From Tahir square to Wall Street

I arrived in New York sometime in the afternoon. The rash driving, the honking, the narrow streets, the potholes, all made me feel right at home. Was this not reminiscent of Bangalore? I reached the hotel and had some time to kill before my room was ready. I was pleased to find that 2 blocks from my hotel, the entire street was filled with Indian restaurants. Having eaten a modest meal in a South Indian resturant, I got ready and  hailed a taxi to my destination, the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway. The cab driver refused to go near Broadway and dropped me a couple of blocks away. "Too many cops there! It's just a short distance away, you can walk from here" so saying, he dropped me on wall street a couple of blocks away from Broadway. I walked the entire distance and I was in awe. Loads of cops from NYPD and barricades the entire length and breadth of wall street. I was amazed. It seemed as though someone had laid siege on the Wall Street and it definitely turned out to be the case. As I went about my business finding the required address on Wall street by asking some cops who directed to my destination, I couldn't help appreciating the concrete jungle in all it's glory.

Protests in Wall Street

As I was in a meeting, I asked my friend about these protests. She said "Most of the people do not even know what they are protesting about. They seem to be inspired by the Arab spring. It seems to be a hodge podge of issues, but one of the key issues seems to be social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government. They feel most of the money in America is in Wall Street!". "Funny, I thought it was in Fort Knox" I joked. Well they might have felt that all the people in fancy suits on Wall Street were wealthy. Well I wasn't one of them, I can assure you that!




A lot of things were happening that day in New York. The UN meeting was scheduled to be held in New York. There was a lot of talk in the news that day about the creation of a Palestinian state and what the members of the UN and mainly the US thinks about the whole issue. A few weeks later I saw two amazing speeches by the current Isreali Prime Minister on why creating a Palestinian state right now is impractical unless Mahmoud Abbas decides to make some compramises. I leave it to you to listen to this charismatic leader and decide for yourself what is best for the world. A small nation, fighting every day for it's very survival and doing a very good job at it. They know how to survive. Our country must take a cue from them. And our spineless and gutless prime minister, who is like a butler to an ex-waitress, said he wants to "welcome Palestine as a new state with East Jerusalem as it's capital. But what more can you expect from him. He wants to woo certain section of the Indian society to vote for his filthy party. Doesn't these videos of Mr.Benjamin Netanyahu make you wish we had a strong PM like him.

The evening I had made a reservation to go the World Trade Center Memorial. In the very same month of Septembe, 10 years ago, 2 planes had hit the twin towers of the World Trade center. The two towering sentinals in New York City. They had crumbled killing many people, including many brave firefighters who selflessly went into the building to rescue the thousands of innocents who were trapped in the twin towers. I still remember that day. I was watching a Wrestling pay per view on TV. My mother just happened to hear the news and switched the channels. I was shocked by the events that were unfolding. I was a person who believed in equality of men. I used to feel all are equal. But that day, I realized that there were people, worse than the lowest filth on earth. People who wanted to hurt innocents and kill them with a religious zeal. It angered me and led me to do a lot of research into who these people were. I only realized that such people had harassed my motherland for thousands of years and are continuing to do so. Anyway, this isn't the place to discuss this. I will  write more about it in my history blog.

The "Sphere" which stood in the Plaza of WTC for over 3 decades

I walked from the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway towards the harbour. I wanted to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. I saw her but briefly as I landed in La Guardia airport at New York. She was such a magnificient sight. As I walked towards the harbour, I saw the sphere, which was a atop the WTC. It was damaged during the terrorist attacks but has now been placed as a memorial at a park for all those who lost their lives 10 years ago.

I went to the harbour and walked for a while near the Smithsonian Institute of Native American art. I then saw the Statue of Liberty from a great distance. She stood there as she always does, standing tall and majestic. How I wish I had time to take the ferry and to see her from nearby.










I then walked back towards broadway and wall street and asked the policemen for directions  to the WTC memorial. I reached the site after a few minutes. My heart was heavy and I was feeling very depressed. All those tragic events from ten years ago flashed before my eyes. The memorial itself was closed at 7 PM.  I had just missed getting in. I could see from outside. I walked all around it. I saw the various murals on the walls nearby dedicated to the firemen on New York city. All this while unkown to me, involuntarily the place made me feel sad. I felt as though I was carrying a heavy load. As it was getting late, and I was in a new city (To me), I went ahead, hailed a cab and went back to my hotel. In the next blog I will narate what happened during my return flight and we will also journey to a city  which was the jewel of the Islamic world once upon a time.

Here are some pics that I took.