Then came the difficult part. I didn't see any signs on the supervisor booth or the cab with the ubiquitous Visa or Master Card or the less common AmEx or Novus sign. To be safe I asked the guy whether they accept credit cards. I know they do in Ohio, Michigan and California. "Naah!" snorted the driver. So I walked back into the airport and looked for an ATM and found a non-BOfA where I shelled-out a few dollars service charge. I don't keep more than 20 dollars with me which is understandable once you realize that I live a few minutes from downtown Los Angeles. With the confidence of 100 greenbacks in the wallet I got into the cab.
I got hit with a smattering of some talk show in a language, which was new to ears from Los Angeles. With my knowledge of "Parlez vous Anglais?" and "Je ne parle pas Francais!", I did make out that it was French. For someone used to soulful serenades in Mexican, it was very new. The cab driver turned out to be Haitian. Haiti has Creole and French as the main languages. I was so tired from the red eye flight I actually missed the long and slow journey through the Holland Tunnel. We finally reached Greenwich Hotel with the cabby checking the map several times and finally dropping me a block past the hotel. I pulled out two twenties and gave them to him expecting some change back so that I can return some change as tip. The cabby disappeared just like the angel in the 7-11 advertisement with my forty bucks.
I grabbed a few winks before heading out to NYU to checkout our meeting details. I have moved from Ohio State, which incidentally is the largest single university campus in US, to USC, which is in the middle of LA. The same sort of city shock exists between USC and NYU. NYU is not only in the middle of Manhattan but it is in the middle of everything. Unruly cabs and pedestrians (which I later found out was the norm in NY), hippie hangouts in Washington Square and gay pride on Christopher St. USC has a sort of academic enclosure where once you enter the hypothetical boundary you feel as if you are part of a student population. It wouldn't be possible to make out who is a student in NYU area unless they have textbooks in their hands. After a Japanese lunch on 8th avenue we decided to have a subway adventure down to Battery Park. It turned out to be a damp squib, as it was pretty easy to figure out which line to take and how to jump in and out. Seonil and I realized why NY residents are in love with the subway. It is really a very easy and efficient public transit system. I guess there is a whole different city underneath Manhattan with so many subway lines. I am actually surprised why someone has not made a movie as yet on subway tunnels collapsing or getting filled with water. "Volcano" has already toasted the Los Angeles City in 1997.
After a few minutes strolling down Battery Park we strolled up Broadway past the financial district. Broadway ends near battery park next to the museum of American Indian History. We had intended to walk all the way till our hotel but NY decided to bless us with a sudden storm, which had us scurrying into a shop for shelter. After spending 1/2 hr to selecting a few postcards to justify our entering the shop we took the subway back to the hotel. We had to rush back as I had arranged to meet Aparna at my hotel. The suite was stuffy as it was without a window just like most buildings in Manhattan, so we decided to go for a stroll.
When we walked out Appu pointed out the World Trade Center and said, "Why don't we go to the top of the world?" We picked up my camera and took the subway downtown. The subway actually leads up into the WTC twin towers. We argued a bit about who is going to pay for the tickets with two conflicting criteria of me being a guy and Appu being the earning girl. I let her finally win because Appu appointed that she was the host and I was the guest. It actually was pretty nice top of the world with a nice sunset and the lights slowly coming on. We spent time till well past the sunset when the Brooklyn Bridge was shining like a necklace over East River. I convinced Appu to stay back for a bite at sbarro in WTC, before heading out to the subway to head home. Her parents visiting from India were actually waiting for her at home. I dropped Appu at her subway station before heading back on the same route to the hotel. The next morning Appu told me that her father was actually waiting outside the station for her. It was very nice to exploit the fact that you can travel in the subway as long as you want without getting out and you just pay once! And if you do have the time between the trains you can enjoy live music while you wait for a train. But most of the time it was tourists like me who were hanging around the musicians while the busy new yorkers were running past us.