Ideate, Elevate and Amaze: Climbing up the Ladder – A Visit to NYC

I had been writing for good or bad and under rain or sun or cold for the past many years. It has been a decent curve so far but more than anything there are times when you feel is it doing any good personally. I had to fight with my partner to write the blog, back in India it used to be with my parents. The family is not at all impressed by my writing spree and in addition my wife made a big noise and issue out of it, terming me as wrong player writing blogs like there is nothing else on every weekend. It became an act of guilt for me deep down as well and I had to bear every blame that comes my way due to this habit. I can't argue when someone says I might be doing something wrong. Under light or dark, rain or shine and whatsoever, I didn't stop publishing couple of posts on most weekends. 

Despite all the issues and negative traits attached to it, I persisted to hold onto the pastime activity to express and exhibit myself. In the first six months after coming to US in 2022, I put together thoughts on some very good topics every week. This is a first time for me to write on a different topic every week. I used to do this in India during pandemic but written on the virus, case load and covid tracking every week. It comes with the comfort of writing on predetermined, same subject which has so much to write about as the world came to a standstill. Though it is a novel venture to write every week at that time, I fought covid every week with my blog writing on one topic most of the time. After my relocation to US, this took a different route. Every week I am coming up with some good idea, good narrative, good perspective while elevating myself to a new plane of belongingness. Along the way I felt the ideas that I am generating are improving over time and I personally felt I am giving some good content consistently. As a reviewer of my own posts, I had seen this for the entire last few years where I opined on everything under the sun on every weekend. The severity of these posts if taken on the face value is extremely huge and epical on most occasions. I had been writing epics so much so that it became a tedious habit of sticking to those grueling routines. Just for instance, if we review the last two posts, I had written one on the necessity for India and US rising to the expectations of world as everyone watches over. On a face value, it means these two countries can dictate a glorious upcoming century together and in separate paths for the peace, progress and prosperity of world. Can you gauge the wonder, amaze working beneath the layers of the text with as much weightage as the weight of the Earth. In another post, I talked about three missions converging in the city of Chicago for the good of everyone within, beyond and far. It is about how this city provided a launchpad for three missions that are shaping the world in the past and present. No one knows what it takes for a city to be that platform and it is a learning in process to understand the lab while working on the experiment at hand. These are a brief story behind stories of two most recent posts and every such post has undeniably large meaning behind the idea for the post. The potency of these posts is the practical value beside the theory and the potential to create far better results on the ground. For example, this can be coincidental but when I opined for peace between India and Pakistan at an opportune time, India limited the damage from its strikes and conducted operation Sindoor in retaliation for terror attack few weeks earlier. The tensions could have taken us anywhere but a sane voice at right time is all it takes for a sane, peaceful world. In essence, we shape the perspectives, patterns and actions on the ground by our commitment and consistency to truth and honest narratives. 

Going back, I asked for an onsite opportunity 3.5 years back after getting the visa. What is the confidence I had and did I give to my managers. I don’t believe in my expertise in the job I am doing and can be termed as a horrible IT professional. So, what confidence do I have. It is all from the little expertise I had in writing this blog. Sounds weird but it is the truth. As you can see, I am surviving from the last three years in U.S. from the strength of this blog and not entirely due to my official work. The confidence came from the space I had created in the online world that I belong where I am now. Otherwise, I am a source of embarrassment for everyone, a material to discourage at every step and a nothing person. To say succinctly, this blog is the toolkit I had to confidently propose and work onsite. As told, after reaching U.S, I began writing on varied topics banking on my beliefs and knowledge every week and constantly contemplates on new ideas for next post. This became a habit with many positive and negative repercussions as told but I never stopped to ideate and publish posts even if it does me a lot of bad. As mentioned, the epic posts are being written with tremendous gravity and face value and along the way I felt I had reached higher plane of belongingness. This gave me confidence to venture out for my trip to New York to attend an ‘amazing’ tech conference. A material to discourage that I am, I felt a streak within me to do something epical, out-of-the-world and ground-breaking. I flew from Chicago to NYC and back feeling something deeply good for the good of these two places. 

When a man progresses to a next level, it will be good for the land and creates a wider sphere of positive influence. You should progress from local to state to national to international or in any given hierarchy through the hard-working credentials you earn. It will be a disadvantage for the rest when you don’t take that step. With the confidence I had in ideating, amazing and elevating myself to next level, I made a trip to NYC last week for couple of days. You can remember I made a similar trip to San Francisco last year when I thought I progressed to next level. I already made a detailed post on the visit to ‘golden state’ last year.  

Coming to the trip itself, my descent in Laguardia airport to finding a bus to economical yet sophisticated hostel in upper west side Manhattan to spending a sleepless night to using subway system to attend tech conference to walking to Times square in evening to watching the acrobatic entertainers on the pavement to riding an open-top bus in the downtown to circle Brooklyn bridge to working remotely without taking leave next day to visiting a good temple to travel back to the airport and catch the return flight – everything happened in the heart of NYC for couple of days. I came across people from London, students from France and other international destinations in that little time. Overall, the NYC public transportation is at its best taking you to wherever you want around the 7000 plus high-rise buildings and near 300 skyscrapers underneath in subway and above the land in different modes. The mood is good, energy is vibrant, and crowd keeps pouring at all times telling a sign of city of stuff and dreams. Even the city elected a young and trending mayor reflecting the good vibes and atmosphere in sync with the times. To tell about the culture and diversity of this city, over 800 languages are spoken here, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. It is not just culturally rich but also economically affluent and down to earth. According to the 2025 World's Wealthiest Cities Report, New York tops the global list with 384,500 millionaires, including 66 billionaires. That means 1 in every 22 New Yorkers is a millionaire—so next time you’re on the subway, statistically someone in that car could own a yacht, a way anyone and everyone travels in a simple public transport. 

The preparation phase is good, reaching the next level is good, the city is ready and it all boils down to opportunity. I got the opportunity to make all this through the one-day AWS Summit which lit up the Javits Convention Center with cutting-edge cloud innovation and a strong focus on agentic AI—AI systems that act autonomously to complete tasks. A powerful keynote was a given Agentic on balancing timeless tech fundamentals with emerging AI frameworks. Companies like Intuit and Thomson Reuters showcased how they’re transforming operations using agentic AI systems. AWS announced a $100M expansion of its Generative AI Innovation Center, supporting breakthroughs in autonomous agents and productivity gains. Launches like Amazon Q Developer, Bedrock Agents, and SageMaker Studio upgrades stole the spotlight. Over 200 sessions covered everything from cloud architecture to real-time voice AI, with formats like workshops, chalk talks, and code demos. The expo was a great place to know more about the emerging and established participating vendors. I attended few sessions, keynote and navigated though the expo to make good use of the day of the simple one-day event. I felt extremely short of whoever presented in those sessions who can be termed perfect IT employees and not someone like me who banks on lateral skills and extra circular activities. The biggest takeaway is I need to push myself to become better IT professional and not someone who lives through with bare minimum qualifications. I hope this is a good platform to travel in that direction. 

My visit underlines a modified, revamped and recharged NYC and AWS. Two great brands in their own fold. By hosting a person like me, I can say New York City has adapted to a generational person like me as the city has always been a master of reinvention—and as it steps into its fifth century, it’s not just adapting, it’s leading the charge into a future defined by innovation, equity, and resilience. For instance, NYC is undergoing a sweeping revamp across infrastructure, sustainability, and technology. NYC is investing in climate tech, AI, and urban innovation to tackle challenges like aging infrastructure and climate change. Projects include offshore wind energy, zero-emission buses, and smart building upgrades. The city’s long-term blueprint focuses on four pillars—growth, equity, sustainability, and resilience—to ensure NYC thrives economically while remaining inclusive and environmentally responsible. The city's comprehensive approach - combining infrastructure modernization, smart technology integration, sustainability focus, and equity considerations - positions NYC not just as a resilient city for the next century, but as a global laboratory for urban innovation that other cities worldwide can learn from and adapt. This transformation represents one of the most ambitious urban renewal efforts in modern history, setting the stage for NYC to lead global urbanization trends for the next 100 years. An adaptation to the new age phenomenon and ability to tackle modern challenges will position the city to progress well. Finally, progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily or weekly. Because when you progress creating a wave; the entities, cities and everyone progresses along the way.