Life's Like This (based on true stories) :: Nike+ Human Race wearing Reeboks :: Part II

First time visitors to this blog please read through the post before this, to fully comprehend this one...

Battery Park is basically a park on the southern tip of Manhattan with a view of the Liberty Island (on which the Statue of Liberty stands) and a lot of water in-between. That’s why the need for ferries. After alighting from the bus we saw a ferry looming in the distance and quickened our pace. Nearing it we realized there was no activity on or around it. My friend pointed out to another one on the right, a bit farther away hidden by a big white tent, with some activity going on. I thanked God and said, “Cool! Not many tourists”.

I guess, that day, something was jinxed about me saying positive hopeful things.

We crossed the tent and adjusted our eyes to take in the huge swarm of people snaking in queues. It felt like all the tourists visiting Manhattan that day had decided to visit the Statue. I saw an almost empty row, thought why people not getting in this one and then decided to take my chances, when an overly helpful Indian uncle stopped us and offered free advice (as is so common with NRI uncles), “Son, first you have to get tickets”. I waved my printed online tickets proudly. “No, no! You have to use those to get the actual tickets from there”, he said pointing towards a small building a bit farther away swarming with a bigger number of snaky queues!

My friend gave a look of exasperation which said, “What was the point of printing? How can the system and you be so dumb” (booking online had also attracted an extra convenience charge). I almost agreed with him when I spotted a steward. I decided to try my luck again with the ‘American Way’.

I showed him the printed online tickets and he welcomed us in the empty row explaining that we had fast track tickets and that was the row for the same and that they encourage people to buy them! With the trust in the ‘American Way’ restored, both of us gave the ‘you are the one who is dumb’ look to the uncle and moved on.

After about 30 minutes of standing in the queue being roasted in the sun we finally entered the tent. And as was happening with other things we were in for a surprise!

It was like all the security apparatus from the JFK airport had been put in there. We waited in line with Homeland Security watching over us, passed through with belts and shoes off and came out the other side with a sigh of relief. We didn’t have anything to hide but feeling the presence of Big Daddy does inculcate a bit of fear. After the security check there was another 30 minute wait for the ferry to dock and let us board, then a big rush to actually board it (being trained in India we were among the first boarders), then wait for the others to board (that was the consequence of the previous bracket). Phew! Finally it undocked and we were away, amazed instantly seeing the famed Manhattan skyline which we have watched in so many Bollywood flicks. The optimism was rising like a Phoenix from the ashes.

By the time we reached the Liberty Island our stomachs were making growling noises as a result of all the running and waiting around. We got off the ferry and were surprised to see some of the people staying behind on it (Well, only if we would have read the blogs before). Anyways, we scrambled for food and ended up eating apples and oranges (Yes! Apart from being a BIG miser he is also a BIG pure vegetarian)! But by that point, I had stopped complaining about things.

According to the revised schedule (which I made during the fruit lunch), we had about 10 minutes to roam around. The Phoenix was spreading its wings. The first thing we noticed was people sitting in what seemed like a queue.

God gives warnings but we mortals can be quite dumb at times.

In about 5 minutes we realized why people stayed back on the ferry, as the only other worthwhile thing to do on the Island apart from going up the Statue (for which we did not have tickets) was to click the Statue from behind. It felt funny and strange because I had always wanted a photograph of me with the Statue behind me. What I got was me and the Statue’s behind, behind me!

The 10 minutes were up and a ferry was getting docked. We decided to catch it and thus went to the boarding point.

Here was when the reality dawned on us and the Phoenix started to get reduced to ashes again.

We were told to go back to the end of the queue by a steward near the boarding point. I was puzzled and thought, “What queue?” As I turned to see where the steward was pointing I saw a lot of commotion due to people getting up from their sitting positions and forming a huge queue that stretched till my eyes could see and eventually disappeared behind the Statue!

I apologize for stating the obvious but all the people who were sitting in what seemed like a queue 10 minutes ago were actually in a queue! We were done! My friend decided to finally lose all hope. I could see that in his face and drooping of the shoulders. But there I was, somehow thinking (the afterburner had started) of applying the things that I learned at Delhi College of Engineering (DCE, as we call it, the college from where I did my Undergrad). One of them was, getting out of extremely tough situations (like being unprepared for a viva-voce or an unfinished assignment or project) with a lot of lateral and shrewd thinking and as Hindi language eloquently describes as, “Jugaad”.

I told him the ‘Plan’, but he argued that it was not the right thing to do (apart from being a BIG miser, a pure vegetarian, he is also a BIG believer of following the ‘right’ path). I said either this or no marathon, (and added a bit subtly with a sad face) for which I have spent so much (well, a miser can only be coerced using money). He had no choice left.

I looked up and down the queue and chose a point strategically far from the boarding point (people are usually very attentive at the beginning of the queue) and in the middle part of the queue (we did not have much time). People in the queue were popping out to click photos and then merging back in. On cue my friend started clicking photos of me as I scrutinized the people in the queue, moving in front of me. I was looking for a medium-built single American male.

The reasons:

Medium built so that even if he decided to attack us, we could tackle him. Single because he would not be concerned about other family members pestering him for getting late. American because, well, Asians are very vigilant about who is in front of them (it comes naturally to us as we have been standing in lines throughout our lives with people barging in). And finally a male, because being screamed at, by a female would definitely not be nice. About 5 minutes later I was rewarded with an Indian family being followed by my target. I let half of the family to pass by us and then casually called to my friend, “Let’s get back in line. It’s moving.” And without any drama we joined the queue in front of the American.

My heart was pounding ferociously as the initial moments are the most critical (though I did have my friend in-between me and the American). Sometimes people much behind in the queue can also cause a stir. I waited, but nothing happened. We had done it again! The 'Plan' had worked.

I felt immensely proud to be an Indian and a DCEite all in a span of few hours!

We still had to wait for 2 ferries to pass by before we could get on board and when we did, we just collapsed on the floor. We were exhausted and there were no seats available. The captain announced that the next stop was Ellis Island, where we would not have gotten down from the ferry even if the US Government had offered us $s. (Ok! Maybe if the $ amount was decent we would have).

We got back on the Manhattan Island at 5 P.M. We were late but through the map I found the Subway which would take us direct to our next stop. The Subway station was a 2 minute walk away from the Ferry de-boarding point.

To be continued...