I moved from Brooklyn to Queens about four months ago. My stay in Brooklyn was almost a year long but as it always happens, one tends to ignore the sights and sounds of one’s own backyard. You hear about places to visit and things to do but the fact that they’re around, you just take it all for granted. Couple that with the fact that, like it or not, Manhattan is where all the action usually is anyway! Brooklyn was no different for me. But in a desperate effort to redeem myself, I dedicated my last few weekends in the borough to ‘do the rounds’ so to speak!

For those of you who’ve had it being isolated on the various islands I’ve covered these past few weeks, make no mistake – contrary to it’s name, Coney Island isn’t one! Located at the southernmost part of Brooklyn, this former island is a peninsula today which runs about 4 miles in length and hosts NYC’s only real beach.

Continue reading “A slice of Brooklyn” →

As a kid in school, we were taken on a field trip to the Governor of Maharashtra’s Bungalow in Malabar Hill, Bombay. To the majority of the passing public, the Governor’s Bungalow was no more than an ornate looking black gate on the drive up to Walkeshwar. Our class of about 40 was fortunate enough to venture past those gates. Not only did we get to see his Bungalow but also relax on his private beach. I’m sure we all walked away that day envious of him (whoever he was). I still am.

More than 20 years later, thousands of miles away and in a different city, I had visions once again of that private road leading away from the hustle and bustle of Bombay, down to the grandiose of the Bungalow and beyond to that secluded strip of sand. I was headed to little known Governor’s Island in New York Harbour.

Continue reading “The Island with no Governor” →

The heat was turned on a week ago, we switched over to Standard Time yesterday, the NYC Marathon is over, Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away and delayed as they might be, the leaves are finally beginning to change colour. It’s hard to accept but my first real summer in New York is finally over!

I say ‘real’ because my last summer was spent back home in India and the way the semesters are set up at school meant that I would come in to the city at the end of the summer and leave at the beginning. This was also the first time in my life I wasn’t in India for most of the summer and while I didn’t quite miss the extreme temperatures of Delhi, I did have to forego the entire mango season (sigh!) and the glorious monsoon and only I know how much I miss those two!

Continue reading “Summer Rush” →