201 Street

This weekend was tremendously fun and extremely busy. On Friday night, we went out to celebrate our belated 4 year anniversary. We had a delightful dinner at an Indian-Latin fusion restaurant, then we went to see a movie ‘Little Miss Sunshine’. I so thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but I probably would have enjoyed it more had it not been for the jerk sitting behind us. He talked through the whole film. You’d think that an indie film would attract a more sophisticated crowd.

On Saturday, we visited some friends staying at a Luxury Manhattan Hotel and we took them to the New York Botanical Gardens to see the Orchid Show. Totally awesome. Our friends were completely impressed. My boyfriend planned the whole day, he’s really good at planning. We took the subway to get there and then we took a bus to get back. We were really inept at the just exactly how buses work, so we missed our stop and had to back track a good mile to our home, our friends were not impressed with that, but luckily the rest of our visit went well. There’s so much to do in Manhattan that we decided next time when friends are in town that we will stick to our neighborhood and skip the travelling.

On Sunday, we headed off to Brooklyn in search of an apartment. We’ve decided that we’ll get more for own money in Brooklyn and it seems like a good place to raise a family.  I really can’t figure out though, if I prefer Manhattan over Brooklyn. But if we can manage to find a decent place that’s close to the water so that I can at least see Manhattan’s skyline and a place close to the subway system, then I think I’ll be happy in Brooklyn.  Wish us luck!

Patty Duke is an Academy Award winning American actress who is currently starring in the hit musical Wicked at San Francisco’s Orpheus Theatre. She was born in 1946 in Elmhurst Queens, New York and first rose to fame for her role as Helen Keller in the film The Miracle Worker. In this film she worked with Anne Bancroft, another acclaimed American actress. The film was made after the play of the same name ran on Broadway. Later, after having achieved fame and a successful career in film, music and television, she would return to New York for the Broadway production. It is likely that a boutique hotel in New York provided her the luxury accommodations that helped to make her stay there pleasant.

In the 2005 production, Duke played the part of Annie Sullivan, which was in honor of Bancroft who had died of cancer. In this production she played the part of Annie Sullivan. She had previously played the part of Helen Keller with Ann Bancroft in a Broadway production of the play before it was turned into a film. It was just prior to her Broadway debut that her managers decided to change her name from Anna Marie Duke to Patty. These managers would be a controversial aspect of her life and career and she freed herself from their hold when she was 18, though they had already squandered most of her earnings.

After the original stage production and film version of The Miracle Worker, Duke landed her own television series. This was The Patty Duke Show and in it she played two characters. She played the parts of two identical cousins, Patty and Cathy Lane. It became extremely popular and is responsible for Duke’s becoming a household name. The series focused on the exploits of the two girls, Cathy being worldly traveled and known for her sophistication and good behaviors, and Patty, the more mischievous impish girl who was always up to something. Eddie Applegate played Patty’s boyfriend and was often lured into her unconventional ways.

Juhu Beach in India is a site that draws many to her shores and provides such accomodations as the India five star hotels.   A bit of a play on words, as many come to this beach in order to capture, or attempt to capture, the beauty of the colors, on the static frame of canvas.  Many artists come to India to paint, which given the array of color and beauty it is no wonder.  The tubes of paint necessary for one setting up their easel on Juhu beach must include and assortment of blues, as the waves which hit the beach night and day are brilliant turquoise, with strokes of green and purple.

This particular section of the Indian coastline will wash away the tensions and worries of a world that is becoming so modern that parents communicate with their children more via text messages than actual conversation.  Juhu is in close proximity to other local beaches as well, equally serene and colorful, such as Santa Cruz, Andheri, and Vile Parle.  The sunsets here, pull out the canvas and the paints once again, for to capture a sunset off of the Juhu shore is a bit like capturing a small part of heaven to bring home.  The horizon line seems to go on endlessly, and the warmth of the oranges and reds is simply out of this world.  From, literally, out..of..this..world, ethereal.  The sun falling into the Arabian Sea will be a vision of India that will grace, and haunt, ones memory for the rest of their lives.

Once the sun sets, the air shifts a bit, as the serenity gives way to celebration.  Ferry rides are available, similar to those at Chowpatty Beach.  Also similar are the food stalls and the local chefs, and grandmothers, cooking on the beach the most delightful tidbits.  Many of which will lead foreigners to search out the best Indian restaurants of their home towns once they return from vacation, for once one experiences the taste, one will have a taste for India for the rest of their lives.  On the week end, the atmosphere is even more festive as the vendors and the acrobats take to the streets, and cricket games are taken up on the sand.  This is such a hot spot in the country that, as in the U.S. film industry Malibu Beach has frequently appeared in the movies of Hollywood, Bollywood film makers film Juhu regularly, such as in the Danny Boyle film, “Slumdog Millionaire”.

When travelers come to Delhi, India, hotels are the center, the new home, however temporary, to base the journey from.  We think that the hotel, then, should be a splendid offering that is the best of all worlds.  With a luxurious combination of new world design and style, with old world graciousness and comfort, there is something to please every guest.  The hotel can be the hideaway from the rest of the world, or it can be the place where one rejuvenates before going out to have adventures.  Delhi certainly has its share of possibilities for adventure.  There are fantastic sights, eats, and diversions to make for an immensely memorable stay.

Delhi is one of the longest continually-inhabited cities on the planet, and it has attracted creative people as well as technology and science experts, drawn by the promise of living at one of the world’s centers.  There is also a very lively film culture now, too.  One sign of the health of the industry here, certainly, is the Delhi Film Archive.  This organization, dedicated to the dissemination of documentary and short films, is Delhi’s chapter of the Films For Freedom, a coalition of groups that formed in 2003 in response to trends toward censorship in India’s public spaces.  Their other goals are toward developing a screening culture for diverse films in the region, as well as raising awareness of the extent of censorship, and offering ways to work against trends toward silence.

This organization is responsible for organizing a host of fascinating film events, and their involvement usually signifies a savvy presence on a project.  Members of the Delhi Film Archive are constantly putting together public screenings of films linked together through content and theme, and generally improving the artistic life here. Speaking clearly and articulately is, for them, the best chance that the human spirit has for working against forms of oppression and repression.  Art is deeply connected with human rights, and the list of filmmakers involved in the Delhi Film Archive demonstrates a promising roster of young artists whose career trajectories will be fascinating to watch.