This story is about me, a live-life-each-day-as-it-comes dreamer, who was lost in the skyscraper capital till I met the love of my life.
I still remember the sprawling skyscrapers, the Hudson Bay, the New York skyline and the sunny sailing days! A vista view embedded in my eyes because that was where I worked for quite a few years and yes where I met my someone special !
Here I was, sitting at Rocker Feller center at the center of 5th Avenue and 48th street and I could feel my heart slipping away to the person sitting across. This person had an impressive charm, she had the prettiest smile, and yes, she could talk non-stop - Seriously - she still talks non-stop!
Opposites attract, and post that day, I could not find my heart!!!
Isn’t it funny how sometimes life just join's together the pieces of your scattered jigsaw. Life just joins the jigswaw together to show you a much clearer picture of the future.
My future was formed on 4th of July and let me take you forward into the Circles of Flashback !!!!
It so happened that some of us were working in Virginia had plans to go and see the fireworks near the Statue of Liberty. The problem was that most of us were new to the country and never drove on their own ! So we were pretty much dependent on this one friend to take us to NYC.
On a parallel front, I was in constant touch with "my special friend" and she had also planned to be around the waterfront that day! Stage was almost set for The Date !
Like they say, as is Murphy's law, the one dependable friend who would drive us to NYC got stuck with flu two days prior. Now our options were either catch a bus from DC, or rent a car - but even to go the bus station, we would need some transportation.
So renting a car seemed btter option, but who would drive? For some of you that have driven across the NJ turnpike and the Washington beltway would know that the roads are easy to drive as long as one can follow standard directions !
Well, I had never driven on those roads myself, but hey I was not going to miss my Date, so I volnteered to drive. Whatever it took, I was going to be with "my someone special" that weekend. My only requirement - I need to hit the road as early as 4am. This way, I would not feel intimated by the traffic.
This requirement had serious pullbacks from my friends. 4am - are you insane? I never got up at 4am for my engineering exams - one of them said! Hell, I also never woke up at 4am, but how could I miss THIS NYC trip? Cmon guys - we can make it !!!
So, we packed our bags. I probably slept only 2 or 3 hours and 4am it was - on a nice summer morning ! With the directions all printed, we rented the car previous night and made sure the car was pumped with gas !! A little nervous on the road, we stopped at the gas station to grab some coffee and off we went on our rendezvous!!!
Navigating through the turns - and the big signs - go west or east? Go Cars lane or Trucks? Take toll road or non-toll? Bridge or Tunnel? HOV or non-HOV lane? Finally we all managed somehow to live through those directions to reach our destination.
As crazy as this may sound, but I could not believe that it was my first drive on my own and I was able to navigate through all the crossings and turns! Finally after driving 300 miles, we entered the parking garage nearest to where we could catch the boat to Ellis Island !
I still remember that day, I asked the guys to go ahead while I grab some Donuts. I was standing in line still trying to figure out what to order, and I heard a voice - "excuse me - are u going to take longer"? I turned my head - and there she was standing with her hair all glowing with sun-rays gleaming through those golden streaks !
Hey - you? I thought you would be coming in a little late?
She smiled - I thought I would beat you to the statue, but are you not too early?
How could I tell her that I also could not sleep, I said - yes I like to hit it early on the road.
Great - same here ! She said. (Damn - I hope she never finds out this was my first trip on the big bad world of turnpike and beltway. Phew - dont ask how we just made it - all in one piece).
..and we kind of were lost in some conversation !
Our lovely conversation was sadly interrrupted with this lady on the counter - "could you two please move back to make way for others"?
Ah - suddenly as my mind was all clear - I turned around to the counter and said - 12 chocolate donuts and 2 chai latte to go please !
12 chocolate donuts? You will have some serious sugar rush !!!! She said.
Well, it would be lesser than the adrenaline rush I have right now - and we both smiled !!
I probably dont need to go into the details of how the rest of the day went, but I definitely believe that when love calls - you just know the way to be with your love !
- Pankaj Purohit
I still remember the sprawling skyscrapers, the Hudson Bay, the New York skyline and the sunny sailing days! A vista view embedded in my eyes because that was where I worked for quite a few years and yes where I met my someone special !
Here I was, sitting at Rocker Feller center at the center of 5th Avenue and 48th street and I could feel my heart slipping away to the person sitting across. This person had an impressive charm, she had the prettiest smile, and yes, she could talk non-stop - Seriously - she still talks non-stop!
Opposites attract, and post that day, I could not find my heart!!!
Isn’t it funny how sometimes life just join's together the pieces of your scattered jigsaw. Life just joins the jigswaw together to show you a much clearer picture of the future.
My future was formed on 4th of July and let me take you forward into the Circles of Flashback !!!!
It so happened that some of us were working in Virginia had plans to go and see the fireworks near the Statue of Liberty. The problem was that most of us were new to the country and never drove on their own ! So we were pretty much dependent on this one friend to take us to NYC.
On a parallel front, I was in constant touch with "my special friend" and she had also planned to be around the waterfront that day! Stage was almost set for The Date !
Like they say, as is Murphy's law, the one dependable friend who would drive us to NYC got stuck with flu two days prior. Now our options were either catch a bus from DC, or rent a car - but even to go the bus station, we would need some transportation.
So renting a car seemed btter option, but who would drive? For some of you that have driven across the NJ turnpike and the Washington beltway would know that the roads are easy to drive as long as one can follow standard directions !
Well, I had never driven on those roads myself, but hey I was not going to miss my Date, so I volnteered to drive. Whatever it took, I was going to be with "my someone special" that weekend. My only requirement - I need to hit the road as early as 4am. This way, I would not feel intimated by the traffic.
This requirement had serious pullbacks from my friends. 4am - are you insane? I never got up at 4am for my engineering exams - one of them said! Hell, I also never woke up at 4am, but how could I miss THIS NYC trip? Cmon guys - we can make it !!!
So, we packed our bags. I probably slept only 2 or 3 hours and 4am it was - on a nice summer morning ! With the directions all printed, we rented the car previous night and made sure the car was pumped with gas !! A little nervous on the road, we stopped at the gas station to grab some coffee and off we went on our rendezvous!!!
Navigating through the turns - and the big signs - go west or east? Go Cars lane or Trucks? Take toll road or non-toll? Bridge or Tunnel? HOV or non-HOV lane? Finally we all managed somehow to live through those directions to reach our destination.
As crazy as this may sound, but I could not believe that it was my first drive on my own and I was able to navigate through all the crossings and turns! Finally after driving 300 miles, we entered the parking garage nearest to where we could catch the boat to Ellis Island !
I still remember that day, I asked the guys to go ahead while I grab some Donuts. I was standing in line still trying to figure out what to order, and I heard a voice - "excuse me - are u going to take longer"? I turned my head - and there she was standing with her hair all glowing with sun-rays gleaming through those golden streaks !
Hey - you? I thought you would be coming in a little late?
She smiled - I thought I would beat you to the statue, but are you not too early?
How could I tell her that I also could not sleep, I said - yes I like to hit it early on the road.
Great - same here ! She said. (Damn - I hope she never finds out this was my first trip on the big bad world of turnpike and beltway. Phew - dont ask how we just made it - all in one piece).
..and we kind of were lost in some conversation !
Our lovely conversation was sadly interrrupted with this lady on the counter - "could you two please move back to make way for others"?
Ah - suddenly as my mind was all clear - I turned around to the counter and said - 12 chocolate donuts and 2 chai latte to go please !
12 chocolate donuts? You will have some serious sugar rush !!!! She said.
Well, it would be lesser than the adrenaline rush I have right now - and we both smiled !!
I probably dont need to go into the details of how the rest of the day went, but I definitely believe that when love calls - you just know the way to be with your love !
- Pankaj Purohit
