NY: Reality check

So it's exactly a week since I came to NY and I thought it would be a good time to summarize my experience so far. I think I understood a lot about myself over this week. A LOT!

While I was at D, I thought I loved the hustle-bustle of big cities. I realized I don't quite enjoy it. Or maybe I do. Maybe I have just got too used to the quiet and peace at D. However, I do know that I love Calcutta. I REALLY do LOVE it! Even though it's big, it's crowded, it's noisy and it's dirty, I still feel it's home. Chennai comes a close second.

When I was in India, I had this very glossy picture of NY in my head. Contrary to popular belief (or at least mine!), NY is like any big city: it's crowded, it's dirty, it's noisy and it's huge. I had imagined it to have perfectly clean roads and sidewalks and prim and proper, well-dressed people. Reality check: it has potholes, horrible traffic...and it smells weird (or maybe I have been spoiled by the clean air at D!). NY has a really diverse mix of people. On one end you have the hoity-toity, immaculately dressed crowd that resides and works in Manhattan, the Wall street bankers and on the other end you even find beggars here. It's fast paced. Everybody is running, always running. Sometimes it almost feels like I am in a daze as I see the city whiz past me. Oh, and I finally went to Manhattan today. And I am not being snobbish here, but seriously, if you just made the buildings in Calcutta taller and newer and a little glossier : Voila! We would have our very own Manhattan! (No offense meant to die-hard New Yorkers!) I didn't really get to see much because my friend had an important matter to attend to. But I did get a glimpse of Times Square and Union Square. It was incredibly crowded. There was a farmer's market set up at Union Square and hordes of people flocked around at the various stalls.

Times Square

Union Square

...and that's me at Union Square! (Sheesh...I have become chubby!)

I hope I get to explore the city a bit more and hopefully appreciate it's energy. After all, it's supposed to be the land of opportunities! Something that I do miss every time I go to a new place is: my family (S, that includes you!). I wish I could go to these places with you all and click pictures where I am not standing alone. Love you and miss you all a lot!

There are other things that I have learned about myself in this past week which I don't feel like writing about right now. More on that later!

Coming up: Pictures of NY that you probably wouldn't have seen before!