Boston

This is great! It`s 3 in the morning. I just registered at Chowk to reply to this article I had some beef with, and ended up having spent the last 5 hours at the same website! That is definitely a first! But really, this is what`s so nice. Just one article about your unassuming, honest memories have evoked sooooo many varied responses (as I`ve just discovered from all the ``interacts``) from all kinds of people. Even though I live in Chicago, your article and especially the chemistry it`s generated with the responses, makes me want to check out Boston pronto. I should have belived my brother when he told me so!
Anyway, great job. Your stuff is a lot better than some crazy pseudo-heady crap I`ve read tonight. Why do people make life more difficult than it needs to be? Keep writing. It`s inspiring me towards many more sleepness nights! I wonder, if I were to move back to Pakistan, if I would have such vibrant memories of Chicago. I should start logging my days by color, and maybe I`ll be able to whip something pretty up in a couple of years. Thanks!

Ahh , so boston is THAT great, well I think i will get to know, I am here for last 4 months now. Being a Sydney boy for last 6 years with warm weather and white sand beaches and desi restaurants where u can walk into kitchen to order the chef exactly what you want, Boston is coming as a shock to me. Perhaps, the reason is that i wander the town alone and without the company of frens who wud be planning to play cricket on one of the north shore beaches.


I dont know if that is the lazy Australian summers or the cold Boston summers but i still have to start appreciating Boston.

Lets hope that I become one of the devotee followers of Boston !!

Spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars as if it were candy- that sums it all up for the Parents. It appears Boston is not THAT expensive afterall!
Nicely written and very evocative. Thanks.
PRK

Damn, Homie...! I just joined Chowk for some enlightened mature articles and the first one I read is this wonderful piece by Bina. Nicely written, though Im alot late, who cares! :P Yes clam chowder... though I first had a tasted of it on the other side of the country, US. But I`ve seen alot of New England area... Boston I vaguely remember... now its a must see. Cheers. Write another one when you go back there again.

You have wonderful memories of your stay there. Thanks for sharing them.

Boston! I just got back from there yesterday. My in-laws are there & my husband & I try to return a few times a year since we moved to San Francisco in 2002. This was our first summer visit--the others have been in dead winter when I couldn`t wait to leave. This time was different...so beautiful, sunny, relaxed with the streets, cafes and flowers in full bloom. I visited old haunts & became overwhelmingly nostalgic. Boston has that magic of being able to draw you in so close during the summer that she blinds you to the reality of the very long harsh winter. And BTW, I think Diva in Davis Sq & Kebab Factory across from Dali both serve excellent desi food. Not as good (or halal) as the desi food here in San Fran but pretty good! :)

# 36

it used to cost a dime to make a phonecall?

wow...

my not-from-boston friends tell me boston is really expensive....

#jang

there ARE no good pakistani resturants in boston. in fact, i think there are only 2... one of which is ``indian/pakistani``. so nowhere to get yum real kababs from.

who even likes rasam? in any case, curry is hardly an all-encompassing definition of ``authentic desi food``...

waise, the last time i went to legal and asked what spicy stuff they had on their menu they said ``we can put hot sauce on anything``. v. disappointing.

there is a desi place i like though... bhindi bazaar! they have amazing chaat papri.

Boston. Aah. I miss Boston. Even though they tell me San Francisco is so similar to Boston. I have now been here for 8 months but I still miss the ol` Beantown. I miss the T. I miss The Good Life, I miss Lucky`s. The Boston live jazz scene. The warm summer nights. The late nights at the beach in the winter to check what happens to the ocean when it snows. Every year. I seem to forget.

And as much as I hate winter, which is the reason I left, I really do miss the snow.

Bina, did you know it is no longer just a dime to make a phone call?

#33: But interestingly, it`s back to one menu vs. having two different menus. It`s indeed an amazing move to find the Legal S. serving South Indian food. The scallops tanjore tasted great. Presentation certainly adds to the aroma, taste and everything else.

My all time favorites: Coconut Shrimp; Rhode Island Calamari and Apple/Taco/Goat Cheese with alah blah & shalah salad.

bad-zauq :)

Re #32 ``...I wish more desi families (with aunties and uncles and babies) would settle in Boston so there`d be more authentic desi restaurants here. ``

please...there is way too much curry in boston already..
The city food which used to be happyly provincial...now even legal has hing-flavored curry rasam chowdah, and Scallop Tanjore (not to be confused with Tandoor) on their menu. Apparently the dishes were started to cater to the taste of tech-boom programmers. Now the programmers are gone but the menu smells hingy forever.

Arrows St. Crepes? Ewww...... That place literally stinks.

So, no one else likes Maharaja in Porter Square either? I wish more desi families (with aunties and uncles and babies) would settle in Boston so there`d be more authentic desi restaurants here.

Bina, did you ever try the little crepe place right on the edge of Harvard Sq? The banana-nutella is to die for! They recently bought over Tosci`s (sob!) in the MIT student center.

Let`s see - other fun things/places: the Harvard Bookstore basement, Avenue Victor Hugo on Newbury, Quincy Market (how`d you miss that one!), cannolis from Mike`s Pastry, (even) the duck tours, Punjabi Dhaba in Inman Sq (for some reverse nostalgia), Marrakesh on Cambridge St (is sadly no more :()

and then there`s the snow in may you forgot....

but - hey! - you can walk across the harvard bridge and ``sun-bathe`` on the esplanade...

[excuse me, but, being from karachi, im used to october being the hottest month of the year and not freezy like boston already is....]

though at least there`s pretty foliage in the fall....

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I made a point to visit the the bar, ``Cheers`` when I went there as I was so much addicted to Sam Malone, Rebecca , Dr.Frasier , Woody and carla...
The damn bar actually had a museum at the top...

I think all the nostalgic feelings are about `that` time period. And if its the student life, then nothing else comes close to it whether its Boston or cheechooN ki malyaaN.