Chicago

I woke up to the pilot announcing that he would start descending for Chicago O’Hare International airport in several minutes. It being the first time for me to have the privilege of traveling by Business Class for an office trip, I was honestly not too keen on accepting the fact that my smooth 21 hour long journey was coming to an end. However, soon, I felt my excitement building up once again, about getting to hit a new city! Rubbing my eyes to get myself out of the solid sleep, induced by my glasses of champagne, and continuous reading of book; I got up, and pushed the button to turn my bed back into an upright seat. I came back after washing my face and leaned closer towards the window. It's always fun to watch out when the flight gets closer to touching the ground, isn’t it? Its funny how the plane that had so long been appearing to only glide along lazily, suddenly looked like a restless brat who couldn't wait to splash onto the huge field below, as it keeps approaching the runway.

Ever since I had gotten up, I noticed the sky didn’t look quite sunny. Although I had lifted the window shield hoping to see some magical playfulness of clouds and sunlight (I was supposed to land at Chicago at 9AM CST), all I could see was dark, slate colored heavy clouds gushing past.

“Nevermind”, I told myself, “ Not every time you visit the USA you will get to see a sunny version of the nation”; I thought, fondly remembering the bright, colorful and warm city of Pittsburgh that I had visited a couple of years ago, as my flight kept moving ahead.

As we slid past through some darker clouds, the first vision of the city appeared. The excitement that had been taking its form within me, grew a bit more ! I could see the buildings already. Yes ! There..! Now I guess I would start telling the trees ..one from another…and in some time I should be able to figure out the cars.

We descended more. And I could see trees. But with no leaves. The vision I had been having so far in my head, of city, like Pittsburgh-in-bright-summer…..with roads lined with greenery and warm-looking houses under clear blue sky, had to be quickly replaced with a grumpier, colder version of a city. All the trees had their leaves shed. They all were only wooden skeleton. It was mid April, so summer hadn’t set yet in the land. The sky was grey, and roads looked wet. It’s okay, I thought, at least the jackets I had carried would be useful.

Collection of luggage happened in a jiffy as it arrived on priority basis, and in no time I found myself at the exit gate of the airport, still standing within the airport, wearing two layers of jackets for precaution…just in case its really that cold outside (The Google did show the temperature to be 4 degree Celsius, but I still couldn’t really fathom it). As I saw my cab arrive outside, I stepped out. A chill like never before wrapped me out of nowhere ! “Owowow…..this is COLD !”, I thought as I could feel each and every hair on my body stand. The driver came out, helping me to drag my trolly, as I quickly got into the car and shut the door to help myself get a bit warmer. Cars, trains and buildings had heaters on, over there. So you would have to bear the chill intermittently only. As the driver did strike up a conversation with me, I learnt that there was prediction of rain and snow in the subsequent week.

Within roughly fifteen minutes, I reached my hotel in Deerfield where I was put up for the entire week. It was close to my office as well. Deerfield is a corporate hub, roughly forty five kilometres away from the main Chicago downtown, comprising mostly of high class residential complexes, stores and corporate offices. Getting the luggage off the cab, I almost ran to reach the entrance to minimize my staying in the wind that seemed to cut through my skin.

“Hello! Welcome…how may I help you?” said the receptionist, with a smile so bright that it could light up one’s day easily.

“Hey..Haley , right?” I smiled back, trying to read her name from her plate,” Hi I have a booking done already by my employer.”

After doing the formalities of check-in, I reached my suit that comprised of a snug bedroom, with an extended living hall having its own kitchen, bar, study desk and sofa. For a moment, I felt tempted to spend time lazily in the Jacuzzi holding my glass of wine, or lie on the sofa and watch TV. Trust me, the weather outside was very, very conducive to push any one to just do that ! A cloudy exterior with rain seeming imminent, a snug sofa, warm bath, and hot food ordered-in…seemed like a perfect way to pamper myself to treat my jet lag. But then, I knew I HAD to step out. The very fact that I was in a different land, halfway across the earth from my home, was enough to make me realize that there was an entire new world waiting outside for me to explore. So keeping my fantasies aside, I hurried up and got ready to go out to hit Chicago downtown.

As I went to the reception to leave my keys with Haley, she suggested, “So you’re aiming for Downtown, right? Well…why don’t you take this time table for the metro….it’ll be easier!”, as she handed me over a folded sheet of paper.

Considering the fact that cab would be too costly…and a trip fromDeerfield to the main downtown would not be some thing that I could get re-imbursed by my employer, I decided to take the metro. I went to the dining area ,chose a small table by the huge glass window overlooking the lawn outside; while trying to check out the trains.

“Hello Miss Bhattach…so that’s Bhattacharya, right? Am I pronouncing it correct?”, asked the waiter, Pete, in his pure American accent.

“Hey Pete, yes you’re right.” I smiled back.

I realized, despite the harsh, cold weather outside, there was an inherent warmth running among everyone there…and boy was it infectious!

“So what would you like to have for today, Miss Bhattacharya?” Pete asked, ready to take down the order.

He was a very, very tall man , probably in his early forties. He had an oval face with greyish-white stubble and cropped hair. The round spectacles resting on his nose made his face look more homely.

Ordering him my chicken salad, I went back to inspect the train timings.

Soon, Pete was back with a large plate of salad, and a folded map in his hand.

“Here you go, Miss…enjoy your salad,” he said as he placed the plate,” Any tea / coffee for you?”

“Let me see…yes ! An English breakfast, please” I asked.

“Sure, I’ll go get it,” Pete nodded,” meanwhile, let me walk you through this map…you see..this is a map of the Chicago city…it’s better you keep it with you. It might come handy !”

I know ! My GPS would have been more than enough to guide me all the way. Still, in this land so far off home, in a land apparently so cold, seeing this warmth among people was a feast for my soul. Agreed, the waiter probably was being extra helpful for tips, the receptionist was probably more keen on maintaining customer relation to keep the hotel’s ratings high, yet; not in many places did I see this hospitality.

Taking the map and time table, covering myself head to toes in thick, ear-covering cap, heavy jacket, huge gloves and heavy shoes, I went to the reception to check with Haley if I had put the right pick up point for Uber. “Oh you are aiming for 1:26pm metro, dear?” Haley asked with a bit of concern.”

“Yes, Haley,” Is aid, with a surrendering smile,”I know it looks tough for me to make it, doesn’t it?”

“Well..it is, “ she said, working her fingers fast on my phone, adjusting the pick up point, “but let’s see! Your cab is coming in 4 minutes. Let’s do it, Aura ! Let’s get you to the station !”

As I got into the cab, I was welcomed with a warm “hello” by the lady who was driving it. This was my second cab ride in the city, and I realized there it would be rude to not engage in conversation! And when you’re in a new city, it’s easy to not run out of ice-breakers. At least in Chicago, the weather and the wind was an easy starter for me. Once I would start talking about it…any citizen of Chicago would understand I was new in the town, and then they would be more than happy to tell you more about how great the city is, all the while sympathizing with you for not being habituated with that kind of cold weather.

“Even my sister’s name is Aura”, the lady driver told me excitedly.

I smiled back, genuinely touched by the enthusiasm that some one could show while driving just another passenger for the day.

“You know it’s almost a miracle that this far from my own land I’m finally hearing some one say she actually knows some one with that name,” I grinned, while she agreed that the name was pretty uncommon.

“Okay let’s see where we are,” she said as we pulled some where closer to Deerfield metro station.

I thought she would drop me rightaway since the map already showed that we had arrived at the station. To my surprise, she drove around for a while, looking for the closest possible spot near the station entrance so that I didn’t have to walk too much in the cold.

“I hope this is good? Don’t forget your jacket and cap, honey!” she reminded me, as I collected my belongings and started to get out of the cab.

The temperature had further fallen outside. On top of it, it had started to rain !

Pulling my clothes as tightly as I could, to cover myself up, I rushed towards the station.

It was an empty station with absolutely no other soul in my range of visibility.

“Its weekend, so the ticket counter would be closed,” Pete had earlier informed me at the dining table,” So make sure you have some cash to buy your ticket from the conductor once you’re on train.”

I checked the time. The train was supposed to come in another two minutes. I was just in time for it. Finally , I could spot one girl on the opposite platform, coming out of the waiting room.

“Hellooo”, I waved at her,” Which one’s the platform for going to Chicago Union Station?”

“This one..right here”, she replied pointing to the one she was standing on.

I ran to cross the line. The platforms were not too elevated from the rail-lines, so it was easy.

Soon the train arrived.

Hopping on to the train, I grabbed a window seat. It was a double-decker train. I was tempted to climb up, but didn’t feel like letting go of the window seat. So perked the idea of sitting on the upper section while travelling back. The train started moving, with views of a city wrapped in and silenced by a scary chill. Now I was looking at all those leafless trees more closely. There was not a single leaf on a single plant. The roads were empty. The old, abandoned buildings lining the outskirts of the towns had creepers and climbing plants growing all over them, but those too looked like massive network of metal wires as they had only the stems and veins.

“Hello, ticket.” The conductor came and asked, jolting me out of my observation.

“Hi..one weekend pass, Chicago down town and back,” I told him as had been suggested by Haley, “ but you see I have only 100 dollars notes with me. I landed in the USA only today morning..”. I surrendered this time, almost expecting him to revolt at the idea of some one offering such a large denomination for tickets.

However, without much ado, he just gave a pass saying a few words, “Okay, give me that…take your change. But please, don’t repeat it .”

“Sure!” I replied, relieved. Every time the vision or feeling of cold, apparent numbness of the city was coming close to getting better of me, some kind of warmth from its people oozed out of some where, neutralizing it out!

Getting down at the Union Station, I first reached the mall on Magnificent Miles, where I was supposed to check out a tab for myself. Then, as per my plan I booked a cab to the iconic Cloud Gate. By this time, it had gotten more cold. However, since I was in the prime location of Downtown itself, there were too many other things to focus on….the people, the roads, the buildings. For the first time after landing, I was finally able to see crowd of people…of people daring the cold and going out with friends to hit the pub, of families taking their kids and pets out, though wrapping them in best possible covers, of folks going to work. There was life, there was buzz, there were high skyscrapers with colorful lights. I almost felt like I had triumphed over the cold weather.

Reaching the Cloud Gate, I decided I should click a few pictures of the same. Unable to use my camera with gloves on, I removed the one on my right hand. I held up my phone to click a few pictures. Within a few seconds, I had a sensation that I had never had in my life. I felt my right hand was freezing, as the breeze cut through my fingers. And while I tried to ignore it, and continued clicking photos, in a few moments I felt my hand didn’t exist ! I realized I had absolutely no sensation on my right hand. While I was looking at it, I felt not only did my brain have absolutely no control on it, but also, my brain couldn’t acknowledge the presence of that hand !

Before I could fathom completely what was happening, I quickly managed to put on my glove back, and blew some warm breath on my hand through it. I was blowing out dense white smoke from my mouth.

I looked up and saw the tall skyscrapers around had their tops covered in grey clouds.

“Are you sure you’re going for site seeing today? The weather forecast for this weekend isn’t too conducive for that !”, both Halley and Pete had warned. I had chosen to ignore.

It’s just cold weather. It’ll take time to adjust to it, I told myself. It’s okay, I would be careful next time..I shouldn’t remove any covering, and that should be fine.

Taking another cab, I headed towards Navy Pier. Having seen it on photos, I had visualized it would be a lovely water front. It sure was beautiful. But as I got down, I realized I could see no human being there. Cars ran past it, the very few people I could see around were either rushing to enter the amusement park, or to get into their cab. There was absolutely nobody in the pier itself. The only sign of life was a bunch of sea gulls playing in the cold, blue water that itself shivered in the wind that had started to blow.

I didn’t dare to take out my hand from gloves any more. Managing to click a few photos of the waterfront, I decided to book a cab and head back to Union Station.

My cab was five minutes away. But those five minutes were the longest possible five minutes I would have ever encountered in life. I kept strolling along the path by the road waiting for the cab. There was no shop around, so I waited outside. Within next minute, I felt the wind cutting through my heavy jeans and biting my skin all along my legs. Soon, I felt my ears could feel the chill penetrating through the cap, while my hands started getting numb once again, this time through the gloves. My entire body started shivering and my teeth clattered. I was confident at that point, that I could have no liquid running within my body. It was so cold, that I was convinced my blood had been frozen, and my bone marrow was about to get solidified. Finally, I reached a point where I could do nothing but give in to the chill. My whole body, despite all the thick covers, went numb; and as I was on the verge of giving in to the cold wind and collapse, I saw the cab with the desired number plate taking the turn and approaching me.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Aura?” the driver asked, an aged man with grey hair.

I could merely nod a “Yes” to him.

Pulling myself into the cab, I kept wondering what I just felt outside, as the driver started the car.

For the next few seconds, I remained dazed. I couldn’t believe the kind of cold I had experienced. Bone-chilling would be the only apt adjective for that. Although snug inside the car, I still hadn’t gained enough consciousness throughout my body.

“First time in Chicago?”, the driver asked.

“Y..Yes”, I replied, still recovering from my shivering,” It got really cold outside”

“Yes,” he chuckled,” Should I increase the heat for you?”

“That would be lovely!” I said, gaining some enthusiasm, “ only if it doesn’t bother you”

“Oh no no…ain’t got no problem with that !”, he replied as he increased the temperature.

He should have not needed it, I realized. Probably it could’ve been a bit uncomfortable for him, too. Because he was habituated with that temperature. But over the next ten minutes, the raised temperature inside the cab helped me gradually thaw. I finally came back to life as we reached the Chicago Union Station.

Riding the upper berth of the train this time, as I looked outside, a sudden feeling of joy rushed through me. I smiled as I realized that those leafless trees weren’t a sign of lack of life in them, but rather, the very evidence of how the trees had triumphed over the adversities thrown towards them by the Windy City; in the same way as the people there had won over all the coldness of the climate by their inherent, inner warmth. That, my friend, is Chicago !