chicago meri jaan...

Since I plan on getting back to putting some words on the screen, I might as well start from where I started in the first blog.. Chicago.. and so its back to Jan 2005 to Aug 2007
Its been 5 months since I moved to Seattle from the not-so-small town of Chicago. What I had not realized then was how much I would miss a place.. as far as I am concerned, its the second best place on earth after Pune. After all unlike New York, you don't have to be a millionaire to live in downtown with a great view and in a high rise. You get all the benefits of downtown living in an awesome city with the experiences a true American experience. A cosmopolitan city with people from so many different places of earth, all moving the city from one day to the next. City that is always alive.. trains, buses, cabs - all connecting it with its peoples. A place where I didn't ever think about owning a car, a city which never let me feel dependent on someone to get my work done. I absolutely loved that sense of independence. Its very addictive. Coming from a lil town in Texas, where I had to depend on others with cars to get around even for general groceries, Chicago was just what the doctor had ordered. And what can I say about the famed Devon Avenue - the largest assembly of Indian grocery shops and Indian shops in US . I haven't seen a bigger place to shop indian, nor in NY, Seattle, Calif, Houston.

But all that is just a little part of what makes Chicago so special for me.

Leaving the city was a tough decision. I have spent some truly great times both while a student and working in Chicago. The 1 bedroom apartment crammed with 6 people ( though at that time it never seemed like it was a crammed apartment), the tennis in summer of 05, the parties at friends places. I guess since we were all students when we started played a big role in all of this... everyone trying to make it work with as little money in the bank as there could be, but all having the best times there.. i guess adversity brings out the best in people.
These are friendships i hope to keep forever... Even now, when I look back at those times, in-spite of the long hours in the gas stations, it is the tennis, the jokes on each other, the web-cam engagement of a friend early morning in my apartment, the photo-session, is what all come back. Its all a heady nostalgia and I doubt if ever there would be such a Déjà vu again.

The whole of my life's chapter in Chicago is peppered with things I cannot forget. Working in a great firm after school added some more great sub-sections to my chapter.

Moving into Chicago I had not expected the city to offer me so much while asking so little of me. The heartbreaks, the coming down to reality and then moving onto to bigger things.. all part of my time in the great windy city. Chicago made me grow up once more. It is for all this that I absolutely love the place.

This I feel is as close as I can come to a closure on Chicago. And as they - "Chicago, doston mein no thank you, no sorry. hum hamesha ache dost rahenge"