Heart of the Island..

Maybe NYC does have a heart. I go on random tangents but I keep thinking about Lost when I say that. I truly feel like NYC must have a heart buried underneath all the concrete and layers of people. How did this thought come about? Let me share an anecdote.

Yesterday, after meeting some friends in SOHO and getting some groceries from Canal Street (even though I live in Jersey City!), I took the train from Canal Street that was supposed to stop at Cortland Street. Surprise, surprise, the train does not stop at my stop. I get off, get out to the street that is dark, dingy and barren of signs of life, and scurry into the subway on the same side of the street (stupid mistake # 1). The walk to the subway platform is by passing through mad sketchy tunnels, lighten by dull fluorescent lights which gives me a feel like I'm in a prison cell, well, actually a corridor in a prison to be more precise! I scramble to put some money on my metro card, swipe it, and voila! I'm on the wrong side of the train, exactly where I had gotten off earlier (refer back to stupid mistake # 1). I panic. Don't ask me why, NYC scares me, it feels like getting lost in a concrete jungle (thanks Jay-Z and Alicia Keys). Where was I? Oh yeah, I panicked. Quickly asked a lady who confirmed that my train would be on the other side. I hurry outside, looking to the right, left, back and forth as I leave the subway, cross the street, and scared out of my wits walk through a similar dungeon like corridor to get to the other side. By now I am scared. "It's NY, you might get mugged!!", "Its NY, People are MEAN", "NY is cold. People are cold.", "Its Manhattan, very safe, really!" Words of wisdom from well wishers floating through my head. In and out, in and out.

I finally get near the platform and not willing to take a chance ask the guy in a space shuttle like box near the entry way if I was on the right track. He tells me that WTC is on walking distance (he points at a map for me..and of course, he is correct). But do I want to walk? Abandoned street, quiet, dark, alone girl??? Noooopee. I just stare at the map. The old man goes, "But if you do want to just take a ride up to Cortland I'll let you take it for free." He buzzes me in. I thank him profusely. (Which means lots of "thank you very much" and thumbs up signs with a wide grin) Waiting for the train on the platform I think to myself, was that a heart beat? Was that a tiny little heartbeat of NYC? Maybe NYC isn't all mean and nasty and fast and individualistic and self centered as I though....Just maybe there is hope for warmth?? It took me a buzz into the platform, a free ride to feel this way. Nevertheless, I kept thinking to myself after that, NYC must have a heart someeeeeeeeewhere, deep within it. That beats loud and strong. But as the heart beats pass through all the chaos, concrete and cacophony of the city, maybe one feels it in the form of flutters and caresses of the city. Maybe I just need to keep my senses on alert at all time, and more importantly my mind and above all my heart wide open to let the occasional heart beats of NYC touch my own.

Day 1

I'm not really counting, but this really is day 1. I look outside and its like tihar in Kathmandu. Lights everywhere, some are colorful, some bright, some dim, yellow, orange, red. Never ending stream of lights and along with it people. The color of lights in the sky (and in NYC sky is equivalent to the buildings that tower over everything) are only defied by the ranging skin colors on the streets. Brown, black, yellow, white, pink, green, did I say yellow? More yellow if you go to Chinatown, of course! hehe...There is a traffic of people, traffic of cars, traffic of lives, traffic of achievers, over achievers, under achievers, losers, dreamers and everything in between.

I was just thinking, you know how if you look up at the sky in Kathmandu you see stars? Well, NYC doesn't have stars, and I think I might know why (even though this might have already been discovered). The building with their shining and blinking lights, twinkling lights make up for all the stars. The stars from the heavens above are all within reach, or within a illusional reach at least. The stars are too far away in Kathmandu, up in the sky, impossible to get, and one can only stand (or lie down) and star. But NYC, stars everywhere! So close by, just a touch away, a stretch of hand and there it is, bright, blazing, all encompassing. Only, these are fake stars. Man made crap. You have one power shortage and they all shut off in a matter of seconds. Our Nepali stars, the ones in the sky above always shine, through load shedding, windy nights, or rainy days. They never give up on us. Of course, they're out of reach too, we can only ddream of them, but we know for a fact that in Nepal, in Kathmandu, these stars are never going to stop shining down on us.