#243 US Trip Memories

#227 Obama Victory Night Rally Ticket

[caption id="attachment_483" align="aligncenter" width="401" caption="Prized Possession!"][/caption]

#224 Farewell...

[caption id="attachment_392" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Rashmi, Sriram, and Satish... Thanks for absolutely everything..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_394" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Rashmi, Saunvit, Prateek, Sriram... Thanks for the awe-kasam Smoky Trip :)"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_398" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Rashmi, Ramya... Thanks for all the meals we had together... :)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_401" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jae, Heera... Thanks for the most amazing Bibimbap and your warmth... :)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_399" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Chicago... Thank You..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_400" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="New York... Thank You :)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_402" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fall... Thanks for the most beautiful moments that you gave me and my camera :)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_403" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Snow... Thanks for the mind-blowing cold and an amazing experience..."][/caption]

And Guru (for the amazing talks of everything starting from China to Peru, vada-pav to chai-at-a-tapri, NCC to 'bakch**di'...), Anna, Chris (on the Metra), Jing, Sally, Liliana (whom I may never meet again), Kunal, Riya and everybody else...
I know there are many more...

Thanks,
Goodbye...

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#223 Whiteness

#221 Natquik... the drifting one...

Few things are as beautiful as innocence, purity, tenderness, freshness, softness and whiteness... Few things bring as much joy to a saddened soul as something so beautiful... Few things are amongst those that one must experience in his or her lifetime...

It all begins when the sun starts setting early in the evenings, and the nights get longer than days. A week of mild cold and a week of extreme, makes you wonder what would come the morning after Sunday.

Then the clouds build a fog and the sun hides its face... down comes a flake and so with a grace...

Voila... it's snow!

I heard the Eskimo has a hundred words for snow...

'qanuk' for the flakes and 'kaneq' for the frost... and 'kannevluk' for the fine snow, and 'natquik' for the drifting... and 'muruanek' for the soft deep one, and 'nutaryuk' for the fresh... and 'igloo' for the home...

I wonder if snow would mean more to anyone else...

I feel the snow is warm. It has a warmth in it that winter lacks...The sight of snow makes me happy, keeps me warm... refreshes my memory of places so high... sends me back to being a child... until my fingers hurt...

Like a little pretty girl, in her white merry frock, dancing all alone, the flake slowly comes, goes a bit to my left and a bit to my right, and then lands on the ground as a bird's touch n fly... and some more come along and they stick each on top... and this goes on till my heart fills with joy...

It is so pretty that I do not feel like taking pictures... let it be untouched... let it be pure... let it be the way it is... perfect...

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#218 A day in the life of a round, fat boy

Some time back...

RFB: So where are you from, originally?
Ji: I was born in a city in mid-west China, called Xian.
RFB: Oh! I have just started reading a book 'Shadow of the Silk Road'. It starts in Xian. China is amazing.

Some time before that...

Matt: So why aren't you eating eel?
Saunvit: I am particular about certain fishes. I don't eat mammals.
RFB: Eel is amazing.
Matt: But eel isn't a mammal.
Saunvit: I am very particular about which fish to eat and which not to eat.
Matt: What has it got to do with being a mammal? But I would find it gross.
Saunvit: In Korea they offered me pork.
RFB: Pork is amazing.
Matt: I don't even consider chicken as meat, its vegetables. In Kansas we eat steak.
Saunvit: I miss soju.
RFB: Soju is amazing.
Ji: Hey, everything is amazing for you!

Some time before that...

William: Tickets please.
RFB: I ran out of my 10-ride ticket.
William: So tomorrow morning you buy it. In the evening I will punch two holes in your card. Don't buy a ticket today.
RFB: That's amazing.

Some time before that...

SXR: Are you gonna travel by train?
RFB: Yeh.
SXR: It's cold.
RFB: The cold is amazing.

Some time before that...

Guru: I am not gonna forgive you for bringing me to this cafeteria.
RFB: I am sorry, but is that all you're gonna eat?
Joe: This fish is good.
RFB: Is it amazing?
Guru: It has lead and mercury.
RFB: Mercury? Amazing.
Joe: There is no mercury. This fish is good for heart and cholesterol.
Guru: It wont matter what you eat. One day a truck will just run over you.

Some time before that...

Lady: Can you toss the omelette like her?
RFB: Ofcourse. I do it all the time.
Lady: I can never do it. She is amazing.

The lady at the hot bar in the cafeteria was crestfallen when RFB said that he could toss the omelette as well as her. She did not thank him. If he could not appreciate it, I wish RFB had not said that.
I wish I wasn't RFB.

[The characters and dialogues in this blog have not been altered to make it better to read. Though, permission has not been taken to publish any of these conversations. I hope they don't mind. Everyone I met today was amazing :)]

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#217 See with your own eyes, Feel with your own heart...

A picture speaks a thousand words... who said so? Someone did! Haa...
Spanning over 200 galleries, and maybe more... The Art Institute of Chicago has so much to offer, paintings, photographs, sculptures and much more than just that. From Peru to Alaska, from Paris to Egypt, from India to Korea, they have everything from every continent on earth. Here are just the few of them that I could capture on my camera, not because I ran out of memory card or batteries or energy, but I ran out of the will to take photos. The beauty of art took me over...

Click to read more and see the pics...

Adam and Eve...

A pub?

Marvelous sunset by a lake... Do not try to look for the sun :)
It is on the other side...

Women...

Common people...

And Christ formed the subject of a really large number of paintings...

The contrast of darkness and light used in this painting, was more remarkable than it appears in the photograph...

Something sad is depicted here, but look at the details...

Out of the many photographs, this photograph from a market in Mumbai caught my eye...

---
And now...
Perhaps the best or one of the best parts of the Institute...
These are houses... the most beautiful living places I have ever seen in my life... but...

But...

OMG lovely carpet... :) but...

Yes, all of this is amazing and excellent... but...

This is perfect, isn't it? It sure is, but...

Ok, enough of "buts", now look closely at the picture below to get an estimate of the size of these things :)

I hope you saw me, wondering about something, looking through the...

Glass windows...
---
Okay... now, its time for perhaps the most popular piece of art kept at this place in the world...
Here is something about it... Can you guess what it is? Have you seen it before?

This is about one of those few paintings that were in school textbooks while I was in school...

Isn't this brilliant??

Have you seen this somewhere before?

Sure you have :)
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - Georges Seurat

Well, that is all I could capture... after that I did not feel like clicking pics anymore... It was too beautiful to capture in the camera... It sure was captured somewhere else...

“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
- Albert Einstein

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