New York!

I had never imagined that I would fall so deeply in love with a city. Especially, not in America! But one winter evening, everything changed. It was the evening I walked on the streets of Manhattan. Adjectives fail me when I try to describe the City. Lively, vivacious, glitzy, charming, sensational, spectacular, I could go on... There is something new at the turn of every corner; there isn’t a dull moment at any part of the city at any given moment. The only satisfactory way to gauge Manhattan would be by experiencing it. After my 15 day long stay, I, now classify people in 2 categories – Those who have been to New York and those who haven’t. It is the first time I felt the influence of a City overpowering the influence of Man. Yes, one can argue – it was Man who built Manhattan. Well, Man only initiated the building process, but now, it is Manhattan that builds Men.

The densely packed high rises with one way avenue grids pierced between them, instead of intimidating citizens, free up ground space for their desires to glisten. I used to imagine the City being on its way towards complete ruin where human experience is replaced by hypnotized zombie numbness. Manhattan made me question that image. Yes, Times Square is hypnotic - the glitz tries to conquer everyone into a mode of blasé and choreograph each person as pixel lighting up massive electronic billboards there. Even the ruby red steps at one end provide every person with resting space to allow initiation of the numbing process. And just when one is about to get hypnotised, someone from the crowd nudges you, someone pokes you, someone’s pointed heels pierce your toes, a flashmob breaks out into a performance and disturbs the hypnotising process. Suddenly the space of dazzle becomes a space for expression- from becoming a part of the herd getting consumed by the commerce around, to trying to stand out from the crowd by suddenly disturbing the monotony. Such is the affect the city has on people.

I don’t particularly like the architecture of the buildings in Manhattan. The facetious details on the facades of most buildings felt out of scale and anachronistic, even the contemporary starchitects’ designed buildings seemed banal, yet, everything seemed to fit perfectly. It wasn’t like a well designed house, but a well loved home.

The City still seems to be in process of growth. Many pavements have been barricaded off for renovation, many buildings have scaffolding clinging on to their facades- as if the city will never be satisfied with what is has. In many ways, Manhattan reminded me of Mumbai. Despite the density, despite the mess, the citizens always find a way to negotiate through and reach their destination. Actually, that very density and mess is what provides ample opportunity that attracts people here, and they get so passionate in its pursuit that there is no time to pause and complain. There is a non-stop flow of adrenaline that keeps the city awake, eternally.

My first glimpse of Manhattan was the mid town skyline from my Queensboro bridge. The image I had seen so many times on television, in posters and photographs I was seeing it firsthand now. With traffic swooshing by, and various ambient lights and structures preventing an unhindered constant view of the skyline, it felt like a storm and we were driving right into it. The moment we descended the bridge’s ramp and turned into 2^nd avenue, we had entered the storm.

Everything seemed supercharged. From cab drivers stopping anywhere they felt convenient, to hoards of people crossing the road even before the light turned green, to car horns blasting from every side of the road, and even the lights and billboards flashing noisily, completely engulfing everyone in its sphere of influence. This landscape of concrete felt like a film set- everyone had a purpose and a role to play, every part of the landscape was constructed for a precise reason. I could hear Alicia Keys singing Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York, New York, New York!

After seeing New York from top of Rock and then the rooftop Press Lounge (11^th Avenue) I could imagine how intoxicated Robert Moses might have felt while planning New York from his office on the top floor of a skyscraper. But I felt truly exalted while walking down Lexington Avenue, Park Avenue, 5^th Avenue, Bleecker Street, 6^th Avenue, and understood why Jane Jacobs chose to cursed him from the street below! Probably this is why walking on the Highline, this is at a level between the street and the rooftop, felt strangely peaceful. There, along with the tracks, even time felt preserved.

I spent nearly all of my days in New York just walking down the various avenues admiring the high density high rise fabric of the city, and as a flâneur observing people and life on the pavements and at times even in the subway. On New Year’s Eve, I was waiting at Lorimer Street subway station for the L train towards 8^th Avenue, when four young presumable college students, who got out from the previous train on the opposite platform, started setting up their musical instruments. In a minute or so, they started singing. Suddenly the atmosphere of the station got transformed, most people stopped talking and listened to them and some lowered their voices. After two songs, they packed up and left.

At another instance, this time inside the G train to Brooklyn, a young African American man got up and announced that he was a poet and wanted to recite something for the fellow passengers. Generally, when such announcements are made, everyone instantly either looks down appearing deeply engrossed in their books or phones, or in any direction except for the person seeking attention. The same happened here, but before the poet could start reciting, someone started chuckling. This infuriated the poet and he yelled out – c’mon man, I don’t expect this from a brother. These white folk are better, man..it just sucks to see someone from my own people not letting me earn an honest living. C’mon man shut up and let me recite. If you laugh again, then I’ll show you. Just then that man laughed. I’ll show you man, I’ll show you the power of the pen and the power of poetry. He kept on going until someone in the train asked them to take it outside. At the next stop one family sitting right across from me, checked whether the poet and that man were leaving, but they weren’t so, the family got out of the train. All through my trips in Europe and the US (mostly the Bay Area) until now, not once had I heard color being used in an argument. New York seemed to have it all.

New York seems to be a human city, where people are not afraid to err nor express themselves, where there is filth and stench on the streets, where crossing the road is an annoying hindrance and not a barrier, where no matter how busy one is, there will always be time to glance at the Christmas tree of Rockerfeller plaza and make a passing comment, where even the most seasoned traveller will look at the subway map to check connections, where cars will honk when irritated, where trains run late and change routes on the fly, where exhaustion hits the moment one steps out of the city, where one can find inspiration absolutely anywhere.

It is a city where I felt alive.

5.

La Chaux du Fonds

La Chaux du Fonds is the birthplace of Le Corbusier. The city has a watch museum and a few buildings designed by Corbusier. The city rises from one end to another. At the topmost point is the first building (Maison Blanche )that was designed by Le Corbusier. There is also a zoo which is located just by the way, while walking down towards the train station. We saw a sloth bear, reindeer, llama and a polar bear!!

There is a small plaque on the wall of a building where Corbusier's house existed. Some of Corbusier's drawings have been made into street graffiti at some places.

The watch museum is quite fantastic. The building sinks under a berm and looks absolutely unremarkable from outside. The moment one steps inside, one is enveloped by machines and components of machines.

Watches and everything to do with them. Exploded models of watches, the earliest watch to the latest. Suspended spheres float around displaying some of the watches. Just like the watches even the architecture was exposed concrete displaying deep beams and strange skylights at the most unexpected places!!

In the train en route to La Chaux du Fonds there was a man sitting opposite us wearing a shirt that had two slits on his cuff for the straps of the watch. We were just dumbfounded to discover something as awesome as that.

Later on it turned out, that man was the head of the watch museum!! :)

4

Geneva

Went straight to the see the UN building. Saw the UN building. There is a grid of surprise fountain and a chair with one leg broken, in front of the UN building. Shreya, Saachi, Sujata and Arjun got drenched in it. Opposite this is a park with an antique anti-aircraft gun parked. Then we took a walk through the botanical gardens. Some parts felt like from the Jurassic Park, was fascinating. temperature controlled glass houses/ green houses had some rare plants. I was expecting some lizards, worms etc to crawl out from somewhere, but nothing.

We walked out and then walked by the lake. Went to the part of the city with the 150m high fountain. Took a ferry to see Geneva from lake. Saw the fountain spraying water upwards. A rainbow was formed because of the mist and other conditions created by the micro climate due to the fountain. Saw many bank buildings. Reminiscent of fort area, mumbai, except that there is the huge lake infront of them.

After the boat ride, walked back to the station through streets, between stone clad mall/hotel/bank buildings, and caught the next train to Bern.

3

Basel

Went in the morning, left in the evening. While walking towards the cartoon museum, chanced upon the Kunstmuseum. We entered this huge courtyard where many people were reclining and staring up at the sky. There were white streamers fluttering above, literally suspended from the sky! We found a spot and lay down and gazed up at the white fluttering stuff with the clear blue sky in the background. There was an open air bar, and some string instrument playing in the background. Chatter and laughter of people filled the air. And from whichever part of the courtyard you looked up, u saw the streamers fluttering, in one point perspective. Outside the museum there were free postcards up for grabs. We grabbed many. Then, we walked to the cartoon museum. A small building squeezed in between other larger buildings. But once you entered, bought the ticket and entered another door, the dimension changed drastically ! There is the old building - road facing, and then there is the new building - behind the old one. Glass walls on both sides of a bridge connected both of them. There were primarily erotic metaphorical cartoon paintings exhibited. And in one small room with creaky wood flooring, there were all kinds of comics and cartoons from all parts of the world placed on shelves that spanned across all the walls.

We had lunch at an American burger fast food restaurant.

And then went in search of a Zaha Hadid designed Casino building that we had read about in the Architecture Design museum earlier that day. We went to the casino in the city centre, turns out its not the one, there is another casino near the airport. We hop onto a bus and go there. Unknowingly, hop off the bus 4 stops before the casino hotel, and then start walking towards it. En route we meet a curator from one of the museums who tells us that the Zaha Hadid building was abandoned at the proposal stage because the citizens found it ugly and voted against it!

So, we took the bus back.. This time, we spotted a Mario Botta building. Some fancy dark grey stone clad circular building. Had to be his design! We hopped off the bus, took quick snaps and had to rush back to get onto the next bus. Problem with travelling in groups where travelling is defined as sitting in cafes and looking around. On reaching the station we remembered the Herzog & de Meuron designed Signal Box building just off the railway tracks.

Quickly walked towards it. En route we walked through a few ultra slick commercial buildings. The cladding material is super slick and some created courtyard spaces have good light coming through, but everything is so grey! Can't complain though, it is their favourite colour. The signal box is copper brown in colour and is looking at it for more than 2 mins at a stretch could disorient you. The box is clad with copper strips and at some places they twist and open. These open spaces probably allow light inside, but from outside look very dark. Apparently they won the Pritzker for this building design. We couldn't go inside.

Then the group rushed back to the station, caught the train in the nick of time and headed back to Bern. By now, I realized, around 1/3rd of the time in the trip has been spent on logistics - where to go, how to go, when to go, what to eat, where to eat, when to eat, who will cook, who will buy, how much does it cost, who all will pay, what to see when we get there, why to see it, etc.

The cuckoo clock, Switzerland.

“Italy, for thirty years, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance. And Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy, peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!”

Harry Limes, ‘The Third Man’

2

Bern

The first thing I saw when I emerged out from the underground (station) was the glass canopy hovering above. After stepping away from the escalator, right in front is the bus stop. And all around are shopping malls inside seemingly grand facade buildings.

The transport system in Switzerland is amazing. Very well designed, very functional, very ergonomic. There are some buses with places to rest one's butt while standing during peak hours! Nearly everything is planned for. Even twin prams! Oh, and the pram designs ! There are all types of them - single, twin - side by side, or one behind the other, twin + storage, ways to carry baby on shoulders, on the back or the front, or both!

The buildings are clean edged boxes, and primarily green glass facades. The favourite colour of the Swiss seems to be black, grey or red. Thats what they wear and thats what they colour their buildings. There are hardly any billboards in the city. And on the roads, the cars are super disciplined. All vehicles start slowing down atleast 500mts from the zebra crossing to allow pedestrians to cross. And, no honking whatsoever!! Infact, this is the scene in all cities in Switzerland.

The student housing that we stayed in, is located on the outskirts of the city. This is as per the Corbusian/modernist plan of zoning places of staying away from places of working. And all the buildings look alike, i.e. like long grey cuboids with large green lawns between them.

Nearly everything is done by the book, and any discrepancy leads to massive trauma and confusion!

Lifts in these buildings don't have the inner door, so you can touch the walls and outer doors on your way up or down! There are deep basements in these buildings. Our building had 2 of them. And there were so many storage cells! Shreya and Sujata thought they appeared like human storage chambers during the wars. And in the deafeningly silent darkness of the basement they lurked ! There is a music room in the lower basement with a 500mm thick concrete strong door.... but if the door shuts, you cannot open it. There are 2 fabulous Pianos there. Saw it, but never used it.

The silence was deafening even above the ground. It took some time getting used to.

These buildings we stayed in are amongst the highest in the city, so, from the room one could see the right up to the Alps on a clear day! It was as if the windows were framing a picture postcard. One day, 2 hot air balloons ascended from a yonder hill.

We took the bus to the city centre. Over a period of time I felt that the bus moved at the same speed, turned in the same radius, stopped at the exact spot, every single time ! It was as if, there is no room for error.

The city of Bern has the river Aare (pronounced as Aarey) flowing through it. And along one part of it is a bear park. Sloth bears walking around in a fenced sloped part along the river's edge for people to come and look up (from the river) or down (from the bridge) at them. And there are screens that show the bears' activity when they enter the caves.

Theres a massive cuckoo clock in the old part of the city. And in the old/heritage buildings of Bern - malls, shops, bakeries, supermarkets, etc have taken over. But in the middle of the cobbled road between the heritage buildings is a narrow underground stream flows - covered in some places, and open in a few. This seemed to be the only area with any potential of surprise in the city!

Oh, and the basements of some of these heritage buildings had some very nice night clubs and pubs.

The city is glossy clean during the day, but at 3am saturday morning or 2am sunday morning, you'll be walking on cigarette butts littered around and squishing unfinished beer cans and water bottles. The administration is super efficient and disciplined.

We went to the Paul Klee Zentrum - designed by Renzo Piano and Westside shopping mall - designed by Daniel Libeskind. PKZ has steel clad concrete structure supposedly growing/ curving out of the landscape and fancy louvres and structural detailing. The exhibition spaces were quite banalised by false ceiling, etc.

The Westside mall - angled beams coming out of the wall and going into the ceiling, staircases going in weird angles, banal mall typo scale, textbook DL ceiling lights.. But at night, from the train looked quite awesome.

Some experiences in some parts of Europe - 1

Zurich Flughafen/ Airport

At 6am, 16th August,2010, Zurich had the misty early morning glow. From the flight, just approaching its descent, everything seemed green with boxes placed neatly, some hilly landscaping and some smaller aircrafts flying in the distance. I'm not sure what I was expecting..maybe lego-land or something!

After getting engulfed by the aerobridge, we were taken down by huge escalators to this train-shuttle stop station. The PA system was announcing something in 3-4 different languages..And the signs said something strange. There are glass walls on both sides of the platform with automatic doors that open to allow people to enter the train. There was some line drawn on the floor near the automatic doors.... I didn't know which side was to and which was from! The guards cleared my doubt. So, I stood in the line. Most of the regulars stood well behind the line in a neat file, and we were wondering what the matter was! The train arrived, the PA started booming again, and people got in and got out and then some loud beeping sound came and I nearly got stuck between the glass automatic doors ! Arjun pulled me back in the nick of time!! So, we took the next shuttle. When the shuttle-train started moving, it made sounds of birds twittering, water falling and such further disorienting sounds. We were moving through a tunnel, where was the sound coming from?

Finally, we reached the main station. Cleared immigration, and picked up the bags. Our Swiss friends received us and took us up an escalator. We were heading toward the Zurich flughafen train station. I think, its the 1st time I saw people going up escalators with trolleys!We went up a couple of escalators and then walked across a bridge and then went down a couple. Going down was the tricky part. Someone's bags did fall out of the trolley and bounced down the escalator. And finally we were at this huge concourse. There were supermarkets, bagel stalls, fancy boutiques, everything. We got our Swiss travel Passes activated and then took another escalator to go down to the train station. We missed one train due to confusion on which compartment to enter into! Took the next one. In the train, we had to climb up a flight of staircase and find seats. We shoved our bags between seats, under seats, everywhere, and suddenly realised, in the entire train, only we were talking. Automatically, our language switched to Hindi and tone got softer. But the other travelling, although quiet, were very helpful. After a glimpse of the boxes I saw from the flight, through the train, we entered a series of tunnels and left Zurich.

The flight from Mumbai landed in Zurich, but we finally got out only at Bern!