TRUMPED IN UN POLICE WEEK

Arrived in New York last Sunday, and found the days expectedly very short , shorter than what the 630 pm snap from the plane window suggested - a layer of light up above the horizon when actually  it was dark down below on the roads .

Friends in India were thinking that  US Elections would be a big Tamasha in the streets , it wasn't actually so.  While there may have been a lot of hype generated , the visibility of Indian election props - police patrols , festoons , banners , miking, graffiti were all missing. On the 1st Avenue between 42nd to 46th Street ( the Trump Tower is probably on 46th, diagonally opposite the UN HQ where I had come to attend the 11th Heads Of UN Police Components Conference) I couldn't see any booth .

It was only during my post- office walk to Macy that I saw the sign of a booth on the 2nd Avenue . But the Election Day must have been celebratory - the Empire State was bathed in National Colours . The iconic building has a large number of programmed lightings which is put to use on special occasions like the UN Day General Assembly Meeting , Olympics , etc , and whenever it is India's, the hoax media kicks it up a unique , first time to happen - only- because- of- Modi chain of messages !

Trump's victory it seems has been met with incredible incredulity and despair, and even a snigger by many in the establishment and elsewhere- I wonder whether this was the cocktail of emotions amongst the Establishment when the Left came to power in 1977 . I am told that in Brown University , classes were suspended, counselling centres set up and comfort food offered to help people cope with the shock.  But what was very different this time was the series of protests on the streets- the NYPD whose Control Room we visited on Thursday is massively engaged covering them . The day following the result , it was dark and dreary , with a persistent drizzle . Back home in our country, it could have been taken as sign of divine dissonance with the result .

The week in UN was tight , and also included a session at the Security Council  and the first thing that strikes you is the mural painted by the Norwegian Per Krogh of a phoenix rising from its  ashes. It was very rewarding to see four Heads of UN Police Components address the Security Council , and many of the member states actively participated in the proceedings . The translators make it all happen for one to follow the proceedings conducted in the six UN languages.  Protection of civilians, attacks on peacekeepers and the spectre of terrorism were discussed in the weeklong sessions as was the way forward to have better set of skills with peacekeepers before induction and also a Strategic Guidance Framework being developed by the Police Division . I wish India , one of the bigger police and troop contributing countries has a more improved peacekeeping induction assistance policy .

Monday was great start , lovely dinner at Naya Mezza with my niece Richa - a Lebanese restaurant. The UN cafeteria , at least the one adjacent to Conference Room Number 9 where most of our meetings were conducted was also very good . But I have a huge problem , I am supremely diffident and actually intimidated in ordering a dish . First is the accent . Then the different methods of collecting your trays and making your salad - take so many percentage of greens , so of yellow and so if green. I avoided . Then the sushi bar . Everyone uses chopsticks . So I didn't try . A large number of drinks and food have fancy and different names . I ignored . The corner Italian Pizza shop by my hotel was my refuge , even on the days of dinner receptions by Permanent Missions. People talk softly , don't get drunk , and leave the place by 730 pm. Thursday dinner was at Ping Restaurant in Chinatown ( Ping probably means peace in Chinese ) - I very much liked it , and it was not as bland as some China- visited friends had told me . But I still prefer my Calcutta Chinese, and I was most happy to see a Bangkok Food shop nearby - going to pick up Thai ingredients next Thursday for sure .

Had come to US twice before , but never seen the trees during the Fall which has truly set in . Yellow , red , burgundy, crimson - the colours the trees wear . Snapped a view in the morning from a window in Prashant and Raju's house in Bethesda, a DC suburb where I had come over for an evening of warmth, drinks and good company.  . Now off to  Fort Lauderdale before another week in New York . The Vamoose Bus which took me to DC had a wash room which had  a very helpful sign inside it . Saw it for the first time , and under no illusion about my shooting skills in a moving vehicle , promptly obeyed it.