New York city

Recently I made my first trip to New York city - the big apple, the financial capital of US and one of the greatest cities in the world. The city has a unique vibe, something which makes New York what New york is. It is made up of five boroughs (again something unique for New York City) important from administrative point of view. They are Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Out of these Manhattan is the most important one, with a beautiful skyline, all the great shopping stores, the Wall street, the Times Square and the list goes on.
A lot of tourists come to New York to see the various attractions, but for me going on top of the Empire State Building was the biggest attraction. One of the main reasons why Empire State attracted me was the sheer joy of seeing from top of the tallest building in the Manhattan skyline (the World Trade Center towers were taller than it). One amazing fact about Empire State is that it was completed in a short span of 14 months. Two neighboring states are visible too, Connecticut and New Jersey. You have to go on top of the empire state to experience it.
Here are couple of tips while making your trip to New York.

• Try to stay with a friend or family since hotels are expensive. But if you are booking a hotel room get one in New Jersey, and take the the subway to visit New York city.
  
• Use the subway system , it is very efficient and a cheap transportation option. Renting or taking your own vehicle is not a good idea. The routes are easy to follow and learn with maps available at all subway stations.
  
• The subway and the bus system come under MTA, hence purchasing a ticket makes it valid on both. Tickets can be purchased at any subway station or a gas station near bus stations.
  
• Be prepared to walk a lot since that is the best was to explore Manhattan and other areas in New York.
  

One last word, explore the city and try doing not just the regular touristy things .

Munshi Premchand

Anyone familiar with hindi literature knows about Munshi Premchand. He has been to Hindi literature what William Shakespeare is to English. Premchand's work uses words and phrases from everyday life which made his work popular among all ages and all sections of society.
A friend of mine reintroduced me to some audio e-books of Munshi Premchand (the link is available at the end of this post). The books are been beautifully read out by group of artists led by Harish Bhimani ( a legendary 'main samay hun' voice on Indian telivision). It was such a wonderful experience listening to such great works. The stories are simple and short (each enactment no longer than 30 mins).
So currently I am hunting for more hindi audio e-books of Premchand and other Hindi literature giants. I found this blogger link which has 130 of Premchands work online to be read (the link is at the end of this post). So if you know of any such links related with audio or books do let me know.


Link - audio
link - books

Long time

It has been quite some time since i made my last post ( 76 days to be precise) , no particular reason for not updating the blog, was too lazy to do it. Anyways, new year is coming up so my new year resolution is to make regular blog posts, atleast once a week, more the better.