Daniel was on his way to the # 3 Times Square, the iconic,
32 floors, New York office of Thomson Reuters. For him the drive from his
Breezy Point neighbourhood circumventing the Upper River Hudson side, tracing out
the Queens and inner Brooklyn towards lower Manhattan was like a Roosevelt –Marcy
trail, starting with the backdrop of the Adirondack, ending almost near the
harbour, tracing the intercourse of the mountain river and the Ocean right
through its sleek estuary, it took him through a road trip that read like the
history of modern New York, taking him across all the 3 bridges, as a choice,
he could miss them if he was in a hurry, but he never really was.
He completely enjoyed driving his Silverado through the long
and winding trail that took him at times over two hours when the traffic was at
its peak. For him it was all about he, himself, the car, the car stereo and
soaking in the experience of New York. It never really mattered that he had to
drive like a migrant peasant across the 5 boroughs.
Henry Hudson, Dutch East India Company. On a drive.
Many a times if he found the traffic too heavy, he would
park by at any of the closest available private parking lots and take off on
his unique 24 Shimano gear, bamboo bicycle, that he had imported from China,
and which he always carried as a permanent part of his station wagon.
In fact the rare portion of his SW was an extension of a
multiple utility garage of sorts, it had all sorts of things, a Bamboo bicycle,
a sleek, portable, Segway scooter, an inflatable 4 Seater Canoe with short oars,
a surf board, a skateboard, a tent, a barbecue, gadgets for climbing and
survival kits.
His passion for the outdoors was tremendous. Daniel often shipped
his Car along during his long tours.
The radio jockey was belching out stuff that kept him marooned
to his thoughts. It was Coldplay number streaming as he cruised the Atlantic
Expressway His conversation with Annie and the prospect of visiting London
lingered at the back of his mind.
New York was so much like Bombay. Where Daniel had started
his early adult life. As a teen, Sarsu was by then a Journalist with the Asian
Age and a vociferous writer, after a bitter separation from Mohan, and closer
to Arvind. Who was by then a Member of Parliament.
The radio jockey sneaked in with a Karen Carpenter number, Jambalaya, She
was hinting that She gotta go down the bayou, Daniel simply hummed along.
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