One of my favourite movies is ‘You’ve Got Mail’. Set in New York, it stars a feisty Meg Ryan fighting to save her independent book store from the re developers who want her prime spot in the city. And the final scene where she actually meets Tom Hanks is shot in Riverside Park! So I had to visit this tiny little charming park alongside the waterfront near Columbia University.
Blossoms in bloomDahliaLast flowers of summer Soldiers & Sailors monument Tiny red berries on a treeAsters ? Asters Graffiti on the sidewalkThe Jersey shore
Even though this is a public park that is beautifully landscaped with well laid out paths and monuments like Grant’s Tomb and the Soldiers & Sailors monuments scattered about , it has certain spots that are let out to private citizens ( volunteers ) who can have their own little garden in New York . This kind of lends the park a certain quirkiness with patches of individually tended spots displaying a wild, unkempt beauty.
What a peaceful and restful walk it was under the tall trees that lined the paths with a cool breeze blowing on a hot day. Bikers sailed past on the biking trails while dogs walked smartly with their masters.
This garden is definitely worth a visit, nestled as it is between the coastline and magnificent mansions on the other side.
On Day 3 my host took me to another borough, one that has been on my to see list ever since I read ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ‘ as a teenager. This coming of age novel that was written way, way, way before I was born somehow is one of those classics that appeal to most teenage girls and one of the books that I have read again and again.
So even though it was beastly hot, we put on our hats and jumped onto the subway, changing trains and lines to take us to Brooklyn. The subway system is so simple that if one keeps one’s wits about, one can easily master it in two days! Or at least that’s what I thought as I confidently tapped my card on the turnstile.
Stepping out into the sunshine ( New York was having a heatwave that week), we made our way to the waterfront which was once again an area that had new life breathed into it . Passing some old warehouses now converted to trendy eating spots, we went down the steps of Squibb Park to get a great view of Manhattan and Wall Street on the other side.
This purely residential area of Brooklyn Heights with some of its streets named after quaint fruit names like Cranberry an Orange doesn’t encourage nosy photographers or peering tourists, so I didn’t take any photographs for fear of annoying the residents. I quite understand how irksome it must be to have strangers of all shapes and sizes crawling around your personal space, taking photos to fill up a travel blog!!!!
It was rather hard not to take any pictures of this leafy neighbourhood and I quickly sneaked a photo of a quaint little fairy garden . This tiny bit of garden was made around a tree growing on the pavement and I would appeal to Ms. Papaya who is all into fairies and witches.
Walking through the shady park was a welcome relief from the blazing sunlight but I was quite amazed that there were several people sweating away at Pickleball , a game which combines tennis, badminton and table tennis and which was invented during Covid. This seems to be quite a popular sport is a popular sport and I saw many people playing it in various parks around the city.
Walking down the waterfront, we came to Park where I struck off another item on my bucket list ‘A Lobster Roll from Maine’. I wonder if the lobster was really from Maine but it hardly seems likely that I will ever visit this part of the world. This was my chance to grab a lobster roll and I wolfed it down, despite a heavy lunch just an hour earlier!
This gave us an opportunity to take a breather before we walked ahead and under the Brooklyn Bridge towards Manhattan Bridge and stepped into Dumbo.
Dumbo was a revelation. It was buzzing with people yet seemed peaceful. We went inside the Tin Building the brainchild of chef Jean Georges which has an array of cuisines to choose from. We settled down for a quick spot of tea before moving on to our last stop for the day- the 9/11 memorial.
9/11
9/11 has attained iconic status in the living memory of almost every human on earth. There have been horrific events before and after with many losses in various parts of the world but strangely this has instant recall .
Strange as it may sound, New Year on 1st January is not the only New Year that we follow in India. Many of us have a new year in April which is the official start of the Lunar Calendar that all Hindus follow, while some of us mark the New year in October after the summer harvest which is what many of the business community follow. But whatever it is, tradition demands that on the last day of the year, one does a recap of all that has happened in the year. A time to count all one’s blessings, a time to reflect on what went wrong, a time to remember all that happened right and a time to set out the trajectory for the new year.
So like every year, 2023 started with the good intentions of
Blogging more regularly - I posted 28 posts in the year. I wrote 26.1k words. I had 35 likes and 16 comments and I have only 24 subscribers. This is a dismal report card and if I were scoring myself, I’d give myself E for Effort.
Losing weight – Once again this was a losing battle with disastrous results, I actually gained a pound or two which is par for the course – two pounds every year. If I don’t put a stop to this, I will soon burst.
Reading more books – I can’t remember exactly how many books I read because after January, I stopped keeping count of which books I’d read in that month. I can also hardly remember the stories or the content of the books I read. So again this gets a miserable rating of a C
Meeting friends I hadn’t met for the past several years- This is one intention of mine that I did manage to succeed in partly because I joined a WhatsApp group where I discovered many friends from my childhood. I also made a special effort to reach out to a friend and am happy that we did reconnect. So for this I would give myself a B.
Begin painting again -It’s been five years since I bought myself an adult painting book and sadly I haven’t gone beyond two paintings this year. At the rate I’m going, I will probably be still painting for the next ten years! So once again I score a D for disappointing.
Getting back to the piano and playing Hanon’s exercises every day – This didn’t even get off the ground and remains an idea in my head.
Bending down and touching my head to my knees – well my Yoga practice was consistently inconsistent and even though my head doesn’t reach my knees, my head is bending lower. I also managed to do some stretches that have brought relief to my aching limbs so even though I am not very regular, I have improved in my flexibility so I can give myself a B.
Walking every single day – Once again, my performance was better than 2022 because even though I didn’t walk every single day, I did manage to improve my step count and it is higher than what it was last year.
Well, actually the list can go on and on and on because almost every year, I resolve to become a better version of what I was the year before but sadly it never happens.
But it isn’t all a rabbit hole. There were lots of positives too
Managed to see more of the world – Actually this has been the best year ever for me as regards travel. I began the year with a trip to Bhuj. Towards the end of the year, I visited New York and then Egypt. All these trips were memorable and have restored my confidence in travelling whether solo or in a group.
Began the process of decluttering – CoVid taught me that many things in my life were unnecessary and I promised to declutter my life. But it was only in 2023 that I consciously began cleaning up. Many of my clothes that were kept in the hope that I would fit into them, were finally given away to other people.
Consciously keeping account of money spent – For years I used to spend money and note down very cryptically amounts and items. This actually was meaningless because at the end of the month I had no idea of what the figures represented and what the ‘items’ were. So finally I developed a system whereby I would send a WhatsApp message to Hubby Dear giving a run down of the expenses I had incurred that day. This also helped me control my ‘impulse’ purchases and also helped cut down unnecessary trips to the bazar.
So all in all, I can look back with a sense of satisfaction and hope that things will definitely be good in 2024.
Twenty- five Seven 