Sharmila and I were here in Chicago for a wedding. I am connected to two of the family members. Aratrika – the bride – was a colleague of mine at work. Her dad, Ranajoy, and I went to school in Durgapur and in Narendrapur way back in the early 80s!

Both of them are here, getting ready for the Daddy Daughter Dance!

The parking in these buildings are valet only. And you can see why? Cars have fallen into the water – but for movie and commercial ad purposes only. None accidental!

Will be 100 years next year. That is amazing!!

While walking in Millennium Park this morning, we saw a lot of bicycles riding on the road. The roads had no vehicles. But it could not have been a race. There were no bibs, and the bikes (and some of the bikers) did not look very race-worthy.

Upon enquiring, found out from a security guy that we had hit upon the 25th Annual Bike the Drive in Chicago. You bring your bicycle and bike around at your own pace. Go as far as you want, and bike as long as you want. They even had bike repair tents there!! I got inspired to bike more myself just watching all the folks there. In fact, started discussing how to put a hitch in my car so I can take my bike to different trails.

I wanted to be one of them!!!

Later, in the evening, I was telling Sharmila about an old colleague of mine – Dave Simmons – who had left our office to start Ride Illinois. He is crazy about biking and would like all of us to get into it. I was mentioning to her that if I had known the event was going on, I would have asked Dave if he was there. I was quite sure he would have been there.

What do you know? I got a Facebook comment from Dave later asking if I was around. He swore he saw my doppelganger going around the spot where he was volunteering. We checked the location on the map – sure enough, we were there!

What a missed opportunity!!

Dave, next time, I will make sure to meet you and pick up some biking inspiration from you!!