A Summer in NY

When the tourists were sprawling through the reading room of the New York public library, I slowly moved my book with contempt of being disturbed during my reading time.  I think the best feeling that you get when you visit a place is the sense of belonging. Just three months into my New York life, I was already feeling as if I belonged here. I was no more awe struck looking at the Grand Central terminal, nor taking selfies at the Times square - New York is part of my everyday life now. This city in a short time made me fall in love with it over and over.

In June when I landed in NY, I was already missing LA. The crowded streets, even more crowded subways and the filthy pavements made me miss the serene Westwood and UCLA campus. I thought I would never like this place, but little did I know how things were going to change. New York had set plans for me the very next weekend. Craving for some Masala Dosa, I left to Saravana bhavan early on the Sunday of my first weekend in NY. While returning I found a large set of barricades being kept in Fifth Avenue. I was about to witness a famous Gay pride walk in addition to a celebrity spotting in Ian  Mckellen.

The next weekend I set off to Princeton with a friend of mine. The old buildings in the Princeton campus gave it a feel of visiting a European village. 

Battle Monument

Central Park

 In evenings, I made sure to go for Jogging in the River side park. This big stretch near Hudson River used to be my favorite hangout place in the evening after a hectic day at internship. 96^th street and Riverside Park has many summer activities with many cultural events during the weekend.

The week after the July 4^th, I decided to travel to DC to meet Sreya and her Husband Arun. We were meeting after two long years. Though gossip was our main action item for my visit, we found time to do a quick trip to war memorial and Memorial park.

The gorgeous looking Sreya

Lincoln memorial

 Next weekend, after spending my day at the NY public library, I quickly went to stand in line for Shakespeare in Park.  Every summer, the Delacorte Theater in Central park hosts plays written by Shakespeare and played by experts in the field. NY surprised me when I got to know that this is a free event. The play was really good and in a way, this made me book my first Broadway show Phantom of the Opera.

Cymbeline @ Delacorte Theater

 My next big plan was when I saw the ticket for sale ad for US open. As the schedule is not out until the day of play, I took a big shot and booked my ticket for second round evening session. Though I couldn’t see the master (read Roger Federer) playing, I was happy that I could see nerve-cracking first round matches of both Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray.
 

The next big thing that was awaiting me in the next weekend was a Smokies trip. The long weekend with an additional leave gave us four days at Smokies. 

Our tent at Cades cove

Southern Lunch on the way to Smokies

On the way to Cligmans Dome

Pavan, Gobind, GT and me at Clingmans

Trekking in Smokies

Pavan entertaining us on our second day camp in Jack Rabbit

My last weekend in NY turned out to be an interesting weekend when Akshaya San, visited me from DC. It felt really good to do a final wrap-up of visiting all the important places in NY. While taking him to different places in NY, I could sense that I belonged at NY. The Friday that Akshaya visited, we spent the entire night roaming around NYC. We visited all the major places after the clock ticked 12 in the morning. We roamed around until we saw dawn crack in the horizon. That was my first night out in many years. 

The mandatory selfie at Times Square with Akshaya

The three months in NY will remain as the most eventful time of my life. Remembering the lines from ‘The perks of being a wall flower’, “This moment will just be another story someday” but at this point I am living this moment and I love it and will miss it.