New York, the big apple

On the American late night CBS show anchored by witty David Letterman, one can see on its screen well lit skyscrapers resembling the milk way galaxy. A voice over excitedly proclaim New York to be the greatest city in the world. You would think the skies above the city would be either golden or at […]

On the American late night CBS show anchored by witty David Letterman, one can see on its screen well lit skyscrapers resembling the milk way galaxy. A voice over excitedly proclaim New York to be the greatest city in the world. You would think the skies above the city would be either golden or at least different from others, but then it expectedly turns out to be normal.

I must admit though, the view from above was absolutely breath taking.

My visit to New York was a fleeting one, more like a two day stopover, because my destination was Washington D.C on the eve of President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

I just decided to route my ticket through the city in order to confirm if what that voice proclaimed was true or otherwise, using the voices criteria, of course.

I know for sure the verdict would be otherwise, using mine. To make up your mind, let me roll out some statistics about the city.

 New York is made up of five boroughs with a subway amazingly connecting all of them. It is said there is no city in the whole wide world that can boast of a better public transit system, one which has totally eliminated the need to own a car. The cities subway infrastructure beneath the famous Broadway was first completed by Alfred Ely in 1870 and closed just three years after to give way to a modern one, as is now known in 1904.

Using this criterion alone is enough to agree with that voice, or what do you think? It is one of the most populated cities in the world. There are 26,402 people/sq mile, nearly double the second most populous city of San Francisco. A little over 400 years ago, around 1600, New York was a haven for pirates.

Mogadishu just turned that corner. It is said the bricks used to build the imposing trinity church in the city was donated by the notorious Captain Kidd. It was nearly destroyed during the American Revolution.

The speed at which it was rebuilt, I think, is another criterion worth considering. Other familiar landmarks like the statue of liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge were opened in 1886 and 1883 respectively.

Now, lets start from the beginning.  Few days before leaving Nigeria, I called my good friend [Ibrahim Awwalu] the consul at the Nigerian consulate in New York to request for an airport pick-up.

On arrival in that chilly and windy New York weather, I was warmly received by a friendly Nigerian driver, nicknamed Ambassador, because of the number of years he had spent in both New York and with the consulate. He drove me directly to the Millennium Hotel overlooking the United Nations building in Manhattan. At the reception, I was given a key to a room on the 31st floor. Unknown to me, the consul had graciously arranged for my accommodation already. What really can I do without these friends? In New York?

I thought to myself as I collected the key card, why not on the second or third floors? I almost requested for another floor when a voice inside me said ‘take it, you may get a good birds eye view of the city’. I decided against it. Oh, lest I forget, as we were about going to the lift, former president Olusegun Obasanjo breezed in, in his usual manner with an aide tagging along. He was also staying in the hotel and was just coming out of the UN where he went to brief the secretary general on the situation in the Congo.

I went over to greet him and proceeded to my room to keep my luggage.

I came down almost immediately after and requested for the ambassador’s reference to a good restaurant for dinner. He said there was a good Chinese restaurant just around the corner which is highly patronized by diplomats. Ambassador was right, the restaurant was really good, and the walls were adorned by testimonies to this from commendation letters of people who had eaten there.

Dinner done, I was shown the entrance to the consulate and dropped off at the hotel. As soon as I entered my room, the phone rang and it was the Honourable consul calling to enquire if I was settled. I thanked and told him I was. We agreed on the time to meet in the office the following day. It was then I opened the drapes to have a view of the space from the room. Luckily, it was overlooking the UN building, which was like dwarfed by my hotel. To the left of it was the district of Queens, from where the billionaire developer Donald Trump came. From the right side I had another view of the Empire State Building, Chrysler and G. M. buildings amongst several other skyscrapers. It was indeed what you could call a room with a view.

We woke up the following day to a very chilly weather. From my window, I saw the snow falling down and shuddered I looked at the wall clock and dashed into the shower. By the time I came out and looked down, the roof of the UN building was completely covered in snow; I could see vehicles busy clearing snow from the roads.

As soon as I came out of the revolving doors at the reception, I made a quick u-turn back. I had obviously underestimated the cold weather. I waited until I had gathered enough warmth to enable me dash to a shop for a hat and hand gloves before venturing out again.

About 50 meters away I saw a man bravely displaying what I wanted with people flocking around. I quickly picked a hat and hand gloves and paid without any bargain; there was no time for that. I said to myself, I hope this man isn’t being penny wise. I thought he would end up spending all the money made treating the flu after that a prolonged exposure to the cold.

I put on the gloves and hat immediately and dashed to the consulate.

Passing by a window and looking at myself in the glass made me re-trace my steps back to look again. I looked like those Run DMC hip- hop artists, so I removed them immediately upon entry in order to be recognizable on the closed circuit cameras inside, in case the consul was watching. Inside my friends cozy office, I felt really comfortable and at ease.

We exchanged pleasantries and caught up on old times. I was served hot coffee while the driver that showed me around was being arranged. Immediately after lunch and Zuhr prayer, or maybe the other way round, [can’t remember exactly] I was set to go. The driver assigned to me was a Pilipino named Al.

We exchanged greetings and he asked where I wanted to visit first. I gave him a list in order of priorities, starting with ground zero, the site of the former World Trade Centre, and we zoomed off.

On arrival, I reflected on that fateful day and imagined the chaos that I had seen times without number on TV. I can still remember exactly where I was and who called to break the news to me on 9/11.

I was particularly fascinated by a prism like structure that I saw around there which I kept looking at until it went out of sight. Driving down there, I saw New Jersey right across the Hudson River, in the news then because of the heroic landing on it by American airlines pilot Captain Sullenburger.

From there we crossed the famous Brooklyn Bridge and proceeded to Harlem where I saw plenty of my distant cousins milling around.

I somehow forgot to request Al to show me former president Clinton’s office which is located there. We then drove by the equally famous central park, a park that’s in the middle of the city with lots of wealthy celebrities living right across.

I couldn’t walk around it because of the weather, but I wondered at how nice it would be to stroll there at the height of summer. We drove by the Rockefeller centre and I told Al to drop me off at Times square, a place that Muhammad al- Ghazali, a columnist with Daily Trust, so aptly described in one of his pieces recently.

Now, my interest was to go see a nice movie, so I dropped right in front of a theatre. It was already dark; I didn’t want to risk a long stroll. I selected that Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchet Benjamin movie that was just released and then in serious contention to win an Oscar in either the best actor or picture category or both.

I wasn’t disappointed, though the story line is more fictional than reality. The actors performances were out of the ordinary. I came out and gave myself a treat in a nice eatery, had a souvenir photo with the glitter of the square at the background, took a cab back to the hotel, which in a way capped my visit, because it is said ‘you haven’t really been to New York city until you have ridden in the back of the cities cabs’.

My chatty driver whom I guessed was an Egyptian kept speaking to me about football, not knowing that it is not exactly my cup of tea, as the English would say. Recalling that my friend and room mate at the university [Sanusi Muazu], a great football fan, was always talking about Zamalek of Egypt, I mentioned them. This triggered and got him talking some more.

My plan was to keep him talking and thinking football to prevent any sinister thought crossing his mind, [I hadn’t the slightest idea where we were headed]. I know its bad to think badly of anybody but I just couldn’t bring myself to trust any stranger in New York at that time of the night. After what seemed like eternity, he screeched to a halt in front of the Millennium Hotel.

I paid him off with a tip and got out with a sigh of relief. It was then late into the night, [not by the cities standards], for me. Praying upstairs at that time of the night made me feel as if I was the only one praying in New York, though I knew there must have been others, I knew for sure, we weren’t many. Judging from what I saw at that Times Square. Alhamdu Lillah. The next day, I went for lunch in the consulate, from where I was dropped at Penn station close to Madison square garden for my Amtrak ride to Washington D.C. via Philadelphia and Delaware, Vice President Joe Biden’s own state, from where he has been commuting to Washington for the past several years.

Can you imagine such modesty? In the train, looking at the beautiful countryside, I pondered on the voices of proclamation about New York, but settled on not taking a decision [I hadn’t seen much] until I re- visit, which I hope would be soon. I will keep you posted.