Recession - What recession ?
Just came back from a two week trip to the United States. New York City is obviously not part of America. We keep reading about the recession and the unemployment but we did not see any sign of that in the Big Apple.
Everywhere we went there were crowds. The stores were all chock a block full with people not just looking but buying. Restaurants were packed with people waiting to get into the more trendy places. Retailers such as Uniqlo of Japan are opening up large flag ship stores. Madison Avenue is seeing a revival of trendy stores. The Apple Store near Central Park was packed and this was during a week day.
The streets crowds on Fifth Avenue reminded me of the sidewalks of Hong Kong during lunch hours. The museums were full. Granted a large number appeared to be tourists - even though it was not the season.
I am told that the property prices did not go through a big correction during the financial crises. Some of the seedier parts of New York such as the Bowery are now going upmarket with some new apartments selling in the tens of millions. Based on my limited knowledge I had always viewed the Upper East or West Side as the place to stay and would have expected them to be the more expensive places, but for smaller places, prices appeared to be much higher in the areas between mid-town and downtown as it is popular among the younger generation.
If this is New York during recession I wonder what it would be like during boom times ?
Just Like Us
This time when we reached JFK we saw a mad scramble for the immigration counters. The lines were huge . As is always the case we ended up in the slowest moving queue. It took us almost an hour to pass through the counter. This was something we are used to when we return to Delhi, but by contrast this time we sailed through the immigration in less than 10 minutes. What a change.
Of the taxis and limousines we took during our visit almost ninety five per cent of the drivers were from Punjabi's ( Indian or Pakistanis ) or from the sub-continent. Much against my nature , I surprised my family by actually making an attempt to chat with a Punjabi driver who has been there since the mid-eighties . He said his elder brother was a lawyer by training and a retired bureaucrat and had now migrated from India to Canada. Upon being told that my daughter was a lawyer, he wanted some advice as to how his brother could come the New York and start a immigration practice.
The Americans like the Indians ( certainly the North Indians) love to eat and snack throughout the day. While in the past we had our traditional sweets and snacks, we now add in pizza's , burgers and and other eatables. Our obesity levels will soon be matching those in the United States.
The aggressiveness of the New Yorker is well known.We have definitely overtaken them. When we have a traffic altercation it is not unusual for one of the parties to whip out a pistol, shoot the other party and flee the scene.
Just a week or so before our arrival in New York the East Coast of the United States had a unexpected snow storm. Some parts of New York and adjoining states had black outs lasting over a week. Increasingly houses in the suburbs are now installing generators to avoid black outs which apparently are becoming common. Sounds familiar ?
New York vs London
This is the first time I have spent this much time in New York. I have been to London more often and always regarded is as my favorite city . In a lot of ways they are very similar. Both of them are their country's and global financial centers. Over the last century and a half both the cities have benefited from wealthy patrons who have donated to build up their cultural institutions particularly their art galleries, their museums, their cultural performance centers. Both of them offer a rich variety of global cultural events - art, plays, dance and music performances . They are both the favorite cities for the global rich, and aspiring young global professional whether they are Indians, Chinese, Russians, Middle Eastern, Africans or South Americans. London however is more expensive than New York in every way.
In my personal opinion, where they differ is that in that in London the various ethnic communities appear to comfortable in their own skin and retain their own national identity. Walking down Oxford street you see Africans in their bright colorful national dresses, the Arabs in their robes, an occasional Sikh bhai ji in his flowing beard and kurta pajama. They are all equally at home and no body gives them a second look . I did not see too much of that in New York. Here everyone gets Americanized. They all want to appear to fit in, to wear the same stylish clothes and for those who have been there long enough adopt a veneer of New York aggressiveness in their mannerism.
If it was not for the long flight I could consider switching my loyalties to New York especially since my daughter is there.
Just came back from a two week trip to the United States. New York City is obviously not part of America. We keep reading about the recession and the unemployment but we did not see any sign of that in the Big Apple.
Everywhere we went there were crowds. The stores were all chock a block full with people not just looking but buying. Restaurants were packed with people waiting to get into the more trendy places. Retailers such as Uniqlo of Japan are opening up large flag ship stores. Madison Avenue is seeing a revival of trendy stores. The Apple Store near Central Park was packed and this was during a week day.
The streets crowds on Fifth Avenue reminded me of the sidewalks of Hong Kong during lunch hours. The museums were full. Granted a large number appeared to be tourists - even though it was not the season.
I am told that the property prices did not go through a big correction during the financial crises. Some of the seedier parts of New York such as the Bowery are now going upmarket with some new apartments selling in the tens of millions. Based on my limited knowledge I had always viewed the Upper East or West Side as the place to stay and would have expected them to be the more expensive places, but for smaller places, prices appeared to be much higher in the areas between mid-town and downtown as it is popular among the younger generation.
If this is New York during recession I wonder what it would be like during boom times ?
Just Like Us
This time when we reached JFK we saw a mad scramble for the immigration counters. The lines were huge . As is always the case we ended up in the slowest moving queue. It took us almost an hour to pass through the counter. This was something we are used to when we return to Delhi, but by contrast this time we sailed through the immigration in less than 10 minutes. What a change.
Of the taxis and limousines we took during our visit almost ninety five per cent of the drivers were from Punjabi's ( Indian or Pakistanis ) or from the sub-continent. Much against my nature , I surprised my family by actually making an attempt to chat with a Punjabi driver who has been there since the mid-eighties . He said his elder brother was a lawyer by training and a retired bureaucrat and had now migrated from India to Canada. Upon being told that my daughter was a lawyer, he wanted some advice as to how his brother could come the New York and start a immigration practice.
The Americans like the Indians ( certainly the North Indians) love to eat and snack throughout the day. While in the past we had our traditional sweets and snacks, we now add in pizza's , burgers and and other eatables. Our obesity levels will soon be matching those in the United States.
The aggressiveness of the New Yorker is well known.We have definitely overtaken them. When we have a traffic altercation it is not unusual for one of the parties to whip out a pistol, shoot the other party and flee the scene.
Just a week or so before our arrival in New York the East Coast of the United States had a unexpected snow storm. Some parts of New York and adjoining states had black outs lasting over a week. Increasingly houses in the suburbs are now installing generators to avoid black outs which apparently are becoming common. Sounds familiar ?
New York vs London
This is the first time I have spent this much time in New York. I have been to London more often and always regarded is as my favorite city . In a lot of ways they are very similar. Both of them are their country's and global financial centers. Over the last century and a half both the cities have benefited from wealthy patrons who have donated to build up their cultural institutions particularly their art galleries, their museums, their cultural performance centers. Both of them offer a rich variety of global cultural events - art, plays, dance and music performances . They are both the favorite cities for the global rich, and aspiring young global professional whether they are Indians, Chinese, Russians, Middle Eastern, Africans or South Americans. London however is more expensive than New York in every way.
In my personal opinion, where they differ is that in that in London the various ethnic communities appear to comfortable in their own skin and retain their own national identity. Walking down Oxford street you see Africans in their bright colorful national dresses, the Arabs in their robes, an occasional Sikh bhai ji in his flowing beard and kurta pajama. They are all equally at home and no body gives them a second look . I did not see too much of that in New York. Here everyone gets Americanized. They all want to appear to fit in, to wear the same stylish clothes and for those who have been there long enough adopt a veneer of New York aggressiveness in their mannerism.
If it was not for the long flight I could consider switching my loyalties to New York especially since my daughter is there.
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