NYC

My journey to the USA was transporting me, in the space of a few hours, from the third-world to the first-world. My destination, Washington, the political epicentre of the Western world, home to the machine of government before which lesser nations have trembled for the past century. I was aware of the cultural shock I had last suffered leaving rural India for Canada, subsequently bracing myself for the overwhelming force of American society.

My initial reaction, however, was one of relief. Arriving at the house of Matt Almquist, an old Edinburgh contemporary, I was ready for a comfortable bed and a large gin and tonic. My brief stay just outside Washington afforded me the mandatory tour of the iconic symbols of freedom and democracy, enshrining the tenets of a nation founded as a bold social experiment. It did slightly resemble a picture-perfect city, well-groomed for the obligatory American pilgrimage made by thousands of domestic tourists. This coupled with the fact that the greater Washington area is primarily populated by government employees, ensures that the surroundings create an overwhelming impression that government serves the people providing a comfortable quality of life.

The central role of which minority populations played in American society soon became apparent. The headlines on the day of my arrival proclaimed that over 50% of the nation’s new-borns were now from a minority background, but it was clear from my eating habits, authentic Vietnamese phu and Korean Bbq that even the main body of the American population has become accustomed to an immigrant taste. A similar picture emerged upon arrival in New York, I was staying in the Lower East side of Manhattan, once home to Little Italy but subsequently replaced by the aspiring Chinese families, ubiquitous in New York.

My simple walking tour of Manhattan and Brooklyn, enlightened me to the multi-faceted nature of this sprawling metropolis. Ever the immigrant city, it was easy to identify the multitude of ethnic backgrounds, providing a distinct character to each district as well as the process of gentrification sweeping its way through certain quarters. Michael Bloomberg’s picture-perfect concept of a modern city had sterilized the large majority of downtown Manhattan. I was even fortunate enough to have a run in with the New York park authorities, receiving a ticket for apparently trespassing in a public park after hours, of all my travels throughout the developing world, this was the first time I was made to feel genuinely uneasy!

I was inspired however by the creativity exuded by the youth of New York. In a crowded city of 20 million inhabitants, it seems many are driven to pursue a sense of individuality in fashion, music even eating habits. And in typical American style there is now a huge consumer market to feed the demands of this alternative culture, broadly known as 'hipsters', a counter-culture inspired movement, fallen prey to widespread consumerism.

Of course the whole city did not enjoy the opportunity for such oppulent expression. Moving throught the hecticness of midtown where each individual goes largely unnoticed in the swarm of commuters, tourists and street vendors, I arrived north of Central Park in Harlem. Only 15 years earlier I would have been extremely unwelcome in this part of town, whereas now it was home to a vibrant Spanish culture, the colours and smells resembled more Mexico than Manhattan, and was rapidly being embraced by a non-immigrant population as "the" place to live.

New York truly never sleeps. Even now, having returned to the Old World and enjoying the quiet pace of rural Portugal, I am still aware, somewhere across the Atlantic, of this nucleus of energy. The thousands awakening hopefully this morning at the early hour of five, inspired to work another day, all seeking their fortune in this great city of opportunity.