I am in the city that makes me miss Mumbai really bad. This is my second trip to New York and in a very modest way, I must admit I am less excited with every trip. And I mean that in a good way. I am less excited because I feel increasingly at home with every trip of mine to this amazing city.
The 2 day career workshop ended today. IRTS did a good job getting together a range of media outfits under the same roof. The queue for Disney and HBO were the longest. Also spoke to NBC, Comcast, Discovery and even forced myself to chat with the Nielsen guys.
The rest of the evening panned out unexpectedly well. Jacque's friend wanted us to attend a very interesting event at a bar in Chinatown. 'The Poop Project' was bringing people together in New York to raise funding for adequate sanitation in third world countries. A small gritty underground pub, brick red and lined up with bizarre stuffed animals (meerkats!) and candles had New York's nerdiest crowd packed in. We bought our raffle tickets at the door and entered with our drink coupons, a little skeptical but mostly amused at the sight of a western toilet seat hanging at the entrance. Over the course of next two hours, men and women walked upto the stage and to the cue of a jazz musician duo, narrated, sung and enacted their worst 'poop' stories. Needless to say, there were some very graphic descriptions, sound effects and even a strip act thrown in. I have no clue how the last one connected to the theme of the friend but our friend who got us in was horrified to discover that the stripper was her ex boss. Ha ha!!
The high point of the evening though was the stage act of a hilarious Jewish lady from Chicago. Based on a true story ladies and gentleman, it involved a woman, a guy she was interested in, an unfortunate scatological mishap the morning after, her trying to damage control with a rib tickling mail, the guy dumping her and now married to a Entourage actor, the said dumped lady being miserable and then after a year meeting a guy at another barbeque party who is discussing the most unbelievable stories they've experienced. Guy tells her about a woman who his room-mate was dating and had to go through hell because of their damaged toilet. He adds that he thought it was hilarious upon which woman reveals she was the one who did it. New guy and lady are presently engaged! So there is hope in mankind, sorry....men.
The last act was by an Indian and well he was a bit off the temp (perhaps because the previous act was stolen by a woman who did a strip act involving chips, whipped cream, stripping to her undies and drinking gelusil!!!!!) Couldn't help but walk up to him later and chat up. Turns out he was with the Peace Corps, is a lawyer (on the welfare side) but now living in New York..
Said Indian disappeared an hour later. Jacque, Mikhail and I hit the floor. We danced away the rest of the evening to very very 60s swing music. Jacque had every other guy wanting to dance with her becasue of her crazy moves. And it was then I realised we were surrounded with nerds. And what fun they were! Not looking to grab you on the floor or take you home but just awfully happy and completely immersed in crazy dance moves and eager to share that with anyone who could match their craziness.
Well so we are dancing with these two guys specifically and suddenly this one cute guy in the corner who can REALLY dance shakes up the floor with Jaque. A little later he gets me to dance with him and we do the whole twirl cross deal , jiving and the crowd has made this little space for us an dis cheering us on. We yelled out our names, the stereo drowning our attempts but I understood that he is Martin and he is from France and man was he dancing his nifty shoes off...I am high at that moment just being able to dance well with someone who KNOWS how to dance after so long. Twenty minutes later, the Francophone tells me 'Sorry darling, I have to leave". He then proceeds to peck me affectionately on the cheek. I say "Of course" and hold my balance after having being spun around like a yo-yo for the last 5 minutes. I am disappointed (of course I am losing a dance partner like that!) but I manage to find my steps back to Jackie. I whine and ga-ga at the same time about monsieur dancing shoes who suddenly decided to leave. She nudges me to look at him. He is leaving and that too with another good looking guy. So in short, the universe just told me that "Hey....I"ll give you good dance partners. BUT they have to be gay!"
So!!!! NYC, yes you are full of surprises. But I love you and I will for a while. Even if my heart aches when I walk your streets.... You remind me of friends, a city and people I so yearn to go back to.
And oh yes ....cheers the nerdiest of Nerds in New York. Thank you for a splendid Friday evening:)
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