World Capital

Is there any way to describe New York City? I should perhaps make it clear that I never was nor probably ever will be a big fan of this rotten, rat-infested fruit of a place. The aimless rush of life, the ear-busting noise and that rancid stench of urine and garbage trails along the sidewalks simply make it an unacceptable place for anyone half-civilized. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, in all my years of living here, I have yet to come across another person who shares my feelings for this city - my frank opinions are oftentimes met with stares, some of them a bit disparaging; if I am lucky, I can hope to get away with confounded looks or forced smiles as a response to such lunacy.

But over the past several months, I have come to discover something that may not necessarily help in my appreciating this city, but may help me in appreciating the fact that I am living here. It is quite certain that I do not intend to live in New York for all my life (or at least I have not as yet reached that point of enthrallment that afflicts so many of my 'New Yorker' friends and co-workers). But I cannot discount the fact that it was New York that thrusted the so-called 'real world' upon me with such thumping force and yet with such steely encouragement, I was swimming in its tempests even before I could shout out an SOS. And today, because of New York, I am probably capable of surving in any urban jungle that life throws at me.

New York is packed, true. New York is dirty, unbearably true. New York is rude, mostly true. New York is sinful, definitely true. But as my father recently uttered out of the blue after a trip to lower Manhattan, if there ever was an Eighth Wonder of the world, this City is it. With more restaurants than you could ever hope to dine in over a lifetime, with every inch occupied for a purpose than any miniaturist could ever imagine, with more nationalities fluttering about its boroughs than its own Midtown-based United Nations Headquarters could ever boast of, and with as much life streaming below its jam-packed surface as above it, this City is a true marvel.

It is an amazing engineering and organizational feat how this City is run. From the nightly garbage collection along its countless narrow streets and alleys to the logistics of funneling in and out millions of workers into a tiny island connected only by a handful of bridges and tunnels, a mere imagining of the administrative burdens this City has to bear can be bewildering. Yet, the City functions, day in and day out, with minor train delays, random traffic jams and an occassional accident. No amount of heat or rain, which sometimes last for days, overloads the City into a complete shutdown, something quite normally expected for a place functioning at such a high speed and with such precious resources, and it takes a full-fledged Nor'easter dumping 20 inches of snow to sufficiently freeze its spirit. A challenger to this Stunner is not within sight.

And even after the mammoth tragedy that this City has suffered, it has emerged more enigmatic, tolerant and universal than anywhere else in the rest of the world. It is as if the unexpected, the inspiring and the wonderful are all inherent in the soul of this City that grow stronger just when you think otherwise.

I may never fall in love with this City. I may want to move away at my next opportunity. I may never succeed in soaking my spirit in this City's colors. But I cannot ignore, let alone deny, the power, business, glamor and glory that is New York. And forever, it shall stay with me, this fact that at one point in my life I was among those who have been fortunate enough to call The Big Apple home.