At the end of week 19 and having met or hosted about 4 friends from Pune, Bangalore , Kolkata in this part of the world , I feel confident to step out alone . When my friends have a stipulated time to discover New York or have specific things to see or eat , I can now take them around confidently.

Last week my friend from my para ‘national place’ – Badshah visited us. He stayed with us for a couple of nights. The first day we showed him the usual Times Square . Then we took him to the #Rockerfeller center , we missed the sunset tour , yet we went to the #TopoftheRock . I have already seen the city from the top of Empire State Building and even the World Trade Centre , but I feel this is the best view , considering this is in the heart of the city.

Then we crossed the road and visited the #stpatricks cathedral . We have had seen this earlier from outside , however, this is the first time we stepped inside. The pillars seemed to have capillaries where the sound of the huge pipe organ overhead the entrance filled the entire Cathedral with an ethereal feeling.

We mistook this for Mother Teresa initially but realized there is a lot of resemblance . I am yet to look up the net for more details

A little trivia about this cathedral : this is where JFK’s funeral was held.

After this we took the subway and headed to the Village. I wanted him to try the artichoke pizza and hop around the pubs. This being a Saturday evening , there’s lot of people who flock this area for comedy nights too.

While walking around we eventually reached the #WashingtonSquare . The climate being fair, lot of people were out in the open. We could even see the top of Empire State Building from there.

We hopped in 2 more pubs and then even made him try a dollar pizza. We even spotted an Indian Tri color on a hearth. I came back home munching on fries from a 24*7 #mcDonalds just because I had that craving for #fries !!

Next day we took him to the other borough while he could say hello to the French Lady

We took him past the #NYSE and then showed him around the #worldtradecentre

The following day it was my turn to show him around #nyc alone as Rajarshee had office. My friend’s wife being a baker and his daughter has already made up his mind to follow her mom’s step , I had to take him to #Carlos

Then I took him to #bryantpark and #Grandcentral

This entire trip had to end at my favorite place in #Manhattan , #chinatown and my favorite place #nomwah

When we parted ways that night and I took the bus to return home , there was mixed reaction , there were fleeting moments from our childhood, our Bangalore days and now here , flashed on and off my eyes. The place where we come from, our grandfathers were friends, our fathers were mutual friends, uncles were friends too & now us, the third generation of friends.

The following day another person was passing by New York , but this article has to end here. That shall be another article to write.