The big weekend is coming up tomorrow. Unlike our Indian Independence Day where military parades are held and only the old people watch it on TV, here there is excitement and a sense of patriotism not to dissimilar to China. People are excited to watch fireworks and of course they get three days off. As for me, we have a trip planned over the weekend and if it materializes, it will take up the next post.
Last weekend my uncle and aunt drove down from Memphis, Tennessee for a visit. Another couple, friends of K/G and I, drove down from Texas and landed at the same time. So it was a big and varied group that went to the Field Museum on Saturday. I had actually got tired of seeing museums or any kind of exhibits and had just begun to feel like a piece of history myself and had vowed not to go to any more. But am glad I went to the Field. It came about because we were thinking of a common ground to go to in order to appease everybody’s interests. The Field Museum fitted well because there was something for everyone, from kids to grandpas.
The biggest draw is Sue, the world’s most complete and biggest dinosaur fossil. And Sue is huge. She fills one side of the main hall and I must say it is indeed a thrill to stand next to something that is more than a million years old. Makes you feel young at least. After clicking pictures next to Sue, I walked around a bit. There was a group of children standing in one corner and I went over to investigate. There was a girl holding small pieces of rock, pointing out different kinds. Then she said something amazing. These pieces were actually fossil crumbs and many like them are embedded in the museum floor. I could make out a few of them right then and there. Apparently the museum didn’t know that the building was being built on fossil-rich grounds when the construction was going on.
After seeing enough fossils I walked over to the Native American section named Ancient Americas. Here they showed the evolution of the Americas through a combination of pictures, videos, murals and exhibits. This was I think the most fascinating of all the things I saw in that museum. I learnt that there were so many different tribes of Native Americans and that they actually had Asian ancestors! Can you beat that? So we are the original humans. I will try and post some of the photos a little later.
The museum has a food court so we finished lunch right there and continued our visit. The museum is so huge that you need around three days if you want to see all exhibits at a leisurely pace. Time is short as always, and more so because the museum closes at 5.00 pm, so we had to select the most interesting ones and see them quickly. So next I went to see the bird gallery, where I had barely time to read the names of all the thousands of species. Next it was the Egyptian section where I saw real mummies and a reconstructed tomb down to the last detail. That was as fascinating as the Americas section. Last was the Spirits of the Pacific, which showed that life on a beach is not as easy as people think. It mainly had ecosystems that thrive near volcanic islands, but they had done it in such a nice way that I was immediately fascinated.
Last of all I went to the museum store and bought a couple of memorabilia of Sue and it was time to go. But I must say I really don’t mind going back to that museum again to complete seeing everything. I felt saddened that we have the Vishweshwaraiya Museum in Bangalore, something that has exhibits of equal interest but maintained so badly that it pales in comparison. It’s a 125 year old museum and I remember going to it a few times as a kid and never being bored. It does not have the polished look and feel of American museums nor does it have visitor friendly information. It’s built very crudely and is now going to ruins. Why is it that we don’t pay attention to museums that we have? We can so easily turn it into a tourist magnet. Sigh. The Field was also a scientific museum but even a very un-scientific person like me was completely drawn in only because they had taken care to make it interesting.
Anyway, we left Field and went back home. Everybody needed time to recover from the bombardment of information and the hours of walking. Dave and Karen had a long way to go back to their hotel so they immediately left promising to meet us the next day. My uncle and aunt were to drive back to Memphis on Sunday so they stayed awhile. My aunt wanted to buy groceries from Devon because it was too expensive in Memphis. A packet consisting of four parathas cost $1.39 here while in Memphis it was $4! That is way too exorbitant.
So we drove down to Devon after a short rest, shopped for groceries and had some good Indian dinner. K/G, Dazz and I stocked up on our Indian supplies as well. And just as we stacked everything into the car my uncle discovered that the boot door of his SUV was not locking. After trying many times we just left it as it was – closed but not locked. But he changed the parking place so that anybody who has been observing us would not be able to steal anything.
That day I discovered how difficult it is to park in the U.S. On Friday, when my uncle came to my house I had a small taste of it. He asked me if there is parking space and I naively said everybody parks on the street. He laughed and said its not so simple. You need a parking sticker, which says you are a resident and that this is your allotted space. I said I had no clue about any of these things since I travelled only by public transport. Finally, he managed to get one of the stickers from a sympathetic resident standing on the kerb where he parked his car. The stickers are freely available with the residents who have paid the parking fee so it was easy for my uncle to get it. In Devon, we had to go around searching for a place with a parking meter because if that is absent then we might be in the tow zone.
Phew I realized how much more convenient our Bangalore is. And how much chaotic. It is not streamlined at all and bikes can be stowed away pretty much anywhere. The lack of bikes here makes it more convenient. And of course, no bike would squeeze in the hair’s breadth between vehicles here. I have seen traffic jams here too, with cars lined up a long way. There are a few bikes in the line too but they wait patiently. The cars leave a gap of a few good inches between each other but the bikes always wait behind and not on the side or in between. Am rambling again. Anyway after Devon we reached back home and then it was time to say goodbye to my aunt and uncle.
The next day on Sunday we met Dave and Karen at the Navy Base where they are staying in a place called Great Lakes in the suburb. Dave was in the Navy and he gets a good discount on Navy guesthouses. They met us at the station and took us to see around the Navy Base. Being situated just by the lake it was so beautiful. If I was a cadet I think I would have been the laziest, sitting by the beach with a book and lemonade. Dave took us to the Navy Exchange where you can buy all sorts of Navy memorabilia. I bought a tee and a keychain. The Naval Base is like a small township by itself containing everything from supermarkets to restaurants. So we caught some lunch and then drove on to Fort Sheridan. We walked around an old fort, went down to the beach, took pictures next to a real World War II cannon and then finished our exploration by walking through a small forested area. K/G, Dazz and I were supposed to catch the 7.15 Metra back to Chicago but we missed it and Dave and Karen were sweet enough to drive us back.
My weekend had come to an end all too soon. Yet again. Here I remember each one of my weekends vividly. Unlike Bangalore, they are not a haze where I don’t know what I did each Saturday and Sunday apart from watching some worthless movie and generally growing fat. It’s not just a lifeless blur. Time flies by but every moment is frozen in my mind. It’s not to say that I don’t like Bangalore. But the diverse activities that I get to indulge in here are very refreshing. The accompanying sense of freedom is exhilarating too. Where in India can I walk around in a pair of shorts and tee shirt without anybody around me turning a hair? It might sound trivial but getting to wear the kind of clothes you like all the time is really a different feeling altogether.
Ok, here I put a full stop. Next post coming soon – all about the proposed trip to the Smoky Mountains and Mammoth Caves.