vindaloo

New York New York.
Another weekend another travel destination. This week destination New York. Well I went over there on the weekend, but had to wait till today to loose the hangover. New York is always a blast. This time to try something different my mate RJ and me caught the subway. We had to first take the subway to Philadelphia then another one to Trenton and then another one to penn station and finally the Path way from Penn station to Jersey city. Traveling to Jersey city was what got me very excited. The place is like Marine Lines Bombay, only that most people staying here if not Indians are Mexicans or African Americans. The buildings are just like those in Dhobi Talao or Girgaon. Felt like I was back in Bbay for a moment. The place seems lawless, somewhat like the Old west. We started our weekend with some coke snorting. Yeah a couple of girls from the neighborhood were snorting coke in my friends place, so I decided to do some too. I put a straw in my glass and blew some huge bubbles, was really exhilarating. Pretty girls, but had to kick them out coz “Odio adicto a la cocaine” thats spanish for I hate cocaine addicts.

Well the next morning we went wandering about the streets of Jersey city had some great Hyderabadi Food, and then took off for NY. The start was disappointing as the Statue of Liberty tickets were sold out and so we went about sight seeing in NY the best way possible on foot…RJ got this crazy idea that we should take the trip on Empire state. For me since I have already been on Sears tower I knew it was not going to be as exciting. The whole thing cost us about 3 hrs to go up take a look and get back down again, must say NY at dusk is simply invigorating. All the lights around and a fantastic view of the Brooklyn bridge.

That was it for the sightseeing, next we hit the clubs, the sad part is I count recall the name of a single place we went too, we visited almost 7 places and suddenly I found myself too drunk with a closed bar. When I asked for another of my vodka martinis the bartender reminded me that it was 4 in the morning. The train journey back was fantastic atleast what I remember of it. We met another bunch of youth and started singing like crazed maniacs in the train, and somewhere during the singing I passed out.

Awoke in the morning in jersey city and felt the hangover coming on, but washed up had a shower and headed back for NY had to go to the statue. Bad luck we had about 3 people in front of us when they stopped issuing tickets. We walked about in NY again and found the parade that they were having, got to see some Indian movie stars in the parade, seems it was the independence day parade. Then the dreaded journey back home 3 hrs by train.

Travelling by train always gets me nostalgic about Bbay, however the absence of the crowds makes it a little more comforting out here. Now that the hangovers gone am gonna sit and try to recollect what I did for those 8 hrs when I was drinking.
Like my brain said before it lost some more cells said “Damn those Eigermeisters..damn those tequilas..damn those Long islands..damn those martinis..and damn me for having all of them at once..”

I woke up to the sound of loud thunderclaps today, cursed the weather gods for making it so gloomy. I usually wake up to the tune of the sun rise, have never needed an alarm, but due to the fact that I had an invigorating discussion with my roommate late last night, I lay my eyes to rest only at 2 am in the morning. And then the caliginous atmosphere prevented my sore mind from cutting short my eventful dreamy night. In effect I was late for office, not that I care about that too much, cause I don’t really have a set time when I should reach office, I work on a flexible schedule so as long as I am in for 8 hours nobody really cares when I come in or when I leave. This tenebrous atmosphere is not my preferential way to commence my day. To make things worse I had left my belt and shoes in the car after I had changed to play tennis yesterday. So now I had to go and get them.
This is when everything changed. I went out and ran all the way to the car. As I grabbed my shoes I noticed a young girl twirling in the rain. Her concentric circles got me thinking of my insouciant days when I cared less for all things material. Here I was standing in the rain, wondering if it will be silly of me to perhaps run about getting wet but all the while one half of my brain kept hammering away “Go to office, gotta go to office, blah blah..”. All the way to the office I sympathized with myself, How much better it was when I was younger, Will I ever get that carefree again? Well I want to but my huge encephalon prevents me from doing so. I wonder why. My mind retaliates with obvious answers of the burden of adulthood and senseless psycho-babble that was nowhere close to the answer I was looking for. I wondered whether the pre-historic man had to have the same kind of worries in his day, whether I would have been happier being a Neanderthal. Maybe I should have been born in the sixties which looking at my taste in music would have been a good time for me to be alive, plus I could just wander with the flower children, purposeless in life, in the for the search for truth whatever that means.
Reminded me of a waters song:

You wake up in the morning, get something for the pot
Wonder why the sun makes the rocks feel hot
Draw on the walls, eat, get laid
Back in the good old days

Then some damn fool invents the wheel
Listen to the whitewalls squeal
You spend all day looking for a parking spot
Nothing for the heart, nothing for the pot...

Rainy days have this effect on me, it gives me the time to use more than just the mythical 10% of my brain, and also to remind me that I am and always will be a confused soul. Finally I get to office and I think to myself, maybe I’m just another tardy, apathetic bum that hates the daily grind, in search for an excuse to skip the scutwork.

On any given Saturday I find myself making this decision, What do I do today?.

All week I bide my time anticipating the weekend and then I wonder what was it that I was eagerly awaiting. Most people like to sleep late on the weekend, but as I am a light sleeper(that means on any given day I don’t sleep more than 6 hrs…unless I passed out the previous night) I cannot indulge in that luxury either.

The one thing I decided to do this Saturday(not a very novel decision) was to watch movies. I decided to see old movies(by old I’m referring to ones not running in the theatres as I find it cumbersome to go to a theatre alone), nothing special whichever movies were being rerun on TV and ones that I had on hand with me. Surprising for some but not for those who know me I managed to watch 5 movies, tying my old record set during my winter break in Dayton(I was hoping I could break that record…I know some of guys are going this guys nuts, don’t feel alienated with that thought most people refer to me with similar adjectives). The movies I watched..

Dogma: Worth the watch especially since I like Matt Daemon and Ben Affleck movies. But the good thing about the movie was that I had just had a discussion about religion with my room mate the previous night. The movie is a good satire on Catholicism, at certain points it does stray from the satire to insulting, but I don’t feel that insulted even though I am a catholic, yeah a practicing Catholic. I believe in what I want and no movie or person can change that belief. This movie is a must watch for any fundamentalist, whatever religion you belong to. What I always enjoy about the movie is the Jay and Silent Bob part, especially Jay’s monologues.

Any Given Sunday: I watched this movie now for the 4^th time now, not because it’s that good but it appears on TV I guess every time the football season nears. (Waiting for football to start again. Go EAGLES. TO is in the movie) Jamie Foxx is good, and any movie with Pacino is always worth a watch. I like the speeches, they are always the highlight of any football based movie. Half time speeches, pre game speeches etc.

O Brother where art thou: Only worth watching if one has nothing else to do, that was exactly my case, George Clooney is good though. I also liked the enactment of the KKK, talk about religion and I went from one extreme to another.

The whole nine Yards: Total waste of time. But a good movie to watch when your doing some cooking or laundry and do not mind missing stuff that is on the TV. I guess I have this compulsion to leave the TV on and what better on TV to miss than a movie like the whole nine yards.

Well I thought that was a nice waste of a Saturday, guess this gives me even more reason to start revisiting the library, or at the least start going to the mall to a BORDERS or a Barnes and Noble. If anyone reading this has seen more than 5 movies in a day, I would definitely not like to know bout it, your time I guess is worth even lesser than mine.

Just came back from a hectic weekend in Dayton(the birthplace of aviation)..also the place I call home or used to call for the last 2 years before I moved to the Northe east. I went there to watch a good friend and an intruding neighbor tie the knot with a girl I dont know much about.

I had to drive for about 8 hrs to get to Dayton but with the free food and the free booze it was all worth it....Marriages are always invigorating, I mean the ceremonies..especially for me as I love to dance...Im not a big fan of rituals but a wedding ceremony without the dancing is not a real ceremony for me...since I come from a land that has thou shalt Jive and thou shall drink built in as the 3rd and 4th commandment....

The party was a lot of fun with all the aunties and uncles also shaking a leg...the food was OK..am used to more food than that at weddings..and the bar was fantastic...but most of all it was a very emotional journey for me as this was to be my last trip to Dayton, now that all my roomies have finally moved out and on to bigger cities...there will be no more 8hr drives along the I-70 for me....

Dayton the place I first stepped on land oer here in the US will always have a special place in my heart.
2 souls (Rakesh and Kimberly) were joined on the 5th of Aug 2005 and 2 souls (Me and Dayton) parted ways...guess relativity applies to Life as well...

Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Dayton;
For it's we've received orders for to sail for New England,
But we hope very soon we shall see you again.....