Part 30 - Luray Caverns

Altruism, smiles and laughter

Alright, I can’t resist the temptation to continue the banter from last edition about altruistic deeds. It amazes to think how some people can love unconditionally - and they are not even related by blood. 

We generally tend to lose our cool when someone doesn’t respond favorably to us; and at the other extreme of human nature you have someone like Mother Teresa who has probably faced umpteen situations where people never even treated her with respect (one very often quoted incident is the one about the baker who spit at her); really amazing how she kept going.

Talking of altruism and smiles, reminds me of another thing. If there is someone who has a different type of laughter - maybe it’s loud, or maybe shrill, or maybe with some odd accent, then people around them will ask them to control it. Even though the laughter would just last for a few seconds, society tries to curtail it. I wonder why we have to do so - what’s wrong with the person laughing their heart out for a few seconds? Maybe for a few seconds it sounds odd but there's no harm done. And I think the uninhibited laughter is a lot more beautiful than the muffed one. Would you ask a baby to control its laughter?

Visiting a cavern

Seems like travelogues are becoming like the “WakeUp” series... back to travelogue... So off we were to Luray Caverns that was discovered some 130 years ago. A large underground cave is called a cavern. Walking down the steps I didn’t feel there was anything special. I had brought a sweater since I thought the temperature might be low - but it isn’t that bad. Here also they use the self guided audio tour system - they provide a little audio player where you can press numbers to jump to different sections of the tour. There were a lot of stalagmites and stalactites around us (I was reminded of geography). The audio explained about the color differences - depending on the mineral composition the colors varied. As we walked in the cave, there were more beautiful sights to be seen. A few formations had been given special names because of what they resembled. (pic on left is the reflection in Dream Lake)

Marriage underground!

One special spot was the dream lake - there is actually were little water but the reflection of the stalactite is beautiful (stalactites hang from the ceiling in case you've forgotten your geography!). There was one area where you had flowstone that covers walls - this gives the appearance of a veil and it is called “Titania’s veil”. In another area there were huge columns running from the ceiling to the floor - about 40 feet in height or so. In some places you can even see water dripping from the ceiling and it gives the appearance of a fountain when it drips on calcite (which is white). 

There is even a cathedral where it seems there used to be weddings - a wedding in a cave! And in the cathedral they have built a musical instrument - the stalacpipe organ. This device is setup such that sounds are produced by tapping into the formations in the cave. It took them years of research and design to build! So when you are in the cathedral you can actually hear music - and listening to music in that vast hall sounds great. It is even possible to do a live performance on the instrument but most of the time the sequence of keys are automated. You would think that all there is to see in a cavern is two types of formations - one growing upwards and the other growing downwards. But the combination of minerals and water has produced a variety of things. (Pic above is the musical instrument)

Pure air

As we neared the exit, I realized the nose block I had while entering the cave had cleared. And one of the last parts of the audio tours spoke about the cleanliness of air inside the cave. In fact in the 1900s they had a sanitarium above the cave which used the air from the cave to circulate inside the house. This is said to be one of the first air conditioned homes - and the clean air was said to help in the recovery from respiratory illnesses.

(Pic on right is Saracen's Tent - they will appear like curtains)

To top off the trip, there was a car museum beside the caverns where we spent a few minutes before leaving. There were some old Peugeot, Bugati and Mercedes cars.

And with that another weekend ended in the USA; I headed back to Union Station in Washington DC. The bus was at night and I had to do a ten minute walk to an open ground where there were a fleet of MegaBus buses; though the bus was late they reached Boston on time.

Part 29 - In Virginia

I’m back after a break - coming out of what you could call blues or whatever; 2 months since the last edition - yikes... Some heck of a slump. 

Can you really be altruist?

You know it’s funny - my friend and I were discussing the other day whether it was everyone else who was crazy or whether it was we both who were crazy. The question is whether you can do something for someone without expecting anything in return. And if you’ve noticed, no matter how altruist you try to be, the world will look to find some alternate interpretation of it. On second thoughts, you probably weren’t strictly altruist in your intention because you might have done it with the thought of bringing joy or smile to someone - you still expect something in return - expect to make them happy; but that ain’t bad, right? Or maybe it is... And people around will spin stories by adding spice to it to say that you are doing it expecting to get some favor. But isn't it possible that we did it because we feel happy when we see someone happy?

Looking around, both of us concluded that it is just the two of us who are crazy!

It was nice when a editor called asking to publish one edition of the travelogue. And lately a few people have been asking me about the Travelogue and about the “Wake Up” series. You might have often heard in interviews people respond to a question by saying, “Even if one person were to benefit with this initiative then I will feel satisfied.” So, “Even if one person were to feel good reading the travelogue or Wake Up series, then I will feel happy.” Well, I’m not sure - maybe a million readers would make me happy; that’s not too much to ask, is it? We have a world population of 7 billion... So 1 million of that means just 0.014%!

Reunion with college mate

Alright alright... Enough with all that; let’s get back to our travelogue... I took a long metro ride from the heart of Washington DC to the outskirts to meet a college friend - as the train went past stations, the areas became more and more deserted. If this were the night I would have been a little worried - remember the New Jersey incident; not having a mobile phone is a big problem!

Strangely both of us still looked the same as we did in college; hardly any change - the last we saw each other was in Coimbatore and after so many years we meet in Virginia. It was late in the afternoon and since both of us hadn't had lunch, he drove to an Indian restaurant. Most Indian restaurants, especially on weekends, have a buffet. And since it had been a while since I ate a full Indian meal, I thoroughly enjoyed the lunch. We then went to a Smithsonian National Air and Space museum. There were plenty of real planes inside the museum. The pick of the lot was the sleek black Lockheed SR-71 (also called Blackbird - see pic on left) - it holds the speed record of some 3000 kms/hour! An interesting logo on the tail is that of a skunk (see pic below) - apparently, “Skunk Works” is part of the Lockheed company involved in aircraft design. Interesting history about the term “skunkwork projects” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunkworks_project

There is plenty to see in this museum, just like all the other Smithsonian museums in Washington DC. This was the same museum used in Transformers - remember the one where they go in search of a Decepticon and find one hidden in an aircraft hangar? This was the museum. Unfortunately, the museum was nearing closing time - you can easily spend a few hours here.

I had the option of taking rest but declined the offer. Tempted on seeing the tennis rackets in my friend’s home, we headed to the tennis court. It had been a long time since I struck a tennis ball but it is a sport I liked. In the places I’ve been to in the US, I always find the tennis courts available for use - they are free for the public and well maintained. We warmed up and played a couple of sets which I lost by a game in both. Though we wanted to continue playing, we stopped - the danger when you suddenly play is that you over-exert yourself and damage your body. And I had already done enough damage by playing two sets! Since it is a best of five sets match, the next time i meet him we have to finish our incomplete business.

After a shower and dinner outside, we planned for our Sunday. I had to leave by evening so that I could be in time to catch the night bus to Boston from Washington. That meant we had roughly 6am till 3pm to use and that meant we could visit any one place. We picked the cave for our Sunday trip before heading to bed.

Part 28 - Standing atop the Washington Monument

Ain't it odd the ways of life... Just near my home there was a house of mourning and a little further away was a house of celebration; celebration of life in a wedding ceremony...

The man was in his late 70s; he was healthy and used to take a walk early in the morning when he would buy the newspaper from a roadside stall and come home. Just like any other day he went out a couple of days back. But didn't return. A biker hit him on the crossing, he fell on the divider in the road and an iron rod struck his head. After spending a day or two in coma, he passed away - just like that... hale and healthy and suddenly gone...

Rewinding back to the US travelogue (just 2 editions to go)... 

It was yet another weekend and I had planned to visit a college friend on the weekend in Virginia. Nearing the end of the trip I was a little worried that I might run out of money. So instead of taking the train or flight I opted for the cheapest form of travel - a bus to Washington DC from Boston. I had booked it online. I reached Boston early just to be on the safe side and also because there were only limited buses to Boston. I spent the time reading a medical thriller. The Megabus bus was at around 11pm but it was more than 30 minutes late. Finally when it came I found there were a lot of people using the service. I took a seat in the front beside a middle aged lady. The bus ride was super smooth. I did miss the pleasure of watching a movie - it was something I always looked forward to in bus rides. The seats were just about comfortable - the legroom wasn't great but then for the price being paid it was manageable; no complaints.

During the long journey the bus stopped once where the drivers changed. Even though we started more than 30 minutes late we reached DC on time. We stepped out on a huge parking lot that was taken up by Megabus. I walked towards the Union station to take the metro. The first thing I did was to get a ticket to go up the Washington monument. They had a ticket for 11 and I took it. In the meanwhile I strolled around the museum area. Most of my time was spent in the Arthur M Sackler Art Gallery. Boston had sparked an interest in art and I was specific in searching for art museums.

An interesting exhibit was about the "Mountain of Echoing Halls". Many Buddhist sculptures from the cave temples of Xiangtangshan were present. There were also large screen Mac systems which explained about them. At the time I visited, the art gallery had more staff than visitors! The exhibit setting itself was like that of a cave - calm and serene. They explained about the Maitreya - the Maitreya is the future Buddha who will arrive when mankind has fallen to low depths. 

Four goals of life

There was one section where they had Hindu Gods - the various avatars of Vishnu, Ganesha etc. There was an interesting note about why in temples one might find figures of dancers and musicians. I quote from what was written, "Hindus believe that everyone should aspire to four goals for life on earth: dharma, righteous living; artha, wealth acquired through pursuit of a profession; kama, human love; and moksha, spiritual salvation. Sculptors adorning Hindu temples address not only spiritual salvation but the three other goals as well."

The museum had a MS Surface table (pic on top left) that provided a great user experience to learning - it had a Persian poem and a Chinese painting with Calligraphy explained. I really didn't have too long to spend here because it was time to rush back to the Washington monument; I didn't want to miss that - I had been to Washington 3 times in the past and never got a ticket.

They took us to the top of the obelisk on an elevator. And along the way the tour guide explained a few things about the monument. The monument is a memorial for the first US president - George Washington. It is the world's tallest stone structure, standing 555 feet tall (169 metres). The top of the monument is made of Aluminum, which in those days was a rare metal - they had to use something as a lightning rod but which wouldn't tarnish. There are viewpoints on top which you can see through a window. The pic to the right shows the White House as seen from the top of the monument.

A couple of months after my trip there was a minor earthquake due to which the monument has been closed to the public till the damage is repaired!

Part 27 - Contemporary art (USA)

It’s been a while; a long while. While a friend reviews another piece of my work, I get some time to spend on blogging again. I was just wondering that it's funny how we have a lot of conflicts just because of ego; and in the end we are all dust!

For our next spot we head back to Boston; my friend had left for India and I never like sitting alone on the weekend. Even though we had been to Boston many times I figured that I’ll find something of interest there - surely there is some other museum to see.

Walking on the bridge across Seaport Boulevard towards the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) was great - if you visit Boston, do take a walk here. The ICA building is designed differently - check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Institute_of_Contemporary_Art,_Boston.jpg

I bought the ticket and picked the free audio guided headset. In many museums this is provided free of cost and it is worth using. There were a few parents with kids sitting on the ground floor doing some children activity. The iPod they gave me had one earphone dangling.

Weird exhibits using CDs!

The first room I walked into had a stack of CDs in the center - that’s art! There was one piece of a gramophone cd (the large ones you see in old movies) with a lock on it. I happened to be there at the right time for a guided tour - one of the staff were explaining about the exhibits in the room; CDs are used to listen to sound and there are a lot of other ways to make sound with them - scratching, flipping etc. There was a collage made using broken CDs. Someone had made buttons using them. In the next room there were exhibits made using CD covers - these were covers made by people after they bought the CD; kind of like personalized covers. In Brazil it seems people put their own autographs on them.

In the next room there were some gross videos of how a CD was used - a chicken leg spinning on the CD; cutting an apple using the CD player head on which a knife was fixed etc. Then there were plenty of sketches of other uses of CDs and sketches of alternate playing heads that could be used to read CDs - birds, centipedes and what not. There was a picture of a 100 year old man sticking broken records.

Photography

The next room had some nice photographs - sunrise and sunset, Boston tea party pics, snaps from Obama’s campaign, crowds etc. The sunrise and sunset series was an interesting one - it was a sequence of photos shot during a journey on a ship; looked very pretty and the arrangement was also beautiful. The iPod device was not just useful for visitors - I saw a tour guide also listening to the iPod before she began her tour. Each exhibit was numbered and you would find an audio clip for that corresponding number.

Who are you?

One piece of art (a tilted 4 feet tower leaning on the wall) was based on Emily Dickinson’s poem:

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

There was one room that focussed on consumerism - a stack of bills arranged from floor to the ceiling. One exhibit to show inflation where the first bill and second bill have the same set of items bought in a supermarket except that they were bought in different years. There was one with 4 slabs and parking tickets on top - the audio explained that it was to point out that we pay for space.

The next room had the Pom Pom city on the floor - made fully of strands of fibre with a thick matting at the centre to denote how cities are more populated at the centre. 

Never ending reflection

The most fascinating piece I found was the infinite reflection - 8 beautiful shining metallic objects (they look metallic but they are actually glass) placed inside a glass case. When you looked at the glass case it seemed like there was an endless row of those 8 objects, one behind the other. 

How? In front of the objects is a 1-way mirror; from one side it seems transparent and from the other it seems like a mirror. Behind the objects is another mirror. So you have an image reflected from one mirror and onto the other mirror and it gives the illusion of infinity. 

Similar concept was used in a little building made of something like children’s blocks - look inside and you’ll see an infinite row of glowing bulbs. It looks playful from the outside but when you look down into the structure it can raise a sense of fear - fear of heights because the bottom never seems to be there.

Check it out here: http://blog.icaboston.org/blogicabostonorg-0/bid/93844/Reflections-on-Czech-Modernism

Then there was a lengthy box in which a camera was dissected - every single part arranged in such a way that if you push from both ends of the box, the camera would be formed. There was a dark room in which there were shadows of objects with the question, “What if God only saved the objects?”

If you spend time looking at each piece and listening to the audio (which is pretty informative), you’ll spend hours here. Even though I stayed till the closing time, I had to skim through many of the exhibits.

Part 26 - Gun in hand (USA)

We switch back to the US travelogue...

When I was in Baltimore with my friend, for the first time, he showed me around Baltimore. There was the aquarium and all but there was one thing that was very special in that trip.

It was late in the evening and my friend casually asked, “Do you want to go shooting?”

“Shooting? Just like that?”

“Yeah; want to?”

“Sure. No need of a shooting license and all?”

“Nope. It’s been a long time since I went; not sure if it’s still there.”

Am allowed in the shooting range

I was excited and anxious. I’d never even held a real gun in my hand. He drove around trying to figure out the spot based on memory. As we went on the main road, he remembered the block and turned around to the other side of the street. In a side lane there was this building with a board “Select Fire”.

We walked into the shop slowly; the walls were filled with guns. This was it.

“We wanted to use the shooting range,” my friend asked.

My heart, for some reason, was lubbing and dubbing heavily.

The man behind the counter casually pushed across a couple of forms to fill out. It was a simple form. My friend clarified if I was allowed to use it and he just asked for my passport. They kept my passport and my friend’s driving license while we were in the shooting range. After filling the form, he told us that we could only use the pistol to start with. After we put 5 shots (or maybe he said 10) in the center, we could use another weapon - an automatic and so on.

He took two guns but my friend said one would be sufficient. He also handed over a box of ammunition. He gave us a big headset - the one you see used by pilots and people working on airport runways. He also gave goggles.

“Put it on before you cross the door.”

He also handed us a couple of huge sheets of paper. On them were the target practice diagram - the sheet you see in movies when the hero is practicing shooting. Basically the outline in the shape of a man with a few concentric circles. It was thicker than a bond paper but thinner than chart paper.

Ready, aim, fire

We opened the door and could hear gun shots inside. This was an indoor shooting range; about 4 lanes available and there was a group of 4, including a lady, who were using the last lane. Each lane had a switch box that would move the target clip hanger down the lane - so you don’t need to walk to the end of the lane and fix the target sheet. You just flick the switch and it would come to you; you clip on the target sheet and flick the switch again to move it away. So there I was with a real gun and real ammunition. It was a .22 pistol.

My friend, who had some experience before, opened the ammunition box and showed me how to use the pistol. The ammunition box had 100 cartridges. He showed me the safety catch and he showed me how to load the bullets in the revolver. And then he fired a round. After that you have to empty the revolver of the used cartridges. And then I tried my hand at it.

I used my left hand to keep my right hand steady to handle the recoil. The recoil isn’t a huge one; you can fire with a single hand but the left hand helps keep aim. After firing a few shots I realized that the recoil was taking my shot to the upper left from my aim. After emptying a round of cartridges, we’d retrieve the target sheet to see how we did. I struck a few in the center! I had to aim for the lower right to get the shot right.

The gun was very similar to the toy guns we played with except for the recoil and the fact that a bullet was being fired. The sound was pretty similar. A few rounds later, someone occupied the first lane and fired a machine gun. The headset doesn’t completely eliminate all sound; you could still hear gun shots.

Armed, dangerous and worrying

You certainly need a lot of practice with shooting to get a perfect aim; even shooting a stationary target is not easy; imagine shooting a running target. And imagine how in movies the hero picks the gun for the first time and shoots a person who is more than 50 feet away - need a big dose of luck to do that! 

The thought that I had in hand something that can kill very easily was worrying. It was a strange feeling - and the cost of shooting wasn’t high; for $25 or so you could use the gun for an hour in the shooting range. Buying a gun also wasn’t that costly - you could buy guns from Walmart - they had one section for guns.

Part 25 - Weekend trip to DC

Sometimes when you are in a slump you don’t even realize how time flies; you think time is at a standstill during a slump but it flies just as quick. Well, anyway, back we are...

Saw a movie recently and it seems the director has some fascination for Apple products - it featured a MacBook pro for the villain’s boss in China, an iMac (the desktop computer) for the Indian villain and an iPhone for a Chinese hitman villain. I felt the movie had plenty of loose ends that could have been tied up better. I wonder whether a director can again retake scenes after they have put together the entire movie - do a preview show for select critics audience and then based on the feedback modify the movie.

Government shutdown?

Rewinding, we go to the day I decided to see the famed Cherry Blossoms - this was the last weekend and if I delayed the trip by another week there would be no cherry blossoms to see. The plan was to head out from Boston on Friday by the late night Amtrak train. My colleague didn’t join in this adventure - a few people in office suggested that I just put him in the car and drive away. I checked one last time if he wanted to come; tickets were still available.

When you do these trips, just in the station you suddenly begin to wonder, “Do I have the ticket? Is the date right” and so on; especially when you are traveling alone. The iPad 2 ads were there all over the place dropping down from the ceiling. I first had to collect the ticket using the online booking printout. Amtrak had automated machines where you just needed to show the barcode on the printout. The machine would project a spider web, scan the code and print the ticket.

Next I tried calling my Baltimore friend to tell him that I was starting. This was another bad experience with coinbox phones on this trip - I lost one dollar and the call never went through. Out of curiosity I tried a collect call - it went through and my friend accepted it. In this case, my friend would get charged on his credit card and I didn’t need to put any coins. There was a risk in my trip - depending on what the US Senate decided, there could be a Government shutdown tomorrow; basically they were debating on the Government funding or something of the sort - so if that didn’t go through then government offices would close tomorrow - that includes all national museums, memorial areas etc. They had 3 hours to approve and it was already late in the night. 

I was curious to know whether Amtrak used the same tracks used by the Boston metro and asked an Amtrak employee, “Where does the train come?”

And she quickly replied, “It sure doesn’t come from up there,” raising her hand pointing at the ceiling. It took a lot of seconds for me to understand that she was joking!

Union Station, Washington DC

The train left exactly on time, or perhaps a minute early. The first coach was called a “quiet coach”. Seats were comfortable and there was a nice table like in flights. It will be cool to work on a laptop since there was a plug point as well. It wasn’t express fast, just a little faster than our Indian trains - but it was certainly better maintained. The ticket checker came on rounds, he checked the ticket and put a slip above the seat I was in - probably just to indicate that he’d checked the seat. I started writing a letter to a friend and dozed away.

Morning 7am as I picked my backpack, a Japanese asked me, “Is this Washington?” and I confidently replied. I had heard the announcement just a couple of minutes earlier. It was cold, really cold even with my leather jacket on. I went up the steps to enter Union Station. It was a nostalgic feeling walking in the station which had a grand structure. I bought my return tickets and headed to the restrooms which were a lot better compared to the Boston station. Most of the shops were closed but some of the tour and travel counters had little pamphlet trays in the open. On close inspection I found a couple of good maps in these free pamphlets. And I also caught a headline somewhere that said the Government shutdown had been avoided.


I searched for the metro to get to Tidal Basin - the place of Cherry Blossoms. Over the last 3 years the metro had become a little dirty; the automated ticketing system was still pretty much the same. You can pick your destination point and print the ticket. Cherry blossoms here I come...

Part 24 - The famous Wall Street

WTC memories

We were back in New Brunswick station in the morning; it looked a lot different during the day; a lot more comfortable! We headed back to New York and walked to Battery Park. If you want to see the Statue of Liberty then you surely have to make an online booking. There is no way you can go and get the ticket at the counter. The queue was huge and tickets for the day were sold out. It was the same on my prior trip as well; things had certainly not changed with regard to the Statue! After seeing the Statue from a distance we headed towards Wall Street. 


On the way, we crossed the World Trade Center area. I still remember the sight of the twin towers and still remember the elevator ride we took on an earlier trip to the observatory. That was the first time that I had gone up a 100 floor skyscraper. And now there stood nothing in Ground Zero except for some construction work that was happening.

It was already afternoon and we were quite hungry. The first eatery we saw was Dunkin Donuts, to my friend’s delight. There was no second thought - we jumped into Dunkin. The employee there was a friendly Pakistani youngster. He was cheerful and energetic. We placed our order while we chit chatted. He talked about his South Indian roommate who was a very strict vegetarian and he thought all South Indians were strict veggies. As a bonus he gave us a couple of extra donuts.

“It seems there is something written on our face. He guessed we’re from South India immediately,” my friend said as we took a window side seat.

World's most famous street


The financial district was pretty crowded even though today was a holiday; plenty of tourists. On the way, there was an old church that looked grand and an urban park with benches and a huge abstract structure in the middle (I say urban park because there was no greenery). I later learnt that the church is Trinity church built in the 19th century. And the park I guess is a tribute to Harry Hemsley - a billionaire who grew up in New York and created a real estate company that was one of the biggest property holders in the US. He is said to have made a lot of contributions to New York city. (The pic to the left is Trinity Church)

We crossed a couple of bank buildings before hitting the New York Stock Exchange. There was a barricade preventing people from going close to the entrance. Beside the NYSE was the J.P Morgan building (also called "The Corner" because it is in a corner!) J.P Morgan is credited with having reduced the impact of the “Panic of 1907” which could have ruined a number of US banks which were in need of funds and had lost credibility - it’s a situation that can arise even today if every one of us went to our banks and withdrew all our money... But it’s an event that is very rare and should ideally never happen. The Wall Street bombing that happened in 1920 caused damage to this building and even today you can see some of the scars of that blast on the building. (The pic above is not the best of picks to show the JP Morgan building but you can see how small it is when compared to the skyscrapers surrounding it; The Corner is the first building).

You kind of have goosebumps when you reflect on the amount of history associated with this street. The other place in US where I had this feeling was in Washington. After every couple of blocks or so you would find a few marble benches. We took a break in one such area where a youngster was practicing skate-boarding; we saw him skate, jump on to a bench and then continue skating as he jumped off the bench. (Pic to the right shows the NYSE which is at the beginning of Wall Street; I kind of like the way they display street signs on each corner).


The frantic rush

We sipped water and were planning on what next. We had a lot of time on hand but since there was nothing else on my friend's list I suggested, “We can take the bus back to Boston.”

“You think we’ll have time to catch it?”

Checking the watch we made a dash. I grabbed the map and headed towards Chinatown. We went in and out of a metro station - the metro wouldn’t get us too close and we’d anyway have to walk as well. As we crossed each street, I cross checked the street name on the map. My general feeling in New York, and maybe it’s the same in other places in US as well, is that most people walk really fast - and it is quite a challenge to keep up with their pace. Not the tourist who are ambling at leisure but the people who are working there. But today we were faster than most of them.

I had become quite comfortable with the streets and raced away cutting diagonals to reach our destination quickly. When we came close to the bridge we knew we were almost there but according to the bus schedule, we should have missed the bus. We still pushed along and were delighted to see a bus near their office. On enquiring we found that this was the next bus and the guy said it was full and that we need to come at least 30 minutes before departure. The next bus was in another 40 minutes or so  (it seems like they ran extra trips on weekends because we never remember seeing these extra two trips on their website).

“You ran like you were possessed,” my friend commented as we entered the office to buy tickets.

This was an interesting New York trip because we spent most of our time walking and the best way to soak in the culture of a city is by walking!

Part 23 - Night in New Jersey...

We were there upto almost closing time; we wound up after visiting the dinos section. We had a good walk across Central park. My friend bought a large Pretzel (it’s like a crispy salty biscuit in tubular shape) from a roadside vendor and he didn’t like it - many of the vendors seemed to be of Indian origin.

In the middle of the park, in an open space, there were 3 guys doing a public performance - a few small stunts along with some situational comedy. They were so well rehearsed that all 3 of them spoke the same words at exactly the same time; it sounded good to hear. At the end of the performance they came around collecting money and I’ll have to admit that they were pretty aggressive in money collection - fair enough because they did put up a good show (pic on right).

Times Square


The next stop on our list was Times Square (pic below). It was dark by the time we reached there and it was getting a little chilly. I still had my large leather jacket on but the problem was with my hands that were unprotected. Times Square at night is always filled with people and lights. We took snaps and had dinner at a Subways restaurant.

My friend ordered a foot long sandwich and I followed suit - a footlong is quite a heavy meal; as the name suggests it is a one foot long bun with veggies and sauce stuffed in.

“We are running short of quarters.”

“Yeah. Let’s ask the guy at the counter.”

Quarters (25 cents coins) are needed to make phone calls from public telephone booths. Back home it would be very hard to get change from shopkeepers unless you bought something from them. We weren’t sure of the protocol here but having bought sandwiches and a couple of drinks we were confident of getting quarters. The guy at the counter happened to be an Indian and he said, “If you want you can use my phone,” and pulled out his mobile.

We told him that we’ll need to make a call after an hour in New Jersey. He gave us quarters for two dollars.

“When you ask for quarters, everyone knows what you want it for!”

Night at the platform!

It was past 8 and we were on our way to take the train to New Jersey. We passed by Broadway and I remembered the show “Phantom of the Opera” that I saw a few years back - quite memorable it was; I lost my friend’s mobile in that show!

We took a PATH (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) train to New Brunswick after checking with my friend's friend on phone for direction. It was a long ride and we kept a close watch on the series of stops. It was late night when we reached New Brunswick - we took the steps down from the platform. Most of the people who got down with us were picked up by someone or the other. We were the only ones left - we saw a public telephone booth. The call got connected on the first try itself but the line wasn’t clear. We tried a few more times with no luck; we lost a few precious quarters! We hoped that he’d come soon. The place was deserted and we headed back up to the platform bench. There was a single guy loitering around who came over and asked for quarters. He said he wanted to call his girlfriend or something of the sort - I said I didn’t have any quarters. Then he went to the next bench where my friend was and tried his luck there. Whether he was genuine or not, I don’t know. On the opposite side of the platform, a young lady waiting for the train was dressed in a skirt. I was feeling pretty chill and there she was in a skirt with no signs of feeling cold!

After waiting for a long time my friend suggested, “Maybe he’s come to the front - I don’t think he’ll know we are up in the platform.”

“Let’s go and see.”

We went down the stairs and walked through a narrow tunnel to the front. This was facing what seemed like the main road. There were a couple of lights here and there was a door that appeared to lead into the station office. Maybe we could wait inside. But there was a lady trying to open it and found it locked - the office was closed; only the platform was open. We tried a public booth here but that wasn’t working as well. At 11 in the night in an unknown place, with very few people around it was a little scary. Fortunately my friend’s friend suddenly turned up at the main entrance.