Third month in New York. Life is moving bye at a comfortable pace. Projects at work are under control, the house hold chores are in a set routine add to it a healthy dose of Ultimate, and exploratory travelling on weekends. Yes just about when you would start taking life in the Big Apple for granted.
Well one always hears the stories of Muggings and assault from people at work, passed on from colleagues who have some point or other have heard it from a person who may or may not have experienced it first hand. But having the time of my life in the summer months of New York has made me at more than one occassion scoff at the these stories. [At the same time some how internalizing them subconciously]
It was a great day. I got off work at four in the evening. After rounding of a quick home trip to drop the laptop and change into shorts and sandals I took off to Manhattan.Got off at 96th [ upper-west] and decided to walk a half century of streets or so to 42, taking the Broadway route. It was an unrushed and pleasant experience taking in all the sights and sounds from the street side. I explored a bit between 91 and 90th street, and found the Italian joint where my colleagues had planned a get together for the following night. Carmine's is a family style restruant, and is best visited with friends or family who share tastes in food or a common outlook on experimenting with new food (i.e. if you are new to genuine Italian cuisine as was the case). I could forsee that a work group dinner party here would probably have half the people getting what they want and the other half hating what they get. Not bad, I would say, as the next day I ended up getting what I wanted, with a doggie bag of leftovers that last me four days. [ Good stuff]
Any how, after walking those streets down to 42nd street [ a walk of close to two hours of wandering away from broadway to check out intresting parralel avenues.] I got into the Time Square Station and caught the train to Queens. Stepping up out of the subway station exit I turned into McD and picked up the Large Ice Tea, and walked home. Given my sensitivity to stimulants like tea and coffee, [needless to say this was Southern Style sweet tea i.e. the sweet ought to be read in Capitalized, font size 98, bold letters, italicized ,underlined with flashing lights encircling the word] I was awake and tossing in bed watching Hindi stand up comedy on you tube till 1 am. .
I am a big fan off Seinfeld, and watching Srivastav take hindi stand up comedy notches beyond just mimicry, bafoonery and slapstick was soothing enough to catch a wink or two or three or may be just four.
At around the fourth wink I heard my windows crashing [not surprising you think! well it wasn't my OS it was my actual window pane]. My curtains were drawn and lights were out. I had no way of telling if any one was outside. I shouted out in a very rasp low pitch and loud voice. No it wasn't a shout it was an incoherent growl brought upon by drowsiness and lack of clear thought. I couldn't belive what I was into now.
It being the 6th floor on a 7 storey building I figured this guy must either be really great flinging stuff from the road, or he must have shot at it. Also being in the room with the fire exit ladders that lead out from the window I could also picture some one standing right outstide. I put my laptop aside and rolled on to the carpet on the side of my bed closer to the curtains. crouching on my knees I peeped from one side of the curtains, then crawled out to the other end to see that no one lay waiting at the fire exit ladder. I looked down at the road and again growled gibberish. I put on the lights without drawing the curtains and looked for an object of self defence. It lay in a white box with a decorative ribbon around it in my closet. It looked like a dagger, but it was a highly polished and blunt cake cutting knife I had got from a family friend's son's baptism earlier that week. If ever a gift had a right place and time of use, this was it. [or so were the thoughts in my mind].I held the knife and sat on the bed, and before I knew it I was fast asleep.
Holding a knife in one hand while having a disturbed nights sleep is something you should never try at home or in NYC. I woke up at five in the morning with the sky lightening up. I found my self holding the knife and dropped it immediately. I got off the bed, drew the curtains and found the windows intact. Not even a scratch. I openned the window and looked out to see the broken remains of a Night Lamp. I was releived that it wasn't some one trying to break in. But at the same time I had to face that it wasn't very natural time or place for rearranging that piece of furnture.
Its almost over. It started of full of hope. The New Year, my first real winter, with a crazy storm. Spring was spent in anticipation of summer. Summer brought memories of home - and felt really long. I moved to a new apartment, at a time when I felt the change was much needed. The second half of summer and fall was the best I have had in a long time. It still feels like fall with the temperatures as warm as ever for a December in NYC. It could just be my body's reaction to the cold is much better this time around but why take all the credit , a round of applause for mother nature.
