Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Vibrant and diverse sidewalk spit


From the NY Times:

At a dollar each, paan has become a popular after-dinner treat in Jackson Heights. It is made by folding dried fruits, nuts and pastes into a betel leaf, a member of the pepper family. Some people like a sweet type of paan with candy-coated fennel seeds and rose petal preserves, chomping on it to freshen their breath or swallowing it to help digestion. Others go for paan with cured tobacco, despite warnings about blackened gums and oral cancer.

Whatever the mix, paan loses its flavor in a matter of minutes — leading to a messy end. To the chagrin of Jackson Heights shopkeepers, some passers-by spit half-chewed betel leaves and saliva onto the sidewalks, just as they did in their native countries.

Once paan spittle hits the sidewalk, the city does not come to wash it away. Kathy Dawkins, a spokeswoman for the Sanitation Department, said it did not remove stains, paan or otherwise, from sidewalks. But she promised that the city would “pay closer attention” to the issue.

The stains regularly set off debates in Jackson Heights, which attracts visitors from a mix of paan-chewing countries like Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Many are quick to lay the blame for the ubiquitous blemishes on any nationality but their own. Older immigrants privately scold newcomers for clinging to the bad habits of their homeland.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

and i thought that was duck s--t around the bowne park lake ?

Anonymous said...

Let's have a sidewalk spitting contest between J.H.s Indies, Pakis and Banglas...and Floo-shing's Asiatics.

Pa-tooooooey!

Snot rockets not allowed in this Olympic competition,
but Frushing would definitely win that event.

Anonymous said...

I recall walking on Main Street, in Flushing, and seeing a middle aged man blow his nose into his hand and wipe his hand on a street lamp.

Anonymous said...

That same man (with snot residue) might be clutching a handrail as he proceeds into the subway.

BEWARE STRAINS OF DRUG RESISTANT TB!

LOL!
Maybe he's a delivery guy bringing an order to CB#7's DM, Mariyn Bitterman.

Colorful, vibrant and diverse...
these are our future voters.

Anonymous said...

yeah number 2 - let's pit em against them tobacco chewin' and spitten Caucasians (where ever the hell they live)

Anonymous said...

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...
the lands of schmutz and schmattas!

As long as they don't spit in the JH historic district.

The beautification committee must hold an emergency meeting regarding these atrocities PDQ!

Anonymous said...

btw...the 50 ducks are back at the Bowne Park lake. one can walk the sidewalk around the lake, but be careful... the ducks don't have pooper scoopers.

Missing Foundation said...

Folks

as long as these people vote Democratic and Republicans think its great that Americans live substandard housing and work in conditions where they can be exploited nothing will happen.

And since a good chunk of the electorate don't get involved this will only get worse and worse.

Anonymous said...

My question is, why was this even considered a good habit back in their homelands? Don't these savages have any sense of decency? manners? cleanliness?

Its hard to even consider such creatures to be human.

Anonymous said...

3rd world cleanliness standards aren't like ours.

Remember cholera still abounds in those lands.

Diseases that are extinct elsewhere in other nations
run rampant in the subcontinent.

I'm voting Republican!