workinprogress

Well , if you look down the tracks the view would probably be the same . In fact , the overhead low hanging electric lines hung between 2 wooden posts looked much more primitive than the overhead railyway electric networks in India . the stations looked pretty clean and functionally designed , different from the ones back home in Mumbai . the most striking element that hits you in any station is the number of people . Downtown Newyork Penn station on 33rd street , 8th avenue doesn’t have the kind of people in the whole hour what Andheri west would see in about a minute . The sum total of the daily commuters would probably not be less than the number of people in swanky Washington station in over a month . There are just not many people anywhere in the US. .The station at Rahway , next to the New Jersey International airport transit is deserted at most times of the day . A couple of onlookers would look at you in passing , not stare at you as they would do back home to visiting foreigners at the Gateway of India .
I walked upto the ticketing counter on the first floor station level . The old building was functionally repainted , adding luster to a normally staid station . Red & White . The ticket vending machine was sparkling clean . Miss the paan stains , paper crumbs , wafer packet stubs ,cigarette butts that outline every kind of public utility machine back home like postal letter boxes and waste bins . I punched my destination and $6.50 popped on the screen . I thrust a ten dollar bill to get back the change . Destination : New York Penn Station . The journey lasted 45 minutes . The ticket puncher did a strange marking of the ticket and left a little stub stuck on the loop on the front seat back .
‘What’s that for ?’ I asked
‘Well ,it’s a secret that ticket checkers will never tell ,’said the young ticket collector . He looked like an Indian and I could say he was an indian . He was very characteristically Indian , good expressive eyes , a wheatish complexion , and a measured gait . We walk differently . Americans would walk with a an attitude . Aggressive , well directed , purposeful .
‘Seriously , I want to know ‘ Said me . Had half a mind to shout an expletive in Hindi ‘Aye Shaane , bhaav mat kha !’ but I let that pass for a minute hoping he would respond this time .
‘ This is the way we know which seat is taken and where we need to check tickets next ‘
What the heck , that’s a pretty simple concept . Wonder why they don’t do that back home .
“Thanks ‘ , me said . I dropped the idea of asking him where he got his looks from . In fact , Indians in America don’t greet other Indians . They have some absurd concepts of self-respect in the occupations that they do .

Like that girl in Philly .
The waiter at the Punjabi restaurant on 18th avenue in Philadelphia was a beautiful looking Punjabi . I can bet on it . I did too . With gautam .
‘She can’t be an Indian ‘ said gautam . Gautam was a strange creature . Nothing in the world ever bothered him . He was the type who would take a vacation in the middle of the most high-pressured sales month . At best they’ll sack me . Atleast then I can live off my wife’s income for a while . Look after the kids and that sort of a thing .
‘She is . Wanna bet ‘
‘Okay , so what if she is ?’ ‘Expect Gautam to say this .
‘Nothing , we’ll just celebrate some Indian success ‘
‘Ask her ‘
‘You ask her ‘
‘I’m ok if she’s a Pakistani !’
‘Hey , ‘ I shouted out to her .
Must say she was beautiful . She was a little short . But there are a lot of short punjabi women . And , she had the sort of face that could stop a million people . Exquisitely crafted and naturally beautiful . She wouldn’t have applied any make-up , such was the elegance and charm . Sharp eyes and proud lips . She had well rounded breasts . Wholesome .Damn , she was a Punjabi . No two ways .
“ Hi , ‘ she said with a great smile and twinkle . ‘ What will you have ?’
No , she didn’t say coffee , tea or me . Or well , in a different sort of way , she would have said it . Let’s leave it at that for a moment .’
‘ We have been having this fight ‘
‘Fight ?’
‘Yes , I am saying that you are a Punjabi , he says you are not ‘
She was agitated and how.
Her expressions turned very stern . She looked through us , sharpening her gaze .It was like something she had been hiding successfully had come out in the open . Her life was a sudden open book . And the world was reading it .
‘I am an Italian ‘ she said , in a manner that reflected a deep wound .
Damn . A Caucasian !
I scrutinized further . She had to be a Punjabi .She was too Indian to be an Italian .
‘What the heck ‘ muttered Gautam . And gave her a wry smiled .
I gave up too . Another Indian running away from Indianess , I said .
‘Gautam , Indians in the US have an attitude larger than they should . They don’t smile at other Indians . They are rude and they don’t identify themselves correctly ‘, you just saw that .’
‘Back home in Kandivali too , women have an attitude larger than they should , they don’t smile at me ,they are rude and never identify with me ! ‘
She had gone away without taking an order . We called another waitress for the order .
‘Now , where are you from ?’, I asked her
‘mexico ‘
Could be true . She looked like one .
‘Why do these guys not accept indianity ? I asked an old indian restauranter in hindi . This was called ‘ jewel of India ‘ and unabashadely played hindi songs and had indian waiters with a pure Punjabi accent .
‘ It’s like this , he explained ‘ they have risked bigtime to survive in here . Some retain identities , some don’t . Some think they are superior just because of the magnitude of risk they have taken incoming here and settling down . Sameer is Sam , Anand is Andy and Prithiwiraj is peter .’
‘Not all change their names though ‘ I said .
‘ Look at me . I am still called Chopra in the neighbourhood .’
Gautam jumped in with a thought ‘ Let’s see if we can actually meet an Indian who is polite ‘ Remember , we still have 10 days left ‘
That was the most promising positive thing Gautam had said in ages .
The train speeded through what looked like a creek . The back waters of the Atlantic lying still around the east American shores .The sun was going to come up anytime.
A massive black women came and sat next to me . Her hair was braided very badly and she stank of aweful filth . But she was happily munching away what looked like a huge burger that she could have bought . Am sure she had bought it , as she had the packet neatly tucked with tissues and ketchup sachets . She kept nibbling at it and when she reached the last bit of the burger , she actually thrust the entire burger bits , crumpled tissues with lip smears neatly into the bag and pushed it into the seat-back bag . She looked at me and grinned . Hi , she said , inaudibly . Pretty polite , I thought .That’s the other thing , people are polite . People in the Us are polite . Businesslike . Professional . Dumb . But polite .
I looked out of the window . Was it picturesque . Partly . Some huge factories . Some wonderful parking lots . beautifully landscaped houses . Swept clean roads .

The station at penn , New York was thebusiest of them all . Thousands came of the train suddenly . The platform was swarming with people . It was nothing like Victoria terminus at 9am . Much more polished perhaps . At 9 , Victoria terminus is a plethora of extremely agitated bees buzzing to get out of a hive . And there’s a constant continous surge out of most trains with noone getting to go anywhere . The city does turn pretty uni-directional in the morning and evening rush hours .New York didn’t seem like that .
‘ What a small crowd for a Monday morning . Does noone work here ?, said sardonic gautam
It was true . There are more people per square feet in Mumbai .
Time for some math ‘ I said . I walked upto the nearest train station enquiry .