Day 3 - (Sunday, 30th July 06')
Today was our last day in Chicago and our flight out of Chicago Midway was at 3 pm. Karthik had graciously insisted on dropping us at the airport, after we would get done with our CAF (Chicago Architectural Foundation's) Architectural River Cruise. We were booked on the 11 am cruise, which would take off from the Chicago River, at the foot of the Wacker bridge and bring us back there at 12:30 pm.
Saurabh and I checked out of our hotel and decided to conserve our monetary resources by taking the complimentary shuttle ride from the hotel into the city. We had become, very used to taking cabs in this city and figured that it may be a tough, thereby expensive habit, to lose, when we got back home in NYC.
We didn’t have enough time to grab a bite before the cruise, although we had already planned that the last thing we would eat before we left Chicago, was a slice of their deep-dish pizza. It only occurred to us later, that there weren’t many shops that sold pizzas by the slice, as in NYC. Karthik informed me that a deep-dish pizza would take atleast 1 to 1-1/2 hours to make, once ordered, so it was beginning to dawn upon us, that we might have to leave without having sunk our teeth into one.
Slightly disappointed at that, Saurabh and I got on the cruise and took almost front row seats, to make sure we didn’t miss any Chicago trivia that might come across our way.
The cruise was spectacular; starting off in the middle of downtown, where we craned our necks to see the steel and glass structures all around us. The cruise guide introduced herself and for the next 90 minutes, we were bombarded with loads of information, on the architecture of this dynamic city. Buildings from the art-deco to the post modern style; by architects ranging from the ‘Bauhaus’ to the ‘blob’ schools passed us by, as our cruise moved ahead on the green river, which apparently turns a darker green every year on St. Patrick’s Day. The boat, took us all along the river, cruising through the various tall buildings of downtown and into the harbour, from where we could see the Navy Pier in the distance and the black skyscraper building, which Oprah Winfrey calls home.
The Chicago River has gone down in civil engineering history, to have had its flow reversed, originally from flowing into the Lake Michigan River, to now flowing away from it. ‘Chicago’ means ‘the stinking onion’ in the language of the Native Americans who lived there. The name, as is apparent, was given to the river, on account of the rotten onion stink that it gave out, due to massive dumping of industrial waste in it, during Chicago’s industrial boom. However, the present day Chicago River, is nothing like it’s name; it’s clean and green, providing for a lovely natural hue to Chicago downtown.
The cruise lasted a good 90 minutes, during which I kept trying to store the three-dimensional experience through my two-dimensional digital viewfinder. Chicagoan’s almost tirelessly waved at us, from the numerous bridges we sailed under, to building rooftops and promenades that lined the river. I remember mentioning to Saurabh, how amazed I get, each time, with this sort of friendly urban conduct, encountered with, in cities other than NYC. Not to mention, that NYC does not have its own style of urban conduct, but time and pace definitely get the better of people there; that at times we forget to stand and stare as Davies’ would love to have us do, in his poem ‘Leisure’, my all time favourite. This CAF Architectural River cruise is certainly a must-do for any architectural or urban enthusiast, in Chicago, worth every penny it costs.
When we were back at the foot of the Wacker Bridge, Karthik called, to pleasantly surprise us with a “I’ve ordered you guys a Deep Dish Pizza, so come on over quick.”
We hailed a cab and reached ‘The Presidential Towers’, a modern, almost mini-city scale apartment building complex, which Karthik calls home. Our first reaction was, this is Chicago’s magnified version of Newport-Pavonia; a residential area of Jersey City, with hotel-like apartment buildings, that boast of washers and dryers/ elevators/ concierges and pompous chandeliers. (I live like most poor people in NYC do; in a rent-stabilized pre-war, brownstone in Astoria, Queens, so living it up in style such as this, certainly gives me a high at times. Although, I do believe that there is more ‘character’ to a brownstone with its rich historical context, than a carpeted, high rise apartment, laid with a stencil. The only thing that turns me on about a high-rise is really, the fabulous views it lays out, which I believe may be enough reason for me to make a move into one, eventually in life.) ‘The Presidential Towers’, just like in Newport, has a largely South-Asian population. It also has a grocery store, shopping mall, restaurants, coffee-shops, all within the complex. The commute from the lobby of the building to Karthik’s apartment was a good 10 minute walk; that comprised of riding on escalators, elevators and left me looking out for a moving walkway next:)
Karthik’s semi-one bedroom/ studio was neatly laid out and kept well; always a pleasure when it comes to a bachelor pad. As I was expecting, his apartment had splendid views of downtown and of the Sear’s Tower, which seems to be in his backyard. The Pizza was waiting for us to devour it, an act quickly conducted, to satiate our hungry tummies and make it in time for our flight from Chicago Midway. With our stomach’s full and hearts contented, we left to drive to the airport to take our flight back home and wrap up a weekend, well spent in Chi town.
To summarise it, in my favourite Ol’ Blue eyes words:
“This is my kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of people too
People who smile at you”
Acknowledgements:
Saurabh: For accompanying me on this trip and making it more interesting with our architectural discourses and sharing my wander-thirst with equal enthusiasm.
Suchi: For a wonderful tour of the area West of Michigan Mile and spending a sunny afternoon, chatting away, like old times. Also, for a few excellent recommendations on ‘Blues’ clubs in the city and her meticulously, neatly-written detailed list of the same.
Karthik: For a beautiful evening tour of the Navy Pier and saying it a 1000 times how wonderful he felt to meet with us 10 years later. Also, for being a wonderful host and getting us the elusive deep-dish, that we thought we had almost left Chi town without. And last but definitely not the least, for insisting on driving us to the airport, which only made our trip more comfortable.
All those Chicagoans' who waved at us when we were cruising along peeping into their houses. (A phenomenon so contrary to the one, when I was cruising along the Amstel River in Amsterdam, where the locals snorted, frowned and furled their curtains in our face, at times.
And, to think the Dutch are exhibitionists and love to have people peer into their houses.)
Lastly, the various ‘nice’ people for their ‘niceties’ that made me leave Chicago with the feeling that it is one of the ‘nicest’ cities I‘ve ever been to.
Nice enough, to make me want to call it "Ni(ce)City".
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Day 2 - Chicago
Day 2 - (Saturday, 29th July 06')
Saturday started off with my scheduled 9 mile run, along the Lake Shore Trail. I woke up at 7 am and set off armed with my GU gel, towards the pedestrian bridge that would take me across the Lake Shore Drive to the trail. Needless to say, the run wasn’t half as good as I had expected it to be. I didn’t know if it was the heat wave lingering on the city, or the absence of shady trees or simply the unfamiliarity of the route, that made the run more difficult than usual. There were a lot of bikers and a few runners in the park, which was great, to boost my dehydrated morale, considering the lack of water fountains along the trail. Mile markers helped though, as I somehow made my target mileage for the day.
Headed back to the hotel, by 9 am or so, where Saurabh was wide awake watching ‘Alexander’. Done with the regular morning routine, we left to get breakfast at the hotel’s local restaurant and then took a cab into downtown, where the first stop was to be the Sears’ Tower.
The cabbie was an African gentleman; who’s accent was very difficult to comprehend. When I was talking to Saurabh in English, he thought I was speaking in ‘Pakistani’ and I thought to myself, how incomprehensible I may have sounded. Casual conversation with him revealed, that he was a big Mehmood fan and had watched a lot of his movies, until when I had no idea, that Mehmood was internationally famous.
An observation made in reference to Chicago cabbies is that they are rougher drivers than their Manhattan counterparts. I always thought that the latter were some of the most ruthless people behind the wheel, but last night and this morning’s cab rides have made me think otherwise.
At the foot of the Sears’ Tower, we found ourselves at the end of a rather short line for the sky deck. Constant comparisons to the Empire State were natural, as we noticed how security wasn’t such a big deal here, in spite of this being the US’s tallest building. ‘Just another NYC hype’ we told ourselves and moved on to the various levels, after which we were finally let into an auditorium, to be shown a short NatGeo film on the tower. The film was a good briefing on the building and the history of its construction, an interesting pre-viewing feature that the Empire State could do with, as well.
The Sears’ tower was conceived as 9 rectilinear tubes, bundled together like a pack of cigarettes that can be stacked higher or lower, in relation to each others heights. This to me, was symbolic of the whole skyline of Chicago, as I perceived it yesterday; staggering bars of a graphic equalizer, frozen notes of music. At the sky-deck, we were a little disappointed to find, that the footprint of the building was much smaller and more squarish, than the Empire States’, which obviously eliminated the 8 directional views that the latter offers, to just 4 basic views, from this rooftop. That was already four lesser ways of seeing this city, I said to myself. Also, the sky deck was enclosed, so that between the cityscape and me, stood glass, which completely left out the sensual experiences of sounds, weather and smell. The Sears’ Tower more, wanted to frame for you, the ways you should see the city, rather than you seeing what you want to, in it.
Still, we patiently walked ourselves and my little camera, through each window, marveling at times, at the dynamism each had to offer and groaning at others, at the boredom of monotony. I also missed a ‘Tony-the cab driver’ element, (For those of you who’ve been atop the Empire State Building, you may be familiar with this audio tour protagonist. In true NYC cabbie style, he walks you though the various neighbourhoods of Manhattan and unlike what some of my friends might want to add, is a pleasure to listen to, with all his little trivia and tidbits on the borough.)
The last time I was at a bird’s vantage like this, was at the Coit Tower, in San Francisco, marveling at the fascinating slopes of the 49 sq. mile city and then on top of the Getty Center in LA. Today’s experience, was a very different one, as my subconscious analytical mind, tried to analogize the Chicago-bird’s eye views, with those of SF, LA and NYC. The splendid vistas we saw, were a good mix of the suburban sprawl in the distance along the Southwest side of the city and the green river flowing on it’s prescribed path, right below us. Seemed like a marriage of American modernism and European magnificence. In the distance, curvaceous loops of highways, clover-leafed all over, as if trying to defy the man-made river’s unpredictability. The eternal lake, in a serene cool blue, lined the east side the city, and small specks of boats were buoyed at the various harbours, in a linear order of sorts. Green River, Blue Lake; Chicago couldn’t have gotten any luckier, I said to myself. A little before the lake, on the east side, was the green patch of the Millennium Park, with Gehry’s bandshell and Kapoor’s steel cloud, shining through. On the upper north side, the Navy Pier stretched out orthogonally, cutting into the lake.
A must-do for any city lover, I believe, is to go on top of it and look down, on it, as in a real time map, watch it breathe, move and adapt itself to its various neighbourhoods, observe its multi-faceted personality unfold itself, street by street, block by block, until the eye meets the horizon where nature takes over.
Done with our Sears’ Tower tour, I shopped for my usual 'I’ve-been-to-this-city magnet’ to add to my refrigerator collection at home. While at it, we came across a penny machine and got a souvenir penny with ‘The Windy City’ embossed on it.
We walked around a little bit, and decided to take a ride on the ‘El’ to get as close as possible, to the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave); Chicago’s equivalent to Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. This is also where, my friend Suchi was going to meet us, later in the afternoon.
We transferred train lines, Orange to the Red and ended up at the ‘Chicago’ stop on the Red line, from where we walked across to the John Hancock Building; a similar sort of black skyscraper like the Sears Tower, albeit with a tapering top. It’s interesting to note, how the typologies of various buildings in different cities, speak so much for the history and the making of that city. Chicago boasts of a good mix of modern skyscrapers, sleek, black and in tempered dark glass, with a sprinkle of a few art-deco structures within; Manhattan on the other hand upholds more architecture from the pre-war and art-deco periods, with some modern and post-modern glass towers, mostly in downtown.
A Water-tower located in the heart of the Magnificent Mile, seemed worth a look, so we walked in, to find a B/W photography exhibit, showcasing athletes in their various fields of expertise. I day-dreamed of myself in a picture, where a sepia-toned, sweaty but grinning, woman seemed to have just crossed the finish line of a marathon race.
Outside the Water-tower, the Mile seemed to be busy with shoppers and tourists. We walked the entire Mile, from the John Hancock Building to the Wacker Bridge, where Suchi would meet us. A newly married couple with their troupe, posed for pictures against the Mile, and I posed for one, with a steel cow sculpture, across them. In a while, Suchi was walking towards us, in her brand new short haircut.
She decided to walk us West of the Mile, pointing out to the ‘Pizzeria Uno’; the city’s first ever Pizza place (est. 1943), to sell the famous Chicago ‘deep-dish’ pizza, where a never-ending line of people stood patiently to be seated. A block across from it was ‘Pizzeria Duet’; the second branch of the same pizzeria, with an equally long line of customers waiting outside. A flamboyant Mc’Donalds stood a few blocks away, looking too good to be a Mc’Donalds. (We had earlier observed another Mc’Donalds, in downtown, which could easily pass off to be a fine-dining restaurant if not for the arched ‘M’ outside, that gave it away.) The area west of the Mile, had a few quaint bars and jazz clubs, that Suchi mentioned, were good places to catch an evening with the blues. We finally decided to beat the heat and catch-up, over a few starters and beers on an outdoor table of a beautiful Irish bar that was painstakingly decorated with flowers and ferns. After a few hours of chatting away endlessly, it was time to leave. Suchi’s husband Rishi arrived, to pick her up and they left after giving us an excellent tip for a live-jazz place to go to, for the night. We headed out to walk the Mile again and strolled into a random jazz record store, a mecca for jazz lovers, where Saurabh and I browsed around for a while.
A cab ride later, we were standing outside the ‘Buddy Guy’s Legends’ Jazz Café, that played R+B. The café interior was dark, painted in an electric blue, where people shot pool, bought jazz memorablia and CD’s and dined at rickety inexpensive tables, enjoying the southern fare. We particularly indulged in Fried Okra - southern style, which was outstanding. A contrasting mix of audiences, ranged from well-dressed ‘stiletto-ed’ young women on dates, to casually dressed first-time tourists.
Willie Davis and Fruteland Jackson were the two performers for the night. The first session performed by Willie Davis, conformed more to jazz of the Harlem genre, where six very talented musicians played in synchrony to Davis’s rendition of the blues. The second session on the other hand, was a complete contrast, with a troupe of five formally dressed musicians-in-black, led by a female vocalist/ performer, Fruteland Jackson, who stole my breath with her unrestrained energy and talent. Each time she sang, her voice shamelessly liberated her feet, to dance away incessantly in a world of her own. Her performance clearly, stole the show, that evening.
Mesmerized with what can easily pass off to be the best R+B concert I’ve ever seen, we walked out of the café, to hail a cab back to the hotel. On our way back, through the cab window, the Chicago notes of music, escalated and plummeted like the notes of the saxophonist in the café, painting the night sky, in a beautiful, subtle ‘blue’.
Saturday started off with my scheduled 9 mile run, along the Lake Shore Trail. I woke up at 7 am and set off armed with my GU gel, towards the pedestrian bridge that would take me across the Lake Shore Drive to the trail. Needless to say, the run wasn’t half as good as I had expected it to be. I didn’t know if it was the heat wave lingering on the city, or the absence of shady trees or simply the unfamiliarity of the route, that made the run more difficult than usual. There were a lot of bikers and a few runners in the park, which was great, to boost my dehydrated morale, considering the lack of water fountains along the trail. Mile markers helped though, as I somehow made my target mileage for the day.
Headed back to the hotel, by 9 am or so, where Saurabh was wide awake watching ‘Alexander’. Done with the regular morning routine, we left to get breakfast at the hotel’s local restaurant and then took a cab into downtown, where the first stop was to be the Sears’ Tower.
The cabbie was an African gentleman; who’s accent was very difficult to comprehend. When I was talking to Saurabh in English, he thought I was speaking in ‘Pakistani’ and I thought to myself, how incomprehensible I may have sounded. Casual conversation with him revealed, that he was a big Mehmood fan and had watched a lot of his movies, until when I had no idea, that Mehmood was internationally famous.
An observation made in reference to Chicago cabbies is that they are rougher drivers than their Manhattan counterparts. I always thought that the latter were some of the most ruthless people behind the wheel, but last night and this morning’s cab rides have made me think otherwise.
At the foot of the Sears’ Tower, we found ourselves at the end of a rather short line for the sky deck. Constant comparisons to the Empire State were natural, as we noticed how security wasn’t such a big deal here, in spite of this being the US’s tallest building. ‘Just another NYC hype’ we told ourselves and moved on to the various levels, after which we were finally let into an auditorium, to be shown a short NatGeo film on the tower. The film was a good briefing on the building and the history of its construction, an interesting pre-viewing feature that the Empire State could do with, as well.
The Sears’ tower was conceived as 9 rectilinear tubes, bundled together like a pack of cigarettes that can be stacked higher or lower, in relation to each others heights. This to me, was symbolic of the whole skyline of Chicago, as I perceived it yesterday; staggering bars of a graphic equalizer, frozen notes of music. At the sky-deck, we were a little disappointed to find, that the footprint of the building was much smaller and more squarish, than the Empire States’, which obviously eliminated the 8 directional views that the latter offers, to just 4 basic views, from this rooftop. That was already four lesser ways of seeing this city, I said to myself. Also, the sky deck was enclosed, so that between the cityscape and me, stood glass, which completely left out the sensual experiences of sounds, weather and smell. The Sears’ Tower more, wanted to frame for you, the ways you should see the city, rather than you seeing what you want to, in it.
Still, we patiently walked ourselves and my little camera, through each window, marveling at times, at the dynamism each had to offer and groaning at others, at the boredom of monotony. I also missed a ‘Tony-the cab driver’ element, (For those of you who’ve been atop the Empire State Building, you may be familiar with this audio tour protagonist. In true NYC cabbie style, he walks you though the various neighbourhoods of Manhattan and unlike what some of my friends might want to add, is a pleasure to listen to, with all his little trivia and tidbits on the borough.)
The last time I was at a bird’s vantage like this, was at the Coit Tower, in San Francisco, marveling at the fascinating slopes of the 49 sq. mile city and then on top of the Getty Center in LA. Today’s experience, was a very different one, as my subconscious analytical mind, tried to analogize the Chicago-bird’s eye views, with those of SF, LA and NYC. The splendid vistas we saw, were a good mix of the suburban sprawl in the distance along the Southwest side of the city and the green river flowing on it’s prescribed path, right below us. Seemed like a marriage of American modernism and European magnificence. In the distance, curvaceous loops of highways, clover-leafed all over, as if trying to defy the man-made river’s unpredictability. The eternal lake, in a serene cool blue, lined the east side the city, and small specks of boats were buoyed at the various harbours, in a linear order of sorts. Green River, Blue Lake; Chicago couldn’t have gotten any luckier, I said to myself. A little before the lake, on the east side, was the green patch of the Millennium Park, with Gehry’s bandshell and Kapoor’s steel cloud, shining through. On the upper north side, the Navy Pier stretched out orthogonally, cutting into the lake.
A must-do for any city lover, I believe, is to go on top of it and look down, on it, as in a real time map, watch it breathe, move and adapt itself to its various neighbourhoods, observe its multi-faceted personality unfold itself, street by street, block by block, until the eye meets the horizon where nature takes over.
Done with our Sears’ Tower tour, I shopped for my usual 'I’ve-been-to-this-city magnet’ to add to my refrigerator collection at home. While at it, we came across a penny machine and got a souvenir penny with ‘The Windy City’ embossed on it.
We walked around a little bit, and decided to take a ride on the ‘El’ to get as close as possible, to the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave); Chicago’s equivalent to Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. This is also where, my friend Suchi was going to meet us, later in the afternoon.
We transferred train lines, Orange to the Red and ended up at the ‘Chicago’ stop on the Red line, from where we walked across to the John Hancock Building; a similar sort of black skyscraper like the Sears Tower, albeit with a tapering top. It’s interesting to note, how the typologies of various buildings in different cities, speak so much for the history and the making of that city. Chicago boasts of a good mix of modern skyscrapers, sleek, black and in tempered dark glass, with a sprinkle of a few art-deco structures within; Manhattan on the other hand upholds more architecture from the pre-war and art-deco periods, with some modern and post-modern glass towers, mostly in downtown.
A Water-tower located in the heart of the Magnificent Mile, seemed worth a look, so we walked in, to find a B/W photography exhibit, showcasing athletes in their various fields of expertise. I day-dreamed of myself in a picture, where a sepia-toned, sweaty but grinning, woman seemed to have just crossed the finish line of a marathon race.
Outside the Water-tower, the Mile seemed to be busy with shoppers and tourists. We walked the entire Mile, from the John Hancock Building to the Wacker Bridge, where Suchi would meet us. A newly married couple with their troupe, posed for pictures against the Mile, and I posed for one, with a steel cow sculpture, across them. In a while, Suchi was walking towards us, in her brand new short haircut.
She decided to walk us West of the Mile, pointing out to the ‘Pizzeria Uno’; the city’s first ever Pizza place (est. 1943), to sell the famous Chicago ‘deep-dish’ pizza, where a never-ending line of people stood patiently to be seated. A block across from it was ‘Pizzeria Duet’; the second branch of the same pizzeria, with an equally long line of customers waiting outside. A flamboyant Mc’Donalds stood a few blocks away, looking too good to be a Mc’Donalds. (We had earlier observed another Mc’Donalds, in downtown, which could easily pass off to be a fine-dining restaurant if not for the arched ‘M’ outside, that gave it away.) The area west of the Mile, had a few quaint bars and jazz clubs, that Suchi mentioned, were good places to catch an evening with the blues. We finally decided to beat the heat and catch-up, over a few starters and beers on an outdoor table of a beautiful Irish bar that was painstakingly decorated with flowers and ferns. After a few hours of chatting away endlessly, it was time to leave. Suchi’s husband Rishi arrived, to pick her up and they left after giving us an excellent tip for a live-jazz place to go to, for the night. We headed out to walk the Mile again and strolled into a random jazz record store, a mecca for jazz lovers, where Saurabh and I browsed around for a while.
A cab ride later, we were standing outside the ‘Buddy Guy’s Legends’ Jazz Café, that played R+B. The café interior was dark, painted in an electric blue, where people shot pool, bought jazz memorablia and CD’s and dined at rickety inexpensive tables, enjoying the southern fare. We particularly indulged in Fried Okra - southern style, which was outstanding. A contrasting mix of audiences, ranged from well-dressed ‘stiletto-ed’ young women on dates, to casually dressed first-time tourists.
Willie Davis and Fruteland Jackson were the two performers for the night. The first session performed by Willie Davis, conformed more to jazz of the Harlem genre, where six very talented musicians played in synchrony to Davis’s rendition of the blues. The second session on the other hand, was a complete contrast, with a troupe of five formally dressed musicians-in-black, led by a female vocalist/ performer, Fruteland Jackson, who stole my breath with her unrestrained energy and talent. Each time she sang, her voice shamelessly liberated her feet, to dance away incessantly in a world of her own. Her performance clearly, stole the show, that evening.
Mesmerized with what can easily pass off to be the best R+B concert I’ve ever seen, we walked out of the café, to hail a cab back to the hotel. On our way back, through the cab window, the Chicago notes of music, escalated and plummeted like the notes of the saxophonist in the café, painting the night sky, in a beautiful, subtle ‘blue’.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Day 1 - Chicago
A $75 rebate coupon on AirTran Airways, received last year, due to flight delays, was the catalyst to a great weekend spent in Chicago. Saurabh (my childhood friend and co-worker) and I decided to take the Friday off, to take one of our architectural sojourns to this city; we both have wanted to visit for a while.
Day 1 - (Friday, 28th July 06')
Our flight took off on time from La Guardia Airport, where the airport designers within us, noticed the lack of hold room space and waiting areas for passengers. I had just been ranting to Saurabh, on the flight, about how I usually manage to get a free ticket/ airline rebate on most trips and as if to affirm that, we walked into two ladies giving out free one-way air tickets and bags to random passengers. Since we were on vacation, we stopped by, filled out the necessary paperwork and after making sure our next trip is half-off, walked to the CTA Orange Line. Here I got my first taste of what henceforth will be referred as ‘Chicago nicety’ – A woman leaving the subway system, randomly handed over a one-day pass to me and said it is valid until tomorrow. I couldn’t help but think that I had never seen this happen in NYC, a doubt clarified later by Karthik, who had done the same in NYC, while visiting. (Karthik attended MP’s coaching classes with us, in the 10th grade, in Mumbai and we’ve never stayed in touch, since. A year ago I discovered his online existence through his blog and finally, now when I was to visit Chicago, we decided to meet up, as he’s recently moved there. We were going to be meeting after 12 years; not an everyday phenomenon, in either of our lives, so this was going to be fun.) All the same, this was a random stroke of luck and niceness combined, that became a precursor for a few other niceties I was subjected to in Chi town. Nicety no. 2 followed suit, when at the CTA station, the station manager allowed everyone to get through the turnstiles for free, as the ticket-machines were broken. Again, something I’ve never seen in NYC.
The CTA would take us to our stop, Van Buren and State, from where we were to take the Bus No. 6 to our hotel. Our hotel, the Ramada Inn Lake Shore, was on the Lake Michigan waterfront and was to have views of downtown Chicago in the distance, on a clear day.
The bus driver, a woman, was nice enough (overuse of term already?) to take the time to answer all our touristy queries and stunned us at one point, where she yelled out to everyone in the bus, asking if someone knew a shorter route to our hotel. Saurabh and I, were two pleasantly stunned but slightly shocked tourists, when we alighted the bus, after profuse ‘thank-you’s’ to the passengers. This town definitely means it, when they say; “We’re glad you are here!”; Mayor Richard Daly’s campaign line, pasted all over the city.
An early check-in into the hotel and a few “We’ve-landed-in-your-town” phone calls later, Saurabh and I were ready to research our maps and draw out the plan for the day. Karthik was to meet us in the evening for dinner and Suchi, we were meeting tomorrow. (Suchi and I went to undergraduate architecture school together, in Mumbai and have a lot of fond memories to look back on. We’ve also been pretty good at staying in touch with each other and often meet up in NYC when she visits. This was my first trip to her city, so I was looking forward to catching up with her in her own Chi town.)
The plan for the day was to head out into downtown, by the hotel shuttle, try to get the CAF (Chicago Architectural Foundation’s) Architectural River Cruise and then walk around exploring the architectural experiments within The Millennium Park. Our shuttle driver, was nice (there goes that word again) enough, to go out of his way, literally, to drop us at the base of the Wacker bridge, right where the cruise sets off from. Turns out, the cruise was booked until Saturday evening, which left us with the Sunday morning option. There are several types of cruises along the Chicago River, but this particular one by the CAF, is the best ‘architectural’ cruise, the other’s being more ‘touristy’. Saurabh and I, the fastidious architects that we are, hence were naturally more inclined to go with this one.
I had been told by various people that Chicago is a very clean city; someone once even went to the extent of saying that “You often wonder in the mornings, if elves came out and swept the city clean by night.” So its stark cleanliness is the first thing I noticed when we walked around. The Chicago urban fabric seemed to be a weave of Los Angele’s spacious sprawled spaces and NYC’s denser, grid city blocks. Main roads were spotless, at all times being minimum 3 ½ lane wide in either direction; city blocks seemed larger than Manhattan blocks, yet downtown felt more city-like than just a chunk, as in LA or some other cities in the US. The Elevated Loop (called ‘The El’ in short) is a characteristic feature of the city. I remember wondering, while watching Spiderman, how awesome it would be to have an elevated train running through Manhattan’s high rises and discovered in this trip, that Chicago actually enjoys that. As a commuter, the elevated trains are a pleasure because of the dynamic views they offer, but of course the noise and invasion of privacy caused by them, can be an issue of concern to offices along its edge. At any given point of time, in most areas of downtown Chicago, the train can be heard in the distance, an urban sound I was getting accustomed to, just as in NYC one gets used to fire-engine sirens.
A quick bite for lunch and we were walking towards the Millennium Park. En route we passed through the Chicago theatre district; a sort of mini-Broadway, lined by theatres and performance halls. Here is also where we first came across the ‘cow’; a classic Chicago sculpture, to be found in various parts of the city. My wise crack to Saurabh; ‘They have a cow on the street like we have a bull back home’ was received with a disinterested look. The cow is the O’Leary cow, which had apparently caused the Great Chicago Fire, in October 1871. Quoted from http://www.thechicagofire.com/:
“One dark night, when people were in bed,
Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in her shed,
The cow kicked it over, winked its eye and said,
There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight.”
Next to the cow, was a temporary set-up of a guy with a banner, that read; ‘Help me train for the World Rock Paper Scissors Championship in Toronto.’ Interesting, I said to myself, and almost volunteered practice help to the aspiring champion, but figured we had an agenda, and moved on towards the Millennium Park. Up ahead, was Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker bandshell; a sort of a cultural misfit in titanium, that perched itself on a grass mound and radiated tentacles all around it, to create a semi-enclosed seating space for the audience. Come sit in me, the light trellis roars to its viewers, hear me play and watch me engulf you and the performance, to transcend you to a surreal urban experience. Look away from within me, to view the spectacular city skyline, all around you.
I have seen quite a few of Gehry’s works and I must say, this was the worst one, so far. Gehry, is a brand phenomenon; his work is barely ever contextual or site-specific; in fact die-hard Gehry fans will even go on to say, that it’s generic quality, is what makes his work, internationally commendable. The Chicago bandshell, is an example of his stamp on the city; a stamp as Saurabh exhorted, possibly fully drawn and designed by an intern in his office. We were reminded of the last time we saw Gehry’s Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA, and how differently it reacted to its spaces, both internal and external; in my mind a true Gehry masterpiece. The aesthetics of this proscenium, were sort of distorted, like a badly skewed Maya model, where the designer couldn’t control the ‘nurbs’ and extruded facades anyways. Saurabh noticed that part of the imperfection in the facades of the stage, were due to snow-collection that may have indented the surfaces.
The proscenium design alienated us, but the audience arena, with its framed, broken mosaic views of the skyline and semi-spatial qualities, welcomed us. I didn’t want to touch the stage, but I wanted to be one with the lawn under the trellis; such were the polarities this structure aroused in me. I said to Saurabh, “We always end up seeing works done by the wrong ‘Frank’.” (For the non-architectural readers, Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright are two famous architects; the former is a post-modernist ‘blob’ brand phenomenon, while the latter is considered to be one of the ‘Masters’ of Architecture. Among his most famous works are the house he built on a waterfall near Pittsburgh, appropriately called as 'Falling Waters'; a trip I ve yet to make.)
A short walk from Gehry’s sculpture is Anish Kapoor’s 110 ton elliptically arched, highly reflective, spotlessly polished, steel sculpture. This masterpiece, made it to my ‘list of favourite sculptures’, the moment I set my eyes on it. A site-specific work of art, this steel cloud, reflects the Chicago skyline and the Millennium Park on its curvaceous façade, while interacting with the crowd, letting them intersperse its spaces and make funny faces into the steel exterior. It was easily the most popular sculpture in the park.
Tall funny men on stilts walked around, entertaining little kids and 'grown-up kids' alike and not asking for tips; another thing I wasn’t used to. Chicago seemed to be more family-oriented in its urban outlook; most spaces seemed to be flocked by people with children and I didn’t remember seeing as many family-oriented spaces in NYC. Possibly speaks for the demographics and affordability of both cities, where young couples with children apparently still seemed to live in the city as versus in the case of Manhattan, which is gradually working towards eradicating its middle-class. Saurabh was put through the usual exercise, of taking my pictures against various backdrops and one while holding hands with tall-man-on-stilts.
We then walked towards the Lurie Gardens; another aspect of the park, landscaped with various seasonal flowers. On display, was an outdoor exhibition of various landscaped areas in the world, which ranged from Central Park in NYC to mini indoor landscaped spaces in Tokyo. People sat with their feet in narrow water canals that ran parallel in the gardens, to relieve themselves from the heat wave looming over the city. We couldn’t help but think, how beautiful an element, water is, in such outdoor landscapes; it’s a pity that it isn’t half as much appreciated in this form, when used in India.
We crossed over to walk to the Art Institute, where the next ‘Chicago nicety’ occurred. The security guard, a friendly woman asked us if we were going in to see the regular exhibits. (This random-people-talking-to-us was taking a little getting-used-to.) We nodded and in return she informed us that in the next 45 minutes, the museum entry was going to be free, so we should wait if we wanted to escape the fee. The reason this goes down as a nicety, is because I’ve never heard of a similar occurrence at the MOMA in NYC, where they have Target-free Friday’s. I told Saurabh, that if I get used to such niceties, I may be in for a rude shock when we go back home.
So with 45 minutes to kill, we walked back to the park to see the last sculpture, the Crown Fountain; a water sculpture involving two 50 ft high glass towers activated by changing video images and lights and water cascading from them. Both towers line the ends of a shallow pool, where children and adults wandered around in their swimwear, squealing every time water spouted from the towers. Each tower projected video images of different people, (only their faces), which we thought was a brilliant idea that could be put to commercial use, for occasions such as birthdays, wedding proposals, announcements etc. A rickety stall set up near the sculpture, encouraged passers-by to walk over and make a move on the many chess boards, kept on the table. Chicago seemed to not have reservations of what goes on in it's streets, in that aspect it seemed to be a city of the people.
At 5 pm we were back at the Art Institute, for our free entry into the museum and the next 2 hours were spent looking at a very large collection of artwork, especially paintings and architecture-related exhibits. Works of maestro’s such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Monet, Van Gogh, Mondrian, Cezanne lined the walls. The museum has an impressive collection and we were glad we didn’t skip it on this trip.
At 6:30 pm, Karthik was to meet us at the Gehry sculpture, which had a jazz concert starting at 6 pm. In keeping with our ‘outdoor-concert’ theme of this summer, we thought we’d catch the concert and also experience the functionality of the ghastly designed sculpture. We weren’t disappointed, as the space worked very well as a public outdoor concert space and once lit, the stage area seemed to emanate character, along with soulful jazz to the audience.
On meeting Karthik, 'catch-up' conversation followed and after sometime at the concert, we decided to walk across the Millennium bridge and take a cab to the Navy Pier. The Millennium bridge is a winding, extended arm of the titanium clad, poorly detailed, Gehry sculpture that connects the park to the other side of the street. While on the bridge, I noted the light-play on a building façade; the letters ‘CFD’ (Chicago Financial District or Chicago for Dummies, I wasn’t sure) made with the lights of various offices within the building. Karthik imparted to us a little bit of Chicago trivia here, which to me was the ultimate ‘Chicago nicety’. He said as a law, the city dims its lights at night, for certain durations of the year, so as not to confuse migratory birds or affect their flight patterns. This consideration on behalf of the city, towards birds, let alone all the niceness I had already experienced towards people, made me a fan of Chicagoans for sure.
The Navy Pier is a waterfront element of the city and an essential to-do, on a Chicago tourist’s list, which offers spectacular views of the lake and the city skyline. So we decided to spend the rest of our evening there and hopefully grab some good fresh-water seafood while at it. Turns out Navy Pier is a lost brother of Pier 33 in San Francisco; a purely manufactured artificial pier, with ferry lights and cruise boats; restaurants lining one side of it and the lake on the other. A huge Ferris wheel stood out, that seemed very inviting, except that my company wasn’t keen enough to join in. We walked all along the pier, where various cruise boats took off from and reached the Beer garden (that has apparently made the Navy Pier a destination spot) where an alive, beer-consuming crowd grooved to a live band performing contemporary rock music. Dinner was had at Riva’s Café, on an outdoor patio, overlooking the river and the city skyline. Tilapia with Couscous was my choice (and a good one, as I realized later) for the meal, to replenish myself with enough proteins for tomorrow morning’s run.
After dinner, we got a cab back to the hotel and I realized that NYC is not the only city in the US, where you can hail a cab. In fact, Chicago has more cab company options, all offering similar rates, to take people around, not a bad idea for NYC to learn from. The cab ride was a beautiful lakefront drive, all along Lake Shore, from the Navy Pier in the North to our hotel in the South. All along, as I stared at the Chicago skyline, I realized, it appears like the vertical bars from a graphic equalizer; musical notes, sort of frozen at various summits, to create this random razzmatazz skyline. In the distance stood the Sears’ tower, this country's tallest man-made claim, in its jet black magnificence and next to it gleamed the fragile, crescent moon; my picture perfect end to a beautiful day spent in this city.
Day 1 - (Friday, 28th July 06')
Our flight took off on time from La Guardia Airport, where the airport designers within us, noticed the lack of hold room space and waiting areas for passengers. I had just been ranting to Saurabh, on the flight, about how I usually manage to get a free ticket/ airline rebate on most trips and as if to affirm that, we walked into two ladies giving out free one-way air tickets and bags to random passengers. Since we were on vacation, we stopped by, filled out the necessary paperwork and after making sure our next trip is half-off, walked to the CTA Orange Line. Here I got my first taste of what henceforth will be referred as ‘Chicago nicety’ – A woman leaving the subway system, randomly handed over a one-day pass to me and said it is valid until tomorrow. I couldn’t help but think that I had never seen this happen in NYC, a doubt clarified later by Karthik, who had done the same in NYC, while visiting. (Karthik attended MP’s coaching classes with us, in the 10th grade, in Mumbai and we’ve never stayed in touch, since. A year ago I discovered his online existence through his blog and finally, now when I was to visit Chicago, we decided to meet up, as he’s recently moved there. We were going to be meeting after 12 years; not an everyday phenomenon, in either of our lives, so this was going to be fun.) All the same, this was a random stroke of luck and niceness combined, that became a precursor for a few other niceties I was subjected to in Chi town. Nicety no. 2 followed suit, when at the CTA station, the station manager allowed everyone to get through the turnstiles for free, as the ticket-machines were broken. Again, something I’ve never seen in NYC.
The CTA would take us to our stop, Van Buren and State, from where we were to take the Bus No. 6 to our hotel. Our hotel, the Ramada Inn Lake Shore, was on the Lake Michigan waterfront and was to have views of downtown Chicago in the distance, on a clear day.
The bus driver, a woman, was nice enough (overuse of term already?) to take the time to answer all our touristy queries and stunned us at one point, where she yelled out to everyone in the bus, asking if someone knew a shorter route to our hotel. Saurabh and I, were two pleasantly stunned but slightly shocked tourists, when we alighted the bus, after profuse ‘thank-you’s’ to the passengers. This town definitely means it, when they say; “We’re glad you are here!”; Mayor Richard Daly’s campaign line, pasted all over the city.
An early check-in into the hotel and a few “We’ve-landed-in-your-town” phone calls later, Saurabh and I were ready to research our maps and draw out the plan for the day. Karthik was to meet us in the evening for dinner and Suchi, we were meeting tomorrow. (Suchi and I went to undergraduate architecture school together, in Mumbai and have a lot of fond memories to look back on. We’ve also been pretty good at staying in touch with each other and often meet up in NYC when she visits. This was my first trip to her city, so I was looking forward to catching up with her in her own Chi town.)
The plan for the day was to head out into downtown, by the hotel shuttle, try to get the CAF (Chicago Architectural Foundation’s) Architectural River Cruise and then walk around exploring the architectural experiments within The Millennium Park. Our shuttle driver, was nice (there goes that word again) enough, to go out of his way, literally, to drop us at the base of the Wacker bridge, right where the cruise sets off from. Turns out, the cruise was booked until Saturday evening, which left us with the Sunday morning option. There are several types of cruises along the Chicago River, but this particular one by the CAF, is the best ‘architectural’ cruise, the other’s being more ‘touristy’. Saurabh and I, the fastidious architects that we are, hence were naturally more inclined to go with this one.
I had been told by various people that Chicago is a very clean city; someone once even went to the extent of saying that “You often wonder in the mornings, if elves came out and swept the city clean by night.” So its stark cleanliness is the first thing I noticed when we walked around. The Chicago urban fabric seemed to be a weave of Los Angele’s spacious sprawled spaces and NYC’s denser, grid city blocks. Main roads were spotless, at all times being minimum 3 ½ lane wide in either direction; city blocks seemed larger than Manhattan blocks, yet downtown felt more city-like than just a chunk, as in LA or some other cities in the US. The Elevated Loop (called ‘The El’ in short) is a characteristic feature of the city. I remember wondering, while watching Spiderman, how awesome it would be to have an elevated train running through Manhattan’s high rises and discovered in this trip, that Chicago actually enjoys that. As a commuter, the elevated trains are a pleasure because of the dynamic views they offer, but of course the noise and invasion of privacy caused by them, can be an issue of concern to offices along its edge. At any given point of time, in most areas of downtown Chicago, the train can be heard in the distance, an urban sound I was getting accustomed to, just as in NYC one gets used to fire-engine sirens.
A quick bite for lunch and we were walking towards the Millennium Park. En route we passed through the Chicago theatre district; a sort of mini-Broadway, lined by theatres and performance halls. Here is also where we first came across the ‘cow’; a classic Chicago sculpture, to be found in various parts of the city. My wise crack to Saurabh; ‘They have a cow on the street like we have a bull back home’ was received with a disinterested look. The cow is the O’Leary cow, which had apparently caused the Great Chicago Fire, in October 1871. Quoted from http://www.thechicagofire.com/:
“One dark night, when people were in bed,
Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in her shed,
The cow kicked it over, winked its eye and said,
There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight.”
Next to the cow, was a temporary set-up of a guy with a banner, that read; ‘Help me train for the World Rock Paper Scissors Championship in Toronto.’ Interesting, I said to myself, and almost volunteered practice help to the aspiring champion, but figured we had an agenda, and moved on towards the Millennium Park. Up ahead, was Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker bandshell; a sort of a cultural misfit in titanium, that perched itself on a grass mound and radiated tentacles all around it, to create a semi-enclosed seating space for the audience. Come sit in me, the light trellis roars to its viewers, hear me play and watch me engulf you and the performance, to transcend you to a surreal urban experience. Look away from within me, to view the spectacular city skyline, all around you.
I have seen quite a few of Gehry’s works and I must say, this was the worst one, so far. Gehry, is a brand phenomenon; his work is barely ever contextual or site-specific; in fact die-hard Gehry fans will even go on to say, that it’s generic quality, is what makes his work, internationally commendable. The Chicago bandshell, is an example of his stamp on the city; a stamp as Saurabh exhorted, possibly fully drawn and designed by an intern in his office. We were reminded of the last time we saw Gehry’s Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA, and how differently it reacted to its spaces, both internal and external; in my mind a true Gehry masterpiece. The aesthetics of this proscenium, were sort of distorted, like a badly skewed Maya model, where the designer couldn’t control the ‘nurbs’ and extruded facades anyways. Saurabh noticed that part of the imperfection in the facades of the stage, were due to snow-collection that may have indented the surfaces.
The proscenium design alienated us, but the audience arena, with its framed, broken mosaic views of the skyline and semi-spatial qualities, welcomed us. I didn’t want to touch the stage, but I wanted to be one with the lawn under the trellis; such were the polarities this structure aroused in me. I said to Saurabh, “We always end up seeing works done by the wrong ‘Frank’.” (For the non-architectural readers, Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright are two famous architects; the former is a post-modernist ‘blob’ brand phenomenon, while the latter is considered to be one of the ‘Masters’ of Architecture. Among his most famous works are the house he built on a waterfall near Pittsburgh, appropriately called as 'Falling Waters'; a trip I ve yet to make.)
A short walk from Gehry’s sculpture is Anish Kapoor’s 110 ton elliptically arched, highly reflective, spotlessly polished, steel sculpture. This masterpiece, made it to my ‘list of favourite sculptures’, the moment I set my eyes on it. A site-specific work of art, this steel cloud, reflects the Chicago skyline and the Millennium Park on its curvaceous façade, while interacting with the crowd, letting them intersperse its spaces and make funny faces into the steel exterior. It was easily the most popular sculpture in the park.
Tall funny men on stilts walked around, entertaining little kids and 'grown-up kids' alike and not asking for tips; another thing I wasn’t used to. Chicago seemed to be more family-oriented in its urban outlook; most spaces seemed to be flocked by people with children and I didn’t remember seeing as many family-oriented spaces in NYC. Possibly speaks for the demographics and affordability of both cities, where young couples with children apparently still seemed to live in the city as versus in the case of Manhattan, which is gradually working towards eradicating its middle-class. Saurabh was put through the usual exercise, of taking my pictures against various backdrops and one while holding hands with tall-man-on-stilts.
We then walked towards the Lurie Gardens; another aspect of the park, landscaped with various seasonal flowers. On display, was an outdoor exhibition of various landscaped areas in the world, which ranged from Central Park in NYC to mini indoor landscaped spaces in Tokyo. People sat with their feet in narrow water canals that ran parallel in the gardens, to relieve themselves from the heat wave looming over the city. We couldn’t help but think, how beautiful an element, water is, in such outdoor landscapes; it’s a pity that it isn’t half as much appreciated in this form, when used in India.
We crossed over to walk to the Art Institute, where the next ‘Chicago nicety’ occurred. The security guard, a friendly woman asked us if we were going in to see the regular exhibits. (This random-people-talking-to-us was taking a little getting-used-to.) We nodded and in return she informed us that in the next 45 minutes, the museum entry was going to be free, so we should wait if we wanted to escape the fee. The reason this goes down as a nicety, is because I’ve never heard of a similar occurrence at the MOMA in NYC, where they have Target-free Friday’s. I told Saurabh, that if I get used to such niceties, I may be in for a rude shock when we go back home.
So with 45 minutes to kill, we walked back to the park to see the last sculpture, the Crown Fountain; a water sculpture involving two 50 ft high glass towers activated by changing video images and lights and water cascading from them. Both towers line the ends of a shallow pool, where children and adults wandered around in their swimwear, squealing every time water spouted from the towers. Each tower projected video images of different people, (only their faces), which we thought was a brilliant idea that could be put to commercial use, for occasions such as birthdays, wedding proposals, announcements etc. A rickety stall set up near the sculpture, encouraged passers-by to walk over and make a move on the many chess boards, kept on the table. Chicago seemed to not have reservations of what goes on in it's streets, in that aspect it seemed to be a city of the people.
At 5 pm we were back at the Art Institute, for our free entry into the museum and the next 2 hours were spent looking at a very large collection of artwork, especially paintings and architecture-related exhibits. Works of maestro’s such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Monet, Van Gogh, Mondrian, Cezanne lined the walls. The museum has an impressive collection and we were glad we didn’t skip it on this trip.
At 6:30 pm, Karthik was to meet us at the Gehry sculpture, which had a jazz concert starting at 6 pm. In keeping with our ‘outdoor-concert’ theme of this summer, we thought we’d catch the concert and also experience the functionality of the ghastly designed sculpture. We weren’t disappointed, as the space worked very well as a public outdoor concert space and once lit, the stage area seemed to emanate character, along with soulful jazz to the audience.
On meeting Karthik, 'catch-up' conversation followed and after sometime at the concert, we decided to walk across the Millennium bridge and take a cab to the Navy Pier. The Millennium bridge is a winding, extended arm of the titanium clad, poorly detailed, Gehry sculpture that connects the park to the other side of the street. While on the bridge, I noted the light-play on a building façade; the letters ‘CFD’ (Chicago Financial District or Chicago for Dummies, I wasn’t sure) made with the lights of various offices within the building. Karthik imparted to us a little bit of Chicago trivia here, which to me was the ultimate ‘Chicago nicety’. He said as a law, the city dims its lights at night, for certain durations of the year, so as not to confuse migratory birds or affect their flight patterns. This consideration on behalf of the city, towards birds, let alone all the niceness I had already experienced towards people, made me a fan of Chicagoans for sure.
The Navy Pier is a waterfront element of the city and an essential to-do, on a Chicago tourist’s list, which offers spectacular views of the lake and the city skyline. So we decided to spend the rest of our evening there and hopefully grab some good fresh-water seafood while at it. Turns out Navy Pier is a lost brother of Pier 33 in San Francisco; a purely manufactured artificial pier, with ferry lights and cruise boats; restaurants lining one side of it and the lake on the other. A huge Ferris wheel stood out, that seemed very inviting, except that my company wasn’t keen enough to join in. We walked all along the pier, where various cruise boats took off from and reached the Beer garden (that has apparently made the Navy Pier a destination spot) where an alive, beer-consuming crowd grooved to a live band performing contemporary rock music. Dinner was had at Riva’s Café, on an outdoor patio, overlooking the river and the city skyline. Tilapia with Couscous was my choice (and a good one, as I realized later) for the meal, to replenish myself with enough proteins for tomorrow morning’s run.
After dinner, we got a cab back to the hotel and I realized that NYC is not the only city in the US, where you can hail a cab. In fact, Chicago has more cab company options, all offering similar rates, to take people around, not a bad idea for NYC to learn from. The cab ride was a beautiful lakefront drive, all along Lake Shore, from the Navy Pier in the North to our hotel in the South. All along, as I stared at the Chicago skyline, I realized, it appears like the vertical bars from a graphic equalizer; musical notes, sort of frozen at various summits, to create this random razzmatazz skyline. In the distance stood the Sears’ tower, this country's tallest man-made claim, in its jet black magnificence and next to it gleamed the fragile, crescent moon; my picture perfect end to a beautiful day spent in this city.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Tequila Sunrise Walls and I.
Painted walls after ages yesterday, in my apartment. A therapeutic exercise, I enjoy indulging in, all by myself. The walls and I, with the colour, tequila sunrise; all dancing to the tune of Ol' blue eyes on a hot Wednesday afternoon.
I spoke to the roller and the roller in turn translated to the wall, gently caressing it with love, changing its mood from a refreshing lime to a sizzling orange. The cooler hues of the green now replaced by a hot orange; the subtle made way for the bold. Specks of colour filled the gaps, until the present completely took over the past. Up and down, nonchalantly concealing, what lay beneath, to give it an unblemished face. Like a palimpsest, the wall now stands testimony to the colours it has seen, the places it has been. It speaks of its past realm and lost splendour; narrating what it was, before this metamorphosis began. Before the new took over the old and the passion replaced the cold; of days of yore and happier times galore; of spilt red wines and furniture wounds.
It bears it’ s phases, like a deja-vu from before, when it was pale and knew no joys of colour; like a virgin devoid of flavour; until it’s life was enriched and it’s spaces blessed, with joie-de-vivre. Then the silence fell and the wall became indiscernible, left with nothing but a pack of memoirs. Until yesterday when it was found again and given a new face. All it’ s secret memories erased and washed out, the wall now upholds a new façade and is ready for new beginnings.
The space it holds, renovates into a warm cove; my very own piece of frozen sunset, emanating it’s orange over the Hudson. Like a huge fireplace; that splashes its warmth all over, the wall becomes it’ s own space and beckons radiance. It waits to dwell in the tinkling of glasses, the laughter of faces and the company of voices. To make more memories and store them in it’s head. Until the Tequila Sunrise must make way for change; when there will be another new beginning, another cheerful adieu and it will be time for me to speak to the roller again!
I spoke to the roller and the roller in turn translated to the wall, gently caressing it with love, changing its mood from a refreshing lime to a sizzling orange. The cooler hues of the green now replaced by a hot orange; the subtle made way for the bold. Specks of colour filled the gaps, until the present completely took over the past. Up and down, nonchalantly concealing, what lay beneath, to give it an unblemished face. Like a palimpsest, the wall now stands testimony to the colours it has seen, the places it has been. It speaks of its past realm and lost splendour; narrating what it was, before this metamorphosis began. Before the new took over the old and the passion replaced the cold; of days of yore and happier times galore; of spilt red wines and furniture wounds.
It bears it’ s phases, like a deja-vu from before, when it was pale and knew no joys of colour; like a virgin devoid of flavour; until it’s life was enriched and it’s spaces blessed, with joie-de-vivre. Then the silence fell and the wall became indiscernible, left with nothing but a pack of memoirs. Until yesterday when it was found again and given a new face. All it’ s secret memories erased and washed out, the wall now upholds a new façade and is ready for new beginnings.
The space it holds, renovates into a warm cove; my very own piece of frozen sunset, emanating it’s orange over the Hudson. Like a huge fireplace; that splashes its warmth all over, the wall becomes it’ s own space and beckons radiance. It waits to dwell in the tinkling of glasses, the laughter of faces and the company of voices. To make more memories and store them in it’s head. Until the Tequila Sunrise must make way for change; when there will be another new beginning, another cheerful adieu and it will be time for me to speak to the roller again!
Monday, July 17, 2006
My Half-Marathon Appeal
Hi All,
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Running has been a part of my life for the past three years; sort of on and off, but a constant all the same. As most other people, I have been running on the treadmill, purely for personal fitness and health reasons. It was' nt until the beginning of 2006 when I thought, that maybe it was time to put all these years of running to good use and give philanthropy a chance. In my quest, for a worthwhile cause, I zeroed in on ASHA.
ASHA (meaning ‘Hope’ in Hindi) is a Non-Profit organization that works towards providing basic education for under-privileged children in India.
Running for ASHA, involves fund-raising $100/ per mile of the chosen marathon; i. e the NYC Half-Marathon (13.10 miles), in my case, which I will be running on the 27th of August 2006.
This is the first time ever, that I am running a Half Marathon and simultaneously fund-raising for a charity. The Half-Marathon, I can take care of, with my training and newly acquired running discipline; the fund-raising is where I need your help!
Please help me raise $1310 to achieve my target; a substantial sum of money which when directed towards the appropriate cause can create an impressionable difference in the lives of children in India.
All donations are tax-free and will be highly appreciated. So if you are in the habit of giving to charity, you may as well direct your funds towards this one; if not, then this could be a start. A sum of $1310, albeit small, can help educate 5 children for a year and set the ball rolling towards transforming their future, through education.
So please aid my noble fundraising endeavour.
Suggested donation: $10 or more/ per person!
Thank you!
For the slightly more difficult to convince, here’s my list of:
Ten reasons you should give your Ten Dollars here!
1. It’s a little more than what you spend on lunch everyday. I could bring you home-cooked lunch one day, if you want.
(Offer available only in Manhattan, at the moment)
2. It’s the price of a drink at an expensive upscale lounge or a decent chunk of your Friday night’s Happy hour quota; eitherways, since when did alcohol stand more ground than education?
3. It’s the price of a movie ticket that you won’t even feel the pinch of. Just assume it was a movie “you had to watch” because the girlfriend said so.
4. I am your friend/ acquaintance/ fellow blogger and I am training hard to push myself to run the 13 mile distance. Small price to pay, to applaud my determination, don’t you think?
5. Assume it’s my birthday and you’re buying me a drink! That way, you don’t have to remember my birthday and I can forgive you if you forget!
6. Give, to this charity instead of giving to Starbucks, and thus, spare your body, all that Seattle caffeine.
7. It’s the meager sum; you spend on car gas or cab fare, when you could so easily have walked the same distance.
8. For most of us, it’s a small part of what we make per hour and so not a big deal to part with.
9. I am your catalyst for charity; if you’ve never given before, now’s your chance to make up for all the times you should have given, but did not, for some reason.
10. Lastly and most importantly, consider that your money is going to play the role of a beacon in illuminating someone’s life and possibly changing it forever.
If you’re reaching out for your credit card already; please click on the 'Donate' button on the following webpage:
http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/lib/marathon/publicmypage.php?1647
If you're still not, here’s my last pitch; “It’s only ten bucks, C’mon!”
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Running has been a part of my life for the past three years; sort of on and off, but a constant all the same. As most other people, I have been running on the treadmill, purely for personal fitness and health reasons. It was' nt until the beginning of 2006 when I thought, that maybe it was time to put all these years of running to good use and give philanthropy a chance. In my quest, for a worthwhile cause, I zeroed in on ASHA.
ASHA (meaning ‘Hope’ in Hindi) is a Non-Profit organization that works towards providing basic education for under-privileged children in India.
Running for ASHA, involves fund-raising $100/ per mile of the chosen marathon; i. e the NYC Half-Marathon (13.10 miles), in my case, which I will be running on the 27th of August 2006.
This is the first time ever, that I am running a Half Marathon and simultaneously fund-raising for a charity. The Half-Marathon, I can take care of, with my training and newly acquired running discipline; the fund-raising is where I need your help!
Please help me raise $1310 to achieve my target; a substantial sum of money which when directed towards the appropriate cause can create an impressionable difference in the lives of children in India.
All donations are tax-free and will be highly appreciated. So if you are in the habit of giving to charity, you may as well direct your funds towards this one; if not, then this could be a start. A sum of $1310, albeit small, can help educate 5 children for a year and set the ball rolling towards transforming their future, through education.
So please aid my noble fundraising endeavour.
Suggested donation: $10 or more/ per person!
Thank you!
For the slightly more difficult to convince, here’s my list of:
Ten reasons you should give your Ten Dollars here!
1. It’s a little more than what you spend on lunch everyday. I could bring you home-cooked lunch one day, if you want.
(Offer available only in Manhattan, at the moment)
2. It’s the price of a drink at an expensive upscale lounge or a decent chunk of your Friday night’s Happy hour quota; eitherways, since when did alcohol stand more ground than education?
3. It’s the price of a movie ticket that you won’t even feel the pinch of. Just assume it was a movie “you had to watch” because the girlfriend said so.
4. I am your friend/ acquaintance/ fellow blogger and I am training hard to push myself to run the 13 mile distance. Small price to pay, to applaud my determination, don’t you think?
5. Assume it’s my birthday and you’re buying me a drink! That way, you don’t have to remember my birthday and I can forgive you if you forget!
6. Give, to this charity instead of giving to Starbucks, and thus, spare your body, all that Seattle caffeine.
7. It’s the meager sum; you spend on car gas or cab fare, when you could so easily have walked the same distance.
8. For most of us, it’s a small part of what we make per hour and so not a big deal to part with.
9. I am your catalyst for charity; if you’ve never given before, now’s your chance to make up for all the times you should have given, but did not, for some reason.
10. Lastly and most importantly, consider that your money is going to play the role of a beacon in illuminating someone’s life and possibly changing it forever.
If you’re reaching out for your credit card already; please click on the 'Donate' button on the following webpage:
http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/lib/marathon/publicmypage.php?1647
If you're still not, here’s my last pitch; “It’s only ten bucks, C’mon!”
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The July 4th long weekend.
Lunch at Hampton Chutney in SOHO;
Multiple co-ordination of plans for the weekend;
Drinks at Bryant Park Grill;
Introduction with a girl, who in another one of those recurring coincidences, lives across the street;
Cooper Hewitt Summer Session with friends;
Dancing in the Rain;
Dinner with interesting conversation at Sala Thai on the Upper East Side,
Early night, for the run tomorrow!
6 mile morning run in the Park;
Still co-ordinating plans for the weekend;
Home for a shower and packed bag for the beach;
Lunch at a local cafe in Astoria;
Set off for Jones Beach in Long Island;
Ended up at Long Beach, less crowded;
Got in the water;
Played Soccer with friends and a little kid;
Tried to read but gave up, took in the breeze;
Lay on the sand, ocean by the side, under the sky;
Wrapped up to go get ice-cream;
Got back into Queens for Indian Chinese;
Waited for an hour till we got our table;
Binged on a huge spread, over more interesting conversation;
Went to Newport for a house-party at 12 am;
Felt very “cool” entering a party this late, after ages;
Danced to a few Desi numbers;
Got back home by 3 am!
In Newport by noon;
Returned the rental car;
Outdoor Lunch at Amiya, in Exchange Place;
Paan at Journal Square;
Sprawled out on the lawn in Newport;
A quick nap;
Back into the city for the night;
Turkish dinner at Ali Baba’s;
Bumped into some friends en route;
Karaoke at Village Ma – “La Isla Bonita” to “I’ve got you under my skin”;
Got back home by 3 am!
Late morning;
Made sandwiches for the picnic;
Went to Central Park for a Picnic on the Great Lawn;
Lay on the grass, ate, napped, read, played;
Various conversations, Dumb Charades;
Dinner at Saravanas with Stefano and Elsye;
Some introductions and a pleasant walk to the subway;
Back home; called it a night!
Late morning;
Soccer game at Central Bar;
Bumped into a friend who was supporting Germany;
Rooted for Italy;
Was thrilled when they won;
Walked to the PATH and into Newport for fireworks;
Bumped into more familiar faces there;
Picked a spot by the river, spread sheets and lay on the grass;
Fireworks began, first at Liberty Island, then at FDR Drive;
Downtown and GW Bridge joined in, to create a spectacular vista,
Specks of light, some single, some clustered;
Bright, coloured, radiant globes of illuminance, that dissolved into the skyline;
“Oooohhhhh”s and “Aaaaaahhhh”s and more conversation,
A generous friend paid for dinner; Bhindi on the lawn;
At 11, it was time to wind up the weekend;
Folded it and kept it in my head;
Trains across the rivers to come back home;
A long weekend, spent well!
Multiple co-ordination of plans for the weekend;
Drinks at Bryant Park Grill;
Introduction with a girl, who in another one of those recurring coincidences, lives across the street;
Cooper Hewitt Summer Session with friends;
Dancing in the Rain;
Dinner with interesting conversation at Sala Thai on the Upper East Side,
Early night, for the run tomorrow!
6 mile morning run in the Park;
Still co-ordinating plans for the weekend;
Home for a shower and packed bag for the beach;
Lunch at a local cafe in Astoria;
Set off for Jones Beach in Long Island;
Ended up at Long Beach, less crowded;
Got in the water;
Played Soccer with friends and a little kid;
Tried to read but gave up, took in the breeze;
Lay on the sand, ocean by the side, under the sky;
Wrapped up to go get ice-cream;
Got back into Queens for Indian Chinese;
Waited for an hour till we got our table;
Binged on a huge spread, over more interesting conversation;
Went to Newport for a house-party at 12 am;
Felt very “cool” entering a party this late, after ages;
Danced to a few Desi numbers;
Got back home by 3 am!
In Newport by noon;
Returned the rental car;
Outdoor Lunch at Amiya, in Exchange Place;
Paan at Journal Square;
Sprawled out on the lawn in Newport;
A quick nap;
Back into the city for the night;
Turkish dinner at Ali Baba’s;
Bumped into some friends en route;
Karaoke at Village Ma – “La Isla Bonita” to “I’ve got you under my skin”;
Got back home by 3 am!
Late morning;
Made sandwiches for the picnic;
Went to Central Park for a Picnic on the Great Lawn;
Lay on the grass, ate, napped, read, played;
Various conversations, Dumb Charades;
Dinner at Saravanas with Stefano and Elsye;
Some introductions and a pleasant walk to the subway;
Back home; called it a night!
Late morning;
Soccer game at Central Bar;
Bumped into a friend who was supporting Germany;
Rooted for Italy;
Was thrilled when they won;
Walked to the PATH and into Newport for fireworks;
Bumped into more familiar faces there;
Picked a spot by the river, spread sheets and lay on the grass;
Fireworks began, first at Liberty Island, then at FDR Drive;
Downtown and GW Bridge joined in, to create a spectacular vista,
Specks of light, some single, some clustered;
Bright, coloured, radiant globes of illuminance, that dissolved into the skyline;
“Oooohhhhh”s and “Aaaaaahhhh”s and more conversation,
A generous friend paid for dinner; Bhindi on the lawn;
At 11, it was time to wind up the weekend;
Folded it and kept it in my head;
Trains across the rivers to come back home;
A long weekend, spent well!
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