An evening at the UN headquarters

On a breezy Friday evening, i am back at the UN Headquarters on 41st Street,New York. This is my second attempt to get into the sacred place. The last one an unsuccessful attempt during my previous visit to New York in the summer of 2008 when i landed at the gate at 5 PM to be only told that the last visitor entry was at 4.45PM. Disappointed though,I had to be contented with a picture outside the building with the so recognizable UN headquarters in the background. UN as an institution has impressed me so much that during high school, i took part in every test they conducted on UN awareness and still cherish the experience and often look at the certificates i earned with a sense of pride. More recently i was disappointed when Shashi Tharoor lost out on the race for the top job.

The Headquarters of the United Nations is located along the East River in New York City. This 18-acre site is international territory and belongs to the Organization's 192 Member States.The United Nations has three additional, subsidiary, regional headquarters at Geneva ,Vienna and Nairobi. These adjunct offices help represent UN interests, facilitate diplomatic activities, and enjoy certain extraterritorial privileges, but only the main headquarters in New York contains the seats of the principal organs of the UN, including the General Assembly and Security Council. I was lucky this time to be on time to get a guided tour of the UN headquarters. The guided tour took us about an hour and half or so and mainly consisted of three parts - The Security council hall, The General Assembly and the hallway that houses unique and rare gifts to the United Nations by its member nations.Of the gifts displayed here are the expensive gifts by the South Asian countries and the one that stands out as unique is the AK47 remodelled into a guitar by the famous Columbian musician Cesar Lopez, the creation that is known as the Escopetarra - A creation that raised much needed awareness about gun related violence in many affected societies, now regarded as a symbol of peace.
The site of the United Nations Headquarters has extraterritoriality status which means the rules here override the laws of New York City, but it does not give immunity to those who commit crimes there :-)

The next stop was the majestic General assembly hall, this is a huge hall where representatives from all the member countries can be seated together and important issues that needs collective world's attention is discussed. The aura of this place is something that can certainly be felt here. There is a method to locate one's country seating in the 1800 seater hall. I tried but couldn't, the tour guide meanwhile told us that 'The General Assembly is not a world government - its resolutions are not legally binding upon Member States. However, through its recommendations it can focus world attention on important issues, generate international cooperation and, in some cases, its decisions can lead to legally binding treaties and conventions'.

The UN has its own postal system called the United Nations Postal Administration which issues stamps and cancellations. The basement of the visitors center has a UNPA post office from where postcards can be mailed throughout the world using the UN stamps. For a fee, once can have a customized stamp sheetlet with your photograph. See the 98¢ stamp of myself! truely thrilling for the philatelist in me (Ranjini, however differs and calls it self-glorification though).

By the time we came out of the UN complex, it was quite late in the evening and Ram, my colleague at IBM GBS and I walked back to the 33rd street Path station via 42nd street, the Indian high commisioner's office and then stopped in front of Macy's at Herald Square for some pictures of the holiday crowd before heading home fully soaked on the spirit of NYC, no surprises when they say I ♥ NYC

Urban Transportation

I am at the big apple these days on work and stay across the Hudson river in Jersey city and make the daily commute to New York City in probably one of the best urban transport systems that i have travelled. I use the PATH and the New York City Subway to get to work on Madison Avenue in mid town Manhattan and back to my hotel.The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York with New Jersey, and providing service to Jersey City, Hoboken, Harrison, and Newark. It is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. While some PATH stations are adjacent to New York City Subway, Newark Light Rail, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and New Jersey Transit stations, there are no free transfers between these different, independently run transit systems; however, PATH does accept the same pay-per-ride MetroCard used by the New York City Subway. I am a big fan of using public transport and as i write this, i am curious and excited about the namma metro in Bangalore. Will the Bangalore metro some day be comparable to the ones in NYC,Paris,Zurich or any other European city. I have  traveled in quite a few on these public transport networks and one thing that has always amazed me about the public transport network in these countries is the fact that these systems were planned more than a hundred years ago and surprisingly, the systems are able to handle with ease today's traffic and volume. One probably didn't have the need to catch a 1:03 AM train to 33rd street those days. Alone as i am in the US, i spend the time on the commute thinking about this and the many other infrastructure marvels that makes an ordinary citizen's life so much easier and silently wish that we in India soon build it especially when our country faces mass exodus into our already burgeoning cities in search of the service employment. More on the tunneled train system,i will take the liberty calling the NYC subway and the PATH as the NY Metro. Most stations within the city are underground and especially in NYC, its almost a rathole of an entrance to the subway and surprisingly, the stations are well ventilated and upon a little research found out that the air supply is actually by the movement of trains in most places where the train acts as a piston inside the tunnel and pushes forward air as it races and at the same time "sucks-in" the air to the tunnel from the closest ventilation shaft behind it.

The town planners and the transportation authorities have done another thing worth mentioning here, interlinked different modes of transport to complement each other. This is very similar to what European countries have done as well. One ticket could enable you to travel in trains, buses, ferries and light rail trams. It is so convenient and simple things such as a turnstile not only keeps squatters away from the train stations, but helps to a large extent the problem of ticketing and inspecting whether people are actually travelling on tickets. Imagine a system like that in Bangalore where the Metro,BMTC,and Autos (why not! - a small swipe card that will deduct the fare in an auto) all get together and form an efficient transport and feeder network. That would really be good-bye to the trafic jams of the KR Puram types where i shudder to think the number of productive hours every productive person would have squandered while waiting for the crawling trafic to move.I will soon be back in my hometown and for sure be more disappointed initially about the sad state of traffic and eventually get over it since i guess, i will glad to be back home. Fortunately, my job gives me the chance to realize the dream of living an easy life in a developed country like the US,but, I am still helpless about getting that system and infrastructure back here..there are no easy answers but only questions and more questions - Costs ,will to build, laws, politicians, corruption...it could go on..

I have come to terms that Infrastructure is indeed a state of mind..experience it when(ever) it happens.