The title of this post is taken from a song by Sinead O'Connor from the You've got mail soundtrack. It is one of my favorite songs about one of my favorite cities. I love the way different cities have their own identity, their own fingerprint. I totally believe that the city you live in plays a part in making you who you are. My cell phone's ring tone is Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers (Anthony Kiedis....yummmmmmmyyyy!!!)....and it of course pays homage to the City of Angels (and drugs i believe...but we'll ignore that part). In You've got mail, Tom Hanks says, "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." I love this sentiment and i love newly sharpened pencils....unfortunately i hardly ever use a pencil anymore, but when i was younger my notebook and pencils (plural) were my constant companions and my cousin would keep on sharpening all my pencils and reduce them to the size of my pinky....it was most annoying!
Getting back to New York, the reason I am writing about it is to first and foremost proclaim my unconditional love for it and secondly to talk about my recent trip there. I went there about a month ago to meet up with two of my childhood (or more like middleschoolhood) friends A and T. A lives in Bombay and T is currently hopping zipcodes between Bangkok and Ahmedabad. I went to middle school in Ahmedabad and A, T, mua and another girl S were our own little clique. Through some wierd twist of fate, we all separated at the same time. After finishing eighth grade, i came to America, A moved to Bombaby, S moved to Madras and T stayed in Ahmedabad. That was about 15 years ago and we've still managed to keep in touch. Pretty impressive huh? As we got done with college and became more independent we were able to start meeting up every once in a while. So, this year, we all decided to meet up in nyc...S couldn't meet up with us that weekend but she met up with A and T on a different weekend.
Of course the entire weekend was centered around eating and drinking. We went to Buddha Bar which was awesome....we ordered this one maki roll as an appetizer and it was sooooo good (i forget the name now)....well since we all split the appetizer, it wasn't much. And each one of us wanted more so finally me being the big pig that I am suggested we order another round and of course A & T both being big foodies themselves readily agreed! And Buddha Bar played the best music....its like they had Gypsy Kings on repeat....awesome!!!!
On friday night we went to this rooftop hotel bar and this one guy comes up to T and starts hitting on her. When he found out that T was indian, he proclaimed himself to be half indian and started using hindi words. Unfortunately the only hindi words he knew were "didi" (sister) and "master" (i guess master in english too...but in hindi i believe it is used in the teacher context)....so he kept using these totally random hindi words. Then he tells T he likes Rasgullas (an indian sweet that lookes like white balls of cream cheese or cottage cheese and it sits on a bed of this super sweet clear syrup) and asks her if she likes them too and T replies with a reluctant and confused affirmative. He then proceeds to ask her if she likes to "squeeze the juice" out of the rasgullas....A and I are ready to bust out laughing when T replies something like "sometimes". The dumbass continues with "do you like juice....i like juice"....it was hilarious! I think I am forgetting all the details...T if you are reading this, feel free to add/subtract/embellish/exaggerate/completely fabricate further about the story.
My other favorite part was when we invaded T's cousin's fabulous apt in Union Square and got his very pregnant wife to make us cold coffee and pillaged through all the snacks in her kitchen. T and her sisten N then proceeded to make themselves more at home by taking over their cousin's laptop (he's so nice....he gave N a blackberry and pays for it), bathroom and all of their general personal space. This was after we each shelled out 60 bucks to see Les Miserables which was horrific and we were all falling asleep and came to a unanimous decision to chuck the show halfway through and head off to T's cousin's place (which was to be followed by dessert at the Chocolate by the Bald man....yummmoooo). The one thing i learnt during this trip was how they came up with the name Les Miserables....Heh!
When we were in middle school all the super "popular" kids formed little groups and they named them....horribly silly names like bonkers and flames. Our little foursome were the non-mainstream popular kids.....we were cool, intellectual, usually held some type of officer position and the other popular girls wanted to be friends with us, but we didn't believe in blessing the mainstream crowd with the pleasure of our company. Yes....we were snotty in our own way. Well, later on down the line we christened our little foursome with a moniker of its own....Whores, Inc. Before you get any ideas, we were all talk....we were wanna be whores but our morals and crap always got in the way. But it was so much fun!
Of course the trip wouldn't be complete without some great heart to hearts. And great heart to hearts were had over cigarette smoke and coffee and smelly cab rides and in gay bars in chelsea. I love A and T. They are two of the most amazing people I know. A is fierce, independent, smart, ambitious, loving, caring, funny, honest. She has surrounded herself by a wall comparable to the Great Wall of China but once she lets you in....its a sight to behold. If i could live one day of my life the way she leads hers, i would consider it to be a great accomplishment. T is a walking paradox....an intellectual at heart with crazy brainpower who has the ability to be president of the world, but at the same time is dying to become a Bollywood movie star and turn Shahrukh Khan straight. She knows her strengths and has accomplished much, yet she is self-deprecating in the most endearing way. To say that i hold her in high esteem would be a gross understatement. Her individuality is unparalleled and i wish i could have an ounce of her creativity and vision.
At Buddha Bar we played this game where each of us had to say something about the other person that we would never expect them to do....very interesting...i highly recommend it.
The trip was just right....A and T are embodiments of the Big Apple and it was a perfect meeting place for us. I really missed seeing S though but hopefully she will visit me later on this year and i'll do a post about her then. I love this city that's always awake and never normal or typical and i love these people who i feel this amazing connection with.....across the seven seas and through the winding years.
To end this post i am going to leave you with the lyrics to Under the Bridge....
Sometimes I feel Like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel Like my only friend
Is the city I live in The city of angels
Lonely as I am Together we cry
I drive on her streets
'Cause she's my companion
I walk through her hills
'Cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds
And she kisses me windy
I never worry
Now that is a lie
I don't ever want to feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
It's hard to believe
That there's nobody out there
It's hard to believe
That I'm all alone
At least I have her love
The city she loves me
Lonely as I am
Together we cry
I don't ever want to feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all that way
Under the bridge downtown
Is where I drew some blood
Under the bridge downtown
I could not get enough
Under the bridge downtown
Forgot about my love
Under the bridge downtown
I gave my life away
Friday, July 6, 2007
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