New York City
In 2014, Google and Microsoft both got Indian CEOs. It was all over the news and it felt like superhuman stuff. Silicon valley was a dream place to be in. Social Network, Silicon Valley further boosted my will to be in SV. As a result, my only mission was to move to the USA or work for a US based firm. I was too stubborn to pay MS fees in the USA and spend 2 years in uni to work as a random SWE, so I tried to join USA based firms. But then covid hit and I entered the youtube era, its rabbit hole introduced me to digital art like photography, videography. And the center for it was New York, Toronto, London, and Melbourne. I just wanted to live in these cities and do all that cool stuff. But except I am a software engineer and picking anything else than NYC would be career suicide.
My luck gave me London, thought I will move to NY in a year. But then a great tech layoff happened and I stayed in London. But then the urge for NY was still there. And this week finally it happened .
I landed JKF and it was a terrible Airport, felt like I was in some tier 2 country, it was unclean and so crowded. I was too scared about guns in USA hopefully didn encouter by the time I write this,
NYC is quite unique in the diversity of people. It blows your mind. It’s way more diverse than London.
Quick search on reddit gave me this crazy good Aussie cafe. Kimachi in the egg blows your mind, it’s something everyone should try. It was a perfect start.
Hoping NYC is cool, I took a soho tour. Whole place was dirty, the infrastructure was old, nothing gave me the vibe of a city which called itself the only real city.
I just called my friend immediately, saying wtf is this city, why is this so fucked up.
The problem was I hadn’t explored the midtown, updown, and river side yet. Enters Pranav quoting line from welcome “first impression in last impression” and takes me to the New Jersey side of the river. New York still feels like just building but I didn’t feel anything.
But then we started walking in midtown manhattan. It was freezing cold but still midtown was lit. The lights, infra, financial power, HQ of many big companies all make you feel this place has giant meaning. But this was still not enough. It was no longer about things being pretty but more about why to live in this city.
In this search I went to central park, the place where they have better roads for runners than cars in India. I took a right and updown east was beautiful. It was clean, the buildings were classic. There were random cute cafes, Iris bars. It just felt like people live a good life here.
After getting hyped up by uptown east, I went uptown west. It is not as lively but more residential, with lots of big commercial buildings for people.
By this time, it was raining, temperature was just above 0, and the whole walk felt like a big mistake. This weather made everything boring, so I went salsa social.
NYC dance on2, why? I don’t know, but it just made me sad. Luckily followers were kind to dance on1 and try it out. Met some really kind people who went out of their way to help and here I felt NYC.
On the walk from the salsa social, the roads were white because now, I accidentally entered Times square, it was like Christmas. There was too much light, and I couldn’t understand why it’s so hyped. But people were crazy so watching them was fun.
Next day I took my friend to this aussi cafe again, and was surprised how locals don’t really explore good cafes. The day was good until we went to this shop where a guy was selling me stuff for 30 USD. I was about to pay and a friend told me bargane. YES I barged in NYC. I got it for 10 USD without much fuss, we walked away and still felt like a loser as it was mostly worth 2–3 USD max.
The walk to Brklyn bridge was cold torture, wind and cold was unbearable. Regretted every second but the view was worth it. I told myself let’s visit here in summer again, winter sucks here.
By this time I lost all my motivation to see new things in New york more but I looked forward to experiencing New york. City no more impressed by its looks but by its experience. You feel accepted, you feel alive, people are kind, the city moves and so do you.
NYC will always be a dream and its indeed a true city.
Here is me in 2018, fancing NYC.
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