Blogger's paradise!: First impression of United States

Glimpse of New York City

I recently got an opportunity to visit New York to represent India at the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law. It was my first visit to the United States.

First visit to States mesmerises you with sheer magnanimity. World's largest store, world's most famous building, world's largest skyscrapers, world's craziest people and what not you find in the world's biggest superpower of a time! Yes, things which you don't find include a well established public transportation system, free drinking water outlets like in Europe presumably because US is a highly capitalistic society powered by business lobbies be it automobile, gasoline or the military industrial complex. Well having said that, there is some public transportation in the New York City with better connectivity in midtown and downtown Manhattan.

Manhattan on one side has a fast and busy life, confined of suited people within the high rises or you see them rushing to work on the streets. And on the other side, it has crazy people who would clog to parks for an open-air movie three hours before to grab a place to sit, who would stand in the middle of the road blocking the entire traffic to click a picture (though of a biannual phenomena called Manhattanhenge effect), sit on the roads for hours to wait for shopping sales with diapers put on (so that they don't have to move from queue whole night)!

Manhattanhenge- where the Sun appears between the grid of the city as it's low in the sky and setting.

People blocking the road to see Manhattanhenge

Crowd at the Bryant Park to watch an open-air movie three hours ahead of time!

One peculiar and most filthy aspect of NY is that you'll find garbage bags on the roadsides every evening (which are cleared late night) making the roadside walk smelly and unpleasant in the evening. Though the free walking tours that describe the history of City (like in Europe) are not available because everything is paid here, but the city is rich in art and architecture, specially modern architecture. Some of them are depicted below:

Laws mandate Setbacks in the building- for sunlight in the streets which would not ordinarily be reaching among the skyscrapers

Statue in Steel - Reporters of Associated Press Sending news over telegraph for the first time. This is the only art in steel, thus making it unique.

History of aviation- emerging of Wright brothers and the aviation industry.

The base of a tree depicting the Rockefeller building with Watering pipe inside.

Rockefeller Plaza has this beautiful art portraying different depictions of mankind.. With American eagle, palm trees of the South etc.

I found Rockefeller plaza as the most happening place in NYC. Always crowded, happening, with music, cafés and good vibes. And its surroundings are full of history of art, which are detailed in this blog. Below are some pictures of the plaza in all its glory-

The Trump Tower!

Atlas statue in front of St. Patrick's cathedral- displaying a man who lost fight against the guards of a building and had to pick up the whole world on his shoulders as a punishment.

This is a British creation depicting products arriving from Commonwealth countries like salt, sugar, cotton, coal, tobacco, wool etc.

Rockefeller paintings portraying illusion, slavery, end of slavery, industrial revolution.

Broadway theatre- People are crazy about the Broadway shows here. It's almost in everyone's NY itinerary with tickets hovering around 100USD for one show. The lesser known secret about the ticket is that everyday there's a lottery online for the shows, which sells the tickets in the range of 30-50 USD. The fun part is that I won a lottery for the Disney show, Alladin but checked my email next day which said that you have to make online payment within one hour of receiving the mail, else you lose the ticket!

And the Broadway street in the city is a beautiful walk:

Brooklyn bridge- A marvellous architecture in Brooklyn area of New York, associated with many Bollywood movies.

The Vessel- A unique maze of staircases.

Some glimpses of the grand New York public library

Apple Store at 5th Avenue (the shopping lane of US)

St. Patrick's cathedral

AND THERE IS SOMETHING FOR FREE IN NYC! To my surprise, one major and the only thing in NY which I could find for free was the ferry to Staten Island that passes through the Hudson river, crossing the Statue of Liberty.

Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline visible from the ferry.

The financial district which we read in newspapers comprising of The Wall Street, the famous bull, the New York stock exchange is a nice area to stroll. Major part of the NY is a hub of world's topmost banking and financial services industry. Investment banking is the name of the game. From futures to stock markets, hedge funds to Government bonds, dollar rules supreme, not just in the States but in the world. In fact it's the supremacy of US dollar (among other hard and soft power instruments), that makes America a superpower. No wonder that countries like China are making stringent efforts to carry out their trade with other nations in yuan and reduce their dollar dependence. But this stage would still take years to materialize. And US would use every tool at hand to maintain the hegemony of dollar.

Wall Street of New York city

World Trade Centre - which now has a remarkable architecture with Oculus station and few showrooms located in it.

Nasdaq is right in the heart of the city- The Times Square. Was so much looking forward to the quintessential New Yorky experience of times square at night. But after reaching, found that it is nothing but big billboards with dashing lights and maze of people, whom the NY police department has hard time displacing to keep the traffic moving!

Some glimses of Times Square at night

Shopping in NY is actually pretty much shopping from China as literally everything from clothes to toys you find in the stores is Made in China. The way China has captured US market is stunning. No wonder that there are talks everywhere to have resilient supply chains post Covid.

Shopping at Macy's-World's largest store

Coming to the people of America, first of all its difficult to find the natives in NY City. Much of the city is thronged by immigrants- Asian, African, Latinos, practically immigrants of all types. It's a multicultural society with distinctive features credited to it like the origin of most forms of music be it Jazz or hard metal, the KFC or McDonald. Some very interesting sights depicting colonial era can be found in front of Grand Central railway station like this one below:

Grand Central station- one of the largest in the world. So the largesse is not limited to scyscrapers alone!

Architecture and the observatories at highest floors are the most pricey and most remarkable experience of NY. Out of which, the State Empire building needs special mention. Over 100 floored building that was started in 1920, was completed in just 13 months. Such was the speed and technological prowess of US at that time, much ahead of the world! Even today, it is the most famous building in the world. It has been featured in multiple Hollywood movies from Daredevils to Avengerman to Spiderman. The skyscraper offers mesmerizing views of the city, specially at sunset (with sunset tickets being most expensive)!