I recently just got a ten year visa for India. The new process entails applying for the visa through an outsourced company, Travisa, who sets up an appointment time for you to drop off your passport and then pick it up on the same day at their office on 53rd street. When I dropped off my passport, I was surprised at the ease in which I moved through the process. There wasn't even a line when I dropped it off at the completely organized office.
This was a great improvement to the old system, in which you dropped your passport at the consulate. The "line" to the consulate would often be around the block, and once you entered the basement facility, you felt as if you had just stepped into the mayhem of the New Delhi train station, with men, women and children all shouting at once and pushing through the roped off areas towards the miserable looking women in saris safely seated behind bullet proof glass. It would take hours to even slip your passport through the window slot before your passport and visa application were scrutinized for any blemishes.
At the Travisa office, visa pick-up is between 5:30 and 6 pm for same-day service. I arrived at the office at the stroke of 5:30 excited about the receipt of my newly issued passport, and expecting an expedited service....I was greatly let down...I knew there had to be a catch to this seemingly smooth process. A line was already forming down the stairs to the office and woman toting yoga mats, Sikhs in bright orange turbans, and second generation Indian-Americans in business suits piled up in the waiting room. A Travisa employee informed us that the passports had not left the consulate yet. Supposedly there was only one person in the consulate office to sign visas that day. This was an omen that I was going to have a long wait. After standing for 45 minutes, the crowd began to thin as people grew impatient with waiting. I took a squat, and the line behind me followed suit, staking out for the long haul. I watched one tall, nerdy white man toting a "Passport Health" bag grow more and more weary of the situation at hand. He began shifting around until he finally took a seat in the middle of the room. The Travisa employee quickly ran over and reprimanded him for blocking the passage way. He stood back up....pacing in the mere square inches of personal space he retained in the hubbub. He continuously looked down at his watch, and muttering "Jesus Christ" under his breath.
Welcome to India guy; get use to the long wait. I found irony in his choice of the lords name as he was about to embark into the land of the hindu, and wondered how many more times he would be mumbling to Jesus Christ in vain surrounded by the images of Ganesha, Shiva, and Vishnu.
Our passports finally arrived over an hour late to a hail of cheers and clapping. I didn't leave the visa office until after 7 pm, broadly grinning with the acquisition of my 10 year visa, and my welcome back to India time. You can take a man out of the country, but you can't take the country out of a man.
7/28/2010
The Comparative Religion and Culture Program - Global College of Long Island University
I was recently promoted to Academic Assistant of the Comparative Religion and Culture program of Global College of Long Island University. I will be traveling with them to Taiwan, Thailand, India and Turkey in the coming academic year. I am ecstatic about this opportunity, and the best part is I have finally found a way to do what I love and also get paid for it.
Two years ago I was a student on this program. I only did the first semester, traveling to Taiwan and Thailand, but it was one of the most amazing few months of my life. While the program is physically, mentally, spiritually, and culturally rigorous, it yields the opportunity to explore a world rarely entered by most people.
In the modern day of jet-setters, many people have traveled, yes. Excuse me if I sound pretentious, but living and studying somewhere is completely different. It gives you a chance to dig deeper into the cultural landscape of a country. If you stay somewhere for long enough to learn the subtleties of daily life that most tourists are oblivious to. You know at what hour a man with a cart will walk down the street peddling his vegetables, you share food with people at the local restaurants where there is no menu in english, you learn the name of the woman who washes laundry and where her children go to school, and best of all, you make deep connections with the local people who eventually become your friends. I think this is why tourism is hard for me to handle....tourist look at things without seeing. They go for the famous sights, and adventure tours, but stay distant from the people and the thriving cultures of people. Locals become a hassle...instead of trying to comprehend their culture, tourists remain separated in hotels, bars, restaurants, tour buses, and only make friends with other tourists sharing their own cultural viewpoints.
I am excited to be back in the saddle and look forward to visiting some old friends and old haunts, and growing a deeper perspective to world religions.
Two years ago I was a student on this program. I only did the first semester, traveling to Taiwan and Thailand, but it was one of the most amazing few months of my life. While the program is physically, mentally, spiritually, and culturally rigorous, it yields the opportunity to explore a world rarely entered by most people.
In the modern day of jet-setters, many people have traveled, yes. Excuse me if I sound pretentious, but living and studying somewhere is completely different. It gives you a chance to dig deeper into the cultural landscape of a country. If you stay somewhere for long enough to learn the subtleties of daily life that most tourists are oblivious to. You know at what hour a man with a cart will walk down the street peddling his vegetables, you share food with people at the local restaurants where there is no menu in english, you learn the name of the woman who washes laundry and where her children go to school, and best of all, you make deep connections with the local people who eventually become your friends. I think this is why tourism is hard for me to handle....tourist look at things without seeing. They go for the famous sights, and adventure tours, but stay distant from the people and the thriving cultures of people. Locals become a hassle...instead of trying to comprehend their culture, tourists remain separated in hotels, bars, restaurants, tour buses, and only make friends with other tourists sharing their own cultural viewpoints.
I am excited to be back in the saddle and look forward to visiting some old friends and old haunts, and growing a deeper perspective to world religions.
7/08/2010
Birthday Party in Brooklyn
Traveling is lonely..and I think it is even lonelier when you go home, because you realize that all of your friends are abroad. Its virtually impossible to travel and constantly be surrounded by the people you love. Last month I turned 23. I think it was one of the best birthday parties ever and one of the first times I really felt at home. Somehow a majority of my friends that I've made over the past 5 years all ended up in Brooklyn on my birthday. I think this was the first times so many of my friends have been in one place at one time. Friends I traveled with in Taiwan, Thailand, Costa Rica and some local Brooklynites all showed up to wish me well and feed me a large portion of red velvet cake topped with cream cheese icing. I haven't had a birthday party since I was a young teen, mostly because my friends are always scattered around the world. Friendships are the nectar of life, sweetening this world little by little with each connection... and I'm grateful for the friends I have made and kept along this strange strange taciturn journey.
7/07/2010
Ian Goodnight - Summer Music
Ian Goodnight. Give it up for my brother. He's been working on a new album and finally posted some songs. I think this should be added to everyone's summer playlist.
6/24/2010
Surf Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Go to the beach in Williamsburg, Brooklyn!
Surf Bar is located at 139 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
On Saturday afternoon I had brunch at the Surf Bar in Williamsburg. Kitchy to some, but fun for others.... The entire floor of this bar is covered in sand, and in the back garden, the owners have succeeded in recreating a beach party atmosphere, complete with surf boards and Latin music smack dab in the middle of bustling hipsterville, Williamsburg. Even the building itself is a little untidy, unleveled, with walls not quite matching up to the ceilings, like many makeshift buildings in beach villages all over the world. On a breezy sunny afternoon, this seemed like the best spot in Brooklyn.
Their brunch menu offered decent meals and decent prices. It's $12 for anything on the brunch menu, with a drink (mimosa or bloody mary) included. The bloody mary was probably one of the best I've ever had, mostly because of the presentation. The glass was topped with a salted rim, a crispy celery stick, a toothpick full of olives, and a lime. I felt as if the bloody mary was almost a little appetizer to my meal. I ordered the huevos rancheros, and Ken ordered the breakfast burrito (sans the eggs), and we shared an order of yucca fries...yes yucca fries!!! (These are my favorite). Other things on the special brunch menu include french toast, spanish eggs, a hangover breakfast, and another favorite of mine, fried sweet plantains. The huevos rancheros were delicious, with a very fresh tasting thick crispy corn tortilla. The breakfast burrito left a little to be desired, probably because we had asked for no eggs. This restaurant does not have many vegetarian options (particularly if you are a vegetarian that doesn't eat eggs).
The night crowd in this restaurant can get a little bit rowdy. I've often seen drunken hipsters and frat boys obnoxiously spilling out of the Surf Bar into the streets of Williamsburg. As a lunch location though, I think it can be ranked as one of my favorite places to chill out on a summer day.
Surf Bar is located at 139 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
On Saturday afternoon I had brunch at the Surf Bar in Williamsburg. Kitchy to some, but fun for others.... The entire floor of this bar is covered in sand, and in the back garden, the owners have succeeded in recreating a beach party atmosphere, complete with surf boards and Latin music smack dab in the middle of bustling hipsterville, Williamsburg. Even the building itself is a little untidy, unleveled, with walls not quite matching up to the ceilings, like many makeshift buildings in beach villages all over the world. On a breezy sunny afternoon, this seemed like the best spot in Brooklyn.
Their brunch menu offered decent meals and decent prices. It's $12 for anything on the brunch menu, with a drink (mimosa or bloody mary) included. The bloody mary was probably one of the best I've ever had, mostly because of the presentation. The glass was topped with a salted rim, a crispy celery stick, a toothpick full of olives, and a lime. I felt as if the bloody mary was almost a little appetizer to my meal. I ordered the huevos rancheros, and Ken ordered the breakfast burrito (sans the eggs), and we shared an order of yucca fries...yes yucca fries!!! (These are my favorite). Other things on the special brunch menu include french toast, spanish eggs, a hangover breakfast, and another favorite of mine, fried sweet plantains. The huevos rancheros were delicious, with a very fresh tasting thick crispy corn tortilla. The breakfast burrito left a little to be desired, probably because we had asked for no eggs. This restaurant does not have many vegetarian options (particularly if you are a vegetarian that doesn't eat eggs).
The night crowd in this restaurant can get a little bit rowdy. I've often seen drunken hipsters and frat boys obnoxiously spilling out of the Surf Bar into the streets of Williamsburg. As a lunch location though, I think it can be ranked as one of my favorite places to chill out on a summer day.
6/18/2010
UPE! Greetings in Costa Rica
I have a metal gate that goes to my apartment here in Brooklyn. Every time someone comes in and out I hear little clicks and tinkles of metal grating on metal that reminds me of Costa Rica. All of the windows and entryways in urban areas of Costa Rica are covered with protective measures, usually iron bars or razor wire. In many of the house there will be a gate to the property, a gate to the porch, and a gate to the front door. This often makes for a very heavy key ring.
Also because of these gated entrances you can't knock on anyone's door or ring a doorbell. Instead, when you arrive at someone's house in Costa Rica, you simply stand outside and yell UPE! And if you really want to get their attention you tap on the gate. One of my friends even had a special big metal ring that he wore, that I swear was solely for the purpose of knocking on people's gates. "Upe" has become one of the most well-known colloquial word in Costa Rica, other than their mantra "Pura Vida", and somehow it was always a fun thing to yell. In the mornings and evenings, my neighborhood would always be swarming with the word, as friends and family members met at each other's houses. Now, as I sit in my apartment in Brooklyn with the windows open, each time I hear a scrape at the gate I expect to hear that familiar cry, "UPE!"
Also because of these gated entrances you can't knock on anyone's door or ring a doorbell. Instead, when you arrive at someone's house in Costa Rica, you simply stand outside and yell UPE! And if you really want to get their attention you tap on the gate. One of my friends even had a special big metal ring that he wore, that I swear was solely for the purpose of knocking on people's gates. "Upe" has become one of the most well-known colloquial word in Costa Rica, other than their mantra "Pura Vida", and somehow it was always a fun thing to yell. In the mornings and evenings, my neighborhood would always be swarming with the word, as friends and family members met at each other's houses. Now, as I sit in my apartment in Brooklyn with the windows open, each time I hear a scrape at the gate I expect to hear that familiar cry, "UPE!"
6/01/2010
Ethnic Food Recipes
Sometimes what I miss most about other countries is the food. Although their are Indian and Chinese and Thai restaurants all over the place, I still miss the culinary experience of other countries, and many of the foods have not been properly replicated in these restaurants as they are catering to the Western palette. The food is never as hot as it should be, and I miss the interaction of being able to see the cooks, or preparing vegetables with a friend or an adopted mother in another country, learning ancient cooking tips along the way. Even sharing meals in other countries is a totally different experience, like meals in China where little dishes are placed on a lazy susan and communally shared, each diner dipping their chop sticks in and pulling out tasty bits to put over a small bowl of rice. Of course there are many dim sum restaurants, but still something is missing.
I recently got me a bunch of new cookbooks, one on Thai cuisine, a pan- asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Burmese, etc), Indian, and a vegetarian cookbook. I have been perusing them, looking for my old favorites, and getting excited on the prospect of having a kitchen to cook and new recipes to follow. Hopefully these will help me recreate some of the tasty dishes I have been missing. Another fun part of this will be searching out all of the ethnic markets in New York to find some of the exotic ingredients used in these recipes and hopefully some dinner parties with friends.
I recently got me a bunch of new cookbooks, one on Thai cuisine, a pan- asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Burmese, etc), Indian, and a vegetarian cookbook. I have been perusing them, looking for my old favorites, and getting excited on the prospect of having a kitchen to cook and new recipes to follow. Hopefully these will help me recreate some of the tasty dishes I have been missing. Another fun part of this will be searching out all of the ethnic markets in New York to find some of the exotic ingredients used in these recipes and hopefully some dinner parties with friends.
5/30/2010
Ethnic neighborhood demographics of New York
Recently in an after-work haze, I (stumbled) onto the express A train rather than the local C train, and once we had blown past my stop, I decided to explore wherever I got off and lengthen a leisurely walk home. At the Bedford-Nostrand stop, I got off to find myself in a predominately muslim neighborhood. There were Halal delis everywhere, and men wearing djellaba with red henna dyed beards and beautiful muslim women covered from head to toe in head scarves and burkas. A few blocks down on Fulton Street, I found a huge pink marble mosque, with a lively congregation pouring in and out of the decorative doors. The mosque looks a little askew on the corner, as it is built to face Mecca, which does not always directionally match up with the existing infrastructure of buildings. The air was booming with the call to prayer over the loud speakers, a noise that I often miss from my travels in India and Morocco.
One of the things that I love the most about New York (including the five boroughs) is that you can find any culture from around the world here. China town, Little India and the Latin districts of Jackson Heights, the Jamaican neighborhoods in Brooklyn, the Hasidic Jewish sections, and the Russian and Eastern Europeans populations nearing Coney Island.....
Everywhere I have ever traveled, I have met people who dream to go to New York, their eyes glazing over as they talk about the sights they want to see there. So obviously, immigrants from all over the world move here to find some sort of dream, and as Ellis Island was once the main port of entry for the United States, New York has become one of the most diversified cities in the world. I love finding new pockets of ethnic neighborhoods, where suddenly you are surrounded by foreign languages, markets, and clothing.
One of the things that I love the most about New York (including the five boroughs) is that you can find any culture from around the world here. China town, Little India and the Latin districts of Jackson Heights, the Jamaican neighborhoods in Brooklyn, the Hasidic Jewish sections, and the Russian and Eastern Europeans populations nearing Coney Island.....
Everywhere I have ever traveled, I have met people who dream to go to New York, their eyes glazing over as they talk about the sights they want to see there. So obviously, immigrants from all over the world move here to find some sort of dream, and as Ellis Island was once the main port of entry for the United States, New York has become one of the most diversified cities in the world. I love finding new pockets of ethnic neighborhoods, where suddenly you are surrounded by foreign languages, markets, and clothing.
5/29/2010
Itchy feet for Traveling
Itchy Feet.....
Summer time has finally arrived, and the warm weather is making me yearn for traveling paradise. Summer heat always magnifies scents, some taking me back to the places I have lived, exhaust fumes sweltering in the Bangalore heat, the deep musky smell of chinese food in New York's chinatown, vendors burning incense on the street like in the mosques in Morocco, fresh cut pineapple like in the markets in Costa Rica.
I have now been in the US for over a year continuously...this has been a long, arduous road, adjusting to life here and reintegrating after living abroad for almost 4 years. However, I am still finding the tendencies of travel in my daily life. It seems like every weekend I am busy going somewhere, visiting friends, going home to philly, visiting my family in Maryland. After traveling for so long, distances seem a whole lot shorter when you are still in the same country. My life is still a little scattered without a definite home base. I know I probably won't be at my apartment in Brooklyn for more than a few more months, so I only moved the basics up there. Otherwise, the majority of my stuff and comforts of material possessions still reside at my mother's house. One day maybe I will be settled again, but I have no idea when.
Today I received an e-mail from a friend I met in Thailand. She was asking me about future traveling plans and invited me to meet up with her on her next travels. I think I am going to take her up on that. She is heading up to Canada in the fall. Even though Canada is so close to home, I've never been there. I think this will be my next journey.
Summer time has finally arrived, and the warm weather is making me yearn for traveling paradise. Summer heat always magnifies scents, some taking me back to the places I have lived, exhaust fumes sweltering in the Bangalore heat, the deep musky smell of chinese food in New York's chinatown, vendors burning incense on the street like in the mosques in Morocco, fresh cut pineapple like in the markets in Costa Rica.
I have now been in the US for over a year continuously...this has been a long, arduous road, adjusting to life here and reintegrating after living abroad for almost 4 years. However, I am still finding the tendencies of travel in my daily life. It seems like every weekend I am busy going somewhere, visiting friends, going home to philly, visiting my family in Maryland. After traveling for so long, distances seem a whole lot shorter when you are still in the same country. My life is still a little scattered without a definite home base. I know I probably won't be at my apartment in Brooklyn for more than a few more months, so I only moved the basics up there. Otherwise, the majority of my stuff and comforts of material possessions still reside at my mother's house. One day maybe I will be settled again, but I have no idea when.
Today I received an e-mail from a friend I met in Thailand. She was asking me about future traveling plans and invited me to meet up with her on her next travels. I think I am going to take her up on that. She is heading up to Canada in the fall. Even though Canada is so close to home, I've never been there. I think this will be my next journey.
5/28/2010
Judah Friedlander Stand-up Comedy in New York
The Village Lantern 167 Bleecker Street (and Sullivan St)
At night the streets around NYU are amuck with drunken college students....Despite this minorly abrasive factor, and desperately craving pizza and a pitcher, my friend and I meandered our way through the little bars and cafes just south of the campus in Greenwich village knowing this was the prime spot for cheesy pies and cheap drinks. Even more plaquing than the loud shouts of drunken frats boys, are the touts who stand in front of restaurants and bars beckoning for passerbyers to enter. Around every corner are the "funny guys" advertising free comdedy shows while trying to shove a flier into your hand, which you will find dropped in a scattered pile on the sidewalk about half a block away. Feeling frisky, and needing some light-hearted fun, we decided to check it out and participate in some laughing yoga for the night.
Unfortunately, we soon realized that these comedy shows are free for a reason....the comedians are lame. In fact, they are so offensive, that they should probably pay the audience to watch them, or at least pay us a pittance to laugh. All of the comedians were men, and each one explored a liturgy of racist comments, some even directed to members of the audience, gay bashing, and vile sex jokes demeaning women. They each reminded me of those really annoying, immature kids in highschool who were always making fart jokes and trying to get attention during class, the one that wasn't quite "cool" enough to be a bully, but they made fun of people anyway, and then they got their a$$es kicked. I seriously wish I could have given each one a beat down, and for much of the show the audience was silent, while the comedian bashed the audience for not laughing. Maybe since they are in the neighborhood of NYU, they get a lot of the previously mentioned frat boys who think their jokes are funny, but I'm not sure what other decent human being would laugh at such hackneyed and obscene material.
Note to Comedians: maybe you should get some new material. Tell a funny joke that doesn't involve making fun other other ehtnicities, women, gay people, or sex. I thought we were making strides to end these prejudices... and I can think of about 10 other funny topics to discuss that do not involve hate.
The only redeeming aspect of the night: Right as I was about to get up and leave, without having laughed at all, Judah Friedlander, who plays Frank on 30 Rock, appeared on stage. I decided I had to stay to at least hear what kind of ridiculousness he produces live (I love his character on 30 Rock), and sure enough it was the first time I actually laughed all night. That night his hat said "World Champion".
At night the streets around NYU are amuck with drunken college students....Despite this minorly abrasive factor, and desperately craving pizza and a pitcher, my friend and I meandered our way through the little bars and cafes just south of the campus in Greenwich village knowing this was the prime spot for cheesy pies and cheap drinks. Even more plaquing than the loud shouts of drunken frats boys, are the touts who stand in front of restaurants and bars beckoning for passerbyers to enter. Around every corner are the "funny guys" advertising free comdedy shows while trying to shove a flier into your hand, which you will find dropped in a scattered pile on the sidewalk about half a block away. Feeling frisky, and needing some light-hearted fun, we decided to check it out and participate in some laughing yoga for the night.
Unfortunately, we soon realized that these comedy shows are free for a reason....the comedians are lame. In fact, they are so offensive, that they should probably pay the audience to watch them, or at least pay us a pittance to laugh. All of the comedians were men, and each one explored a liturgy of racist comments, some even directed to members of the audience, gay bashing, and vile sex jokes demeaning women. They each reminded me of those really annoying, immature kids in highschool who were always making fart jokes and trying to get attention during class, the one that wasn't quite "cool" enough to be a bully, but they made fun of people anyway, and then they got their a$$es kicked. I seriously wish I could have given each one a beat down, and for much of the show the audience was silent, while the comedian bashed the audience for not laughing. Maybe since they are in the neighborhood of NYU, they get a lot of the previously mentioned frat boys who think their jokes are funny, but I'm not sure what other decent human being would laugh at such hackneyed and obscene material.
Note to Comedians: maybe you should get some new material. Tell a funny joke that doesn't involve making fun other other ehtnicities, women, gay people, or sex. I thought we were making strides to end these prejudices... and I can think of about 10 other funny topics to discuss that do not involve hate.
The only redeeming aspect of the night: Right as I was about to get up and leave, without having laughed at all, Judah Friedlander, who plays Frank on 30 Rock, appeared on stage. I decided I had to stay to at least hear what kind of ridiculousness he produces live (I love his character on 30 Rock), and sure enough it was the first time I actually laughed all night. That night his hat said "World Champion".
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