New York Nostalgia

"If you are in USA and you have not seen NYC, you have seen nothing", I was told so many good things and equal amount of bad things about NYC - so it became a must-do on my todo list  .. there were hundreds of reasons not to go ( "it is way dirty, not worth your time .. bla bla ") and thousands to go ( "so full of life, places to see and shop ...") - then someday someone told me it was 'something'  ( I forgot the exact words, stupid me and my short term memory ) to see the view from the Top of the Rock and from Brooklyn bridge ---  just then all other millions of reasons just disappeared and I was ready to start  -  so New York, here I come; but it is never the places to see , but the people who we see with that makes everything precious ,  so I waited, and my patience made it happen, my friend from NYC invited me and thanks Heaven, she is crazy ( therefore a perfect companion ), she is a New Yorker and she knows and loves it, otherwise what could I do as being a mere tourist .

There are so many places to see and I knew I need to make a priority-list but then it looses the charm of spontaneity;  during those three days, even after waking up late in the morning and feeling dizzy after having an anti-allergic medicine , we covered more places than we enlisted .. without following any hard and fast planning schedule.  We were returning home after visiting the Statue of Liberty, and then we thought, why not just try to get on the Brooklyn bridge ?  and then after half-way down the bridge, we realized, ok, we still have some energy left, why not just walk the whole bridge and step on to Brooklyn , ya , that's my kind of 'Planning' .

Another day we were walking towards nearby subway after visiting MOMA ( and it was Picasso week, awesome ! ) and then I found myself standing beside the statue of Atlas, " Are we in the Rockefeller plaza ? ! Why not go up and see the 360 view " - so we climbed up ( of course with the elevator ) , from late afternoon to the night-break..saw how the bright shining mighty sun turned into a soft mild reddish ball and hid itself into Hudson .. we could stay longer, but the view ( there was 'something' in the moment ) made us too vulnerable ; we needed to recover and come down to earth. Now what can be the best way to 'instant brute-force recovery' from emotional disaster than shopping ! there comes Times Square and all the surrounding fashion houses . I wonder how watching your reflection with a new look ( yeah, inside the trial room ) , buying a new outfit ( even if you would never wear it again) can instill the feeling of --well -- 'to be in charge', "ok, may be the world does not turn around me , and I cannot get whatever I wish for, but at least I can choose something for me from this humongous pile and make it my own and throw it into my closet" . When the salespeople say how you look so gorgeous and pretty with that dress  you always know they are just trying to make a sale, but doesn't it still make you smile ?

While wandering about the streets ,we walked past St Thomas Church but did not do inside .  Then came the big one, St Patrick's Cathedral, this was the first time I ever stepped inside a church ( my first air travel..to USA across Atlantic, my first church visit- St Patrick's , now I am getting kind of out of the world) and wow..the atmosphere inside was purely mystic, I just loved it, it was ok to take picture inside but my camera died. So my unreliable memory wad the only way I could rely upon at that moment -  the architecture and the devotion of people. I did not lit a candle, God knows what I want even before I myself become aware of my own thoughts, so why bother .. Kashpi lit a candle, no idea what she wished for. I don't feel like praying around other people , I rather prefer to keep talking to God as my imaginary friend ..

After I returned people asked me how did I like it, what can I say.. I felt that it was wonderful to visit but I cannot live there ( living there for long would just make all the good things dull and accent the bad ones ) , so true, too much distraction ( not suitable for a grad student), and it is indeed not well kept, DC is much cleaner and people are definitely more careful in following rules and that makes life much easier when you know what to expect from people. But at times it is necessary to experience the unexpected, so wait Manhattan, just wait for me a bit more ..