Empire State of Mind

It's really strange the things we miss seeing when we're away from home. When I was in Calcutta, I didn't miss my room or my neighborhood or anything related to my house. Come to think of it, I didn't really miss NY at all, or so I thought.

I was walking towards the F train from Times Square the other night and the Chrysler Building was in front of me in all its beauty and I realized that I missed seeing it. It is by far one of my favorite buildings in NY; I find it's simple elegance beautiful, like a Chanel suit, not that I own any Chanel suits. My friend thought it was a strange thing to miss when I mentioned it to him, but it makes me feel like I live in a city with beauty in it. I never thought of NY to be a particularly "beautiful" city, but I find the Chrysler Building truly exquisite.



The other thing I really missed was seeing the Brooklyn Bridge. I went to college near it and spent lots of free time at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and like the Chrysler Building, I think it's beautiful, the brick structure, the greenish reflection of the lights on water at night, and the pattern the cables make. Whenever I got stressed, which was quite often during senior year, I would go down to the park and sit on this particular rock, smoke a few cigarettes and listen to the water hitting the rocks while staring at the bridge and Manhattan across the river; all this strangely set my mind at ease. I don't live in Brooklyn anymore, so I hardly get to go to that park and I miss it a lot.



For some reason, seeing the Chrysler Building that night made me realize that I'm back home. It's really strange what triggers feelings, of any sort. I guess I'm back to being in an Empire State of Mind.