Rest of New York City

Hey guys… I’m on the flight on my way back home and I feel horrible L I really really really had an ammmmaazziinngg time in NYC and I don’t wanna go back!!

I was being treated like royalty honestly…. But I guess the royal treatment only happens because you are visiting for such a short time.. L

I had a really nice Monday.. I went shopping and your never gonna believe how lucky I got.. I had a $50 mac (cosmetics) gift card from 2 years ago.. and I had returned something for $16 bucks so I thought I’ll use this opportunity to spend the remaining 16 bucks… turns out they refunded the entire 50 bucks! I was so excited… the excitement was short lived though .. I managed to get 1.5 products from mac with 50 bucks.. jeez! Still.. Free stuff!!!

All of Monday I just roamed all over manhattan.. time square.. broadway.. and suddenly it was 7 pm! I love this city so much!! I then came back home n Rahul ordered dinner for us. I was sitting on the bed watching TV and he did all the work.. He’s been really sweet to me. He tricked me into eating seafood for the first time almost.. and that too squid!! It was called kalamari.. it was yum though.. who ever thought those weird gangly creatures would actually taste good..

On Tuesday, you’ll never believe what I did, I just looked up “best beaches in NYC”. And it said ‘long beach’ nearby was the best but the season starts later… so the next best was rockaway.. I actually took a train to rockaway beach 1.5 hours away and spend an AMAZING day on the beach.. it was awesome! I packed a sandwich.. a book.. and I was lying on the beach all day..

So Rockaway beach is in this really run down part of queens. When the train was first approaching the beach stops.. I was TERRIFIED. Everybody looked like they sizing me up for body bag size.. then it reached the 116^th station and suddenly it was a whole other world.. feels like a small beach town.. and the beach was clean n water pristine.. I then came back and went for dinner with Rahul.. he chose the place and ordered the food.. fucking 50 bucks for indian food! NYC can be expensive if u want it to be… other indian places I saw were cheaper than west Lafayette (on curry hill). But anyways.. he conned me by giving the waiter his credit card b4 the meal.. and I conned him by (very heavy heartedly) slipping a 20 under his pillow.. to my girlies.. I’m sure you know by now.. but biggest advice ever.. there is definitely no such thing as free lunch when it comes to guys.. at least in my book.. Now when I look back.. I feel so happy that I never let Rob pay for me or treat me special.. atleast guilt is nowhere in the picture when I made a decision about him.. but whenever I think about other past relationships.. I always feel like I owe a lot for all the expensive presents and the pampering and that was also a factor why I kept clinging on.. debt and guilt.. anyhow….

Omg I HAVE to tell you about the crazy shit that’s been happening to me… my absent minded ness has reached a whole new level.. after the security check.. I actually called an officer and I was all like.. my book bag is missing… somebody took it.. and she keeps looking all over n then she was like.. how does it look exactly.. and then suddenly …” it looks like the one on my shoulder.. I am so so sorry”.. I felt the stupidest ever.. then I made a mad dash towards the gates cos the flight suddenly got preponed!!.. turns out I was at B28 instead of just 28.. OMG!! I ran like a maniac and somehow made it to the gates only to realize the flight was delayed again! I called farhan to chat with him and say bye.. I thought it was no big deal if I boarded last.. what I didn’t know was that it was a tiny plane carrying like 15 ppl.. and in 2 mins I hear this announcement.. “shruti gupta.. your flight is soon leaving without you”… talk about embarrassing!! But the cool thing is that I was at the terminal which is 1 of 5 places, which offers ipad-ordering. So the gate had an ipad at each seat that you can use to surf or whatever.. or you can use it to order food from a nearby restaurant.. pretty cool eh..

Ok guys.. it has been super fun sharing every detail about my life with you.. keep emailing me and doing the same.. love you.. mwwaaahhhhh

New York City - Day 5 and 6 (no record of Day 4)

So I got bored of writing these journal-y things and I was sure you guys got bored of reading it.. but apparently some of you didn’t. (Though prat only wanted details of Saturday night)..lol!

Past two days in New York has been SPECTACULAR! I have the best hosts ever and I can’t describe how much in love with the city I am.

First day back:

When I came back on Saturday.. I first met up with Eugene and we went for a walk in Central park where I haven’t been before so it was AWESOME!! Everything was beautiful and picture perfect. Eugene then decided that he wants me to guide him through Indian food so we went to this neighborhood called “curry hill” which isn’t a completely Indian neighborhood.. just has a lotta indian food places.. we wanted to try Sarvana Bhavan but they just reached a whole new level of bad service. There were soooo many ppl waiting n nobody was even taking names or anything.. and finally I saw a table of 2 and I marched up to the manager in my most authoritative gait n told him that we are sitting there n insisted that he send someone to take the order. I gave Eugene look of “this is how it’s done”. 10 mins later.. nobody came to take our order. We were seated right by the door with everyone’s butts in our faces as they stood.. so finally decided to ditch it. We met Eu’s friend Jake n tried another Indian place.. after 10 mins.. gave that up too. Then we went to this store called Union Square Wines where you can just walk up and taste wines! Unfortunately I can’t stand wine so I didn’t join those guys in getting free booze. We then went to this bar called Crocodile Lounge (where we were joined by Eu’s cousin and his wife.. both hilarious and sweet ppl) which gives you a whole pizza free on every freakin drink! Not even kidding.. and good pizza.. baked right in front of you! Totally pigged out. We then walked around the NYU campus and it was so awesome.. totally soaking up being in NYC! We then went to this Belgian bar.. it was just like in the movies.. with the ambience and red lighting.. I loved it. I tried this raspberry beer which was yum! Eugene had been talking about that beer since ages so I’m glad I really liked it.. it was all fruity like a soda almost. We then went to this Korean karaoke club.. hahaha.. it was awesome but the crowd was super lame.. we had all these girls singing who totally made my ears bleed.. Even the significant amount of alcohol by then didn’t help..We went with Rahul and his friends (a couple) to this rooftop bar. It was exactly how I imaged NYC surrounded by lights and pretty buildings. It was amazing!

Day 2 after being back in NYC:

So Eugene had mentioned going to brighton beach.. which is the main Russian community in NYC (he’s Russian if I didn’t mention it earlier). I invited Farhan to go with us (Farhan went to school with me in undergrad n lives in nyc now). Brighton beach was amazing!!! Theres a real beach n everything.. I lovveedd it!! Then we tried some Russian food which I totally loved.. we had chicken dumpling (pronounced pilmenia).. stuffed crepes (blitnzes) and tea. It was so sweet.. these two Russian women on the table next to us actually gave us half their dessert cos we were Indian and new and everything.. it was so warm n nice. Felt like I was back in India. The Russian waitress/hostess was just something out of a movie.. she scared me witless. She came to take the order and we said we needed more time.. she actually gave this look like she was disappointed in us.. like.. u morons just walk in here and have no clue what to order. She did not crack the smallest smile for the 1 hour we were probably in there. I just avoided eye contact with her after a while.

We went to Coney Island from there!! And I was soooooo excited.. it was like in the movies and we went to the rides.. and then we went to this famous nathan’s hot dog store (which hosts the world hot dog eating championship evevery year). I was stuffed but I insisted on buying a hot dog which I insisted that I’ll eat later and Farhan bet that I wouldn’t (farhan won). We then went back to Manhattan and got shots at Jake’s place. From there we went to this bar called Pig n Whistle which had live music playing and it was super awesome. We had a gazillion yummy drinks there.. it was 12.30 by now n we all decided to head back.

New York city - Day 3

The first thing that I absolutely have to establish is that if you have to get up at 9.00 am then it’s not possibly called vacation. This is exactly what I subjected to yesterday. It still hurts when I think about it. We decided to do a day trip to Boston because it was still not camping weather and some morons (read Mansha, Vibhu, Sameer and Utsav) decided that we need to leave at 9.00 am. And while they happily got drunk and slept early, I was working till 2.00 am and I was super groggy all day!

Mansha decides she wants to see her first Chinatown so that’s where we decided to park the car. A sign at the entrance of the structure saying “Please use only one spot to park your car” seemed really funny until we went in and cursed all these mo-fos using two spots for their car. We soon figured out why. The parking lots were meant for Asian sized cars. I can’t believe even the parking structure was already conforming to stereotypes. It was run down and super shady. We parked on “horse” floor (yep.. the elevator had animal signs for each floor). I left my laptop in the car with crazy apprehension, which wasn’t helped by this sign at the exit, “Do not leave any belongings in the car. Don’t learn the hard way”. (I still left it).

We decided to do this sightseeing path called the “freedom trail” which is starts at this park called the Boston Commons and takes you through 14 important buildings of historic significance. We followed Vibhu (who later insisted that she wasn’t leading). We keep walking with each person assuming that the other was leading (you can see where this is going)we cross a lot of pretty old buildings and we reach Trinity Church. I am really alarmed because the freedom trail is technically this red brick inlay work on the sidewalk that I can’t find anywhere. Vibhu insists, “I know the Apple store (that we can see) is on the freedom trail” (!!). So, we keep walking. Passing a giant rat ( see attached pic), we reach this really cool mall called Prudential Center. There is this really awesome fountain and while everyone is pigging on the famous pink berry fro-yo, I decide to do some investigative work and go looking for a map. I find it and needless to say, we have been walking in the opposite direction from the actual freedom trail and were never on it!

Finally with renewed wisdom and depleted energy we decide to head back to Chinatown for lunch start our hunt for the perfect dumpling place that can fit the specifications of 5 ppl in a group. 2 vegetarians, one person insisting on eating dumplings, one person giving yelp suggestions and one person insisting on eating cheap (me) made for quite an interesting restaurant choosing experience until we decided to just enter this next place called “Dumpling Café” (at least the dumpling specification was apparently fulfilled). The meal started off with me unknowingly using my soupspoon to drink the jasmine tea, which probably set the tone for the whole meal. The waitress couldn’t understand our English and we couldn’t understand hers. The ordering was a fun game of charades.

Vibhu: Do you have brown rice?

Waitress: Yes

Vibhu: I don’t want it fried. Just plain.

Waitress: Egg

Vibhu: What?

Waitress: Egg

Vibhu: I don’t get it.

Waitress: (writes egg on her notepad)

Vibhu: I want plain brown rice.

Waitress: (no idea what she said)

Mansha: I think she means you have only fried rice and plain rice Vibhs. I don’t think they have brown rice.

Vibhs: I’ll just take the fried rice.

(Later waitress comes back with plain white rice for her).

Mansha: I’ll have the tofu.

Waitress: It’s spicyyyy!!

Mansha: That’s fine.

Waitress: Makes face n shrugs. (lol)

The whole meal was super funny. We all kept bugging each other to ask the waitress for forks and finally I ate my whole meal with a spoon. That’s how scared I was of trying to converse with her. The waitress forgot my soup and later I got the crappiest version ever. However, the food was delicious. And I ate loads. When I finally complimented the waitress on the food.. she made a face!! It was freaking hilarious. We went souvenir shopping in our post food coma and my china town souvenir was 4 AAs for $1.50! I’ll tell you how that pans out.

Post china town I hit a Starbucks to catch up on some work while Mansha and Sameer fulfilled their nerdy guilty pleasures at the Museum of Science. We then went to MIT and the great MIT was a few blocks across with 3-4 buildings! The best part was free wifi so I kept working while we were driving around in the car. We then went to Harvard and I decided that my alter ego goes to Harvard. It was hilarious as they kept trying to get me to admit that I didn’t go there but I was too smart for them. Harvard educated you see. They kept teasing me every time they saw an Indian guy on campus (that I should snag the guy). I was working at a coffee shop while they explored campus and I was supposed to call them when I was done. I realized later that I had forgotten my phone in the car!! I was waiting in the coffee shop to be rescued and I had 5 mins b4 the Internet expired (wifi is a precious commodity on the Harvard campus) when I finally got a FB msg telling me where they are. Phewwww. I finally got my work done too!!!.. yyaaaayyyy and we celebrated with cheeseburgers at the Harvard Square. We went to some awesome dessert place after that and finallyyy headed back after 14 hour day. We played this game called Jungle Speed where they kicked my ass but the game is HILARIOUS!!.. it’s the best drinking game ever.

New York City - Day 1

I am on my way to Boston and I am super excited!! Oh my god.. u will never believe what happened on the bus stop!!.. Rahul met this friend who was really close to him and it turned out that the friend was visiting the same friend as me in portsmouth (vibhu) !! Small world man! Bus ride was painfully long (5 hours) but it helped that there was a Turkish guy my age sitting next to me.. he was really sweet and nice to talk to and we hit it off well. We got off the bus together and me in my typical fashion happily kept walking off and forgot my suitcase on my bus.. luckily I remembered in time to run back…So yeah we reached Boston.. and I met the gang!! Mansha n vibhs n sameer and utsav (her friend that I met at the bus stop).. it was soooooo good seeing them.. I’m pretty sure everyone in Boston south station can vouch for how happy vibhu and I were to see each other J then we went out to dinner in this place called quincy marketplace… it was nice but cold n pouring!! Finally did the one hour drive back to Portsmouth and I was passed out in the car.. I think we got lost on the way but I was fast asleep for most part.. I was sitting all squished with a million things around me so I actually kept dreaming that I was in a box.. vibhu’s house in Portsmouth is soooo adorable.. it has this tiny cottage-ey feel with loads of character.. exactly the opposite of rahul’s swanky nyc apartment.. but I love both! Going to explore Portsmouth today… yyaaaayyyyyy.. its cold and rainy so no beach for me though.. shall keep you guys posted yo!

New York City- Day 0

Oh my god. It’s been half a day in NYC and sooooo much has already happened!! I feel like those fake essays that I wrote in class 5… “a day I’ll never forget” is suddenly coming true.. I’m scared I’m gonna forget all the juicy details so I’m writing everything down.. you guys probably know by now how much I love to talk!

Okay the craziness started Monday afternoon. The weather is friggin 50F and all I was carrying was tiny shorts!! I manage to recycle my only pair of jeans for day 2 (day 1 was rob’s parents’ house which is a whole other story). I decided to leave home by 2.30 pm so that even a pileup on the freeway gives me enough time to still make it to my 5.45 pm flight (assuming I survive the pileup of course). However, at 2.30 pm I see Rob’s dad enthusiastically checking email forwards and I don’t have the heart to interrupt. I just sit next to him hoping that my presence will somehow remind him of the reason I was there (my ride to the airport!!) but he is too busy enjoying “Rules of being a cowboy” and I continue to chicken out of the deed. At 3 pm I have already given up on the pileup but I still want to outdo a minor wreck. In my smallest voice possible I manage to ask.. ”What LATEST time do you think we could leave and probably make it”.. He gives the most nonchalant unconcerned shrug and decided 3.30pm is good.. no wrecks included. So lots of stuff still happened in the middle but somehow at 3.30 we leave home. There is a fateful detour sign and with the exact same nonchalant shrug he casually informs me, “Don’t think your making that flight”. All through the way he messed with me about how we are a hundred miles from the airport.. we are almost outta gas and the freeway packed with traffic wasn’t helping either.. finally.. luckily I got a text informing me about a one hour delay in the flight.. which is when I started breathing and he (yes with that exact same shrug) tells me that we are ten mins from the airport.. he was kidding for the past 1 hour. Anyhoo… the extra hour gave me a free dinner and bonding time with ex bf’s dad.. pleasant overall. .

I reach the airport.. run to the security in my typical huff n puff way to realize that my backpack is leaking something (it had NO liquid in it.. mystery I am yet to solve) and my butt is soaked. Whatever.. I’m going to NYC and I don’t care!! So I throw my stuff on that conveyor and I can’t get this metallic necklace to come off.. (perfect day to accessorize.. ). They ask me to step into that full body scan thing and it is the most awkward 15 seconds of your life. Your supposed to put your hands like your about to dive into a pool and stand. Then in typical movie slow motion fashion.. she asks me to “step aside”!!! I have watched enough shows to know the next line, ”Officer, what seems to be the problem?”. She says something is ‘abnormal’ and asks me to empty the pockets of my skin tight skinny jeans. The woman had to be blind to imagine I could even fit a safety pin in those pockets. Then she asks me to lift my shirt.. yes in front of everyone so that my waist is exposed.. obviously my only thought is.. “thank god I didn’t eat too much today”. Next comes a hand swab … no idea for what.. and finalllllyyy .. “ma’am your fine”. No kidding! I mutter ‘racial profiling’ under my breath.. and call Rahul to relate the atrocities I was subjected to. As I animatedly describe all of the above.. I heard last call!.. Made it to the flight.. best seats!! Nothing interesting to report till we land. Then when we were waiting for our bags at plane-side.. this basketball-player-tall black guy.. nice looking.. looks at me and walks over interested.. He makes small talk but I politely run.. in mansha’s words ..”man main tho laddu phoot rahe the”.. hahaha.. ok nothing more fun till the airtrain but then there is this obviously European looking guy with a giant backpack sitting next to me.. I can bet he has an interesting story but the airtrain ride is 2 mins. No point making convo. We both get off at same station and jump into waiting subway.. we both realize wrong train and jump back into right train.. we smile n start to talk.. turns out he is a german guy coming from mexico .. visting NYC for a week and going back to Columbia.. yep I’m a sucker for people who travel 3 countries within a week. Decide to be facebook friends.

Phew.. make it to Rahul’s house (after promising the transit bus driver 25c of fare the next day) and I am BLOWN!!.. The view is breaktaking!!.. moron is living in the house of my freakin dreams!!! Interesting highlights of the night: tasting blackberry beer..(decent).. watching how I met your mother season finale.. getting more drunk on gin and cider.. tasting some scotch n then wasting it ( we might save it for next week.. no kidding).. and then between conversations, suddenly it was 5.30 am. We re discussing the gorgeous view from his balcony when he mentions.. “u have to see the flat-iron building (FIB)”..My obvious response is.. “now?” and Rahul being Rahul, his obvious response is “yeah lets go”.. We run out of the house (took us 2 mins to get dressed).. and it is raining.. guess what.. more adventure!!.. Loaded with starbucks.. we actually make our way in what is now a downpour to the FIB. We take pics to prove that we did do this crazy trip at 6 am in the pouring rain to see FIB. Sane people would have decided to not risk pneumonia and head back.. but we decide that we can’t get any wetter and decide to close-window shop on 5^th avenue. I trust the local only to be told that we walked ahead of where we have to go.. new plan.. Grand Central Station! We walked (42-24=18) 18 blocks to grand Central in the downpour + thunderstorm and omg it was worth it!.. He showed me the clock on melvin’s head in Madagascar and my trip is complete! We go to the restroom where I take each shoe off at a time to dry with the hand dryer much to the shock some uptight new yorkers. On our way home.. we take the tram!!.. yeah it’s that cable car thing that goes high up on those wires.. It was heaven guys.. I was in heaven.. and so ends my past 16 hours or so.. phew.. will keep u posted as the trip goes on!!

About Mansha

Today is Mansha's birthday and for the first time ever in my life.. I didn't wish her at 12.. and while normally I would never dream of inflating her ego, this is my tiny way of making up for forgetting this time.

My first memory of Mansha was when she started school ( I was 3). I remember thinking, "Who is this person and why is she getting everything I want?". (It took me twenty years to realize that it was other way.. I wanted anything Mansha touched but it is a segue we don't yet want to take). I remember Mansha from 5-10 years of age as this crazy boisterous tom-boy. One story that our mom loves to tell is how she taught Mansha, "If I boy hits you, you hit him back. In fact, you come home crying, I'll hit you." This style of parenting shocked the building aunties but mummy stood by it, and Mansha stoutly followed it apparently till Class 10 (another segue that begs taking but I can't take). It probably backfired on Mummy in the future. When Mummy threatened to hit me, I would run around the dining table whaling. And I have this distinct picture of Mansha in her funny nighty, all 12 years of her going, "So you'll hit me. It'll hurt for a bit n then what? ". Lol.. I was blown by this brave kid. Stupid but brave.

Funnily, the most distinct thing that I remember about Mansha from the time we were kids is that she had two ponytails. And that she was popular. From age 5-10, my only nickname in school was "Manisha's Sister". And that wasn't helped at all when she became House Captain. Surprisingly enough, I basked in the glory. Thankfully I wasn't bothered by my own lack of identity and enjoyed the popularity as my own. One thing I didn't enjoy as the little sister was hand me downs. The most annoying thing about shopping with Mansha and Mummy was the line, "you can buy it now, if it doesn't fit, Tinu can use it".. ughh... Mansha, if you hadn't made up for that with your stylish hand me downs now, I would have seriously held that against you. I remember another thing. I was scared of the dark for most of my childhood. So every time I felt thirsty in the night, I would wake up Mansha to come with me to the kitchen and she would actually haul her sleepy butt out of bed to accompany me to the kitchen. And she did this for like 10 years before she decided that 15 was probably old enough to get my own water..lol. Another unfortunately childhood memory is also of Mansha being better at everything! I would paint something and she would paint the same thing much better and I would sing and she would sing better. I hated that. But it totally worked out when I got tons of points for class projects that she helped me with.

Typical me and typical Mansha

Our teenage years were not the best as siblings. I was such a goody two shoes and Mansha was everything but that. She practically defined the term rebel. If we had a 6 pm curfew (yes.. our parents gave us a curfew at 6 pm!), I would start panicking at 5.30, but she had the most sound airtight solution to the situation. "Look, we can't make it before 6 anyways. We are gonna get yelled at. Might as well enjoy another few hours and get yelled at then." Though sound in logic, it really didn't impress me n we would always end up bickering. And she was strong and mean. We had the meanest scariest physical fights ever. But the good part was that if anyone except Mansha touched me, she would unleash her Mansha-ness on them like the plague. It was scary trust me. But there was another side to this Mansha-ness that I enjoy even today as a 26 year old. No matter how ugly or dumb anything I made or tried to make was, she was always my biggest fan. I remember showing her a blog post a while ago and she goes.. you should be a writer.. only Mansha can make me feel good about absolutely anything I create.

I can't talk about our teenage years without mentioning her famous aversion to hugging..lol. I would love to snuggle up against her and sleep.. and she would always brush me off saying that it's too hot. I remember this one time I was low about something and Mansha goes, "Ok, I'll let you chipkofy (literally translated means stick to me) tonight." And I was all excited before she continued, "for five mins".. lolll.. I remember how I would try to bribe her for hugs! (Bob btw is EXACTLY the opposite, he jumps on the bed with all 6 feet something of him smothering me till Mummy comes and pushes him scared that I might die. Thankfully Mummy solves the situation by letting Bob and me hug her on either side and Mansha stretches and basks in all her space).

Today, Mansha is a rockstar to me. Nobody can rock an outfit like she can and I still like anything that she possesses. Anything that I hate, the minute Mansha uses it, I feel like I'll buy it back for twice the price. As we've grown older, I know she and I are very different personalities. We've almost switched roles where I am now way more easy going than I was and she's way more responsible. But we are still best friends. I feel like I wanna fill in every cliche ever about siblings being the first friends you make etc. etc. It's all true Mani. You are AWESOME and I am sooooo happy that you are my sis.

Foooooodddd

I am in the best mood ever!!! And I think that a lot of it is to do with foooddd... I went to Olive House last night and while you can't compare it to real Kebabs in India, I feel like I had the most intimate night with my dinner.. it was mixed kebabs with rice and veggies and yoghurt... oh man.. thinking about it gives me a food gasm right now..

I'm planning to have a dinner party tonight with Indo-Chinese food and boy am I excited :)

I wish I wasn't such an omnivore.. I really wish I could look at something at it didn't look appetizing to me.. gosh.. just the thought of South Indian or North Indian or Thai or Mexican, just everything makes my mouth water!! And many boyfriends in the past have made this clever connection. Usually when they did something to make me mad, they figured that a bribe of food would really salvage the situation.. and it worked :(

Ok I can't talk about food anymore without getting hungry..

P.S. The Indo Chinese was a success! It was baked version of Aloo 65 ( nowhere close to the real thing but tasted decent if you can forget that it's Aloo 65), Baked Manchuria (totally recommend baking these babies, couldn't tell the different), noodles and fried rice. Everybody kept asking me what the occasion was and somehow they thought I was kidding when I told them that I was just really craving Chinese..