So...Obama won and became the 44'th President of The United States

Just in case you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months, Obama won the race for the presidency (against McCain) and became the 44'th President of The United States. It is hard to describe my elation for this outcome, but let me try. People have already said enough about what this means for the country, it's people and the rest of the world, so I won't repeat all that. I will just talk about my feelings.

I went over to my cousin's place on the night of the 4'th (the results didn't start coming in until 5am on the 5'th our time) 'cause I don't have a TV. I was planning on staying up all night watching CNN but ended up sleeping for 4 hours until 4am in the morning. That is when I started following the news, and as CNN started projecting states for Obama, my heart started jumping beats. I don't remember the correct sequence of events, but as soon as Pennsylvania was called for Obama followed (or proceeded) by Iowa and Ohio, everybody knew that was it. But I still didn't celebrate, lest I jinx it. It was only after California and Oregon were called for Obama (at about 8am my time) did I finally shake the hands of and hug my cousin and sister-in-law. It was momentous, it was exhilerating, it was unique and yes, it was emotional.

The first 3 make sense, but let me explain the last adjective I used above. When I say emotional, I meant I wanted to cry. Tears did well up, but I pushed them back - I didn't want to look like a pussy in front of the audience (my cousin and my sis-in-law :)). There were plenty of reasons for this - first black man to be president, first truly liberal guy to get there, finally a democrat back in that seat, the knowledge that Palin would not come within 100 ft. of the oval office etc. etc. But the main reason for my response was something else - I wanted to cry 'cause this was the first time I picked a winner. All the other times, my choices for President lost. This time, he won. And it's no small thing - I was supporting Obama from the start - from the day he stood up outside the state house in Illinois to announce his candidacy (and actually from before that). It was this feeling of pride, this feeling of accomplishment, this fulfillment of a dream that got to me. There was an amazing soliloquy delievered by Ray Romano in the show Everybody Loves Raymond, and while I don't remember the exact words, it's crux was that when one of your dreams, a dream that you thought was so distant to border on the unreal, comes true, you start taking your other dreams more seriously. That's what happened for me. When it all started, I was pretty sure I was supporting a loser - after all he was Black, with relatively less experience, a well educated and articulate man, etc. All ingredients for a great President, but all qualities that would work against him. Him winning meant nothing is too hard to achieve, too distant a dream when you go after it with a plan and a focuses approach, and work really hard to achieve the goal you set out for. 

What remains to be seen now is what he makes of it. He needs to do good, else his whole aura that he can actually change things, and bring about a better future will fade. He has a nice team to help him, and that added to the fact that he himself is a pretty smart guy leads me to be optimistic about his chances. Let's hope I'm right here too.

A very reassuring image

Found this image via FriendFeed today, and I've got to say, it's very reassuring (and yes, I know it's not an official Obama poster - yet it has that satisfying tone to it). Enjoy it and Believe!!

Why NYC is my favorite city on this planet

I have often said, and been rebuked for saying, that the Big Apple is my favorite city on this planet. People often ask me why that is so, and I'm never able to give a wholly convincing argument - so here is an attempt in that direction.

Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that while I have lived in NYC for upto 3 weeks at a go, most of my visits have involved me living there for not longer than 2-3 days - always as a tourist. Mileage may vary for the people who have actually lived in the city.

To understand my undying love for NYC, we must go all the way back to the summer of '95. This was the first time I had left India - and guess which city I went to first?? I had been warned by my dad before arriving there that the place was just as dirty as Delhi and that I might indeed be disappointed once I got there. But, I wasn't. I remember falling in love with it during our drive back from JFK. I remember peeping out the window of our cab, admiring the huge glass buildings, the no. of cars on the roads, the long bridge with two levels (I think) that we were driving on. Imagine me as Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 2 - when he first arrives in the city riding in on a cab. I was him - and I was loving every moment of it. The 3 weeks we spent there were just as much fun too. I don't remember spending much time with my dad (he was constantly at work), but my mother, brother and me had one of the best vacations I remember. We must have walked more miles in those 3 weeks than we did our entire lives before then. We covered everything from Central Park to the Wall Street to liberty island. We had coke in cans, and nice nike shoes, and a new remote controlled car. We had the nice weather (coming from Delhi in the summer - you can imagine), the friendly people (I remember dropping my coke in a McD's and the manager giving me a new one - on the house), the diversity of faces, the subways, the buses, the yellow cabs, the ferries to Liberty and Ellis island, the Empire State Building, the New York Style pizza etc. etc.

That trip was where it all started, but by no means is it the only source of love for that city. My next visit to the city came once I had moved to the states for college. Me and a few friends went on a crazy road trip our first spring break at UT. We lived in the city for 3 days and then went up to Boston. But those 3 days were amazing too - we walked up to Central Park and down to the Wall Street. We saw the Empire state building and the City Hall. We walked through the village and China Town. We saw our first apple store across from the NYU. I experienced our first police stop in the city. I saw my first snow fall in the US there.

I went there a couple more times too - when my folks had come to my brothers college for all of us to meet up, or me and my friends going there for new year's '07 (that was one crazy night). And then finally, before I left the US to come back to India, in Oct '07. NYC was my last stop - my final encore - the last city I was in, in the country I had called home for the past 5 years. That trip was memorable too (for many good and some not-so-good reasons). But what I remember most, was my drive to the airport from my cousins dorm room. There was nobody riding with me - and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I was taking in the city, the country, the people - one last time - not knowing when I would be back. And I remembered then, my first time driving into the city - only this time the buildings were getting smaller, not bigger.

However I might describe my feelings for NYC, most people won't understand it - and I don't expect them to. It is my favorite city in the world for personal reasons - they all have theirs. All I want to say is this - go visit NYC, live there for a bit, walk it's streets, talk to the people there, eat the pizza there, ride on the subway there. Then maybe you might fall in love with the city, just as I have.

I miss...

I miss...

• Having a decent internet connection
• Driving on roads that didn't have potholes every 2 feet
• Going on long, soothing, scenic drives in the middle of the night
• Driving a car that made me feel like it was fun to drive one (and I mean the automatic/manual thing)
• Having a nice place all of my own
• Watching HBO shows well past midnight - ON TV!!
• Shooting the breeze with co-workers
• Sitting in a bar, smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer, watching the NBA playoffs
  
• The Beer:
• Gusiness from a TAP...aah
• Blackjack
• Heineken
• Red Stripe
• Carlsberg
• fuck it - Shiner too
  
• Going out to eat to various joints serving up different cuisines
• The Food:
• Masaman Curry at Madam Mam's
• Anything from Hoa Hoa
• Stir Fry from Fire Wok
• Burrito's from Chipotle
• various shit from Taco Bell
• Sandwiches from Jimmy Johns (oh my god!!!)
• Portabello Mushroom sandwhich from NXNW
• Pizza from Dominos (believe it)
• The middle eastern food
• The occasional Sushi/Steak
• The grocery stores which had everything I needed under one roof
• The people who were always helpful
• Customer service which actually served the customer
• Company Websites that were taken seriously
• Public servants who actually did their jobs
• Cheap(er) gas
• An amazing movie going experience (despite the movie):
• The Air conditioned halls
• People who'd have enough courtesy to stop talking once the trailers started rolling, and definitely stop by the time the movie started
• People who had the courtesy to not take phone calls while still in the Hall
• Few movies that actually left you fulfilled coming out the hall
• (to be continued...)
  
• Electronics stores which stocked more than just household appliances
• Not having to pay 1/3'rd of my pay on rent

Read it and weep

I don't know how this speech by Barack Obama on race will go down in history. All I know is, this is one of the best speeches I have read since MLK's "I have a dream". It gives me hope that America can pull itself out of the racial divides that plague it (and anyone who denies that they exist is definitely delusional). Read it and weep.