The moment stands out with remarkable clarity and even today creates a frisson that is difficult to explain, but easy to comprehend for those who have been there. I was on my way to New York, driving from Washington, DC. I was approaching the Lincoln Tunnel and the New York skyline suddenly emerged.
I was young, but not too young to realize that this moment would remain indelible and that the bond that was taking place would remain a permanent one throughout the ups and downs that both NYC and I would undergo during the next 40 years.
The year was 1970.
I was coming to New York for my interview at Columbia University for a MBA program. I had to drive through the Upper West Side to what was then disparagingly called Harlem, fraught with all the tones and fear that the word implied. Upon being selected, I bravely chose the option of living in the Columbia dorm in the heart of the university.
I am from Bangalore and a graduate of IIT Bombay. Prior to coming to the US, I had been for a short visit to Cairo and London, but was totally unprepared for the city that was to become my home for the next few decades. I have lived in New York City since then, and I have seen this partnership with New York grow, change, breakdown, but always end on a positive and exhilarating note.
The 1970s and 1980s were dangerous, but heady times.
There was a small group of interesting and successful Indians residing in midtown Manhattan mostly on the safe and sterile Eastside. Being a small group, we were close and became the focal point of visiting Indians from India and the Diaspora. Those were also the days of edgy, gritty clubs and restaurants flirting on the fringes of Manhattan — the legendary Studio 54 of which we were VIP members.
The thrill of discovering this undiscovered New York was infinite. I still remember the time we took one of the most famous Bollywood actors of then and now to Florent – the first restaurant in the now famous Meatpacking district; when we took one of the most glamorous of the maharajas to a Gospel singing in dangerous Harlem; when we accompanied one of the most important ministers of culture from India to the East Village and Chelsea bar dives.
We felt like the chosen few in a strange land, privileged to show the rest of the world a bizarre but energizing culture not easily visible but available to those who wanted to wade deep.
But times change.
New York was becoming more fractious and dangerous. The luster of these new experiences was being eroded and dimmed. I had spent the past 15 years in marketing for prestigious companies like Grey Advertising and Colgate Palmolive.
I was with the Cunard Cruise Line — the company that owned the legendary Queen Elizabeth 2 and the uber-luxurious Sea Goddess; The Ritz Hotel in London and The Watergate in Washington. I got an opportunity to leave New York in 1989 and go to Hong Kong as the president of the newly formed Asian division of Cunard.
I was ecstatic and spent the next 12 years living in world capitals like London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo and Athens. But throughout that decade one thing was certain — beyond it all, I was totally enmeshed in the firm coils of New York. Try as I might, there was no escaping. This was a marriage which brooked no divorce or separation.
I returned to New York in 2003, two years after the fall of the Twin Towers. My love for the city was even more than ever, but this time clothed in a sentimentality that I had not felt before. Yes, New York had changed. It was far more subdued, less brash, more at terms with its place on the world stage.
The Indian scene was fast changing. There were more of us. Varying professions. All age groups. All converging to the only place that made sense in the world geography. I have always tried to be an integral and relevant part of the Indian community. I have also strongly felt that we should operate as a unit rather than disparate tribes fighting for turf in a foreign land.
There were Indians for the first time who were successful in almost all aspects of life. Not just Wall Street, but dance, theatre, art, journalism, TV, restaurants and every other imaginable field.
I took it upon myself to integrate into this younger, more exuberant and hopeful world of the New York Indian. I made a concentrated effort to meet the young and searching in virtually every phase of New York. I started off by meeting each of the opinion leaders in every field, helping them further their ambition, effectively trying to be a mentor to almost all those who were ready to embrace New York.
Fortunately, a lot of Indians had banded together to start various art centers, business centers and charity events, thereby making it easy to meet a wide range of Indians. At about the same time, I entered real estate with one of the most prestigious and well-known real estate companies of New York — the Corcoran Group.
This gave me the perfect launching pad to continue my mentoring role. With my intimate knowledge of the arcane and well-trodden streets of Manhattan, I was able to help realize the goals of a lot of young Indians who wanted to make the city their home.
Based on their profession, life interests and personality I helped establish them in the invigorating Village, trendy Chelsea, venerable Eastside, the Lincoln Center enclave, the resurgent Harlem, the caNew Yorkon like Financial district, the child-friendly Tribeca and so on.
Even today, I constantly look out for new opportunities in the city, which I can then share with my friends. I see my role in the new New York as a bridge between the older established Indian and the new Indian finding his place here. I enjoy the fluidity of moving between generations and bringing them together.
Today, I consider New York my only home.
Where else can you see the most exciting theatre just not on Broadway, but in hidden corners where new art is constantly evolving; the art salons of the Upper East Side but also the installation art of the Lower East Side; the fantastic culinary experiences all over the city; the hyper kinetic bar and club scene permeating the city at every level?
Where else can you walk out and say to yourself: How can I explain my love? Maybe the only way is to continue living here and make it a better place one person at a time.
As the saying goes, if you can make it in New York…
Jaswant Lalwani, former president of the Cunard cruise line’s Asia Division, is currently with the Corcoran Real Estate group.