Summertime in new york

June 10th, 2008 • On my mind...

This has been one busy summer – a few weeks back, three of my friends who I haven’t seen in almost 3 years landed up in New York. It was Serendipity! I made a cute little pdf of fun things to do during their 4 day visit here. Now bear in mind, the little pdf I made was meant for my friends who had never been to NYC before. If you are from NY, you will probably laugh at it but nonetheless, I want to make it available for everyone who might want to use it!

We had a terrific time – now mind you some of the places recommend/suggested in my little pdf weren’t spectacular but they were an amazing experience for sure. The thing is, I thought social tecnologies and the internet was putting everything into a constant state of beta but I think I’m going to have to re-visit my definitions because, I’m realizing.. as someone who works in and almost lives in new york, my life has become a constant state of beta!

I was at the Adour bar at St. Regis last week with a client. Apart from the fact that it was St. Regis, Adour is known for it’s interactive wine-bar. There,
I fell into conversation with two very interesting men who have lived like 5 lifetimes in their one life!  One of them, a furniture designer, has been commissioend by the Ambani’s for their 27-storey residential building project.
"Do you know of the 27 storey residence building in Bombay?" he asked,
"The Ambani’s residence?" I said.
"You know about it?"
"Every Indian knows about it." I exclaimed.

We got into a lengthy discussion about entitlement, legacy and access – the three advantages born and bred New Yorkers have over others and how immigrants like me will always have to strive harder for access in this country/ city. It was by far one of the most interesting conversations I’ve had at a bar with a stranger

After bidding goodbye and promising to stay in touch with my new friend, we tropped off to The Modern for dinner. I personally, wasn’t very impressed with the food there but the service, decor and ambience is well worth a mention. (The Modern is the restaurant owned and operated by MOMA)  I was at dinner with two executives from a luxury-car company and two others from the agency. I won’t bore you with our dinner-table conversations but what always surprises me when I meet new people is how I end up changing my opinion of them in the span of 2 hours. Towards the end of our dinner, I learned that one executive from the client was also a personal trainer and tried to manage a small health/ personal training business on the side. Now that insight completely changed the way I percieved him — it’s just, I didn’t expect someone at such a high post at a luxury goods company to feel so passionately and pursue a parellel profession.

Of late, I’ve also been missing writing. I’m going to start seeking freelance writing gigs again and perhaps start writing more about my life here than about my opinions about the internet. Because for now, my life is more interesting to me than the internet

Ahh – can’t say I’m not having a good time in NYC.

ahh and here you go – the promised guide!
Download nyc_for_vistors.pdf

Leave me a comment if you like it and if you’d like me to share more such tips.

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