Saga de Ammerikka - Chicago 3rd Visit

After a short stay in Atlanta, I rejoined the installation team in Chicago. Boys were working wonders and we could finish very much in few days.

Starbucks was located just a block away and thus, at times, when my brain stopped working, anyone would bring Java Chip and inject into my blood...

When we were finished with the installation and I was about to start the documentation of the project, my laptop hard disk crashed and left me in a panic state... The last backup I had was four days old and in those four days, a lot happened on this laptop. Fortunately, HDD Regenerator came in help and I could recover all the data. Since the crash damaged some critical OS files, the retrieved hard disk however could not be used to boot the machine. Sureshbhai gave me 250G one which I used to store the Ghost of retrieved one. Since next day was Saturday and I would be in Toronto on Monday, Dell shipped the replacement hard drive to Bharti Faiba's place in Toronto.

After installation was over, we decided to have a day trip to Chicago downtown.

Chicago Skyline!

The team...

Field Museum entrance...

Back of the entrance...

Ceiling... Good use of natural light...

One of the exhibits there...

A notice of the time of slavery in one of the exhibitions in Field Museum...

I spent next two days with Piyushbhai and family. It was like being at home in the shelter of an elder brother. He and Nitabhabhi looked after me so much that at one point of time, it brought tears in my eyes. One evening, we went to Jitubhai's place for dinner.
Savita baa was very happy to see all her grand children.

Vivek took the control of my camera and shot some beautiful shots... To handle a DSLR is not kid's play but this kid did play with it. Some of his shots below..

Two days with Piyushbhai/Jitubhai families recharged me for my next destination Toronto. Piyushbhai dropped me to the airport on Sunday morning and again on the way, he realized me one more time that he does care a lot for me and my family. All the way to Buffalo, I was thinking about this special relationship we have.

Saga de Ammerikka - Atlanta 2nd Visit

AirTran flight to Atlanta was uneventful. Manishbhai came to pick me up at the airport and we straight away drove to exhibition.

The exhibition was in Georgia World Congress Center on International Boulevard. No internal photography was allowed in the exhibition :(

Three days in this exhibition was very productive but tiring too. Last year, this exhibition was in Las Vegas and we won two iPhones in a lucky draw there. This year, the same company had offered similar lucky draw and the prize was Wii-Nintendo full set! Last year, Bhavesh and Yogesh roamed around and got their lucky draw passports stamped in different stalls. This time, Manishbhai and Dikul did that job. While the draw was taking place, I was in a meeting with Pelco. Suddenly, Manishbhai called me to let me know that I won an Wii and I had to rush to Anixter stall to collect it within next 10 seconds. I could not escape from the meeting and ended up loosing the prize :( But luck was in our favor this year too.... Manishbhai won a Wii on the third round and he won it again on seventh round! He could get only one as it was the rule of the draw.

Next day, Manishbhai and Dikul dropped out and I took Marta (underground train) to reach the GWCC. I loitered around for a while around the exhibition area.

CNN Headquarters was very nearby. This huge sign is at the entrance of the building.
Many tourists and groups gather in front of it for a picture!

A wall with thousands of pictures welcome you inside the building. Each of these pictures are events covered by CNN from the day it was on air.

Of course, there was a Starbucks inside the building foyer.

CNN offers backstage tour and visitors enter the CNN world through this escalator.

Dont know the name of this building in front of CNN building. But its symmetry qualified it to be here!

Next day, I had to fly back to Chicago. Manishbhai dropped me to nearby Marta station. Two trains got canceled and when I reached the airport, only 30 minutes were left for my flight departure. AirTran girl was kind enough to check in my bag even the check-in got closed 15 mins before.
The girl put a tag and assured me that my bag would fly the same flight I was to fly! This is a reason AirTran is doing so good even in the worst economic crises. United and US Airways charge for even first check-in baggage while AirTran does not charge for first luggage. And for me, it was the best in customer service.

Saga de Ammerikka - Piyushbhai Party

When I was in Houston, I called Piyushbhai to let him know about my Chicago program. Later, I talked to Nitabhabhi and she hinted me about a surprise party for Piyushbhai she was arranging on the weekend I was to coming to Chicago. She asked me to join in this surprise party. Plans were later revealed to me on all arrangements. While I have few hundreds of pictures of this event, some of them are below:

We picked up him from his place. By this time, Nitabhabhi and kids and all other family members were already at the party place. He was told that they were going to attend a party organized by the day care center where their another brother is living. Thats how he was convinced to be in party wear!

Jitubhai and Hasmukhbhai brings him in and he gets the surprise!

The Family! Piyushbhai was so surprised that even VIvek - his closest buddy in the home did not leak anything...

Birthday poster...

And the cake!

The cake cutting...

And the cake eating!

Shruti revealed how Piyushbhai has been more than a dad to all three children. Rucha was preparing her speech... She revealed some of the family secrets to all of us!

Jitubhai than narrated Piyushbhai's first arrival in US and all those old sweet memories.

Sujata Bhabhi delivered a very well written and emotional speech.

Than it was a time for some stunning performances...

Shruti performed her Kaththak dance. To see an America born and brought up girl doing an Indian classical dance was indeed a positive surprise.

Vivek and his two buddies danced on famous Bolywood tunes! Its also surprising to see Vivek picking up so much. His progress in few years is very remarkable.

Another Bolywood performance  from girls this time!

It was finally a dinner time which began with a prayer.

The family which eats together, stays together!

One Big Family!

Jitubhai and Family! Kirtan the son, Kruti the daughter, Sujatabhabhi the mom and Jitubhai the BIG dad!

The evening concluded with the dance!

For me, it was a great event to be with Jitubhai, Piyushbhai and all family members. Despite my very tight schedule for installation, I decided to take a day off and attend this event. I hardly attend any family events as I am so scared of them. But this event was very special for me. I was obliged to be part of it.