Living in New York

Living in New York

New York, New York

I wake up feeling uncomfortably hot. I pull the sheets away as I curse myself yet again for forgetting to close the blinds at night. I twist the blinds shut, cutting out the morning sun and the $3000 a month view to Manhattan. I get back into bed for 5 more minutes of sleep. 20 minutes later I wake and scramble towards the bathroom. 40 minutes later I am out of the door and on the street. The walk to the station is quite pleasant. People are having breakfast on the side walk seating of restaurants, waiting for buses and swarms of them emerging from trains. I head towards mine.

As I wait for my train to World Trade center (WTC), I walk along the platform to get on the coach that is going to be the closest to the exit of the world trade center station. Ofcourse I am not the only one who thought of this and soon a large crowd gathers around me at the end on the platform as the train arrives. This particular coach again is the most crowded. Everyone waits for people to get off and a few people on the train are thoughtful enough to get off just to clear the way even if it is'nt their stop. The mad rush to get in begins now. I am on the edge and I have to make the critical decision of getting on or waiting for the next one. I look at the watch and decide to hang on. With my face pressed against the window pane I look wide eyed at the confused help less person left behind on the platform who had only gotten off to make way for other people getting off. Hmm...I am sure this was the last time he did that.

The the WTC station we all pour out the train like a fluid flowing upwards towards the exit and soon flood all the escalators. There are six of them at WTC about three floors high. That's New Yorks six lane highway for you.

On the street more people join in as we collectively negotiate our way around newspaper vendors, lingering tourists and traffic controllers. The tourists I would say are the most annoying. Can they not just stay in their comfy hotel rooms till the morning rush our is over. Why do they have to be out on the street taking pictures of random buildings and them selves at 8:45 in the morning? Imagine them them strolling around clicking pictures on a six lane highway during the morning rush on your way to work!! And what's worse is they make me feel jealous. Here I am trudging to work with my laptop, and these guys are waiting on a bench for the store to open.

The hours in office are much more peaceful, tucked into my cubicle 27 floors away from the madness of the city. Lunch time is the time to hit the ground reality of the city again and go hunting. I see a falafal cart wonder how much patience people have to get into a queue that already has 25 people in it.The tourist are now armed with shopping bags.

As I step out the office at the end of the day I take a long breath of fresh air in and think about the endless possibilities for the evening; movies, some exotic cuisine or a ride in hot air balloon. I call up my room mate who happens to be just around the corner and we happily rush to the subway station. I see a lady sitting by the sidewalk surrounded by shopping bags and kids.