Elsewhere in the Big Apple...

"Ladies and gentlemen, a Manhattan-bound local train is now arriving at the station."

But I didn't board it.

When you are lucky enough to be in New York City for New Year's Eve, it becomes almost a no-brainer to  celebrate the occasion by joining the festivities at Times Square or Brooklyn Bridge. That's exactly what I did on Dec. 31 two years ago.

I've always been curious, though, since New York is such an enormous and culturally diverse city, I wonder what the rest of the city is up to on New Year's Eve while the large crowd at downtown Manhattan is prepping themselves for fireworks. Thus, this year I decided to wander around those less-than-glamorous areas of the city, hoping to observe a whole new expression of the New Year's spirit.

Following a few minutes of self-debate, I chose to visit the notorious Harlem. In the past 20 years of my life, for some reason I've been extremely prone to making initially questionable and subsequently regrettable decisions. This could potentially be just another one of them. But I decided to give it a shot anyway.

Off I go.

Before I arrived at the station to take the connecting 3-train to Harlem, I stopped at 57th Street to get a Subway sandwich, which by the way is my absolute favorite American fastfood. As I walked back to the station after devouring a foot-long, I stumbled upon this:

At the end of the video, you could hear the sound of the approaching train that I was waiting for. I had to stop listening/video-taping, put a dollar bill in the violinist's box, and boarded the train. As I was on the train, however, the beautiful music coming out of his violin kept haunting my head. The song sounded so familiar but I couldn't remember what it was. So I decided to get off at the next station, walked to the other side of the platform and took the opposite train back to 57th Street. I wanted to listen to that song again.

When I arrived, he was playing a different song. I sat next to him on the chair, waiting for almost half an hour until he finally decided to play that song again. This time, nothing could stop me from recording the full version:

How can a piece of music sound so depressing yet is such a pleasure to listen to? I thought of talking to him once he finished the song. But as I was about to do so, a couple approached him and apparently asked for direction. They were speaking in Chinese. I tried to wait for them to be done talking, only to see the couple sitting down right next to him, which is never a good sign when you want to see a conversation to end. I gave up, dropped another dollar bill in his box before leaving. It was such a shame as I had so many things I wanted to ask him. Even now, I'm still wondering why he chose to perform at such a small station; he could have made a lot more had he decided to bring his talent to, say, Times Square.

But it's only fitting, an encounter between two people who should have been at Times Square but weren't.

Leaving 57st Street, I resumed my visit to Harlem by boarding the 3-train. There weren't many people on it, unsurprisingly. Two stops before the final destination, I was the only one left on the car.

I finally arrived at 148th Street-Harlem at about 8 P.M. Although I'm fully aware that its condition has vastly improved in recent years, Harlem is still nowhere near an ideal place to wander around by yourself, especially in the evening. I was admittedly a bit scared, to say the least. But now that I've made it here, I decided to take a walk around the area anyway, down the Malcolm X boulevard.

Despite being located in Upper Manhattan, the difference between Harlem and downtown Manhattan is night and day. Nothing I saw in Harlem suggested that it's just a few hours away from New Year's Eve: no glamorous lighting, no shiny billboards, nothing. There were few people walking around, none of them was dressing up for the occasion and all looked disinterested. It almost felt as if New Year's Eve is just another day for the Harlem residents. Meanwhile, homeless people were literally all over the place, on the sidewalk, in the parks, everywhere...

I kept on walking to see if there's anything of interest around here; but there wasn't much to speak of other than a few crowds at movie theaters and pubs. I was hoping for some sort of New Year celebration that represents the black culture in the area, but it seems like the financial struggle is keeping their minds busy elsewhere, even in this festive time of year. I walked back to the subway station and headed back.

As I arrived at Lexington Avenue for the connecting train back to Queens, reality struck back. I was surrounded by a swarm of nicely-dressed upper class New Yorkers and foreign visitors. This is New York we're talking about, after all.

In any part of the world, there's the rich and there's the poor; it's just how life works. But the stark contrast between these two closely located areas of New York City is just unbelievable. It's really sad to see the less fortunate wandering around in parks and subway stations while just a dozen blocks away, their fellow human beings are enjoying life to its fullest.

My New Year's plan wasn't exactly what I envisioned it to be. But to me, it really was worthwhile. From what I've seen, I can't stress how lucky I am right now to be sitting under a roof celebrating the start of a new year.

May 2013 bring more fortune to the less fortunate.
Happy New Year!