About Chicago
Hi! I'm back again... after a not-so-long break of 2-3 days... ;-)
Today's space is reserved for a review of my trip to Chicago, as I had mentioned earlier in dampened spirits that I'd write about it. If you ask me what gives me this sudden inspiration to write about that, for after all Chicago is truly a great place in its own right, with a great history about it, and it doesn't really depend on patronage from you know what kind of people..., I'd blame it all on the weather. Over the past week or so, the midwest has been engulfed by a protracted cold storm and its raging flurries, to the point of life almost coming to a standstill. Whereas when I was in Chicago, barely three weeks earlier, I was treated by fine weather and had a memorable experience...
To start with, my first few days in Chambana as I've already bragged about, were boring. Thanks to Sushanth and Co., and kulli's stopover plans, I got sinister ideas. I took my "ever dependable" pal a whole week to figure things out (actually he never really figured out anything!) and I was off in a flash, on the friday evening LEX. Thanks to his brilliant sense of directing newcomers, I ended up getting lost from my local bus ride (supposedly to Lincoln Park/Armitage) at the right place! ;-) And the moment I met up with them late in evening (kulli was still jetlagged and starved of sleep), the party began. We had a night-out party at his friend's place nearby and I got introduced to many of his cohorts. Some Miller Lite, Martini, Tequila and good ol' hindi party music kept things afloat. 5:00 am- job well done, thank you very much, good night and bye everybody.
The next day began at around 1:00pm or so... everybody (with the exception of an insomniac) had slept a log. As usual, we we short of ideas and so it was Saturday at Downtown Chicago. That was where I got to see a good many wonders... the drive beside Lincoln Park by the side of lake Michigan, and then onto Michigan avenue- the prime avenue of downtown... Chicago Tribune, The Ritz, the Water Station which is a lone survivor of the great 1900 inferno, the bridge on the river Illinois... and a few other tall boys among them. We spent a good deal of time shopping some random stuff at the malls out there... I happened to meet Vaibhav, a long time friend from NPS, with whom I hadn't spoken in like 6 years! Of particular noteworthiness is the G A P showroom, where we were holed up for over an hour for want of an evening plan. Thanks to some genius getting a brainwave, we carried on to go Bowling. I was a once-upon-a-time accomplished 'underarm bowler' with many back-to-back strikes to my credit, but I realised the hard way that after 4 years I had little grace in this sport! ;-) Some tortillas and pizza to fill-in-the-blanks and we were out by 8:00!
The night still young, we thought of watching a movie, and thanks to an excellent suggestion from one of his ever so knowledgeable friends, I ended up sleeping through my first movie ever, an animation at that, in all of 22 years. The verdict was unanimous- Happily Never After! But it was just 11:00pm yet. I went along with his friend Rohit, who was accommodating me at the IIT dorms. I just did a few random things, met up with a couple more friends (Sriram and Jathurshun), had a chat, plus did some random stuff before deciding to retire for the night. Barely 10mins later, we got a called to a sports bar.. okay, so get ready, drive down across half the city and end up reaching there some 5mins before closing time. Nothing much happened, getting kulli into the car turned out to be a gargantuan task, and the three of us (Sriram, Rohit and I) had to walk down the streets of Chicago during the cold, wee hours of the night. And the fun part was when I went to Sushanth's place to pick up my stuff... kulli stole the show with her melancholy wails - "I don't like grad school; I won't do my assignments; I won't pass out from grad school!" Lol!!
Sunday was a great experience.. It was Bhogi and we decided to go to the Lord Venkateshwara Temple at Aurora. The drive was smooth (we cruised at some 80-odd mph), and kulli treated our ears to her mellifluous voice along the way. It took no more than an hour to reach there, and I was completely enchanted by the place. The temple is beautiful, it has all the amenities for the American way and yet retains the best part of our Indian traditions. For the first time, I had been to a place where all Gods had their own exclusive Sannadhis, all of equal import. I had never expected to find this several nautical miles away from home! And now for the best part- I came to know that the Aurora is famed for its brilliant roster of South Indian cuisines. And so for Pongal, it was all of Venn Pongal-chutney, Vadai-Sambar, Puliyodharai, Thayiru Chaadam and Oorugai- Semma Vettu! ;-) That was like the fulfillment of a long time dream, especially after missing good home food for days, and the days to come ;-) We got back, a little stressed out for lack of sleep. Some went off to watch the Chicago Bears in action while I just did some random stuff for a couple of hours before packing off.
At around 4, I said goodbye to all- kulli (she had her flight on Monday), Rohit, Richard, Jathurshun, Sriram et al and left for Union Station. Sushanth, for once thankfully, got me the the place in the nick of time. Just before leaving, I got a chance to walk by the Sears tower, stare its magnificent rooftop up somewhere in the heavens, obscured by the haze of the clouds, and took one last pic before adios ameego to Sushanth. And then, I got back again to a damp Chambana amidst torrential rains, late in the evening.
And that is all I have to say about Chicago, folks!
Today's space is reserved for a review of my trip to Chicago, as I had mentioned earlier in dampened spirits that I'd write about it. If you ask me what gives me this sudden inspiration to write about that, for after all Chicago is truly a great place in its own right, with a great history about it, and it doesn't really depend on patronage from you know what kind of people..., I'd blame it all on the weather. Over the past week or so, the midwest has been engulfed by a protracted cold storm and its raging flurries, to the point of life almost coming to a standstill. Whereas when I was in Chicago, barely three weeks earlier, I was treated by fine weather and had a memorable experience...
To start with, my first few days in Chambana as I've already bragged about, were boring. Thanks to Sushanth and Co., and kulli's stopover plans, I got sinister ideas. I took my "ever dependable" pal a whole week to figure things out (actually he never really figured out anything!) and I was off in a flash, on the friday evening LEX. Thanks to his brilliant sense of directing newcomers, I ended up getting lost from my local bus ride (supposedly to Lincoln Park/Armitage) at the right place! ;-) And the moment I met up with them late in evening (kulli was still jetlagged and starved of sleep), the party began. We had a night-out party at his friend's place nearby and I got introduced to many of his cohorts. Some Miller Lite, Martini, Tequila and good ol' hindi party music kept things afloat. 5:00 am- job well done, thank you very much, good night and bye everybody.
The next day began at around 1:00pm or so... everybody (with the exception of an insomniac) had slept a log. As usual, we we short of ideas and so it was Saturday at Downtown Chicago. That was where I got to see a good many wonders... the drive beside Lincoln Park by the side of lake Michigan, and then onto Michigan avenue- the prime avenue of downtown... Chicago Tribune, The Ritz, the Water Station which is a lone survivor of the great 1900 inferno, the bridge on the river Illinois... and a few other tall boys among them. We spent a good deal of time shopping some random stuff at the malls out there... I happened to meet Vaibhav, a long time friend from NPS, with whom I hadn't spoken in like 6 years! Of particular noteworthiness is the G A P showroom, where we were holed up for over an hour for want of an evening plan. Thanks to some genius getting a brainwave, we carried on to go Bowling. I was a once-upon-a-time accomplished 'underarm bowler' with many back-to-back strikes to my credit, but I realised the hard way that after 4 years I had little grace in this sport! ;-) Some tortillas and pizza to fill-in-the-blanks and we were out by 8:00!The night still young, we thought of watching a movie, and thanks to an excellent suggestion from one of his ever so knowledgeable friends, I ended up sleeping through my first movie ever, an animation at that, in all of 22 years. The verdict was unanimous- Happily Never After! But it was just 11:00pm yet. I went along with his friend Rohit, who was accommodating me at the IIT dorms. I just did a few random things, met up with a couple more friends (Sriram and Jathurshun), had a chat, plus did some random stuff before deciding to retire for the night. Barely 10mins later, we got a called to a sports bar.. okay, so get ready, drive down across half the city and end up reaching there some 5mins before closing time. Nothing much happened, getting kulli into the car turned out to be a gargantuan task, and the three of us (Sriram, Rohit and I) had to walk down the streets of Chicago during the cold, wee hours of the night. And the fun part was when I went to Sushanth's place to pick up my stuff... kulli stole the show with her melancholy wails - "I don't like grad school; I won't do my assignments; I won't pass out from grad school!" Lol!!
Sunday was a great experience.. It was Bhogi and we decided to go to the Lord Venkateshwara Temple at Aurora. The drive was smooth (we cruised at some 80-odd mph), and kulli treated our ears to her mellifluous voice along the way. It took no more than an hour to reach there, and I was completely enchanted by the place. The temple is beautiful, it has all the amenities for the American way and yet retains the best part of our Indian traditions. For the first time, I had been to a place where all Gods had their own exclusive Sannadhis, all of equal import. I had never expected to find this several nautical miles away from home! And now for the best part- I came to know that the Aurora is famed for its brilliant roster of South Indian cuisines. And so for Pongal, it was all of Venn Pongal-chutney, Vadai-Sambar, Puliyodharai, Thayiru Chaadam and Oorugai- Semma Vettu! ;-) That was like the fulfillment of a long time dream, especially after missing good home food for days, and the days to come ;-) We got back, a little stressed out for lack of sleep. Some went off to watch the Chicago Bears in action while I just did some random stuff for a couple of hours before packing off.
At around 4, I said goodbye to all- kulli (she had her flight on Monday), Rohit, Richard, Jathurshun, Sriram et al and left for Union Station. Sushanth, for once thankfully, got me the the place in the nick of time. Just before leaving, I got a chance to walk by the Sears tower, stare its magnificent rooftop up somewhere in the heavens, obscured by the haze of the clouds, and took one last pic before adios ameego to Sushanth. And then, I got back again to a damp Chambana amidst torrential rains, late in the evening.And that is all I have to say about Chicago, folks!
2 comments:
Fantastic!
ha! really nice time you have had..I will impose myself there as soon as I can get my hands on some money..watch out..!!!!
GRe
Post a Comment