mindful reflections - the power and mystery of light

Dec 17, 2015

Tired, but not out. Cold, but not bitter. I reached the Sonia Gechtoff gallery in Manhattan's Upper East Side for the opening night show titled as The Power and Mystery of Light by Julia Dubovyk.

Light forms everything we see. Its the primary source of every image. Its very common for painting tutorials to treat light as an addition to the picture, an atmosphere-maker. Painting by itself is an art of darkening, lightening, and coloring certain parts of the paper to create an illusion of looking at something real. I was naturally attracted to this exhibition as it appealed to my rationally inclined mind albeit I found more than rationality there.

When I reached the opening night event, there was Julia Dubovyk, in bright red dress beaming a smile for the photographer Salvatore Fabbri while meeting the art aficionados in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Julia has elegantly portrayed a variety of moods in her paintings of the chandeliers. Her study in shadow and light is impressive. She is clearly knowledgeable about setting up the palette. One of her paintings had a sweet polychromatic shift in Chandelier #3 (oil on wood panel). A quick peek at her Abstract work at the online gallery reminds me of Jackson Pollock aka Jack the dripper.

I sneaked closer to Julia to get a better sense of the subject.

"Why chandeliers?" I ask curiously.
She explained, "...chandeliers, as a source of light, can be turned on or off."

This is akin mindfulness, which I practice. Bingo!

This is a fascinating symbolism for mindfulness. In painting, the audience can easily get the impression that the object has a universal form, and then with proper lighting change the mood of the picture. In life, one's mind is like the chandelier. Through mindfulness, one can evolve and regulate one's mind (the symbolic chandelier) to reflect and refract the emotions worth focusing on.

Buddha says -

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.

Just remind yourself that you, as the artist of your life, can emanate and harbor positive vibes from your minds (chandelier) through practice of mindfulness. May be Andy Puddicombe may like it for his headspace app :-).

I shared my mindfulness experiences and the drastic changes it had on my life with a few guests and it stirred up an interesting discussion.

Among my favorites from the other works were Chandelier #17. It reflects a certain innocence.

I look forward to Julia expressing chandeliers in some other medium as well.

meeting new artists - kanan

I came across this artist, Kanan Shah, while she was working on her thesis for her grad program at the Pratt Institute. Her thesis revolved around street kids and Bollywood and that made it a bit interesting for me from a social anthropological perspective.

On digging more about her, I found about her other works. One of them was around re-branding a pet boutique in Hoboken in New Jersey. The boutique was Beowoof.

Further, she worked for this off off Broadway theater show named A Walk across America for Mother Earth, which was featured in NY Times here.

All in all, an artist, making a mark in NYC and trying to climb the silver thread. Wishing her all the best in her journey in this city of opportunities.

paan singh tomar

paan singh tomar

When I first heard about it from my work colleague, who is from a nearby area to Chambal, I wasn't as thrilled. Later, as I got to know about the storyline, it reminded me of my days as an sportsperson (yes, I was a State Champion shooter!).

I made a resolve. I will watch this movie first day first show. It so happened that I ended up being present at the In

ternational Premiere of the film at South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF 2010) in NYC in Chelsea area.

The movie was very well made (10 being peerless):

• Subject Matter research was 9/10.
• Acting was 9/10.
• Direction was 7/10.
• Overall movie was 9/10.

Given that this movie has translated this story of an international champion to a rebel into a message criticizing conditions of sportspersons in India, I decided to ask a question to Irrfan (yes, he changed his name from Irfan Khan to just Irrfan):

'Irrfan, if you had to suggest three improvements to Sports Ministry of India....what would they be?'

To this, he didn't answer in three points. However, he ended up stating that he wasn't a specialist in this field and that government should have nothing to do with sports talent discovery and nurturing.

In my opinion, if the film makers decided to criticize the government (in a subtle way) then they must be ready to suggest improvements in case they are put in the shoes of the GOI; and yet, they were ill-prepared to handle this simple question. A critic has no right to comment in case they don't know how to improve the situation. Arm-chair commenting is one thing and constructive criticism is another; mostly for a progressive society, the latter is preferred.

This movie is yet to be released in India. Irrfan does not believe that this movie will have any effect on the Government of India or the way they approach nurturing sports talent. I think this movie would have an effect; at least, as an eye-opener. Also, it will serve as a source of inspiration for corporate marketing departments to patronize sports persons in lieu of marketing. Currently, the marketers are hungry for eye-balls for their products in a country, whose citizens have an increasing discretionary purchasing power and a constantly shrinking attention span.

Today, the government's facilities are much better as compared to Tomar's days (1950s). National Economic Liberation Policy (NELP) of 1991 opened up for foreign investments in India; and, in sports as well. We have already seen the boom in cricket with the foreign money and players flowing in ... in form of IPL (20-20) and other forms of the sport. Several other sports are finding corporate sponsors as well.

In conclusion, for approaching a matter as a critic, I think the Indian movie makers must approach it with a bit more progressive attitude than this. Differences apart, the movie is a must-see for a discerning movie-goer in India.

adour

adour represents a fusion of the traditional elegance and modern sophistication.

Having dined at some of the finest NYC restaurants, we decided to check out adour; the experience was luxurious. I had been to the King Cole bar on a number of occasions but never tried the dining experience.

A taste of modern sophistication comes when you sit at their bar waiting for your reservation time to come; it emanates from the interactive wine bar. This helps patrons choose a wine by allowing them to browse Adour's complete wine list by wine type, country and varietal. Computer menus are projected from the ceiling onto the bar, and patrons make their choices by pressing on the bar's surface. Yes, the restaurant is fashionably wine-centric. The 4-seat wine bar is constructed from gold and bronze and covered in luxurious goat skin.

The amuse bouche of tomato gazpacho with basil foam was quite a palate pleasing. The chilled English pea velouté was creamy yet light.

The vegetarian course initially sounded very cliche. However, it ended up being an unbelievable taste. The slow cooking of various vegetables allowed concentrating of flavors.

The exotic contemporary vacherin topped it all; the air was perfumed with passionfruit and mango as the servers brought it to our table. Digging into the layers of passionfruit, mango and lime gelee, we loved every spoon we dug in. This was truly a “masterpiece” as Bruni mentioned in his article. The petit fours were served with the desserts. The macaron flavors were dark chocolate and coconut with a fruit filling.

All in all, they are a purveyor of palatal and visual delight.

critique on role of Indian media coverage for the blasts

Sad and shameful; Mumbai fell victim to yet another well-planned attack by well-trained terrorists of the Deccan Mujahadeen group. The worst part of the event was the coverage by the Indian media. 

Just by the sheer presence of the military trained terrorists, the media tried to portray this event as a "war." This is disgraceful coverage. The spin that they provided to the matter was aweful. Was this a matter of every other journalist trying to create a sizzle from their news to be differentiated or was it just plain reckless journalism? For a discerning audience, this will stand out as one of those events when the media grossly failed. 

Everyone has tried to hijack this event to serve their agendas. The right-winged parties have tried to portray it as a war and mentioned that Pakistanis have created this terror attack. The media covered it as Pakistani attack than as "an attack by Pakistan-based militant groups." Some have gone to the extent of drawing parallels between the New York 9/11 event and this one. NYC event was much bigger. With similar vein, these folks want India to go on and bomb-out Pakistan. That's crazy!

Media must understand that we exist in a much multi-lateral world. The bombing out of Afghanistan and Iraq served no good for the US. Besides, that was not a reaction to the 9/11. It was simply an agenda which the neo-conservatives had used to hijack the public attention and create a consensus to declare a war. It had two benefits: guaranteed election win in absence of a strong Democratic rep and continued revenues to the likes of Dick Cheney, who holds controlling interest in Halliburton. 

Also, there are anti-political propagandas being spread in the Indian populace. "No security, no tax" is an unintellectual thought. Media perpetrates it further. Anarchy will not help India achieve its dreams. Such tragedies should not de-rail us from our path to prosperity. If an anarchy (due to such anti-political agenda) sets in, I would say the terrorists achieved their final objective of de-railing India. 

Mumbai has come out resilient and should stay so. The media must help it rather than obstruct its path to show the world that Mumbai is resilient. Media's code of ethics must be questioned when "India's 9/11" is used by journalists to increase the circulation numbers of their newspapers. On a concluding note, I leave an example of responsible journalism. Check out this article by Suketu Mehta about Mumbai in NYTimes and you will get the idea of where I am coming from. He concludes it nicely - 

If the rest of the world wants to help, it should run toward the explosion. It should fly to Mumbai, and spend money. Where else are you going to be safe? New York? London? Madrid? So I’m booking flights to Mumbai. I’m going to go get a beer at the Leopold, stroll over to the Taj for samosas at the Sea Lounge, and watch a Bollywood movie at the Metro. Stimulus doesn’t have to be just economic.

world's first moving building

The growing prominence of the Middle East increases the attraction towards owning a piece of real estate in Dubai. Such attractions bring in enough wealth to shoot up fancies of the architects. 

Here's an example of sheer modern nature of Dubai's real estate market. Check out this video below:

Is Dubai the new New York? I can't wait for this upcoming trip to Dubai in Dec.

too much travel...

In last 11 days, I have been in 4 cities .... mostly for work ... phew !

I was in NYC to begin with - lounging around with some friends and having a fun time. As usual, I had to pack my bags for Monday morning; this time for Dallas. Dallas was unusually cloudy and rainy.

Second, I headed out to Chicago on Thurs for training on Fri. The W on Chicago Lake Shore Dr had an awesome view. The lounge had a city view rather than the lake shore view. However, that lust for the view during my stay was fulfilled by the lake view room!










Finally, heading out of for a run from W, I realised that the art form at the door was really cool - fairly functional as it leveraged the wind of the windy city !




You must check out this video of the same...which is fairly close to the view I had...


At the crack of the dawn, the sunshine woke me up and the view was gorgeous..
















The Wave lounge time was well spent there in my penthouse prior to me shifting to The Loop where I had a serendipitous meet with a fine young lady at a breakfast place of Hostel International. I caught up with my network down there over the weekend and spent the whole weekend almost in a non-productive way before heading out to Dallas.

Again, mid-week, I headed out to Denver for a less-than-24-hour trip. This time I explored Denver-night-life like I never did before. It was fun...that's all I can say. The next morning, I completed my meeting and headed back to Dallas. Fortunately, the Avis folks upgraded my PTCrusier to a modern pearl blue 08 Sebring convertible - sheer luxury ! Check out this video here:



Back in Dallas, I decided not to return to NYC for the weekend as too much travel can be disruptive for health. I plan to explore the show put up at JWM Turner here this weekend. My experience with Dallas night life has not been mixed and I will just sit back and study for the upcoming tests.

I need to rejuvenate prior to the next week's beginning to present the most productive me! I hope the Heavenly set of Westin helps me recoup soon.

a new windy city?

New York City has gusty winds over the weekends continuing onto Monday morning. Check this report here. Is NYC becoming the windy city, a title that Chicago had?

After I left from the movie hall, I asked my friend, who just arrived from India, to join me for dinner and he backed out stating that there were strong chilly winds outside. I was intrigued when he backed out in such a way. Little did I know that the winds were so bad. .... 40 MPH !

Damn ... I couldn't stand and I couldn't walk straight - on top of that - the overcoat wasn't helping. After picking up my take-away order from the Italian place, I wasn't inclined to get out of that warm cosy place. The earlier walk of a few hundred meters had put me in a shock about the possible shock. It was about 6F and strong winds on top of that. I started thinking - what happened? When I went inside the movie hall, it wasn't as bad. Suddenly the weather deteriorated?

Cloverfield was good but not as good as to tolerate this tormentation of the weather. There was a weather warning of winds - but nothing about the strong chill !

Anyways, next time it is windy, I will make sure not to step out without car. The walk back from the Italian place to my apt complex was dreadful with the forehead giving a sensation of frozen blood....

And No, I am not exaggerating. On return back to house, my other roomie, who went to leave back his friend, saw cars moving side to side or front to back, the stuff that appears in movies!

I hope there are no casualties due to this. My prayers with the homeless!

celebrating the new year !

First weekend in NYC - shopped around for deals in the new year, had a brunch at bryant park, picked up some books and on the way back, met an interesting person on the Path train, who quickly became an acquaintance.

Second weekend in Seattle - The goal was to meet my friend(s) and spend some quality time with them. The walking tours of Seattle were great and are well described in another blog on Seattle.

Third weekend in the Bay area - long weekend. I got to catch up with my high school buddy in San Jose area, his other buddies in Mountain View, and then an undergrad acquaintance in Stanford. On top of this, I got to explore San Francisco further. The details on this visit to Bay area is here.

Last weekend - firm's QSM at Sheraton; later followed by an evening at Divine Bar in UWS, a fun dinner at Le Colonial in UES, and finally, some shaking-a-leg at Azza Lounge.

More details on the last weekend:

Sheraton doesn't have anything distinct from a hotels perspective for the mid-Manhattan area. The whole day we spent there was a good relief for me as I got to make some interesting observations and I got to network some more.

The promoters of Divine Bar West claims to be one of the city's most unique places. However, putting some ruby red lightings, orange walls, zebra barstools, and a rooftop may make it unique but all these inclusions do not make the place creative. The finger food (such as the Milano bruschetta) was good and the ambience was relaxing. However, those are basic requirements for making of a good lounges and do not make the lounges extra-ordinary. It's a great place for birthday dinner.

Le Colonial, an upscale authentic Vietnamese din, surprised me with fine dining at relatively affordable prices. The table had a champagne connoisseur, who ordered the 1996 vintage Brut - a champagne which is crisp and dry with a fine persistent sparkle. Apparently, Le Colonial is a chain in the major cities in the major US cities of NYC, Chicago, and SF (they covered all their bases - lol!)

We went into Azza with great expectations due to referral from the Le Colonial manager. We got a free entry. However, the place was relatively low key that night - a Friday night in a slowing down economy!

On Sat, the day began late and later, caught up with few friends in the neighborhood and later extended way past in the night almost till the morning. On Sunday, the day started late again - but caught up with friends at the La Maison Du Chocolat place at Rockefeller Center with some acquaintances for a quite Sunday evening after the skating rink in Central Park.

All in all, the new year has begun well. I am not sure if a similar momentum will continue in the direction of pure hedonism as the efforts will now be focussed in the direction of pursuits for a larger cause.

dining in the city ...

My professional life takes me to different cities and to many places within the cities I visit.

My base office New York has been fun in the socializing dimension ever since I joined. I regretfully missed out on the Waldorf Astoria holiday party recently due to my latest project (the first one out of town and a significant one for me). Here are some quick review notes on some of the places in the city that I've been to:

Marquis - at Times Square

This place is run alike any other Marriott flagship property - professionally !
The decor was pretty up to date. ....though I would still love to have some NYC taste to it.

We were mostly in the ballroom for our event. As I had done some quickie research in advance, I knew that they had New York's only revolving restaurant and lounge - The View. I decided to visit it for dinner. Food wasn't as great but the revolving view is refreshing.

It's a tourist magnet ! Consider it as a New York hour for the tourists. Yea baby, 58 min/ revolution. The range of people I could interact with were not only from throughout US but also from Europe.

Service was satisfactory and one of my friends admired the signature drink the bartender provided ( the Floradora). I realised that this was a good place to come and kick back after the vexations of a long work day or after shopping in Manhattan !


Hilton , 1335 Avenues of Americas-
The ballroom in the middle east part of the city was plain vanilla. It wasn't as well-decorated as the Marquis one. However, the place was much more spacious vis-a-vis the Marriott Marquis.

The facade needs renovation as it projects an old image, and lacks the energy that must radiate with a Hilton at New York. It consumes a prime chunk of real estate piece and hence, shouldn't be an eye-sore!

I didn't get a chance to explore their restaurant as I was busy networking. btw, I got to know that we had a band and I got to meet our band's manager at this place.


Gansevoort , Meatpacking district -
Exceptional rooftop bar that I adore in the meatpacking district. I liked the energy exuberated by the place and the kind of crowd it attracted. Sweeping views will leave any visitor with a lasting impression of the New York City Skyline.

Surprisingly, during my second visit to this place, I ran into Conan O'Brien at the entrance :). This was when we had a social event at the Garden of the Ono for financial services practitioners. Ono was a dimly lit, sleek, sophisticated, and Asian-inspired wonder world.

I love the outdoors more (both the rooftop and the Garden) and hence, would recommend this place only for the summer or early fall ! Visit the place well dressed - trendy, hip, and fun ! Suits or work clothes are fine too...

Trinity Place - financial district area
A financial district restaurant/bar with a difference. The service was great. Finger food was tasty. We had a whole room booked for us and we were about 20 people. I couldn't spend too much time here as I had to join some friend's bday party for sake-bombing (as their DD)!

Zanzibar -

Tell the waitress I'll come back to Zanzibar.... Billy Joel in his album 52nd Street, the first ever album on a Compact Disc (CD) in Japan in the early 80s.

This drove me to this classy midtown eastern place for an evening social despite of hectic schedule that workday.

The structure of the building is old but the decor is creative to make it look trendy hip. There is a total of 4 rooms to hang out at.
1 st room - huge circular fireplace ( anybody wanna make some smokes?)
2nd room - Suede chairs with tiny red ottomans to eat.
3rd room - large bar with a DJ
4th room - sarfari afica theme room to lounge.
We had booked the whole of the 2nd room for about 20 people.

An acquaintance liked their vodka gimlets....It's a good happy hour place as the food wasn't great. Also, I despised the service quality. Apparently, cost pressures have led the joint-owner to employ curt, non-service-oriented employees.

Mesa -

Cramped! is what I remember the first thing about the seating arrangement we were provided for our dinner place. We were about 12 and accordingly, reservations were made. Not only did they not do any reservations or planning (as we had to wait more than my tolerance limit) but also we were given a place of 8 and asked to fit in 12. It was awful !

The food was not great - didn't have many healthy or vegetarian options. I had a starter of a pumpkin soup and main course again had some pumpkin element. Their desert platter is a must-taste.

Rio Di Zio Tribeca Churrascaria - Tribeca/SoHo

Ambience:
Decor is bright and trendy. Liqor serving is good. One of my colleagues enjoyed the frosted beer glasses they had. Red wine choice was good.

Food options:
It's a steakhouse - so its a big meathouse ... ! Salad bar was awesome ! Delicious vegetarian specialties abound and they even have sushi (which is actually really good). The main course barely had healthy options. I am a vegetarian and the chef could make up a primavera pasta for me.

Misc comments:
This was my first time at a Brazilian steakhouse. The cooked meat is brought in full to the table and you are asked if you wanted a slice of it. I got to know a new system of cards (green or red) by which you would indicate the server about whether you are full or not.


My flight's announcement's been made and I have to leave. I will write the rest at a later date.

100th anniversary for the Times Square ball-drop event

Details of the ball are in this video here

It was indeed exciting to check out the ball at the Macy's store in Herald Square before it was up there on Times Square for the New Years' eve. I plan to check out the whole event from my firm's office at Broadway. A noteworthy aspect about the ball is that it is GREEN i.e., it is made with some 9.5k energy efficient bulbs. I bet Philips had an agenda to advertise for free by entering in this feature. This is also a true indication of where NYC wants to project itself as a pioneer and leader in energy efficiency.

Revelers began celebrating New Year's Eve in Times Square as early as 1904, but it was in 1907 that the New Year's Eve Ball made its maiden descent from the flagpole atop One Times Square. This original Ball, constructed of iron and wood and adorned with 100 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. In 1920, a 400 pound ball made entirely of iron replaced the original. The Ball has been lowered every year since 1907.

This year, the temperature is expected to be around 25 to 35 and the fog isn't going to be there. Hence, I am expecting a good visibility from the office - which is about 7 streets away.


Silence before the storm - the silent Broadway before the madhouse... (around 2 pm) !

The celebration was scheduled to include countdowns with entertainment gurus Carson Daly and Ryan Seacrest, who will be joined by New Year's Eve legend Dick Clark, and performances by Kid Rock, Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood and The Bravery. In addition, the USO Troupe of Metropolitan New York will perform and a "salute to armed forces" was planned.

About a million revelers are expected to pack the streets of the city for this event. Also new to this year's celebration is that confetti (about a ton of it) dropped when the clock strikes midnight will include wishes for the New Year written by people around the world.

I am all excited to check it out at midnight.... though I wont be a part of the madhouse downstairs on the streets !

To see what I see, you can go to earthcams here.

community service in the city

I felt that I should contribute to the city where I work. Of course, I pay taxes. However, I had this yearning to offer my efforts as well.

Along came an email from one of the volunteering groups in the firm for publicolor volunteering. It was a good opportunity to achieve further honing of my painting skill and also, contributing in some form to the community. Besides, I had never been to that part of the city - a school in Bronx, where every incoming person is asked to pass through metal detectors.

During the effort, I could come across a few teenagers, who appeared eager to learn more about the world. I gave them my contact details if they needed further guidance beyond what we discussed about pursuing dreams despite of difficulties. One of the stories was particularly heart rendering - it was of a sister in a group of three sisters. She was being denied education by her mom as her mom didn't have any money to support her education. Her fees were free but didn't have money for books etc. Fortunately, someone in the group could guide her during the discussion about the resources to tap in order to get that kind of help. She was delighted and I felt happy that I could facilitate that discussion.

Publicolor was started by Ruth Lande Shuman, an industrial designer and is managed by Deven Parekh, a partner in Insight Venture Partners. I found the concept of publicolor unique and creative.

art lovers galore !

Check out the presentation of MoMA's online exhibits. I must tell you - they never stop to reach beyond expectations....

For instance, while making decision regarding whether I must visit MoMA for Puryear's exhibit, I checked out the online exhibit and the full-screen version was simply marvellous; and no, I am not talking about the linear exhibit but the clusters which are shown when you want to check out the work based on medium, chronology, etc.

Go MoMA Go !

noisy city?

Finally, I found someone who shares similar views. NYC is very noisy and irritatingly so.

When I moved here, non-nyc friends and acquaintances used to ask me with envy - "hows nyc treating you? you go to wall st everyday - isn't that something?...bla bla bla"

In reply, when I used to mention that the toughest part of my day was landing at the WTC station and facing the construction, they used to feel that I was being a baby or a spoilsport. However, that's a fact.

Check out Henry Bean's latest movie on noise casting Tim Robbins and this associated article. NYC is super-noisy and so was Mumbai - my hometown. However, in the years at Pune, St Louis, and Pittsburgh, I got used to quieter better quality of life than the metros. I would eagerly wait for the movie's release.

smoking ban inside

Club-crawling in NYC clubs could be a clean experience with smoking ban inside the clubs. This alongwith the outrageous prices of tobacco products discourages smokers heavily.

In a way, that's a right way to go. Hurray !

basement bhangra

Yday evening, I was skeptical on my decision to go for Basement Bhangra because my roommate's move-in procedure exhausted me before the bhangra event. However, the environ at the club ensured that I kept going without feeling any physical exhaustion.

SOBs holds the basement bhangra every first Thursday of the month. The place is just one stop away and a few blocks from Christopher St Path Stn. Initially, I met a couple of old acquaintances and later, met someone at the bar (btw, the bartender made some nice mojito). She posed an entry point for me into a pretty enthusiastic group of ladies, who were all colleagues at Amnesty. Devin, one of them, had been to India and was telling me her stories from Rajasthan and Delhi. Others had interest in grad school education and joining UN or private, for-profit work. With her, a funny event occured - that of an Indian young guy trying to show her his mojo and in the event, turning out to be a misfit in the crowd.

DJ Rekha didn't start the floor. It started off with some hip-hop music for a while - in order to warm ppl up. Later, the patrons started crowding the place. At around 9pm, the lessons for Bhangra started. Ppl stepped over each other trying to do the steps because the place was getting crowded. At around midnight, the peak crowd was present as barely anyone left and the crowd kept on pouring in. The temperatures soared and so did the suffocation.

DJ Rekha played a fresh new song of "Basement Bhangra" couple of times yday. She seemed fairly tomboyish - but she plays good music! Her protege, DJ Sweety was playing good numbers as well. The crowd kept on going constantly. The stage got invaded in a matter of minutes after the lessons were over. Non-Indians had some really nice freestyle moves when it came to having freestyle Bhangra. Of course, there were the hardcores Sardarjis who knew this folk dance since their childhood and showed off on the stage. They were followed by all types of ppl on the stage - after a while, it was an outrage !

The place was crowded with Indians - however, the proportion of non-Indians was sizeable. It reminded me of Carnegie Mellon somehow.

Overall, I would give the following ratings:
DJ's music: 8.5/10
Place's ambience: 7/10
Capacity planning: 6/10
Bar: 7/10

settled....

Last few weeks, I have been fairly busy and life's been fairly eventful!

The trip to DC was insightful as I learnt more on American history and got more educated on modern art. Corcoran was the most impactful place and the high point which influenced my thought process !

I arrived to Newport at my friend's place on a Sat evening two weeks ago from DC. As soon as I arrived Om had a plan in place already. We went out for a movie to watch "Shootout at Lokhandwala" and thereafter to the city (New York is referred to as "the city" hereafter for this blog). In the city, the idea was clubbing.

The journey wasn't rough but wasn't pleasant either. What I mean by that is it wasn't rough because the roads aren't bad from DC to NY and it wasn't pleasant because I experienced typical city driving (cutting lanes, burning tyres, speeding, etc).

I feel my car's perfect for the TriState area (NJ, NYC, CT). I say this because with this car, I can't get caught in speeding and also, the roads are in horrible shape in NJ. Besides, I go to work using the Path and hence, I dont need the car at all. I might think of selling it as the insurance in Jersey City is 2.5 times what I paid in Pgh. Also, I dont have utility of the car as much.

I spent two weeks at my buddy's place before I moved to my new place nearby. I didn't want to leave the locality as it was pleasant living there. Everything is so accessible. If I crave for Indian food then I can hop on to Path train and reach Journal Square for India square in 2 stops (I didn't want to live there as the locality is unpleasant). I must admit that searching a place in nyc/nj area is a challenging task. In NYC, the prices are steep and there is no value for money and in Jersey City heights, they are cheap but the area may not be livable. However, at Newport, you find a good balance of price and locality. Also, the access to the city is close and convenient. Finally, I get assessed per NJ state tax and hence, it pays off.

My current place is a penthouse and it has 2 rooms for me of which I plan to utilize as a movie theater and the other one as a summer bedroom. In winter, the movie room becomes the bedroom. Thanks to my high-school buddy for suggesting about the deal and letting me at his place till the time I could find a good apt! The community is cool with good amenities. As a pleasant surprise, I met someone at my work who is my neighbour! Such are the modern times - you meet your neighbors at work and not your housing community !

With this, I would conclude that I have settled at my new place now and hopefully, I would have a pleasant journey with my current employer.