Of the many strange things I have done in my life, one of them was deciding to live in Roosevelt Island. I did that for a year and every morning, the strangeness of that place grew and every evening I wondered why is it that a place can make you feel that way. A small island across the East River on the side of Manhattan, where no cars are allowed and the whole width of the island is 240 meters and length of about 3 km, it is owned by the city of Manhattan but feels like worlds away.
Some experiences remain etched in our minds not because of their importance, but sometimes because of their simplicity. I was riding the roosevelt island tram one evening (you know this strange red cable car that crosses over at 60th street to the island), and next to me sat a beautiful old lady in her 70’s. She said hello and then she said “pearl necklaces”. On seeing my puzzled face she went on to say: “the bridges, they are so beautiful at night, don’t they look like pearl necklaces?”. Since that evening, I can only think of pearl necklaces when I see a bridge lit up at night as the Queensborough bridge was on that evening. That lady had the gift of seeing beauty and art in everything and she left me so inspired.