9/11 Stories: Things will never be the same
I was running late for my interview at Site59.com whose offices were just a few short blocks away from the World Trade Center. The role there was for an accountant and I had just started my senior year of college and was already interning at Merrill Lynch's Wealth Management division in the Empire State Building. My interview was scheduled for 9:00 am and here I was at 9:50 am, still trapped inside the train that had taken two hours to get to City Hall! On most days, the commute would've lasted 45 minutes or less.
As soon as the train halted at City Hall Station, I darted out and once on the street, I was taken aback seeing both the North and South towers of the World Trade Center on fire. I had no clue as to what had happened and saw people queueing up everywhere to use the public phones. Realizing that I still had my interview to go to, I tried using my cell-phone to let my interviewer know that I was a few minutes away but the phone wasn’t going through. I continued walking briskly and even stopped to stare at the two burning buildings along with a crowd of people.
Fixated at my destination, when I reached two blocks away from the Site59 office, a rumble ensued and people began screaming that the towers were collapsing. A crowd, including me, ran into a Duane Reade and I then felt the earth shake twice as hard as any previous earthquake I'd ever experienced! As soon as it stopped, everyone in the store made a dash towards Pier 17, South Street Seaport. Outside, there were debris everywhere and the dust and smoke gushed towards us, trapping us from all angles and within no time, the entire zone was covered by dust and soot-fog so thick, it was impossible to see anything, even a foot away. As it cleared, I could see police officers directing us to go uptown via Water Street.
As we walked a few more blocks uptown, the smoke and the burning stench in the air subsided. I brushed the soot off my shirt and pants and continued marching with thousands of people. It was only when we got to Chinatown did I turn back and stop to look at the North Tower that was still belching smoke into the air. Within a few minutes I watched it pancake, throwing a vast cloud of smoke and debris which then left me with the realization that we were at War and there would be severe consequences.
The volunteers and police officers then told people on the streets that all public transport were shut down for the day. Since I needed to get back to Astoria, I then joined a crowd that continued uptown via 2nd Ave. It was a strange sight to see no vehicles on the road that day and after walking for what seemed like an eternity, I stopped to rest as the scorching sun burned hard upon us all. I then joined a group listening to the news being broadcast on the radio of a parked truck. Everyone collectively gasped when we heard that a plane had hit the Pentagon. It was one shock after another that left us pondering, “What’s next?”
Realizing that I still had a long hike and was completely dehydrated, I entered Health Nuts on 44th and 2nd to buy a bottle of water. Carrying out a small conversation about my ordeal, the cashier asked if I was Nepali. Surprised, I said yes and he mentioned that he was one too! It finally felt good to have someone I could talk to after nearly two hours of silence and self-contemplation. I never met him after but what remains in my mind is that the Sherpa dai refused to take any money from me.
Once on the lower level of the Queensboro Bridge and on finally crossing it into Queens, I could finally see automobiles on the streets. The livery cabs were packing people like sardines charging each individual a $10 fare. A few days later, I heard some cab-driving friends of talk of drivers who made more than $2,000 that way. It made me sick to hear of the heartless advantage being taken. Even today, when people and the media talk about the collective generosity of New Yorkers during 9/11, they must’ve never looked into this aspect.
Still walking, I called a friend who lived on 28th and Broadway in Astoria and went over for lunch. We watched the news for the next hour and no one had any clue as to who was behind this atrocity. Some blamed Saddam, some Arafat and a few linked Al-Qaeda. Arafat then came on the news to redeem himself of any involvement via a shivering face that looked like it had just seen a ghost. As we sat on the roof of my friend's building along with two more buddies all we did was look at the smoke still rising in the horizon of what was once the World Trade Center.
While our discussions continued, F16 jets continued to fly overhead from Queens into Manhattan and below on the street, all shops were closed and the always vibrant Broadway in Astoria was a dead zone; a scene straight out of a zombie movie and it was not even 3 in the afternoon! That was when realization finally dawned upon us that things would never be the same again.
(Note: Back in 2002 site59.com was purchased for $42 million in cash and is now a part of Travelocity)
