Vimal Bodiwala
I don’t know the exact instance at which I became a New Yorker. All I know is that this city has offered me so much and I have absorbed it all in.
At first I hated New York City. I moved to New York City from India when I was nine years old. The city’s bustle overwhelmed me. Its subways and trains scared me. Its diversity left me speechless. The city’s terrifying winter left me cringing. I spoke no English, so others in my school mocked me for my inability. My parents who held prestigious government jobs in India had to settle for menial jobs in New York City. We settled in Jamaica, Queens, in a cramped one bedroom apartment in which nine people, including my grandparents and two cousins, lived. My junior high school experience was a terrible one too. At my junior high school, if you were smart or interested in learning, you were in a very small minority. In my first five years, I often wondered what made New York City so special. After all, the city had been this massive monster that was chewing up my family and me, and leaving us out in the cold.
My life changed when I was accepted to Brooklyn Tech High School. In sharp contrast to my elementary and junior high school education, Brooklyn Tech was a temple of education that offered a solid education along with excellent extracurricular activities in a diverse environment in which kids sought knowledge. I commuted to my high school, and I interacted with so many New Yorkers on my commute. I found them to be gentle, loving people who cared very much for all those around them. During my high school years, I visited different parts of New York City with my friends. The different parts of New York City were drastically different from my neighborhood, and I loved exploring them very much.
In college years, I have fallen in more love with New York City. I thrive now on New York City’s bustle. I can’t live without it.