University of Illinois, Urbana, IL

And yes, after returning to Urbana, Nagraj gave us a quick tour of the campus (UIUC). It was dark, cold and windy so better pictures and more meaningful experiences must wait for another day. Till then this crummy picture of the Alma Mater and the two of us should suffice as proof of our visit!

Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN

A second visit for a game at Conseco, another blowout. The Pacers routed the Nets last time we went to watch them. This time it was the Sonics. And we were minus J.O. and J.T. As I have always believed, Freddie Jones showed he is capable of a lot more than he normally gets the chance to demonstrate. With more responsibility on his shoulders than usual, he made 26 as the Pacers got 115 points and kept the high scoring Sonics down to 96. The crowd attendance was a lot lower (14000) than normal, but I enjoyed this game a lot more than I did the one against the Nets. $10 may well be worth it for a distant ticket to a game. Adi's mum also managed to grab a freebie: a free Haircut at Great Clips! Go Pacers indeed!

Devon Ave, Chicago, IL

A Chicago trip without Devon Avenue is like...umm. Quite okay actually, when you think about it. After all, who wants to fight unruly traffic, horrendous parking opportunities and a host of desis just to buy some Desi stuff (that you get at your local Asian store anyway) or eat a dosa...we did. 2 cars, 6 of us. But what made it worth it was the largest dosa we have eaten (well...we shared of course). The Royal Family Dosa at the Mysore Restaurant was worth writing home (or on the web) about, hence this blog entry. Feast your eyes on what we dug into (along with Mysore coffee) on New Year's Day in Chicago...There was also a sign on the road reading "We Sell Used Police Cars". It happens only in India may not be true after all. Atleast not as long there is Devon Avenue. Some of India's strangest yet identifying (and sometimes endearing) idiosyncracies are embodied on Devon Ave. Worth a trip for any desi...assuming you don't mind spending 20 minutes searching for a parking spot!

Navy Pier, Chicago, IL

$22 for parking on a weekend. Repeat: $22 for parking on a weekend. I have probably paid half of that for parking in all of the last 7 months that I have been driving in the US!

Was it worth it? Contrary to my expectations, it may have been. Here is what we saw and did at Navy Pier (all this in addition to all the stuff you see at your average big city mall): we witnessed a clown playing electric guitar on a stage, strolled through a huge 100-exhibit Stained glass museum, walked around in the dreamlandish Winterfest, built a sweet little boxer at Build-a-Bear workshop (ahem...another $22) and walked through the rainforest-like deck onto the Ferris wheel and the dock for cruise ships.

A great day. 22 bucks is still too steep. You wouldn't know it by the crowds though and that, I guess, makes it justified.

Baha'i House of Worship, Wilmette, IL

We visited the Baha'i House of Worship is located on New Year's Eve. That wasn't why we visited it of course. We were spending the weekend at Usha Deo's place in Chicago and she took us to this wonderful place. Located in a very luxurious community and close to the Northwestern campus, the approach feels like a drive through any posh suburb of a major city, like Geist in Indianapolis. And it seems all rich people wish to live next to a large water body!

The House of Worship (HOW) was wonderful. Since I had seen the one in Delhi, I knew what to expect. A dome like structure made of white. Whereas the one in Delhi was fairly smooth, much like the Sydney Harbor dome, this HOW had intricate paneling on the exterior. The interior was much smaller than that in Delhi, but equally peaceful, barring the noisy mediterranean family.

Below are two pics: one taken in Delhi in March 2000 with a Kodak film camera. The next one was on our trip to Chicago on the eve of 2006. Technology, people, places...Time changes everything.

Purdue Village, West Lafayette, IN

The sun came out today and we rushed outside and dusted clean the good ol' grill and made ourselves some veggie burgers, potatoes and Tilapia fish fillets! Now that's a wonderful Indiana winter day in December!!!

Elliot Music Hall, Purdue University, IN

Graduation! Satish received his Ph.D. degree in a leather bound folder, complete with a $45 rented gown and we were there to cheer him on! I was assigned the task of video camera man, so the picture above is really from last year's graduation in Dec 2004 when Harshal Patwardhan graduated. Incidentally, Harshal and Sujay Malve were also present. The Bhate/Bapat representation consisted of Adi, Dhruv and Ranjana!


The most exciting thing for me was sitting inches from the organ player and see him do his thing. I was not aware that the organ player uses his feet to hammer out bass notes. That must be one difficult instrument to play! Wow!

Serious Snow! West Lafayette, IN

Photograph from inside our apartment (behind a window) at 5pm!

Tippecanoe County Humane Society, Lafayette, IN

We visited the Tippecanoe County Humane Society this weekend. This is probably our 4th visit there in the past year: definitely a lot less than we had planned when we went there for the 1st time last November (2004). We donated the rabbit food and hay supplies that we had bought for the rabbit we never got (long story...) and spent time as always, walking the dogs. We took 7 of them between the two of us including a crazy female terrier called Gracey who chewed her way off the leash and escaped before I caught her back with a flying tackle that nearly hurt my knees! But they were all adorable dogs, including the very quiet and timid Eva and the naughty but manageable Nessie. We looked at the kittens for a while too, washed up and headed home after 2 hours of satisfying contact with the creatures we both love so much.

The picture here is of Adi's neighbour Mitali's sweet Boxer Nikki (behind window grill) and her pups peeking in.

Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN

We just saw our first NBA game Live ever! The Indiana Pacers beat the New Jersey Nets 102-90. We were in the $10 seats so things were distant, not just visually but also with regard to the excitement. People in the far seats seem to be there less for the game and more to be there for the game...but that's a different story.


Things were fun as well since there were a host of folks from Adi's class and school and we also got some free stuff including oversize Pacers T-shirts. The half time show was nice with incredible jugglers in addition to the usual monkeying that happens and the Pacemates dancing around of course.

All in all, a fun experience, but I think we prefer TV...to the $10 seats anyway. Things maybe a lot better closer up and with a more exciting match up, but that's a lot of money to spend on a 2 hour game with some cheap thrills on the side.

No pictures, since we were without a camera...should have one soon and will take pics of our next game, maybe sometime around New Years.