Friday, July 22, 2005

Touchdown at LaGuardia airport,NY!

This was the moment!This is it,as the sports commentators say.The Northwest Airlines Boeing aircraft glided over the New York skyline for about 15 minutes,giving me an aerial picture of the great city.My heart was pounding when I saw the Statue of Liberty from the top!

Finally,at 12.27 p.m.,the plane landed at LaGuardia airport.I just couldn't believe it.I just couldn't and I doubt if I will ever forget that moment when the plane touchdown on the tarmac of that huge runway.Oof!What a moment.To have ACTUALLY,PHYSICALLY landed in the city of dreams,as it were,even if for a vacation,just shook me.I know its not great deal these days to be globe trotting or seeing places,but this moment was different.It was the culmination of something built,nurtured and harboured over the best part of a decade and a half.Maybe,it was a touch selfish,but hell,I realised long ago,that my life is too short to be spent cribbing.I may as well do what I want to do and what I wish to make of my life.That definitely was the greatest decision in my life.Got to see the Taj Mahal this January,and now just landed at New York!Life sure is great and a journey by itself,however cliched that may sound!

Exited the plane and slowly walked through the airport terminal,at times shaking my head at the disbelief of the moment.Finally,got my moorings right and walked to the exit gate.

There he was!Vali Riyaz Ahmed leaning against a pillar,and lost in his iPod!He was always a tech geek!We were meeting after 12 years or so.And I felt wonderful!!He is doing very well in life.Did his engineering and is now working in Wall Street in NY!

We walked out of the terminal and got the ticket to a bus that would take us to the station.It was very,very hot indeed.But who cares!Engaged in animated,long conversation with Vali and caught up with so many things.Lost friends,lost love,jobs,career,life in NY as against the rest of the US,how India is catching up,etc,etc,etc!

Got off the bus in midtown NewYork(over the next 2 days,I would learnt that there is midtown,and downtown,along with 5 boroughs in this city).We walked through a not so congested street,on this Friday afternoon.Everybody around me seemed to be in a weekend mood and it was just lunch time on Friday!I guess that is how all of us live these days,be it here or back home in India!

Soon,in the course of the next 2 days,I would actually,physically see the famous landmarks that I had seen,heard and read about.

We entered Fifth Avenue first,as we headed to the railway station,after getting off the bus.The huge buildings around me,as expected,continued to amaze me.Vali made a very significant remark - these buildings look short from the air,but will strain a human being's neck in trying to look at them,right up to the top!I would discover how right he was!

We crossed,Macys',the world's largest departmental store.And right across that was the Empire State Building, a 103 floor marvel of architecture!And was gleaming in the summer heat!This was one of the first of many buildings that would give me a neck ache.But who cares!I was going to enjoy it!

Got to the station,and saw these e-ticketing machines.Took sometime in figuring out how they work,but Vali got the tickets before I could finish reading the instructions on that machine!

Got into the train,and well,it was spick and span!As the train exited the station on 33rd Street(everything is named Street or Avenue - the comparable India address is say,1st Cross,3rd Main in any city!)

The train raced ahead into a dark tunnel.My jaw drop - like it would again and again the next 2 days - when the train entered the tunnel.I mean,it was pitch dark!And made unearthly sense that a train can rip at 100 mph at least,in pitch darkness.Granted the rails would be sturdy etc,but it was weird!

We reached New Jersey,at Hoboken and trudged along to Vali's residence.This would be a guy I will never be able to thank enough,after the next 3 days are over.