All in a Day’s Commute

Chandeliers at the Grand Central Terminal

Bus chase

Was so immersed in the breakfast table conversation with S about devolving social ethos, while enjoying our latest favorite bread, sourdough, with melted brie cheese and fresh blackberries. Bonus - cup of coffee made by S, especially for me. 

In all of this, lost track of time…as usual (7:55am!). Asked S to drop me off at the bus stop, if necessary chase the bus - which we ended up doing. As luck would have it, today’s bus driver, a tiny lady, turned out to be a mean one (they tend to be kind). Even though I was at the door, she deliberately left me behind. So I got back in the car, chased her again to the next stop, went in front of her, cinematically (& dangerously) blocked her to get in to the bus - she was not happy & gave me an earful. I was in a defiant mood initially. But later, after speaking with S, thinking about people like Nando, our crossing guard & recalling my dad’s oft-repeated belief that most people are generally good (he used a more nuanced Tamil phrase. He had arrived at that conclusion after going through such unimaginable hardships in life - makes me think he must be right)…I calmed down & wished her a happy Friday while getting off. 

Upside - the commute was so fast. I got to my desk in less than an hr!! (8:50am)

Quick Catch-up

Ran into J’s dad (perks of taking public transit - you always run into someone). He was in a jolly mood. He was going to go on a city tour…on this rainy day, with some business visitors. Wished him too another happy Friday & went my way.

The Door-Holders

I usually see a few people holding the doors between the port authority bus terminal & the subway stations. They hold a cup in another hand for collecting money. I have a hard time giving away cash to beggars. There is so much internal friction. Recently I had decided that once in a while I will draw out a currency note (not coins) from my purse & hand it to the door-holders. This was more of a deliberate effort to train myself to give a bit more freely. I also justified this act thinking they were in fact performing a useful service by holding these heavy doors for us, which would be a pain for someone like me to prop open every time I pass through.

The other interesting thing is there is usually a bit of competition for the door-holder job. There are only so many doors & we have many more eager holders vying for these limited spots.

This AM though, there were no door-holders…but the door stayed open. Looks like they just stay open like that & there is no need for anyone to stand there & hold it. Wonder if the door-holders were merely touching the door, pretending to be doing something that was happening anyway 😁.

Turnstile-Jumpers

A really big guy ahead of me jumped the turnstiles only to see a cop standing right in front of him 😬…he did a quick flip & jumped back out (perhaps because it was faster than walking out) & started running. Another cop who was much shorter & smaller than the jumper swiftly chased him & grabbed him by the hoodie neck…it was such an action-packed scene - good fuel to kick start a busy day.