The new season of NYN begins. Last season we saw, NAPAs reaching NYC and settling in (dramatic effect and tone) , getting used to the fact that you can drink from the tap, and u cant wash your back. Lot more excitement awaits our young and innocent wanderers as they come of age in the city that never sleeps. Sounds like a recap of Desperate Housewives or one of those dramebaaz serials but then its been a while since I got down chronicling our quest in the west. With the weekend in, it was time to set our grand plan into motion- to stay out of NYC on
weekends. While a majority wanted to visit Atlantic City in the first shot, a few other pious souls decided that the political centre of the world was of greater interest. Hence the plan for Washington DC was hatched. Having collected all our gyaan about Chinese travel buses (cheapest way to DC and back , only $35) , we thought we were all set to go.
Shravani collected the details and tickets from Chinatown along with a bit of splurging with Ipsita on the high end Chinese stores, while I was busy at Central Park with our NAPA socio meet which did see a handful of people turn up. While Mayank and Antoine decided to let their photography skills go wild, a few of us ended up playing kickball.
Kickball- shouldnt that be the American name for football? considering we have throwball and handball. Turns out to be baseball with all the baseball rules in place except that the pitcher rolls the ball and the hitter kicks the ball. After ruffling a few picnic baskets, waking up a few tanners, our MVP was no doubt Kate Fidler from London who managed to score the most number of home runs that day. After gossiping around, bunch of us decided to head back with Krypton proving to us that the Japanese stereotype with a camera slung around their neck and clicking away wasnt necessarily false. Back at the hotel, we had a few additions and deletions into our Washington party and we ended up with one less ticket. Ipsita was our last moment add on and she wasnt too sure if shed get a ticket at the last moment. But the Chinese have always been optimists and this year was specifically the year of one of those optimistic animals, so we decided to hedge her risk. Two parties would head out for Chinatown, one other the leadership of Shravani who had seen the place before. The other under the leadership of Ipsita who would turn back incase the first party couldnt arrange a ticket.
The race across the maze called China Town wasnt exactly a pleasant nasal experience but you learn to make do. Garbage bags had been neatly arranged along the deserted roads and you were barely disturbed except for the odd rat scurrying around for dinner. Turns out our bus was a free for all. The ticket was valid for one year and you got into any bus you wanted, no reservations. While we caught onto the seats for the others, the Chinese lady with a vocab of probably 5 english words kept on urging us to let go of the other seats since it was getting close to the departure time. The second entourage was lost in the streets of Chinatown and was making their way when our bus driver decided to be a little earlier than time and revved his
engine. The moment we spotted the gang, he took off. On several repeated requests to stop for them, he just grinned and moved the vehicle at 10 -15 miles per hour- teasingly slow for the gang to run for it but not slow enough for them to catch up. Everyone in the bus was trying to get the message across to the driver but he just grinned. After making the second group run around the block, he stopped back at the original spot! Sheer evil I say but am sure thatd teach all of us a lesson to be punctual. The rest of the journey was relatively calm as we stopped at Baltimore for a few minutes and headed on to Washington DC. Here's where game plan went for a six.
The site had said the ride was approx 5 hours which is why I had wanted to take the last bus at 11 so we'd reach at around 4 and the dawn would crack by 5. Unfortunately, the driver worshipped Schumacher and 2:30 in the morning, we were in Washington DC! Bunch of 8 girls and 2 boys, many of whom had never been out on a trip on their own in an alien land and that too deep in the middle of night. To make it even more exciting, it was Saturday night, close to end of party time and the roads were filled with skidding cars, wayward walking party animals who were too sloshed to realise if their clothes were on them or not. Inching away from nocturnal animals, we were totally lost at what to do. I figured if we inched towards National Mall, itd have
to be a safer place but with no map in hand, it could be a ploy gone bad. On seeing a five star hotel on our road, I asked the doorkeeper for a map which he obliged and my confidence levels were soaring again. Meanwhile Sowmya decided to ask him if she could freshen up. He said he would if she agreed to marry him. She gave him a non committal yes and all of us were in the lobby while the girls freshened up and I made sense of the map. Soon a copper came by to freshen herself up and was shocked at the huge queue to use the loo and started chatting up with the guard. Soon party animals staying at the hotel were turning in and the guard wasnt too sure if he could have us around. So we moved on looking for greener pastures. Bumped into a cop who was thinking aloud that we were too early to be tourists but was pleased when we told him were from NY. His previous posting had been there and he missed the life of NYC. As we trudged on and contemplated sleeping on the nice roads and the wide avenues of Washington DC, for once we saw a welcome sign - McDonalds. Though closed, their tables and chairs were stacked up outside and couple of homeless people had already made it their home for the night. Making space for ourselves, we decided to stick around till 4 AM letting people catch up with their forty winks and allow daylight to catch up with us. Gauri took out her stash of goodies from India and all fear was forgotten.
After trying real hard to wake everyone up at 4 AM with ample help from Annie, we all set along towards National Mall. A city by night always has a whole new character to it compared to its mornings and that is what we were experiencing in Washington Dc at that moment. First stop was Newseum - as the name states a museum of facts and news with a wide noticeboard take had front pages of a lot of papers on the East Coast. Not sure if it was exhaustive but one of them did mention good old Goldman Sachs on a pretty irrelevant news article. As we headed towards Capitol Hill, the dawn was cracking and with no locals around, we felt like we owned the place except probably the secret service agents who hid from our sight and were recording our every move. Eagle One: Spotted ten brown people, should be Indians- big bags check, water bottles check, taking pics of drinking at the water fountain check, posing still for a video shot check etc etc. After posing and disposing of various pics around the Capitol Hill, we decided to stretch our limbs on the lawns as green as green could be. A few rolling competitions later, we were on our way to the other end of National Mall were numerous other monuments awaited us. It didnt take me long to realise Washington DC felt so picture perfect as if it had been made for the camera, untouched by man. We were walking around too early for breakfast but the Washington Memorial already had a huge queue of tourists awaiting a chance to look at the WDC skyline. Deciding to skip that, we walked on to catch the White House with its heightened security measures, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, Korean War Memorial, WWII Memorial, and a lot more. Lunch was from the Chinese carts with spring rolls (read: Kerala samosas) and pizza slices.
I loved the Korean War Memorial with a number of soldier statues that were littered through the greens and a simple phrase near it "Freedom is not free." We did spot the Indian flag during a ceremony commemorating WWII victims and you soon realise the importance of the phrase: "You value something more when you dont have it" and the same people who considered Republic day as another holiday suddenly were brimming with national pride. More on that later in the months to come. Though continuing on our desi spirit, we did hide the last two letters of INDIANA for a photo op much to the curiosity of fellow tourists at the WWII memorial. While we went on to catch some lemon ice lollies, Sowmya, Shra and I lost the rest of the group for a few moments before catching up with them at the Lincoln's footsteps. The summer heat had caught some of the group offguard so we decided to sit by River Potomac (Potomac.. Potomac.. Potomac.. Sounds fun to say that) and then the weathergod rolled his dice and a jolt of lightning and thunder had us scurrying towards shade. In such times you actually appreciate the beauty of the place as you realise that for large amount of paces, only open greens welcomed you. After rushing through the shortest path to the Smithsonian territory packed with numerous museums, we were caught in the middle of nowhere with heavy showers and just the jutting roof of a small cafeteria protecting us and twenty other people.
Deciding the safest option was a museum, we landed up at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum which no doubt was filled with the history of space travel and aeroplanes. A wonderful sight no doubt to the starry eyed boys of the group i.e. Patil and I. I touched a rock from the moon! Ya! I touched a rock from the moon (pause. moonwalk step. oooooowwwww. pause) The place is filled with gadgets of the skies above and its not textbooks but places like these that have the potential to inspire kids to dream big in such domains. If I become a minister in my life, don't be surprised if some of those social welfare funds are taken towards upkeep of the museums and free entry for kids. As we trudged back to Chinatown, we took a short detour at the train station L'enfant. Trains didnt seem to be running that day so I did take liberty of sleeping on the tracks for the camera, something Id never ever try in India for the simple fact- you dont know whats been on it. Meanwhile the femme fatale brigade had called it a day, so we had to skip the place I wanted to visit the most: The International Spy Museum. Its a lovely place to go to and if you have a couple of friends along, do play the role playing game they have in there. I shall brush aside this topic for the imminent disappointment it gives of having missed out on the singlemost reason why I wanted to go to Washington.
The Washington Wizards were in town and for once, I was looking up to people stretching my neck like never before. While our return journey also required us to get on a free for fall bus, there was a long queue plus wait for the bus. So while everyone else waited, I decided to continue on my sightseeing tour of Washington DC especially Chinatown. Having passed hooters, an Indian guy spotted me and gave me the menu of Mahek hotel. Figuring how starved everyone would be, decided to catch some desi food there. A Far Eastern girl was there on her first date with some white guy and forgive me for eavesdropping, she was teaching him Indian food and how nen was a type of bread and eloo gubi was potatoes and cauliflower . Having taken their order, the waiter was pleased to see a desi customer and even more happier when I decided to respond in hindi. Grabbing couple of snack items, I made it just in time for the bus and we were headed back to New York City, with what would become one of the many adventures we would take in the coming weekends. Oh! Before I forget, this trip also led to my introduction to Raagini's aunt (who owns a Dunkin Donuts- brilliant donuts aunty, thanks a lot) as the guy who researched on public toilets in Washington DC so that the girls didnt have an issue. A precursor to this event is Mr. Nishant Gupta explaining to us how we could see WDC on the internet and neednt go all the way there. His persistence didnt rub on us thankfully. The saga continues...
