up in this area, we grilled them on things to do (read: places to eat) in the neighborhood, and ended up with a long list of recommendations for each Cuisine.

It was fascinating to see them argue the merits of two different routes to reach their place in Brooklyn. She was in favor of a simple route that saved time by having us walk a few blocks, while he had given me a more complicated one that minimized walking (to the point that some connections have allegedly been chosen so that one doesn’t have to change platforms to change trains). I’m sure as time goes by I will develop such a refined understanding of the system, but it was all too much at one point.

Dhruv woke on Wednesday complaining of a stomach ache, and since he rarely complains, we decided to let him skip school. However, he suddenly changed his mind at 7:45 am, and it was a mad scramble to get him ready in time to catch the bus. I must say I was impressed that he was there a few minutes early at 8:05. Shows we’ve really honed the routine down by now. 

Sandhya goes down

On Tuesday night, Sandhya seemed to get what Dhruv had been having – the same identical symptoms. She was miserable for a while, but okay the next morning. We began to worry that we may all get it in turn. Given that Kavi was going to LA and then back to India, I was particularly worried about her. Work was also getting quite hectic, and I couldn’t afford to fall ill. We all had our fingers crossed.

Bao Noodles

On Wednesday, I took some time off from work to take Kavi and her colleague from India, who was also passing through, to Bao Noodles in Gramercy, one of the restaurants that Kavi’s brother-in-law had recommended. It was a few blocks away, and we walked down for a nice Vietnamese lunch. They had some interesting cocktails on the menu, and we think we’ll return one evening to try them out. The décor in particular is quite interesting – “part French bistro, part Irish pub” as a review in New York Magazine puts it. Limited vegetarian fare, but good stuff, all the same.

That afternoon, I developed the same symptoms, and boy – was I miserable for a while!! I spent the night curled up in fetal position, trying had to deal with the extreme discomfort. Nothing helped, and it just took its time to work its way out of my system. I was better the next day, but had no appetite and felt really weak. A couple of extra-strength Tylenols helped me somewhat, but it wasn’t fun at all.

A Thursday visitor

The previous week, Pooja Sawhney, an old school friend from India, had emailed me to say that a friend of hers was moving to New York, and knew nobody there at all, so could I help her settle in? Since she was arriving early in the morning, we asked her to come straight home instead of going to a hotel, and she came in on Thursday morning. Priya Sehgal used to be in the Indian Air Force, and her husband was a serving officer there, so I had this additional sense of obligation (my father was in the Indian Air Force). She was going to be at the UN for a six-month assignment.

We’ve always settled easily into new places due to the unreserved assistance of friends and strangers, and have always resolved to try to give back whenever we can, by helping someone new to a city that we know. The occasion has presented itself sooner than I expected in New York, not that it matters.

I had spoken to the rental office in Waterside, to see if they might have a studio apartment available – and they did. Perhaps it’s this market, but I was surprised to find that they were flexible with two things that I thought might be deal-breakers – a six-month lease, and someone with no credit history. 

The studio they had available was in Building 20, on the 36th floor, with a spectacular view of the East River and the UN – the place where she was going to work.  I immediately apologized to Priya for tempting her with an apartment as beautiful as that one (I hadn’t known, honest!) – it has probably set a very high bar and any other place she’ll see she’s going to end up comparing against this one.

Priya moved to a hotel nearby later in the morning, and while we resolved to meet her and take her out to dinner later, my stomach was still feeling too weak to try anything of the sort. I hope we can make it up to her soon and show her around.

Wrapping up Kavi’s visit

Sandhya got out of my hair by taking Kavi to the Met and then shopping. While Kavi’s been to New York before, and has used public transit, I’m sure she found the transition her sister had made from a two-car suburban existence to a Bus-and-Subway riding urbanite amusing. Kavi left early on Friday morning.

Visiting the Temple in Flushing

Since things have been a bit tense, Sandhya wanted to visit the temple in Flushing. She’s the religious one in our house, and I don’t grudge her her faith, so I agreed to take some time off and take her there. From Grand Central, we caught a 7 train to Flushing, and emerged from the Subway station into another world. It was like we had traveled through the center of the earth and emerged in Hong Kong or Shanghai – from the people on the streets and the signs in the stores to the handout I was given. It was only the presence of the occasional MTA bus that reassured me that we were still in the New York area. 

The temple was ordinary enough (Livermore is larger, much more impressive, and set back in a much larger compound) but Sandhya was satisfied with the visit. I sat amusing myself by reading the hundreds of signs that must adorn any Indian venture in America – signs that are promptly ignored (“Please Do Not Use Your Cellphone Here”, “Please Break Coconuts Only in the Designated Area”, “Please do not put Money on the God. Put it in the Box Next to the God.”). The redeeming factor was that there is a canteen in the basement where we had a Dosa and some Yoghurt-Rice (my stomach was still sensitive).

I haven’t been to Queens or Jackson Heights yet, but the Flushing temple is spoken off in hushed tones within Indian circles. I guess I’ve checked that one off.

Going to the Bronx

Dhruv wasn’t feeling well on Saturday morning, so we decided to stay at home. However, he was better by the afternoon (perhaps he heard us mention the Z word), and so we decided to visit Bronx Zoo. Because of problems on the 5 line, we had to take a 4, and then switch to a 2 in the Bronx. At 149th Street-Grand Concourse, we followed signs to the 2 line. As we descended, the path narrowed, became much darker, and dirtier. At the end of a corridor we say some people standing around, at the top of a stairway. We reached the end of the corridor and looked down the stairs at quite a sight – the platform was narrow, and crowded like a Mumbai platform in rush hour. Stations in Manhattan are bright, clean, and sparsely populated. This one was dark, dirty and crowded.

We made our way gingerly down the stairs and to where we saw a little standing room. It turned out the standing room was because of a blind couple with their seeing-eye dogs. We squeezed into the place there was, and waited for the train. Thankfully, we managed to get on board (just barely) and began the last leg of our journey. The crowd in the train was predominantly African-American, and I could feel for their sullenness. Who could fault someone from thinking that the system had deliberately dealt them a bad hand? Crowded trains. Smaller, poorly maintained stations. A much larger transit-using population.

Sandhya was quite apprehensive – and this was in the middle of the day. Dhruv was oblivious to all this – he was focused on the seeing-eye dogs, who were a few feet away from him, quietly and patiently sitting at the feet of their owners as the train rumbled through graffiti festooned houses and dreary chain-link fence. A large but attractive African-American lady looked down at him and then up at me. It’s rare that someone catches your eye here; I naturally smiled. Her face broke out in a beautiful smile to reveal a perfect set of very white teeth. I then asked a man next to me where I should get off to go to the Zoo. He painstakingly gave me a very careful set of directions. I was glad for those two fleeting moments of human interaction – underneath the sullen exterior, they were as warm and friendly as I had hoped and expected. I’m glad I scratched the surface, instead of leaving with an ugly stereotype.

Bronx Zoo

Perhaps because it was a cold day, we almost got the zoo to ourselves. A lot of the animals were not to be seen because they were in their winter quarters, but we got a great exposure to those that were there. We watched two snow leopards playfully charge each other (I’ve uploaded some grainy video to this link), a polar bear wrestle a long bamboo shoot (weren’t those supposed to be for the Panda bear?), two magnificent black panthers gaze sleepily at us while sitting comfortably on a branch, not 10 feet away (we were on the other side of very thick glass). We watched two large Bengal Tigers pace up and down, occasionally walking not more than 10 feet away from us (again, through glass).

We spent some intimate time with four Giraffes inside a room that was perhaps not much larger than our apartment. We were a bit late and didn’t get to spend enough time with the Gorillas, but because they were indoors, we could watch them really up close and personal. The Bronx Zoo has done a really good job of setting up displays so that visitors get a very close and intimate view of the animals – something I haven’t seen anywhere else.

There was a fantastic Madagascar enclosure, a great Bird enclosure, and some stunning old architecture. It was a pity we got out so late in the day and didn’t spend enough time, but we should go back while it’s still cold (before the crowds build up, and the animals are let out of their enclosures).

Old Murphy was lurking around of course, and within minutes of our arriving, my camera battery gave up the ghost, which means the only pictures we have are the ones in our minds.

Chai and Samosas on the way back

On the way back, we stopped by the home of an old friend to have some Chai and Samosas. They stay half a block from Central Park, in the Upper East Side. Sandhya and I really envied their lovely apartment (they own, not rent) which was not 5 blocks from the Met. Being able to drop in like this on friends without much notice (I called him from the Zoo to see if he was at home) is something we probably miss most from California (and having them drop in, in turn). On the other hand, it’s because we don’t have that many friends here that we’ve been able to do something every weekend – no children’s birthday parties to attend!

The weather returns

It snowed a bit on Sunday, and since a huge snowstorm was set to hit the entire Northeast on Monday, schools were closed. I later learned that this was the first time in five years they had been closed – but didn’t think the weather was bad enough to warrant it. Unfortunately, I was too busy to take Dhruv out to play in the snow, and poor Sandhya came down with a nasty cold and sore throat. From my window, I could see several kids in the Plaza below, enjoying themselves in the fresh powder.

Music teacher

Since Sandhya was unwell, I took Dhruv to his music class on Monday evening. We’re really fortunate that his teacher is just 10 floors up, on the 21st floor. Michael is his name, and he’s an old retired Russian gentleman with a strong accent, and a rather strict manner. Perhaps because of the accent Dhruv doesn’t realize when he is being strict or is angry, and he quite likes him. The class lasted half hour and I watched the East River and the tail-lights on the FDR during that period.

At the end of the lesson, I decided to take the plunge (I had been contemplating this for a while) and have signed up for Piano lessons. I figure that an opportunity like this comes rarely – where the teacher is right in the same building and is flexible enough to accommodate me whenever my schedule permits it. I hope I can find time to practice a bit between lessons, but have resolved to try. My first lesson is this evening, and every Monday night thereafter. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m sorry again for being somewhat tardy in posting – and apologies for this very long post. I’ve caught up now, and hopefully will stay with it.