Travel Companions

Well, I wont mind some. While time and money are the usual suspects, too many trips have not happened due to the lack of people. And, as I have learnt in the had way, its better to travel alone than to end up with a bunch of people not ready to spend at all, or too worried about the comforts of life.

But that is not what this is about. I remember back in India, when traveling back and forth between my home in Siliguri and my university in Calcutta, we used to scan the reservation charts pasted beside the train doors, and would be excited to find any teenage female names around. It is altogether another story that we would rarely end up talking with them. I am not the most talkative of persons unless I know the people around, and that extends to public transits too.

However, on occasions here, I have ended up having conversations with some bizarre people in plane. I ended up beside a drunk musician from New Orleans when going to Chicago for the first time in the winter of 2004, and it was entertaining, for lack of a better word. Initially what started as his not so polite rant about the airline not allowing to carry his guitar or something, turned into an interesting, albeit slightly incoherent conversation. He talked a lot about New Orleans, and this was well before Katrina. He talked about Jazz music, and asserted that only Chicago and New Orleans has good Jazz - which is probably true. The thing I remember him most for is, however for none of the conversations we had. It was my first time landing in a big city after dark, and the view of Chicago from up there is simply awesome. They always go anticlockwise over the lake and the downtown, and from the left side of the plane, where we fortunately were and he allowed me to look out, you can see the most perfect grid, tiny squares after tiny squares. Then comes the lake and as the plane turns around towards the ultra compact downtown - you can almost identify each individual building. Night landing in Chicago is always spectacular - of course, you have to be sitting at the left side, as the guy told me. Rightly so.

This summer, I was coming back from Phoenix, AZ and the route was already absurd - flying up to Minneapolis, MN and then coming down to Orlando. That is the price you pay when you get a cheap ticket nowadays. We were delayed in Minneapolis, and to avoid weather, they flew all the way southwest toward the the direction of Omaha, NE before continuing southeast. So it added an hour or so more to what was already a needlessly long flight, and I so did not mind too much when the guy next to me started talking. As it turned out, he has spent some time in Bangalore, and written poems about India. It is always fascinating to hear about India from a different perspective, so it was all great till then. However once I said I am a physicist, he started talking about all the conspiracy theories - UFO sightings to his belief that the Pyramids were built by aliens. He suggested me books and websites - it did get boring after a while, but he simply would not stop. I never knew people so passionately believed in those.

The poems were nice though.

Looking Back: My Chicago Trip(s)

Okay, I just cant find anything to talk about. My mind is totally blank. May be too much sleeping, good food and no work does this to your brain. So I'll cheat a bit and recycle my past travel experiences, specifically about Chicago. Its almost like my second home here - been there so many times.

First time it was in the December of 2003 - just 6 months after I came to US. I had an evening flight and a drunk musician from New Orleans was right beside me. It was fun talking with him - I forgot what exactly he talked about - but I kind of remember the experience! He also told me to look towards the left while the plane circled the compact and well lit downtown - I have been to many cities later - but Chicago from above looks awesome - the whole city looks like a well lit grid - with the bright sky scrappers standing right beside the Lake Michigan. This trip was special for a few other reasons too. I was supposed to meet an online friend - but due to some lapse in communication ended up waiting for half an hour or so in falling snow in front of the deserted Sears Towers! Also visited the home of another friend in Chicago suburbs - it was my first time in a home in USA as opposed to the shabby and frugal graduate student apartments we are used to.

My next Chicago trip was as hectic as it can be. Joan Baez was performing at Northwestern campus on a weekend - I decided to go on Thursday - reached directly to the concert from O'Hare. It was April of 2004.

Third time it was when a three of us Siliguri guys decided to have a reunion of sorts at there in September 2004. Next time I drove down to Chicago from Columbus, Ohio via Urbana-Champaign in April 2005. And Finally just a week after that - I had to visit Fermilab in Batavia which is just an hours drive from Chi-city.

They say familiarity breeds contempt - thats surely not the case with my affection about Chicago. I love the city and feel so at home. (University of Chicago was my dream school!). I like the throbbing downtown, the crowded magnificent mile, view from the sky scrappers and the fireworks at Navy Pier. The food at Greek town, Indian delicacies at Devon area and Chicago's own deep crust pizza are added attractions. I even love the L,the mostly elevated subway system. The art museum and the stained glass museum at Navy Pier are amazing - so is a walk alongside the lake. The only thing I would hate is the crazy traffic on I-90 and Lake shore drive - but thats inherent to any big city.

If you plan to visit a true American city - you just cant go wrong with the windy city!