So it’s about travel. It was Holi 2018. I was in America. Alone. Wanted to make the most of my one week business visit so thought of visiting the city, which is so nice that they named it twice - New York, New York.
I was in North Brunswick, New Jersey and wanted to visit Times Square, New York City Just so that you know the name of the state is also New York and so also the name of the city and that’s why they call it New York, New York in reality.
I was in New Jersey which is a different state. Not very far and takes approximately two and half hours drive crossing the Verrazano bridge.
It was a business trip fully paid up by my company. I had the option of booking an Uber to NYC and come back to my hotel again the same day in NJ. One way ride was costing around $90.00 USD, which is now approximately Rs. 6,225.62 - that’s one way ride…I wanted to go easy on boss’ pocket so decided take a train instead.
I was a little nervous to be honest. It was only my first time in America and I was alone and literally do not know anybody in that country. The driver, who picked me up from John F. Kennedy International Airport and dropped to my hotel a week back - I was having a nice conversation with him during the entire ride… he told me to be careful while visiting NYC just by myself. He was a very nice man though - white, in his mid 60s, divorced, lives alone, retired, now drives car to earn his living and pass his time. It was really an awkward feeling when he received me at the Airport and insisted to pull my luggage to the car. My Indian culture prevented me from letting him do that. I just had one big bag with wheels so I managed it myself. Anyway, back to the main story.
So I decided to take a train from North Brunswick, New Jersey to New York, New York. NJ TRANSIT was the name of the railway service. But the station was quite far from from where I was, so I booked an Uber to the Woodbridge station. It took me around 20-30 minutes to reach the station in an Uber. Now just for your understanding 20-30 minutes ride in America covers a lot of distance.
The Uber driver was Afro-American he took a wrong turn and that took the ride longer than usual. He was extremely apologetic and said ‘sorry’ to me for at least 6-8 times. I gave him a 5 star rating and also gave him a tip. For those, who have not been to America - tip culture is very strong there and you have to tip everywhere. It’s mainly because earning a living in America and making all ends meet is very difficult and minimum wage is just not enough so people with low wages, who are working in a small restaurant or a driver will absolutely need that extra cash.
The station was absolutely empty and I was the only one in the station. No ticket counters. I had to buy tickets from an automated machine. It was like an ATM machine. I selected my origin station, selected destination, selected that it’s going be a return ticket and it showed me a price of $29.00 dollars. I had the option of inserting dollar bills and coins but I selected the easy option of using my Standard Chartered India credit card. The tickets were printed. I put them in my pocket and then I had to wait.
The stations were like 2 stories high from the street and open on all sides. It was very cold and I was wearing a big jacket that my sister had bought me from London.
In middle of the platform you can walk into a covered area, which are having heaters from top and benches, where you could sit. So I had to wait there for almost an hour for the train. A lady probably in her early fifties of Indian origin came and sat at the other bench facing me. She was Gujarati. We spoke a lot and she really liked my British accent. You see I am from a Bengali medium public school and we were taught A, B, C, D in class 5 so I had learn real English on my own. To learn English I used to watch a lot of English films, mostly British. Hugh Grant was one of my favourite actors and I used try and speak like him and that’s how I learnt speaking in English and that how I got my British accent. Americans really like British accent. I had a nice little chat with her for an hour. She told me on which side of the platform my train will come - I was a little confused. Before she left she gave me two candies - Pulse I popped them in my mouth and hopped into the train.
I got a seat. You could sit anywhere it’s all unreserved. After a while the ticket-checker came and I gave him my ticket. He took the ticket and placed a slip where I was sitting. If I change my seats at any point of time I have to take that slip with me. That slips will be taken back by the checker. So when you leave the train just leave them where they are. It was a nice train ride except the announcement part. “RAHWAY - NEXT STATION IS RAHWAY” it was probably the driver, who had to announce this the entire time and it seems he was not very happy about that. It was worse than how the conductors shouts in Kolkata buses. Anyway, so I reached Penn Station. We are now underground and the platforms are really dark, it’s like a dungeon. Once you climb the stairs out of the platform it’s really nice.
I was very excited. I walked out of the Penn Station and there it is the New York City. I turned on my Google Maps and started walking. I use Vodafone Zoozoos connection in India and had activated International roaming. I paid a monthly charges of around Rs. 5000 and got unlimited incoming and outgoing calls and unlimited data using my own Indian mobile number in America. I only had to manually choose T-Mobile as my network there locally. Very convenient!
I was walking through the NYC all by myself. Reached the iconic empire state building and made a VIDEO call to my best friends back home Anant and Noopur. They are my best friends and they married each other only recently. I always call them whenever I travel whether it was Rishikesh or Mussoorie or Indonesia, Bali and this time it was The New York City. “Khusiya baatne se badti hai aur dukh baatne se kam hoti hai” (Happiness is doubled when shared and sadness is halved when shared) is what I believe in so I always share things with people I love.
I found my way to the Times Square, New York City using Google Maps. New York is actually my kinda city. I absolutely love it. And, Times Square - the lights, the atmosphere, the energy, the people is absolutely tremendous. In 15 minutes in that crowd of Times Square I probably heard people talking in almost all the languages of the world.
I was so happy and excited that I am there and started calling all my friends on VIDEO and showing them I was there. And then all of a sudden I saw the battery of my phone plummeted down to 0% and my phone going off. Hours from my hotel and 7000 miles away from home in a country I know absolutely nobody and in a city like New York I am without a phone. Now I can’t book an Uber and can’t navigate through that majestic city either.
There are Red Stairs Times Square where all the tourists gather around and click pictures. I sat on one of those stairs with hands on chin trying to think what I could do to find my way out of this trouble and then it started raining!
The big jacket I was wearing it had many pockets. I had a small powerbank in one of those pockets. I charged my phone. Went around the city, the central park, then came back to the Penn Station, got confused which platform I would be having my train back to NJ, struggled for a little while, then found the right platform got into the train came back to Woodbridge station, booked an Uber and reached my hotel and went off to sleep. That’s it.
