7 WEEKS IN USA

 

Seven lonely days make one lonely week, sang Georgia Gibbs long ago. But Akhila and I have just returned after 49 days of lots of company making seven entertaining weeks in the USA. Initially, there was a bit of reluctance to go mainly because of the long flight; we are getting a bit old for it. Then Akhila’s motherly instinct kicked in. Ruchir has recently acquired an apartment in Miami and two new maid-cum-cooks, one Nepali and the other Brazilian, in New York and Miami respectively. Akhila was keen to fine-tune their Indian culinary skills so that they could provide Ruchir with dishes of his choice. 

In New York, our social life kickstarted within a day of our arrival with a dinner at the Knickerbocker Club hosted by Frank Wisner, US Ambassador to India in mid-90s, and his partner, Judy. Frank and I had played a lot of golf together when he was in Delhi and have kept in touch largely through Ruchir who Frank is very fond of. I recounted the story of how I first came across the word ‘knickerbocker’. Back in Jaipur, there is a restaurant called ‘Niro’s’ which had just opened in my school days in early ‘50s. It had a good selection of ice creams and my favourite was a sundae called ‘Knickerbocker Glory’. Recently on a trip to Jaipur, I visited the restaurant and inquired whether they still had it on their a la carte. To my delight, the waiter said yes and produced it alongwith another survival from the past, ‘Honeymoon Special’!

That weekend, there was a big dinner by the US-Indian Business Council at the Natural History Museum for which we got invited with Ruchir. The dinner was to felicitate Arvind Krishna on becoming the CEO of IBM. With Arvind we have a double connection. His father, Maj Gen Vinod Krishna, and I were together on the staff at DSSC Welington where I was the Golf Captain and Vinod, a senior member of the team. Thereafter, both of us landed up in Delhi after retirement and met regularly at the Army Golf Course. Arvind’s wife, Sonia, is the daughter of a very dear friend and naval colleague, Late Cmde PK (Pinky) Jain. It was a pleasure meeting them at the dinner where Sonia told us that her mother, Poonam, and younger sister, Radhika, were expected from India a few weeks later. 9th July, two days before our planned departure, was booked for a lunch at their home in Ridgefield, Connecticut and the get-together did take place.

Another naval lady, Tinku Jain, daughter of Vice Adm ‘Tony’ Jain and wife of Ajit Jain of Berkshire Hathaway fame, was also present at the US-Indo dinner and it was nice to chat about her father and the good old naval days.

Shalabh, Akhila’s nephew and a few friends of Ruchir visited and kept us busy. We saw Tom Cruise’s Top Gun Maverick on IMAX screen. The flying scenes were outstanding but the movie lacked the emotional appeal of the first film which had attracted many young men to join naval aviation and buy Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses. A couple of Sunday brunches later, it was time to fly to Miami.

Ruchir had accompanied us for the weekend and took us to his apartment in The Setai on South Beach. It was love at first sight with the spectacular view of the sea from the apartment’s balcony. South Beach is a wonderful location and although off season, people were still thronging the beach and music could be heard from The Setai’s beachside Ocean Grill restaurant and other nearby hotels all the time. It seems as if Miamians have just two things to do: sunbathing and swimming in the daytime and partying at night.

The day after our arrival, the third young naval lady that we know in the US, Arati, daughter of dear friends Kailash and Kumud Kohli, came for dinner with her husband, another Ravi also with a naval background being the son of Late Admiral Batta. Arati and Ravi have been well settled in Miami for a number of years and have acquired golfing genes from their respective fathers and outdriven them!

We had learnt in Delhi that Kailash and Kumud had also planned a trip to Miami and we extended our stay so that we could meet them. One afternoon, they came for lunch with us and a couple of days later, Arati took us all for lunch at her lush green Golf Club. Arati and Ravi have a nice, sprawling house at Golden Beach Drive, about 45 minutes north of our place but interestingly, on the same road, Collins Avenue.

Meanwhile, Ruchir had returned to NYC and Akhila and I were by ourselves in Miami for about 10 days. We made a road trip to the famous Florida Keys all the way to Key West, a distance of over 150 miles one way. It was a thrilling and unique experience driving from one Key to another connected by narrow bridges with miles and miles of nothing but sea on either side. If you took your eye away from the road, you felt that you were actually sailing. 

The first island that we passed, Key Largo, was the largest with a length of 30 miles and a width of half a mile. And then on to Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine Key and finally Key West.

We were intrigued by the term ‘key’ till we learnt that it is derived from the Spanish word ‘caye’ meaning small island. Another interesting information we gathered was that most of the sand on beaches of Key West is not natural but shipped from the Caribbean.

The highlight was a visit to what is known as the ‘Southernmost Point of the Continent of USA’ marked by a colourful landmark buoy with an endless queue of people getting photographed. We cheated by having ours taken from the side. This point is 90 miles from Cuba and people say that on a clear night, you can see the lights of Havana. But realists dismiss that as folklore as the distance is too long over the sea given the curvature of the earth. We couldn’t test it ourselves as we had to take the long drive back. Perhaps just as well as I read that Key West is one of 10 top haunted cities in the US!

We also visited the Ernest Hemingway house where the famous writer lived in the ‘30s and wrote ‘The Snows Of Kilimanjaro’ and ‘Green Hills Of Africa’.

Back in Miami, there was a lot of sightseeing to do but there were two places we particularly liked. The Design District is full of luxury shops with the best known  brands of the world. Murals on the walls are brilliant particularly at the Wynwood Walls which is a museum of murals as well as some exclusive  photographs of murals from abroad.

For us, the top of the pops was Little Havana and Calle Ocho, a small street full of shops, cafes and nightclubs. At one end of the street is the Bay of Pigs Memorial remembering the many Cubans who lost their lives in the 1961 failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. Moving on, there is Domino Park where people sit down and play that game. The Tower Theatre built in 1926 is still going strong and on the day of our visit, we saw a huge crowd waiting to move in for the premiere of the latest version of ‘The Father Of The Bride’, the story of which has a Cuban background and scenes of Calle Ocho. 

Both sides of the pavement in Calle Ocho are known as ‘Walk Of Fame’ and have Sidewalk Stars honouring famous Cuban and Latin American entertainment superstars. I was thrilled to see the two belonging to my favourite singers, Julio Iglesias and Gloria Estefan. 

There are a number of shops with workers preparing hand rolled cigars right in front of you. We sat down for drinks and I had a signature Mojito with Cuban Rum. We visited the Azucar shop specializing in Cuban flavoured ice creams followed by coffee at La Colada which claims to be ‘The House Of Cuban Coffee’. Finally, we listened to some Latin American music at the famous nightclub ‘Ball Of Chain’ before reluctantly calling it a night.

In spare time at the apartment, Akhila tutored Jane, the Brazilian, on many recipes which the latter wrote down conscientiously in her book. She prepared quite a few for us to taste and Akhila gave her high marks for proficiency and eagerness to learn.

That done, we returned to New York for the remainder of our trip.

Ruchir organised a visit to the NY Metropolitan Museum where he knows Navina Haidar, Chief Curator of Islamic Art. The collection of items is fabulous and Navina explained the history and significance of the important items in great detail. Incidentally, she is the daughter of Salman Haidar, the Indian Foreign Secretary in the late '90s.

Opposite the Met on the other side of 5th Avenue, is the Neue Galerie displaying German and Austrian paintings. It also houses the popular Cafe Sabarsky the Chocolate cake and Viennese coffee of which we can personally recommend.

Shalabh organised a karaoke session at his place where even I sang two Pankaj Mullick songs after I don’t know how long!

Ruchir’s friend and ex-colleague, Manju Juneja, invited us for lunch at Hudson National Golf Club, about an hour’s drive from the city. The surroundings are beautiful with the Clubhouse overlooking Hudson River and we even hit a few balls at the practice range.

We had a Sunday brunch at the Peak Restaurant located on the 101st floor of Hudson Yards which has an observation deck for a super aerial view of New York and beyond. That building, as indeed some others, now looms over the Empire State, at one time the tallest building in the world.

We hosted a family dinner which included Anjula, my cousin, also on a visit to NYC, along with her daughter Aadya, my nephew Zubin and his wife, Ayang who we met for the first time, my nieces Shreya and Shaumyika, the latter with her husband Ben. It was great to meet so many of the family while still missing for one reason or another, my cousin Navin and his wife Pamela, Aadya’s husband Mike, and Shreya’s husband,Will,

Then there was the 4th July. It is, of course, the American Independence Day but holds special importance for us being Akhila’s birthday. Akhila was insisting on a private lunch just with the three of us, so Ruchir said we would go to a place in New Jersey. After the experience of the ‘surprise’ party on our 50th wedding anniversary, it was no surprise that on arrival at Alpine Marina, we were greeted by Akhila’s Bijnor friend now settled in New Jersey, Vijay, and her husband Raj, Rup Swarup, the doctor who helped me so much during my illness in 2012 and became a family friend thereafter, and his wife Namrata, Shalabh with his wife Graziella and children Divya and Devan, and Tinku Jain. We were escorted to a yacht and sailed for a cruise down the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and disembarked at the Chelsea Piers. In between, there was a sumptuous lunch with dancing chiefly on Kishore Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan songs.

All too soon, 49 days came to an end and we are back in Dilli.