Back In The Land of Filter Coffee and Killer Cocktails

I've been back in New York for a little more than 48 hours. Since arriving home, I've marveled at how positively manicured Queens looks in comparison to India, enjoyed three cups of luscious Starbuck's coffee, had my hair highlighted twice (the first time it looked like I had a cheap faux leopard print hat attached to my head), walked down by the East River and soaked in the organized, industrial feel of the city, caught up on last month's Heroes and Lost, made a weak attempt to clean up my room, fallen asleep in two cabs (one because of jet lag, the other because of way too many drinks), discovered an awesome new bar, tried 5 new cocktails including one with tea infused gin and elderberry essence, kissed an attractive 28 year old male who looked like he was at least 32, flirted with a bartender, gotten lost while trying to find my apartment, and nursed a killer hangover while watching episodes of SATC and Sopranos.

Word to the wise: Fancy cocktails, even when infused with antioxidants, should not be consumed 5 at a time, on an empty stomach, while suffering from jet lag after not drinking hardly any alcohol for over a month. In addition, I would advise against ever attempting to drink really expensive scotch (mistakenly) as if it were a shot. Scotch does not go down well at high speeds.

Apart from the wicked hangover - that lasted for 6 1/2 brutal hours until just about now - it's been pretty great, though slightly surreal, to be back. There's definitely a bit of cultural shock. I seriously can not get over how clean and tidy everything looks. All of the houses and buildings lined up in their little rows, yards fenced off meticulously with chain link fences, garbage packed away in bags out of sight. No tarp cities, no beggar children looking up at me with their huge pleading, sad eyes, no cows ambling down the streets, no rick-shaws, no street gutters running with foul-smelling, toxic looking brown water. Shiny gleaming beautiful glass, swept pavement, filter coffee available on every corner, cute little shops, and blissful, peaceful, calming silence. Relatively speaking. New York has never seemed more quiet to me.

Away from the constant, intense, clamour of India, looking at this city with different eyes, I understand in a way that I didn't fully before why so much of the world looks at the U.S. as if it's a paradise. In many ways, it is. We are so incredibly privileged on so many levels here. We have so much. Looking around at the people on the subway, everyone immersed in the individual sagas of their own lives, listening to their ipods, reading their novels and newspapers, checking their watches impatiently, I wondered if any of them truly appreciate how lucky we all are. And, how unlucky so many others are.

Photo: Tibetan prayer flags in Darjeeling, India.