As promised, here is a bit more about the NY Now show I attended, a trade-only extravaganza with almost 3,000 vendors. This event is what brought me to New York, surprisingly for the very first time.
People had been assuring me for years that I would love it. Alas, I am afraid New York and I got off on the wrong foot. This has probably largely to do with the fact that, for most of my visit, I was simply in tradeshow-land – which could be anywhere.
But there is also something about the sensual experience of being in NYC: the incredible noise of this city, the constant movement/lack of stillness, and the horrible stench – worst on early Sunday morning, when the streets clearly smell of vomit.
And then there is that issue with getting around the city. I have spent a lot of time in major international cities: Paris, London, Munich, and Delhi. Interestingly, NYC streets seem to be a mix almost closer to Delhi than to Munich, for example.
In any of the European cities, even those folks without the local language skill can figure out which train is going where, and at what point in your journey you are at the moment. In NYC, this is not so. There is a secret, unspoken truth about where you are and where you need to go or are headed, on in fact how to go about using public transit. It is understood, but only by those in the know. There is no subway route map inside the subway. When the doors open, whether you are inside or out, trying to get on or trying to get off, you must figure out at the spur of the moment which is the correct move, and then move without hesitation. People and cars cross the streets governed by similar secret unspoken rules, whereby signals may or may not be observed. Yet everything moves smoothly; there seems to be exactly the right amount of acknowledging given structures, and yet going when one deems it to be the right time to go, whether or not the light says ‘go’. I was raised in Germany, a tiny country full of 69 million people, where such behaviour would be unthinkable, as it would lead to certain chaos. It baffles me that it works in NYC. Perhaps these are some of the reasons why even Barbara Streisand in her interview with Jian Ghomeshi on Q this morning called New York City ‘rude’.
Making these observations in NYC, I have come to the conclusion that it is an analogy for the ‘new free world’. I was contemplating these things while taking in a majestic view of the Statue of Liberty from a harbour cruise boat during an epic sunset. Somehow, I thought, this behaviour seems to be a mirror of the opportunities that those coming to this new free world faced, and perhaps face again today: you pay close attention to what the environment suggests, and the general rules, and when you see an opportunity, you go for it. If you apply your smarts and go forward with confidence, you can make it far. If you can’t figure out the rules, you will sink.
Having said all this, of course I shall give NYC another try, another time.
