Soaking in the UNGA spirit

September 20, 2015: Nobody works on a Sunday in this part of the world. I had a meeting today at 7 am with Dr Samin Sharma at the Breakfast Room of Hotel Mark, which is located at 25^th East 77^th Street between Madison and the 5^th Avenue. Dr Samin Sharma is a very popular cardiologist here hailing from Jaipur, Rajasthan.

As gesture to pay back to the society and his motherland, last year he initiated the Heart Care Centre in Jaipur. I, like many others, have tremendous respect for him. He starts his surgeries at 8 am, so he invited me for breakfast an hour before that.

Sunday 7 am meeting shows his commitment to his work and how connected he is to the people back at home. It was lovely meeting him. He accepted our invitation to be the guest for one of the Desert Storm series of Rajasthan Forum next month.

With His Excellency Dnyaneshwar M Mulay, The Consul General of India in New York

I returned from Ottawa on Thursday evening and on Friday (September 18) went to meet His Excellency, Dnyaneshwar M Mulay, The Consul General of India, New York, at the consulate office.

I have known Mr Mulay from before. He earned a lot of goodwill for himself and the Consulate during his New York tenure. After the Consulate meeting, I went to the United Nations which is currently gearing up for the United Nations General Assembly. 

The top political leaders from more than a hundred countries will gather during the Assembly.

In the afternoon I made a few conference calls to the Latin American countries with the help of my Spanish colleague at WFUNA. 

With Bonian Gulmohammadi

After that I had a luncheon meeting at a Turkish restaurant just a block away from the WFUNA office.

After the meeting there were series of meetings. In the evening, I dropped by for the Urdu Conference renowned Woolsworth Building. The famous singer Salamat Ali Khan and his wife performed there.

The highlight of Friday was that prior to the Turkish lunch, I had gone for a quick bite to a trolley shop, which we call a thela gari in our language, at the corner of the 2^nd Avenue and 44^th Street near Hallmark. I heard about this shop which sells samosas, chai and fixed meals. This mobile shop is normally stationed here from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm and then moves two blocks further. It was pleasant to know that this person, Rang Seth, is from the Free School Street area of Kolkata.

Yesterday was Saturday. I got up late and went to the Curry Hill area for a South Indian brunch at the Swarna Bhavan. In the evening, I had dinner at the Dhaba restaurant which serves the food that has true Indian flavour. I went to Dhaba with a friend and his family and before that also finished some personal work as I need to pick up few stuff from the New York Stores.

ess bee