Kabhi Sooraj, Kabhi Baadal

Having visited London many times and having stayed there for extended periods,I am quite familiar with the ficklish English weather. But the weather in New York for the last few days surprised me quite a bit.It has been sunshine and rain and cold wind and a bit sunshine and again plenty of rains. Must be the effect of Wilma.

I accompanied L to her office and made sure where I was to go to meet her at lunch time.On the way back I took some interesting pictures at Madison Square and returned home without losing my way.There were numerous phone calls coming in from Mumbai and that took away some of my time.I then worked on my emails and did some blogging before it was time to keep my date with L in her office near Union Square. I reached there about 1pm and went up to the 6th floor office .I realised then how high her popularity rating is. When she introduced me to many of her colleagues ,I could see the love and affection they all have for her. She also introduced me to her VP who was incidentally listening to her latest podcast when I stepped into his office!

We decided to go to 'Tamarind" for a light lunch. An uppity place,close to L's office. Courteous and propmpt service,good Indian food,but the tariff a bit steep. I liked the ambience and the taste of the food reminded me of home. We ordered a bhel which we shared and then had paranthas stuffed with vegetables followed by herbal tea.



It was time for L to catch up with work and I slowly walked back on a slightly different route,now that I had mastered the bearings between home and L's office. Again,I took some pictures of Empire State Building and a few other interesting happenings on the road. Came home and literally crashed as I hadn't slept sufficiently the previous night .I was woken up by L's call.She had arrived home perhaps uneasy and unable to stay any longer at office with her dad alone at home. We had some nice masala tea to lift up our spirits which were somewhat put off by the incessant rain. Anyway,we decided to move out and took care to sufficiently protect ourselves from the rains and the cold wind.

We then went to a mall selling only containers.From pins to elephants,literally.From the smallest container to keep one's medicines to large containers for the home and office. I wondered how many years it would take for such concepts to come to India. Surely,it will but will take many many years. After buying some small containers,we set off for Bath and Mat another mall specialising in everything for the bathroom.Having done our purchases itr was time to head for the Mexican restaurant,'Rocking Horse'. We reached there a bit wet though what with umbrellas collapsing on the way.



It was time to order some fruit margaritas which both of us enjoyed while waiting for
H to join us.He was there soon and with tortillas and salsa to nibble at, the drinks went well. The restaurant was full and understandably so. We got a nice table to sit and have our dinner. H&L ordered burrito and guacamole wraps which were very enjoyable. The portions were quite large and as has been happening in the last few days, we had to ask for doggybags to take the extra stuff home. Either we are poor eaters or the Americans are very big eaters.

On some further introspection,I realised that the latter is true. They eat one helluva lot.And that makes them fat,very fat. I was shocked to see the number of obese children,men and women on the streets. Obesity is a big issue and America must address it for the wellbeing and longlife of its citizens. Another day in New York was coming to an end. Tomorrow we shop and shop till we drop and then go to Broadway in the evening to watch a play. That will be the subject of my next posting.

Ciao!