It was a “busy first day” for New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, as he tightened his belt to fit into the new role. The 34-year-old Indian-origin democratic socialist kick-started his day with Indian lunch that included “chai.” Taking to X, Mamdani shared some pictures from his first day as the new mayor of New York City, which was jam-packed with interviews, announcements and meetings.
However, what attracted the most from the photos he shared were the food items he had with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Laliguras Bistro in Jackson Heights. “A busy first day as your Mayor-elect: early morning interviews, transition announcements and meetings. More to say on all of it tomorrow. But a highlight was lunch with my Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Laliguras Bistro in Jackson Heights,” wrote Mamdani in the post.In the pictures, Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez were seen having lunch that included chai, momo and other food items, which appeared to be alooo-dam and paneer tikka. Mamdani, son of Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Indian-origin scholar Mahmood Mamdani, pulled off a stunning victory in the fiercely contested New York City mayoral elections. He defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in the polls. Mamdani thanked his supporters in Brooklyn after victory, saying, “Tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics.”“We have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the final time I speak his name,” he said.During his victory speech, he also invoked Jawaharlal Nehru. “We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible, and we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do,” he said.“Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru — a moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new,” Mamdani added. He also threw a challenge to the US president, saying, “So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: ‘Turn the volume up.”
