Jennifer was disturbed by the incident. She had tried to forget the past but her brother always reminded her about it. She started the Beetle and drove past the main gate of her private home.
######
Sunny weather pervaded outside the Deer Creek Apartment, and gentle wind passed through the balcony of the H-975 home. Niranjan was watching a TV show in the main hall with the balcony door wide open. He was waiting for a call from Jennifer as she had promised him last night. He was eagerly looking forward to visit Atlantic City with her.
He saw a pearl white Beetle entering the H block premises and being parked in front of it. He was excited to see Jennifer inside the car, and he briskly walked towards the balcony. Jennifer waved her hand, and stepped outside the car.
"Please be waited, I am coming down," Niranjan said in a loud voice. He walked down the wooden staircase to receive her.
"Wow, what a surprise, I was expecting your call," Niranjan said.
"Yeah, you know what, the secret to humour is surprise," Jennifer said. They both laughed delightedly.
"Well, please come on in, we shall have a cup of coffee before we go," Niranjan said.
"Okay, and better we leave soon," she said.
They both walked towards the block H and entered inside the house. Niranjan waved her to the sofa and she made herself comfortable. Niranjan sat beside her and said, "I like your dress, and you look beautiful in pant suit."
He saw her face turn red, and their eyes locked for a while. He observed a pleasant smile on her face.
"Well, I bought it at Kohl's, my favourite place to shop for cloths," she said.
"Okay, we will visit there once and may be next week. Let's have a coffee, and get the driving directions to Atlantic City," Niranjan said.
Soon after having the coffee with her, Niranjan printed a copy of the driving direction. He stepped outside the home with her and walked towards his Acura. He opened the door for Jennifer and drove past the Deer Creek Apartment premises.
######
Niranjan steered his car towards the Route One South, and Atlantic City was located to the south of Princeton. Later, he joined I-295 South interstate highway, and drove the car according to the flow of traffic.
"I see your driving is improved. How many miles have you put up right now?" Jennifer asked.
Niranjan looked at the odometer and said, "Well, it shows twelve hundred miles, an average of around fifty miles per day," Niranjan answered.
"Okay and it's quite a normal average."
Niranjan passed a car while driving in the right most lanes.
"I suggest you to become a member of the AAA," Jennifer said
"Is it American Automobile Association? I have heard of it from my colleague Daniel," Niranjan said.
"You're right, and it will provide an emergency roadside assistance to its members. The membership is a yearly paid subscription, and for more information you can check their website," she said.
"All right, I will subscribe to it this week itself," Niranjan said.
After driving for about half an hour, Niranjan drove inside the rest area on the Interstate Highway 295 South. The Rest area was built in between the thick forest with large trees grown everywhere across the I-295. Many travellers fuelled their car in a Mobil station nestled within the rest area.
He stepped out of the car and said, "Let's have some snacks in the Taco Bell". He walked inside the restaurant along with Jennifer and glanced at the front menu.
"A Taco with cheese and a medium size coke for me," Jennifer said.
"All right, I will get it and you please be seated."
Jennifer sat by the table, facing the glass interior walls. Niranjan came with the snacks in a tray while Jennifer helped him in keeping the items on the table. He made himself comfortable beside Jennifer.
Niranjan paused to crunch the delicious Taco filled with the cheese and said, "We have travelled half of the distance, and another about seventy miles to go".
"Yeah, once we reach the Atlantic Expressway, it’s about half hour journey," Jennifer said while she sipped the beverage.
Niranjan queried Jennifer on several subjects, and asked her to know more about the other tourists spot to visit in the East Coast. They completed their snack and walked towards the parking lot to resume their journey to Atlantic City.
######
They travelled for one and half hour from Princeton to reach Atlantic City. The Atlantic City Expressway led the travellers inside the city, and Niranjan drove his Acura towards the tall building with Trump Taj Mahal written on it. Jennifer guided him to drive towards it.
"Wow, so many skyscrapers, and I guess they are casino buildings," Niranjan said while he steered the car towards the right.
"Yeah, and the one in front of us is the Caesars casino, which is the biggest among the available casinos," Jennifer said.
Niranjan drove inside the parking area of the Trump Taj Mahal and located a vacant slot in the third floor of the parking building.
"At last, we are in Atlantic City," Niranjan said while he stepped out of the car.
They both walked towards the main entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal casino.
Niranjan glanced at the hoarding near the entrance, which pointed out the different services offered by the Trump Taj Mahal casino.
"The casino offers many entertainment services to customers. Look at the listing, Recreation, Shopping, Health Spa and many more," Niranjan said. He was excited to see the casino, and its services.
"Yes it is, let's go and see inside," Jennifer said.
They walked past the main hall and entered into another huge hall where large number of slot machines was kept, with many visitors playing with them. Niranjan observed a player inserting coins in the coin slot and it generated a random combination of symbols on the dial. He went past few rows with Jennifer and stood before a vacant slot machine.
"Let's play for few minutes," he said, and inserted a twenty dollar bill. He pressed the start button, and the dial started spinning for few seconds and stopped at a certain combination.
"Oh, bad luck, no profit for this combination," Jennifer said.
"Okay, let me try again," Niranjan said and tried for few more times. The sixth trial stopped at certain combination, and they both heard a sound of coins dropping out of the machine.
"Some luck this time around," Niranjan said while coins dropped into the coins slot.
"Yeah, everything in life is luck," Jennifer said. They both laughed delightedly.
Niranjan played for the inserted dollar amount while he heard giggles from Jennifer each time he ran out of luck.
"Okay, I am poorer by twenty dollars," Niranjan said. They bo
th guffawed.
Niranjan walked past the slot machines to another area deep inside the hall, where people were playing poker. Few people sat by the table while the dealer shuffled the cards and distributed to the players. Niranjan and Jennifer walked towards the rear entrance of the hall where it opened to the boardwalk across the sea shore.
"We shall take a boardwalk," Niranjan said while he looked through the glass door.
"Okay, let's take some fresh air outside on the beach," Jennifer said.
They walked outside towards the boardwalk, where many shops were lined up with the variety of products for sale.
Niranjan gazed at one of the hoardings which mentioned about Tarot Reading, and asked Jennifer, "Do you take interest in astrology?"
"Well, it is no harm as long as you don't throw yourself completely in it," she said.
"Yeah, it does not make sense if you immerse yourself."
They spent several minuets walking across the sea shore, and discussed several matters pertaining to Atlantic City and its history. Jennifer explained to Niranjan whatever knowledge she had. They walked back to the parking area while Niranjan said, "We can have lunch here as it is already late".
"Well, I know an Indian restaurant here, which we had visited last time. If you are interested, we can have lunch over there," Jennifer said.
"Sure, why not, let's go." He opened his car door and Jennifer sat beside him. He drove to the Punjab palace with the help of Jennifer.
They had the lunch in the Punjab Palace, and travelled back to Princeton, New Jersey
Chapter 17 New York City
One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives - Euripides
Niranjan glanced at his cell phone which vibrated while he was shaving. He saw the name Jennifer on the cell phone screen and hurriedly wiped the shaving cream. He grabbed it and said, "Hi Jennifer, what's up?"
"I am well, and how was your week? Hope you enjoyed working at the office," Jennifer said.
"Yeah, hard workweek once again, and I had to finish my design implementation of the project," Niranjan said.
"All right, you are ready to plan another trip to some place," Jennifer said. They both laughed cheerfully.
"Well, as long as you are with me, I can roam around the USA with pleasure," Niranjan said. His tone was filled with joyfulness.
"All right, I am free today, and we can go to New York City," Jennifer said.
"My pleasure, I would be happy to see New York City with you".
"All right, give me a ring when you are ready, I will come to your place," she said.
"Okay, my pleasure, bye."
I am glad to receive the phone call from Jennifer, and she is comfortable with my friendship. I am lucky to have an American friend like her who is really cool and confident.
Last week when they returned from the Atlantic City, Jennifer had promised Niranjan of a phone call and she had called on the following Saturday. Niranjan was expecting a call from her but it came sooner than he had anticipated.
He took quick shower and dressed with Dockers navy blue trouser and Van Heusen white shirt. He decided to have the breakfast with Jennifer and dialled her number from his cell phone.
"Hi Niranjan I will be at your place in few minutes," Jennifer said. Her tone was filled with cheerfulness.
"All right, please come soon," Niranjan said.
He opened his balcony door wide open and relaxed on the metallic chair kept in there.
He flipped through the Psychology magazine he bought yesterday in Super Fresh shopping outlet. After several minutes of wait, he saw Jennifer driving her Beetle towards the ‘H’ block parking place. Niranjan stood up and waved his hand. He crossed the main hall to go downstairs to receive her.
Niranjan was impressed by the way Jennifer had dressed. He gazed at her skirt suit which had push button front jacket. The skirt had the side back stretchy and black vent.
"Please welcome, I am impressed," Niranjan said. He smiled delightedly and looked into her eyes.
"Thank you, and let's go, we will go to the Princeton Junction to catch a train to New York City," she said.
"Okay, let' have a coffee before we start," Niranjan said. They both walked towards the home.
After a quick cup of coffee and sandwich, they headed to the Princeton junction to catch a train to the New York Penn station.
Niranjan glanced at the train ticket vending machine, and was surprised to see the automatic ticket issuing system. He read the instructions written on it carefully and inserted a currency note in it. He looked at the screen and entered the required destination station in it and pressed the button. Two train tickets to the New York Penn station were issued along with the receipt by the vending machine.
"It's really simplified system to issue the tickets to the passengers, I appreciate," Niranjan said while he kept the tickets inside his wallet.
"Yes, it is."
They walked inside the station while many passengers were waiting for the train to arrive in the platform. After few minutes of wait, Niranjan saw an approaching train towards the platform. When the train stopped, he stepped into it along with Jennifer and other passengers.
Niranjan noticed the passengers in the train who kept themselves busy in reading, and maintained silence in the train compartment. He sat in a nearby available seat along with Jennifer.
After traveling about one hour they stepped out of the train at the New York Penn station. Niranjan collected few tourist information pamphlets at a nearby counter in the station and glanced at it.
"We shall visit to the Statue of Liberty first," Niranjan said while reading the pamphlet.
"Okay and we need to take a subway train to reach to the Battery Park to go to the Statue of Liberty," Jennifer said.
Niranjan walked towards the subway station with Jennifer and they boarded the train to go to the Battery Park.
Niranjan stepped out of the subway metro train along with Jennifer. Many visitors walked towards the Battery Park to visit the Statue of Liberty after they stepped out of the train.
"Wow, this old fort like structure looks great. It looks like it is made up of sand," Niranjan said. He keenly watched the sand stone fort inside the Battery Park.
"It's called as Castle Clinton, and was earlier used for artillery purpose. It is now a national monument".
"Okay, it looks great," Niranjan said.
He walked towards a mini garden called the Hope garden, and the name was etched in the white marble stone. He walked past the garden to the other end towards the Battery Gardens Restaurant, which was adjacent to the USA coast guard battery building.
Niranjan glanced at the visitors walking towards a ferry to go to the Statue of Liberty. He looked at the distant Liberty Statue, which stood in the middle of Atlantic Ocean waters.
"Shall we take ferry to see the Statue of Liberty?" Niranjan asked. r />
"Yes, and let's go," Jennifer replied.
Niranjan took the tickets for the ferry and boarded it along with Jennifer. Once the ferry was full with the passengers, it started going towards the Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty was located.
After travelling for about twenty minutes, Niranjan got down from the ferry along with Jennifer. He walked towards the pedestal of the statue and said, "It's amazing, and looks great. It's placed on the pedestal which itself is more than hundred feet high," Niranjan said. He stared at the Liberty Statue for several minutes.
"I think it's total height is around three hundred feet from the ground," Jennifer said.
"Do you know any history attached to the Liberty Statue?" Niranjan asked.
"Well, the statue is a gift to the United States from the people of France. It represents the Roman Goddess of freedom. You can see the torch in her right hand and the tablet evoking the law in the left hand. You can see the broken chain at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and welcomes immigrants arriving from abroad," Jennifer explained.
"You know a lot about it, and thank you for sharing the information, by the way," Niranjan said and smiled pleasantly at her.
"Well, I had acquired such knowledge during my school days, and I vaguely remember still," she said, and smiled at Niranjan.
They walked towards the Pedestal of the Liberty Statue where the visitors were keenly observing it with much interest.
Niranjan spent few hours in the Liberty Island with Jennifer, and they discussed more about the history associated with the monuments in and around the New York City. They decided to visit the Empire State Building before going back to Princeton, New Jersey.
#####
They took subway train from the Battery Park to go to the Empire State building situated in the 34th Street of Midtown Manhattan.
Niranjan walked towards the ground floor of the Empire State Building, and saw the huge elevators with people stepping inside them to go to the top floors.
"Wow, it has 102 floors in it," Niranjan said while he looked at the hoarding kept in the ground floor.
"It stands tall with a height of 1250 feet, and is the third tallest skyscraper in the USA," Jennifer said.
"What is the significance associated with the name, Empire State?" Niranjan asked.
"Well, it is a nick name of New York State. The building is generally considered as a cultural icon of the United States and seven wonders of the modern world".