First of all, Yelp is awesome! I showed interest in this event in NYC and I got emails when anyone posted a conversation bit. Soon, I saw someone giving out free tickets and I humbly requested for some and next thing I know is dear Jane snail mailed me a couple of free tickets! So, I pulled Aks for a day out to NYC which was, for a change, donning bright sun light this weekend. The ‘Tea and Coffee festival‘ was taking place conveniently in Midtown and I just needed a cool break.
I missed out on Turkish coffee tasting and the festival was leaning more towards tea and freakishly small and expensive (but cute) tea sets, kettles, bamboo strainers and whatever you can think of. For me, Japanese and Chinese tea isn’t as alluring – I love the hard ‘boiled with milk’ India chai (preferably with ginger). Those small oriental cups wouldn’t do justice to Indian chai so even though I was tempted to buy some kettles for ornamental value, Aks kept a check on me. I still dont know why there were some honey and candle stalls! But they were exquisite in their own terms to be fair. And it provided abundant raw material for a ‘still-life’ photography spree.
And little did I know that I would bump on to a couple of NYC artists out there and I couldn’t resist collecting some tips on ink painting.
After a bunch of liquor bundt cake, honey, coffee and tea tasting, we ended the day perfectly watching Shutter Island at Times Sq – which reminded me heavily of ‘The Others‘. I adore Leo Di Caprio and Scorsese and although the movie didn’t live up to the high expectation, I still liked it. As they say for Scorsese, his rewards came quite late in his career. I hope that is not the case for Leo, he is clearly the finest and versatile actor of this generation. I felt the same for Kate Winslet but fortunately her drought ended last year.
Lastly, in past 3 years, I’ve realized how charged up and refreshing New York is. I am crazy about few things but be it arts or sports or business, I never had to look beyond NYC to amuse myself. Even the Hollywood pays visit here occassionally. This exclusive revival of ‘A Little Night Music’ showcasing Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury is just one of these special treats New York is all about. After all, this is where I have seen Roger Federer four times 
!