April maadhathil...

Zakir Hussain and his 'Masters of Percussion' tour's final performance for the year in Cornell gave me a convenient excuse to plan a long weekend in New York a month ago.

Stopping over at Chicago for an evening is surely becoming the norm for my outings. Nishanth had to cut his sleep to only three hours the following morning so that we could say hi and bye before I took the Amtrak train to O'Hare. The take off gave me a beautiful view of downtown and how it towered over the rest of the city. Downtown Chicago is scary indeed, the avenues teem with cabs, cars and pedestrians and a chopper's view would look like ants crawling through a maze.

I walked out of New York's La Guardia airport in good time and with Anupam's perfect directions, I found myself in uptown NY in no time. The city reminds me strongly of New Delhi, with cars parked by the lanes, road-side restaurants, hawkers on footpaths, not-so-clean streets, and a multi cultural population. I almost looked around for a chai-stall next to one of the fag booths, but that was not to be! AKC, as Anupam is better known, stays and works in NY city's scientific hub. Sloan Kettering, Rockefeller and Wiel Cornell produce some much-talked-about research. in life sciences. Walking around the streets, don't be surprised to see people munching sandwiches in their lab coats on, doctors and medical interns sipping coffee with their blue gowns on.
After a quick bite of sandwiches with Anupam and Pallavi, we left for Brooklyn bridge and a sneak peak at downtown Manhattan. We got back in time for Anupam to get done with his work. A cuppa coffee at his favourite neighbourhood place later, we got our rental car and drove out of the city. The drive was one of the best I have ever had. The famous American freeways do make travelling across states a pleasure. After a couple of pit stops and some tense moments (with AKC being hilariously tense and generous in 4-letter words on occasions!) we got to the Ithacan Hogwarts in good time.

The next morning was bright and sunny and with Rachna and Pallavi, I had a traditional American breakfast of sandwiches, eggs and coffee. Cornell is blessed with beautiful scenery, immaculately manicured lawns, towering Roman architecture, breathtaking gorges, ravines and waterfalls - all at a stone's throw from students' residences. The Buttermilk falls provide a perfect picnic spot for kids and adults alike. The numerous trails wrap the falls lazily and one gets ample walking time and space.

A short visit to Ithaca Falls and a quick bite of papdi chat later, we drove to the concert venue, which was teeming with music lovers well before start.

The show began with Taufiq Qureshi demonstrating the most natural of rhythms - the breath. Ust. Sabir Khan, son of the legendary Ust. Sultan Khan, wove his magic on the sarangi before the maestro appeared and began captivating the audience with his beats. The violinist brothers Ganesh and Kumaresh provided an ideal balance to the percussion, which was further supplemented by imacculate performances on the pakhavaj, dholak and traditional drums from rural Bengal.

Classical ragas fused with Beethoven, birthday wishes were passed on to musical greats like Ust. Allah Rakha, the drums simulated a quarrel between a husband and a wife and the show ended to thunderous applause. After a lazy dinner of rotis and aaloo dum, I was surprised with a cake (two actually, one splattered all over my face) and gifts for my birthday that was just three days away. The night wasn't over and we drove out well past midnight to visit another waterfall and lake Cayuga.

The drive back to NY city was pleasant and musical, with Silk route capturing our minds. We got into the city after quite a wait and I experienced the my first traffic jam in this country! Sipping coffee with AKC right next to the runway in La Guardia, I remember feeling satisfied with everything over the last three days. Meeting up with friends is one of the best things that could happen, more so over long drives and awesome music. NY to O'Hare to Madison was routine and I walked in to a sleepy home in the wee hours of Monday, happy and ready to get back to work.

Much has happened at work and home since, and I hope to go over that in my next post.