The City that never sleeps (NYC)

[Abu Zolfiqar]

the Giants won...


what a game

 

[KS]

The city can be a tough place, and it's one of the places on Earth where among so many people you can feel very lonely.

I agree with you here, it's a great place to see pictures of, & watch on TV. But sometimes, it feels a little empty. But that's kind of like America all over. Not the easiest places in the world to be in.

So true..with all its claimed "verve and vitality"...it misses on the life of an Indian city ( ..or a Pakistani city, I've not been there).

It all seems so mechanical and materialistic.

 

[Chogy]

So true..with all its claimed "verve and vitality"...it misses on the life of an Indian city ( ..or a Pakistani city, I've not been there).

It all seems so mechanical and materialistic.

Criticisms like this are so typical. "America is empty, a shell, no soul." And comparisons are made to Pakistani or Indian cities. Maybe it's possible that a New Yorker visits those cities and dislikes them as much as they dislike NYC. "That Indian City is SO polluted. The people run about helter-skelter, hair-on-fire. Little time or ability to slow down and enjoy life. And don't get me started on the public transportation..."

People get warm-&-fuzzy feelings when surrounded by the culture that they are familiar with, grew up with. To born and bred Americans, our cities are lively, friendly, great places to live or visit.

I think cultural differences are wonderful; they make life and travel interesting.

 

[KS]

Criticisms like this are so typical. "America is empty, a shell, no soul." And comparisons are made to Pakistani or Indian cities. Maybe it's possible that a New Yorker visits those cities and dislikes them as much as they dislike NYC. "That Indian City is SO polluted. The people run about helter-skelter, hair-on-fire. Little time or ability to slow down and enjoy life. And don't get me started on the public transportation..."

People get warm-&-fuzzy feelings when surrounded by the culture that they are familiar with, grew up with. To born and bred Americans, our cities are lively, friendly, great places to live or visit.

I think cultural differences are wonderful; they make life and travel interesting.

I don't know..what you say also might be true..but for that I must be in your shoe..which I think is humanely not possible because however objective I try to be a certain amount of bias will definitely creep in.

But coming to NYC, no doubt its a great city but its the same helter & skelter, hair on fire, the noise, the crowd which I miss here...it seems a bit mechanical and coming to cultural differences..maybe/may not be as I had a city which I lived in only for three years, a culture different from my native city itself , Mumbai in mind.

 

[A1Kaid]

Exactly the song i had in mind thruout the thread!

The song I had in mind throughout this thread was this one...It's perfect. New York!


Alicia Keys NEW YORK - YouTube

---------- Post added at 10:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 AM ----------

 

[A1Kaid]

34th street

 

[A1Kaid]

 

[Desert Fox]

European cities are no match for NYC,the only city we can compare with NYC is Tokyo.NYC is way too fast, busy for Europe.NYC transportation,traffic system,highways,bridges,tunnels and the business are too much for European cities.You are right that its not that clean as compare to other cities,but most of it is pretty clean and they work their best,but again its wayy too busy compare to other places.You have people coming from New Jersey,Connecticut and Long Island to work and also for fun, so it gets tough.You can tell this when you live in NYC.My dad friend came from London and i took him around the city he was really impressed by the highway system in NYC.I asked him why?London should about be the same.His words LONDON IS A VILLAGE COMPARE TO NYC.My uncle also said the same thing he came from Toronto.

European cities are nice but they're really empty, mostly old people and due to shortage of younger population.

 

[Desert Fox]

Why is Queens a nice place to to live? I have a hard time believing that.

It depends on what part of Queens. Astoria is a really nice neighborhood in Queens, its mostly Greek, Italian, Arab, Pakistani, and some indian, other nice neighborhoods are Flushing Main street (mostly Chinese or Korean, can't tell the difference), Woodside/Sunnyside (Philipino, Vietnamese), Hillside Avenue (Mostly Pakistani, Afghan and Arab, though recently a lot of Bangalis and indians have moved in), Jamaica Estates (really nice neighborhood), Forest Hills (last time i visited it was mostly Irish, don't know about now), and a few others.

Neighborhoods you want to avoid in Queens are South Jamaica and Far Rockaway.

 

[Desert Fox]

The famous New York City accent, its funny how each Borough has its own accent :

 

[A1Kaid]

I need to visit Manhattan again... Hotel rates there are pretty expensive, though some are affordable.

 

[mkg00179504]

New York City can be a fun place to live in but its too expensive and affordable apartments in Manhattan are crap.

Very true, its better to live in a good place in Manhattan than looking for something cheep, that's why lots of people live nearby city in Queens and Brooklyn, so its east for them to commute.

 

[Chogy]

I don't know..what you say also might be true..but for that I must be in your shoe..which I think is humanely not possible because however objective I try to be a certain amount of bias will definitely creep in.

But coming to NYC, no doubt its a great city but its the same helter & skelter, hair on fire, the noise, the crowd which I miss here...it seems a bit mechanical and coming to cultural differences..maybe/may not be as I had a city which I lived in only for three years, a culture different from my native city itself , Mumbai in mind.

Let me put it this way - I am pretty widely traveled. I've spent time in some major cities like London, Tokyo, and Paris. Paris, especially, is considered a "magical" city, and in its way, it is. I can intellectually understand the appeal of the culture, the architecture, but on a personal "soul" level, it's not my home, never was, and I felt alien and out of place, despite the fact that I spoke decent French.

People will always yearn for, prefer, the land of their youth. It takes many, many years to make a transition to where you become "one" with a new land.

 

[Chogy]

Here's a strange story about NYC that I've told before, but I think it's worth repeating. I swear this is true.

We were in an MD-11 flying past NYC at night. It's before 9-11, maybe 2000, and the WTC dominated the skyline. The night was unbelievably clear, and the city was giant, and sparkling.

Being bored (we are almost always bored), we picked up on a bizarre subject. We like to talk about aliens, religion, other weird things, so this was nothing unusual. I looked at the WTC and asked my buddy "What do you think would happen if we crashed this MD-11 into the base of one of the towers at high speed? Would it go down? Or would it remain standing?" SO for about 1/2 an hour, we discussed things like the size of our airplane, and the energy involved. We both came to the conclusion that the building would fall down. But we were wrong in that we both thought we would shear away enough structural support to collapse the building instantly. Fire and and sort was never part of the equation.

How weird and creepy is that?

 

[A1Kaid]

Chogy do you remember at what altitude you were flying at? Where you getting ready land at JFK or La Guardia? Or heading further North?