The Big Aappilzh

Some things have changed in these parts. Not just the blog, but also things in the life of yours' truly. Although, there hasn't been anything resembling the remarkable, surely, three months (since the last post) is a long enough time in one's existence for something to have happened. Or so one would be led to believe.

Before I move ahead, a small apology to all those left in the lurch is in order. Refreshing the site, looking for updates all these months might have been a tad tiring, I must admit. For that reason, I express my regrets. And, in order to make up for that I have installed, on top of this page, a gigantic RSS feed button. You could click on that button and add my feed to your reader -- thus curtailing your urge to refresh my blog, and hence, unburdening my server to a certain degree. For the heavy RSS feed users, I can assure you that my posts will be sporadic for most part. So my blog couldn't possibly be blamed if your RSS feed crashes.

Back to normal things, I haven't had anything exciting to talk about. Really. But I could still go on about how excessively boring an existence I have led in the months past. Because, to be fair, I am not an extremely interesting person to be around with. Oh, I do talk about random pseudo-techy-internety stuff at times. Or, in other times, I talk about Twenty20 and football. And if the person is right, I would go on about TV shows for hours. But mostly, life is spent in the confines of my apartment, more so, with the, earlier than usual, impending cold that is beginning to set in in these parts.

Which is why, it might be a little surprising to the few, who know me particularly well, that I undertook a trip to New York in August. I'll be modest, at this point, when I say that it was just three days. But three days it was. And for the frog that managed to get out of its well, it must be quite the feat, one would think. Of course, that analogy was mentioned for its metaphorical purpose.

New York, though, is diverse. It strikes you quite emphatically, the moment you step into the arrivals zone of the airport. From what I could make out, Chinese, Korean, Russian(?), Turkish, Arabs... apart from the teeming desis (passengers as well as porters) made up the ethnic composition of JFK International. It is a far cry from the southern state of Texas that I've spent my Stateside life in. Down here, diversity would represent hordes of Mexican workers mixed with desis, of my neighbourhood, followed by a smattering of, what the politically correct would term, African-Americans. There seems to be more African-Africans than African-Americans in my University, at least, but then I digress.

My first impressions of New York City, though, were none too pleasant. Being used to the luxuries of space that Texas afforded, standing amidst the lot of crowded people in the subway, brought visions of India. I am equating the idea of being in a crowded place to India and not bad impressions. Turns out, the night I went to NYC it rained heavily and from reports, the city was perilously close to being hit by a tornado.

Such disappointment it was, that the city faced only heavy showers and not a tornado. The disappointment was writ on the faces of people everywhere, and that changed to panic, as trains and cabs stopped service for a good part of the day. My plans for the day was visibly wrecked. The only good that came of it was that I was excused from attending a formal seminar of my uncle, which would have required me to be in the best of my behaviour -- both, my diction (as in general conversation) as well as dinner etiquette.

All that, however, was only temporary and I had to get ready for my uncle's big evening. So the sparingly used, three-year old Raymond's suit was out and ironed. A few minutes later, a glance at the mirror and the realization that I haven't grown too much in either direction hits me. The event went off well, which I realized upon my arrival at the venue was organised by Forbes.

The next day was spent looking at the Statue of Liberty, a walk past ground zero and Times' Square in the evening. I liked the lights of the place. It was just as I expected and saw so much on TV. As I walked around the place, with an old friend, a wax statue of Samuel L. Jackson was a little intriguing. A nice little lady showed us some flyers with some special discounts, and we were, in no time, inside a certain Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. It was a much smaller version of the more famous musueum in London. Predictably, for a person generally uninterested in such displays of art, I wasn't too excited by what I saw. So a quick tour, followed by a quick exit, was the end of the day.

The best part of the New York trip, though, was the take-off from La Guardia airport. The immensely dense concrete jungle of Manhattan, the green speck on a blue body that was the Statue of Liberty, and the long coastline visible from the top was a sight to behold. I was surprised that I could appreciate landscape (seascape?) of that kind.

It's a shame, really, that I couldn't take a photograph of the view. I was told in-flight by a sweet voice in the customary announcements that no electronic item was supposed to be active during take-off.

In my defence, it was a compelling voice. I had to comply.

P.S: Credit where credit is due. The unusual modification (or Tamilisation/Tamizhisation) of the word 'Apple' in the title was thanks to the creative genius that is Keerthi. I am, of course, being tongue-in-cheek as I say this.