Friday, August 28, 2009

A vibrant city

New York was totally different from several other metropolis I have been so far.

The most striking feature of is its diverse population. People from all the corners of the world could be found probably in any small random sample of NYC people. As I had visited Seoul, South Korea; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Hong Kong, China and Kathmundu, Nepal, I had never had the idea how such varied population can work together. But in NYC it not only seemed to function, but is a main driving force of the city’s vibrancy. The tremendous force, vigor and spirit needed to run a world financial centre is perfectly present amid huge differences between the New Yorkers.

People say USA is a melting pot, but I could not find that much in NYC. Every major groups seemed to maintain there culture with their own style, and intermingling or intermarriage is not plenty. In my first two days, I found the first thing by which a people is identified is his ethnicity.

"Come off the African-American rapper. Those are the Arabs. Lets face the Chinese officer. Yeah, the Bangladeshi shopkeeper was good."

So here the melting pot seems not work perfectly. However, there is indeed a strong feeling that it doesn't matter from how isolated group you are– a unified, attached, gathering feeling of NYC is prevalent.

Among all ethnic communities, the most prominent is blacks. God bless them. They have fashion, etiquette and habits that only the Creator can imitate. In every move and gestures they seemed to convey some messages of distinctions.

Few days ago, I visited Manhattan. To my surprise, I wasn't surprise much seeing the huge jungle of tall buildings. Just thoughts came to my mind that it have to be like this, the financial centre of the world’s most powerful and greatest country. There is nothing surprising. The streets were flooded with tourists, like me. However, due to visa stringency, the European people dominate. And about NYC metro, God save us. It seemed to be a swing! The car units swing and oscillate so heavily that a naive person who is standing will surely stumble. The precise, smooth subway of Seoul was much better.

In summary, the exploding influx of immigrants seems to muchly erode the ‘culture’ of the city (As it is found in Seoul or Dhaka, an atmosphere very unique), but the grandness, largeness and intensity of activities surpass and overflow everything, to say: yeah this is New York!

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