I'm leaving on a jetplane

And now for what is probably the last of the emails from NY.

The last week or so i have done things i don't normally do - like walk over the Brooklyn bridge suspended above the water with traffic whizzing by at either side....heard things i don't normally hear - a neo classical shred violinist going on a wild rampaging solo over a minus one track of britney spears "hit me baby one more time" in the subway.....eaten things i don't normally eat - like veg dumplings.....and seen things i don't normally see - a man dressed in a tiger print jumpsuit, somersaulting over 6 people.

Yes NY has been wonderful, its like Goa but with a lot more Hispanic and African American people and not as many savios and peters. No one here seems to work as i always see grown men playing baseball or people strolling and sunbathing in parks. The people here are also very very polite....i thought this was a good thing, but over the last few weeks i noticed its a fake politeness....more like a reflex action. So if you nudge someone even slightly, you need to turn and apologize...not sure how we Indians will survive if we employ that practice in our everyday crowded lives.

Which brings me to my next point, despite the numerous people pouring into NY there always seems to be enough space for everyone. Trains and buses are never crowded, there is no millions of people concentrated per square area and people here are very conscious about personal space...something i really have grown fond of being an entirely new concept seeing how i come from the tough and crowded area of mumbai and the western suburbs!!

Ohh, and contrary to popular belief...anything you wish to purchase is generally expensive, while other things you don't want to buy are usually dirt cheap. Go figure!!

also, there is no real racism around here, and the people who matter (the ladies)...totally adore Indian men....so wooohooo.....im sure its just a phase but anyone interested (and eligible) should ride the wave while you can.....and anyone who is tut tuting my statement above, well i have two words for you'll - GREEN CARD!!!

I have a few more things i will be doing during the next few days before my long and tedious flight back which i unfortunately will not be able to recount by these emails as i will not have access to the internet (i want to cram as much fun as i can at the last minute, just like we did during exams, except exams weren't fun...or better still cram like a really hungry guy does at a buffet).....but have hope...unless my goan genes go completely out of whack i will be trying to put up a blog which will expound these misadventures of nonsense and i will add images and videos to distract you'll from the terrible spelling and grammar!!

and so i bid you farewell....till we meet again

Farting Xylophones

Woke up really late (1:30 pm) again. the sky was gloomy again and so decided to stay at home for a bit...so got out some more donuts from the fridge and put on a DVD. finished the movie by 4 in the afternoon by which time it was sunny outside...so decided to head out to explore prospect park. kept going down paths in the park and ended up completely lost....was on one path that was made of gravel so you heard your feet crunching against it.....for a long time i saw no one else on the path and was beginning to freak out...i also kept hearing gravel crunching behind me, but it usually turned out to be an animal and not a armed killer...phew!!

finally got out of the maze of nature at 5:30 when karl called and said we were going to a place called brick lane for dinner. brick lane is an Indian restaurant where karl worked when he first arrived in NY. so lots of fond memories.....he also knew everyone there. so im sure we got the good stuff....adele was tripping on the food especially the mango lassi (these Americans i tell you)

after the meal....karl and me decided to go for some arty musical recital featuring some chick playing an instrument that worked on sound waves. adele needed to go to some meditation center.

karl and me arrived to a place called 'the stone'...it was packed. there was the lady playing the soundwave thing accompanied by a pianist, a saxophone player and a xylophone player.

it looked promising...then they started......and i decided the best way to preserve my sanity was to sleep :)....like i said i never get these arty things...it sounded like random noise or like an animal squealing.

after a good hour they took a break and some ventriloquist chick came up to do a short routine...she was funny and kept making fun of the xylophone guy.

then came the second set for the band....i thought "ohhh nooo".....before they began the xylophone guy suddenly looked into the crowd and asked if anyone wanted to play...he picked a short guy from the fist row......the song began and the "guest" xylophone player was tripping out....just whacking random notes...so pretty much matched the song, if that's what you wanna call it...then he got really experimental....he put the xylophone sticks down and closed his palms together near the mike and then made farting noises....it was brilliant...i loved it....and he was focusing too...not just making noises at random...it had dynamics and everything...he sat down after a while and i was like "ohhh whyyyy???"....then the real xylophone guy came back and i dozed again.

after it was done karl took me to a place called 'chocolate by the bald man'....really famous...it got tubes and all running all over to look like willy wonkas factory.....we pigged on chocolate cake and stuff and then decided we had too much of a sugar rush and so decided to head home.

i woke up today to see what will happen next...you really cant tell....this is NY!!!

Party in the garden

Woke up and felt strangely at home....must have been the gloomy skies that looked so much like the monsoon clouds from Bombay i was trying to escape from.

Had a early brunch with Karl and Adele and then spent the afternoon helping Adele with her laundry...like all the stuff from her closet had to be cleaned cause of the bed bugs thingy. there were three loads.....really heavy stuff.

The rain kept coming down in soft continuous drizzle.....the really annoying kind.....I'm good if it rains heavy for like 30 minutes and gets it over with...but when it keeps on coming like that...man so annoying!!!

Karl decided to sweeten my afternoon with a visit to Dunkin Donuts. Even though we swore we would not visit a "commercial place", we found the best donuts came from there. So we braved the drizzle and i ended up buying 12 different donuts to take home.....from chocolate to raspberry to apple cinnamon to lemon to chocolate glazed with sprinkles...i had it all. Been eating them any chance i get...still got a few left over.

Spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the flat.

The sky kinda cleared up by 6 in the evening and Karl decided to take me for some arty film thing. I was terrified as these arty events are really beyond me and i never really understand them. But i went anyways.


The event was actually hosted Karl's friend Jenny, who was leaving NY. So she had hired this small beautiful garden (bang in the middle of two brick buildings) where she had set up the projector and screen and a table for food. All those invited were asked to bring films they made (since most of them are film directors) or liked and just have a good time. (Note - the interesting thing about NY is that many communities have bought these small areas of land and or that sort of stuff....which is marvelous...and then rent these gardens for stuff like Jenny's party).

There were some arty farty films and there were some nice ones. One of my favorites were about ducks....and another that had stuffed animals like ferrets and pigeons revolving on a pedestal while the track dum maro dum played in the background...kick ass....i kept explaining what the song meant to the peop converted them to gardens and ensured they will never be developed into residential buildingsle around me :)


After a while i got a little bored and so Karl and me headed out to eat some dumplings for dinner. We went to this place called the Dumpling Man. You get all sorts of really neat dumplings and some special sauces. Was a nice little meal.

After we finished we debated on whether to have some chocolate milkshakes, but after seeing how our pants were about to burst open thanks to our paunches, we decided against it and just headed home.

The MOMA of truth

Woke up yesterday morning really really late (1:30 pm)....karl, adele and me decided to go for brunch to a nearby place....watched the Olympics on TV while we ate.

after that Karl decided to take me to MOMA (museum of modern art) to expand my mind and my intellectual quotient....adele decided to stay home and get some stuff done.

so the brothers headed off.....the entry is 20 $ each...but luckily since karl is faculty at new school he got both of us free passes.

to summarize MOMA...it is a cool looking building (there is a mini helicopter dangling from the ceiling as soon as you enter)...consisting of 6 floors....full of sculptures, paintings and other such arty stuff i didn't understand.

i mean if you saw some of the stuff hanging on the walls you would wonder what art is really all about. there is stuff that is like a white canvas with a red line running horizontally and it got some description like it is the "positive reassurance of blah blah blah, that combines the different layers of blah blah blah"...you get my drift.

luckily they were having a special DALI exhibition as well....his paintings and films......that was something i understood.....really nice stuff...all really twisted crazy ass madness is the best way to describe it....he collaborated with Hitchcock for a movie and even did one with Walt Disney...unfortunately the Disney one was never completed as it was considered too daring for its time.....after DALI died, the artists at Disney got together and finished the animated movie he was working on as a tribute...i saw it , it was brilliant. i think its called DESTINO or something. you can read about it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destino

after the museum we decided to go watch a few movies that had absolutely nothing intellectual about them. so we headed to the theater....karl and me decided to start with mummy 3.....it was very very very disappointing.....or maybe i ws being too harsh cause i just had a bi intellectual boost at MOMA.

well we finished off with that but still needed something more, so decided to go watch pineapple express. NOW THAT IS A GREAT FLICK. of course i wouldn't recommend it to everyone, especially those with scruples, but i loved it. thought it was fabulous. adele didn't come though as she was stuck somewhere.

after the second movie which ended at 11 pm...karl and me went to a nearby place to eat hummus....the waitress there had a hard time understanding my Indian accent...so i just did my godfather voice for her and we got along splendidly. After a nice filling mean we returned home.

We wished my great uncle Russel (or uncle R as some of you might know) as it is his birthday today and i had a nice chat with my buddy (and more) Clyde online.

its 3 am now and my pillows are begging for my attention

Jazz in the Bronx

Woke up a little later (12:30 pm) and headed to New School. sat online for a while when karl called and asked me to have lunch with him and adele in china town (the same place i got my bus to Boston to visit berklee)

so i go off with karl....adele was going to meet us there later. we arrive at the Vietnamese joint in 20 odd minutes......karl calls adele up and finds out she hast yet left from wherever she was supposed to. but she told us to wait for her for 30 odd minutes and not to eat without her.....so being the gentle men that we are, karl and me decided to just get some shopping done.

a friend of mine named savio who does tattoos in Bombay wanted some tattoo equipment....so karl and me wander the streets looking for it. china town is a lot like Bombay...really crowded, stalls line the streets, smells of different food waft through the air and mingle with the sound of people screaming at each other on the top of their lungs....well the only difference is they are all Chinese!!

we pass Italian restaurants and countless jewelery stores (even more than Bombay...shame on us) and stores selling shirts and hats and other such trinkets....we finally find the shop.....we need to climb a shady set of stairs...as soon as we open the door there is a huge space with trinkets just like the ones in the shops downstairs...i wonder whether we are at the right place, but we walk to the back of the shop and there are rows and rows of everything you need to tattoo....so we quickly buy our stuff...cause karl gets a call that adele has reached the restaurant.

we head back...meet up with adele and have some scrumptious authentic Vietnamese food....we head out later stuffed but cant resist going into a cool Chinese bakery and picking up loads of different buns to take home. we sit in the bakery a while and drink coffee..as it is raining outside....it stops raining in 15-20 odd minutes and we decide to postpone the rest of the shopping as we don't wanna get drenched (china town is even more similar to Bombay after the rain...go figure :))

its around 5 when we get home and karl decides he needs a nap...so goan he is....we are all so proud of him!!

he wakes up around 7:30 and decides to take me to a killer jazz joint in the Bronx (around one hour away) called St. Nicks (apparently miles davis once played there and malcom X used to visit there)...well this is a really different jazz joint as it is right in the middle of the Bronx...where black people and the poorer section of society (by their standards) live.

we go in and get a table right in front....the band playing first is a killer funk groove thing going....they sing songs about love and peace and loving oneself....i thought that was good message stuff...after their set, which ended at 10:30 pm...i got to talk with a cool guy named Floyd who was the lead singer of the band...he was one of the most tripped out guys i have ever met...really nice and down to earth...he wanted to see the pics i clicked of the band and was just going "ooohh man that so goood" and "yeah yeah that's looks awesome"....very encouraging fellow.

in the meantime the second band came up....they were all old people...i mean with really white hair..walking slow and stuff....i wondered what they would do....and surprise surprise they turned out to be one kick ass crazy time hardcore blues band...mind blowing....all of them....especially the pianist who was just plain crazy with his phrasing and speed....in spite of his age!!!

we left there around 1 am cause it was a looong ride back,.....i needed to pee and was glad the train driver was in as much a hurry to get home as i was.

Coney Island, Baby!!!

after my weekend at berklees, i have gotten braver traveling alone.....i needed to spend the remaining of Monday and Tuesday just recovering from the Boston massacre (of my drum technique).

yesterday i decided to go visit Coney island. its at the southern tip of Brooklyn....which is like at the southern edge of new york. so i get up early (i mean at 11 am) and get ready to leave. i catch a train at 12:30 odd. its around 20-30 minutes to Coney island...nice journey. as the train is pulling into the station i see a huge giant wheel and roller coaster right there in the distance. this is gonna be fun.

i get off and immediately do whats most important - EAT. i find this place called Nathans famous for hot dogs. i found it on the walkway ajoining the beach (yes coney island is a beach not an island - these Americans i tell you). the walkway is all planks and all that just like in the movies. so i buy a cheese hot dog. i have just one thing to say - OVVVEERRRRRAAAATTTEEEEDDDD. man that hot dog cost me 4 dollars...while i was paying for it there was a kid standing next to me....when he saw the price on the register he goes "you paying 4$ for a hot dog, i get mine for 1$"....then he leans over and whispers conspiratorially "just walk down there you can get a 1$ hotdog"...i just give him my Indian smile and say "too late" as the hot dog person had already made mine :)

i walk up and down looking at the different stalls...i spot the amusement park with the roller coaster and giant wheel just off the wharf....they have two amusement parks - one for kids and one for adults....the amusement parks are full of kids from different summer programs.....i walk through both.....don't go on any rides as i don't want to waste a 4$ cheese hotdog and would rather digest it properly....plus rides look much bigger and scarier up close.

i left the amusement park after a while and walk towards a long pier i spy at the far end of the wharf.....on the way i see a baseball field where a little league match was underway...so i stop and watch the game for a while.....then i continue towards the pier..i walk down and see a lot of guys fishing...some of them catch fish...while others wrestle with sea gulls to keep the fish they caught.

i walk along the beach and feel really sad i didn't bring my swimming shorts......i think the American women would have appreciated that....especially since my swimming shorts are insie weensie teenie weenie yellow polka dot speedoes.

after a couple off hours i decide im bored....there's only so much you can do alone.....when i spy the NY Aquarium on the other end of the wharf...so i think lets go for it.

at the entrance itself there is an exodus of kids and some older people shouting names and orders...some more peeps from the summer programs all leaving ....i wait for a break in this river of kids and cross over to enter after buying a ticket.

well i see everything you hope to see ion an aquarium - penguins (whom kids refer to as happy feet - the impact of movies), i saw otters being fed, i saw sharks and seals and fish and squid (and other creatures with tentacles)...and more fish, and aquatic plant life, and then i got to go touch a huge crab and a starfish, and then i saw more fish.

feeling parched with all that water around me i decided to go buy a cold drink...the man in charge of selling them is funny and liked me for some reason as he kept talking about something or the other....maybe i reminded him of a penguin or a fish??....suddenly he looks at me and says you should see the sea show......so into a place called the aquatic theater i sprint and sit in the stands.....the show is just getting started. it has really large seals doing tricks and stuff...like jumping to hit a ball, walking on their flippers and even one dancing to "walk this way" by aerosmith.....it was really good fun and they animals were super smart.....i cant really say too much more as some things you just need to see.

after the show i walked around some more and then decided to head home as it was 5:30 odd.

i took a train back and deiced to watch a Charlie Chaplin DVD adele lent me called "city lights"....beautifully done.

it was 8 by the time the movie got over...so i headed down to adeles apartment where karl was cooking us dinner (once again - no one tells my mama that karl can cook)

starters were some nice Jamaican cheese and pears....followed by the main course of rice and rajma and fried chicken......yummy.....and to wash it all down cool coconut water.

after that i went back to karls apartment.....read a book for a bit and decided to hit the sack.

woke up today with really burnt feet as i was wearing slippers yesterday at the beach and aquarium and the sun was merciless.

have come to new school and will be meeting karl soon

will write more as and when it happens

Weekend at Berklee (Not to be confused with the movie Weekend at Bernies)

now to kristofor's weekend at Berklee:

(for those who are unaware - Berklee college of music is like the addah for all aspiring musicians...the best place you can get to....if you can get to that is...get the picture??)

SATURDAY -

i had to go to a place called china town to catch a bus (its called china town cause its full of Chinese people..a little like why England is called Patel town)...anyways china town is like a 20 minute train ride from karls place. the bus ride from there was 4 hours to boson (the home of berklee).......not being very fond of traveling seeing how i usually end up sick in the stomach and throwing up everything from last nights dinner...i spent the train ride praying and popping pills that promised to help my tummy stay settled. also i was nervous as i was going to be making this trip alone. my second greatest fear after clowns that mime.

karl, adele and me reached china town and went to buy the tickets...as soon as we got the ticket, the lady at the ticket counter was yelling and gesturing wildly...thanks to my degree in sign language i figured she was telling me to rush as the bus was leaving...forgetting my nauciousness for a few minutes i dashed and jumped onto the bus...luckily it wasn't packed...i got a seat by the window and looked up into the sky....it was gloomy....just like my hope of completing this journey in one piece.

to cut a long journey short...there was rain and more rain and then the sky cleared and then it rained some more......usually it rains for like 20 odd minutes in NY and that's it....but today it kept coming down...in between drifting in and out of sleep i kept hoping the rain rain would go away.

after 5 and a half hours of traveling i finally landed in Boston. and guess what, the rain stopped :)

i call my friend vishal whom i supposed to meet (vishal is this kick ass drummer from Calcutta whom i knew cause - his bro was in the same band as karl) anyways, vishal is like a super prodigy 23 year old, 6"5 foot tall, really nice, funny and good looking guy who can cook, studying drums at berklee. and he can also play piano and bass!!!

like i was saying vishal was busy at some rehearsal for a gig he was playing that night so he directs me to the berklee building he would meet me at...having time to kill, i roam around the place and try and look musical by flashing the drum sticks i was carrying to everyone i possibly could.....vishal calls soon and comes up with one bag of cymbals around a shoulder and a bag with his snare around the other....he is taller than i remember.....he takes me to the place he performing at ...as we pass by people they all hold out their hands to "slide" with vishals (their version of 'give talli')....hes known as the NOTORIOUS B.I.D (Big Indian Drummer).

as we walk he keeps telling me he is ok as a drummer and the show he is playing is for a friend who sings pop and R&B.....modest fellow....we go in and he meets the rest of the band...introducing me to everyone....apparently there are three bands playing this event. his is first...and they sound check....the girl who heads the band is this tiny little thing but when she sings its awesome....i think she is going to be big...she written all her songs. they were beautiful....i am trying to get mp3 of the show.....before the actual gig starts vishal takes me to eat some yummy stuff as a welcome meal..then its show time.

after a good 45 minutes of tripping out, the management says they need to stop as the other band needs to start. the crowd boos, but the management is like our Bombay management...only dollars can sway them.

i accompany vishal to his apartment which is a 5 minute walk away...my first glimpse of it....its a 3BHK he shares with two other ppl....i help him pack his kit as he needs to take it to a studio in berklee for some recording...he is very nervous about it. i learn musicians in berklee team up with those studying engineering there and both record together as the studio is free....so the engineer gets a recording for his portfolio and the musicians get a recording for theirs.

we cart his kit and enter the studio...its one nice big space and we are first to arrive....the engineer arrives soon after and we start to set up...soon the rest of the musicians start to trickle in. there is one hyper Japanese girl playing piano...a jittery American guy on trumpet.....a thin cool Japanese guy on upright bass.....a short European dude with a Jedi ponytail on guitar, another young Japanese chick on keyboards and to round it off the guy who composed the piece on saxophone who is also Japanese...just to be polite to the rest of us, the entire Japanese crew were talking in English....that was funny :D

the musicians gathered there were the creme of musicians from berklee and funnily enough the average age of the room (excluding me) was 22!!!

everyone was in the same room and recording together...they were separated by sound barriers...which were cool.....the guy handling the sound was doing a phenomenal job.

they kept splitting the piece into parts and recording it..it was one complex thing with so many different time signatures..but sounded soooo awesome and every time even one of them made a small mistake they had to do the section all over again.

they finally finished the recording at 2 am...i was sleepy and so was vishal...we decided to get ready for bed by eating some pizza first...the place we went to was pretty crowded, though the people there should have been asleep as they kept dropping pizza slices...i saw 3 different slices dropped while i was there.

we went back to vishals place and i met is roommates...one was a girl named Melanie who was pretty fun..the other was a guy who was some genius piano player named victor...so vishal and him start playing halo on the xbox (that's a video game not a music piece) for another hour or so while i impress them with my wit (i couldn't impress them with my spelling)

finally we go to sleep.

SUNDAY:

i wake up with the sound of the door rattling to see 6"5 giant with his drums on the trolley (we had left it at a locker in berklee after yesterday nights recording)...i help him set up in his room.

we go to a nearby place and get some Mexican stuff....then we meet up with a percussionist friend of vishals named perry who is totally infatuated with India and rajma :)

i thought him all the tricks of picking up Indian chicks (like saying "oye kudi...you and me tandoori??")....i think he be pretty popular with the ladies.

all three of us go for a nice walk to a nearby park with both of them telling me stories of the place and what it is famous for. the park is pretty nice...it got a pretty neat lake with ducks and geese and swans swimming free...they got some boat rides (shaped like swans) which ppl can go on for a price and go around the lake....we find a spot in the shade right at the edge of the pond and talk about things from India, to Texas to how since perry knows the guy who handled George bush's campaign when he was elected president, therefore by second degree i know president bush as well...its complex...but these guys are used to odd numbers in music.

soon the sky goes gloomy...and we decide its time to move..there is a nice light drizzle as we head to berklee with vishal planning to give me a tour de berklee.....perry decides to leave us as he has some other stuff to do...i look at all the different departments in berklee and keep going "ooh" and "ahh" at appropriate moments.

we decided to head back to vishals place after we see all there is to see. just as we around a block away from his house we suddenly hear the rain pour.....but cant see anything.....just then in the distance we see the rain falling and slowly like a wall move towards us....so picture this..there is no rain where we stand...but in the distance its pouring and slowly moving towards us...well we thought it was slow, but in seconds we had to run for cover.

we wait a while and the rain subsides...we do a quick amble to vishals place where he gives me my drum lesson....in other words he broke me down and made me rethink my gmail id.....but i kept at it and kinda figured the stuff he was teaching me...a lesson that i will be trying to master for quite some time.....yes it was complicated!!

then he takes me to berklee where he writes a few drum instructional dvds for me and shows me a few new drummers on you tube.

we head back home where he informs we that he had marinated chicken for dinner, and was going to roast it.....i was kinda shocked cause i didn't know he could cook....and roast chicken.....and marinated roast chicken....WOW!!!

so he dumps the chicken in the oven and takes me to a nearby store to buy macaroni...so he gives me macaroni and roast chicken and assorted vegetables for dinner (really well presented on a plate in terms of color and everything) and tasted absolutely fantastic...in fact if i was a dog...i would want him to be my owner.

and we do all this while watching the Dave Chapelle show.

at around 11 pm he gets a call from perry saying two other berklee dudes from their old gang were passing through town. so we all meet up at an Irish pub....a few of them get totally sloshed or at least pretend to be.....we talk about fishing and weed and other such stuff. i felt privileged to be in such amazingly brilliant company :D

on the way back home one small guy from the gang, decided to jump perry from behind...perry soon had him on the ground rubbing his face into the mud......a little while later both perry and the small guy are high fiving each other....berklee people what can i say.....i love them :D

we head back to vishals and i crash.....i wake up early (this time i really mean early) at 6:45 am....and head to the bus station to catch the 8:00 am bus.

i do the sleep and pill routine again and soon am back in china town....i head back to karls house and crash instantly.

i wake up later and karl and adele make some num num.

didn't do anything on Tuesday as was still too tired and recovering from the bus ride and lack of sleep in Boston.