2nd August, the day of Firsts !!!

I don’t really know how to start writing about this weekend, this is the third time I have started and I hope I am not deleting it again…

So Far So Good…

I was desperately looking forward to getting out of Minneapolis, its too dull and dry for me… Even though the weather is great for evening walks, I am not a guy who likes too much peace in his life, and here in my apartment I can actually sit and look at the sky for hours, with no activity happening… So the Chicago trip was something that I was really really looking forward to… Had planned it within the second week of arrival to US…


Friday evening, instead of coming back home, I went to the Minneapolis Downtown to a colleague’s place… I had to take my bus from there, and it only made sense to go to downtown, see some people around, and then take my bus to Chicago, which by the way means, a smelly onion (I wonder why).. Walked around the downtown with colleagues from work and finally took the bus at 2230 hrs on Friday night…

My healthy dinner on Friday...

I have this interesting habit of meeting online friends far away from where I stay, so that I can easily avoid meeting them the second time, just in case ;) NO NO I am kidding… Infact both such friends, who I have met after going a long distance have been great to meet again and again… Deepu (who I met in Chennai) and Ankur (who I met in Murthal on our way to Bhakra Nangal) and this time I was meeting Kshitiz, who I really admire as a photographer and now as a person too… We figured out our itinerary and the plan of action for the weekend…

The Minneapolis Sunset from the Downtown...

I reached Chicago ( I kinda like the sound of this name) at 0630 hrs as scheduled, went to Kshitiz’s place before we left for the activity of the day… We took a bus to the Train station and then a train to O’Hare Airport…

Breakfast at Kshitiz's, by dear chef Kshitiz...

I really like these kind of curtains...

After a little struggle with the car rental shuttle pickup, we finally reached Thrifty Car Rental’s office where a nice white Dodge Calibre was waiting for us… While I was kinda nervous about driving with all the mirrored roads and everything… But never mind, it cannot be too tough, just some focus right? !!!! but hey, I don’t even know how to take the car away from the parking mode to a normal drive mode… most of the cars I have seen have a small lever just next to the gear lever to do that, but this one was different… so we got out, got some inputs on how to drive that kinetic Honda of a car and moved from there… surprisingly it was easier than I thought, and I am happy to have driven those 100+ miles… this was an interesting experience, with we missing a turn and then finding our way back to the correct road quickly too…

Chicago is about very high and higher buildings...

We reached our destination in a li’il more than an hour, and the day being a nice bright, sunny day was perfect for our aeroplane ride… yes, we had planned to take a flight ride in the country side for a change… I felt it was the best way to see things from a different level !!!


We just kept waiting for our turn almost the entire day, being a nice day there were far too many people which were going up on the flights…

And I kept waiting....

A jumper packing her Parachute...

Another one of the jumpers with the camera video and digital (Canon Xti with a Sigma Fisheye)

anyway after a looooooooooong wait our turn came too, and we boarded the flight for a completely different view of the world !!!

The Vehicle of the day...

So there was I, leaving on a not so jet plane to reach 14500 ft, and then do something that I will probably rate as the craziest thing that I can EVER do in my life time… which basically translates into Skydiving from 14500 ft, you body falling towards the ground at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, the parachute ride for a few minutes before you finally hit the ground !!!

Aliens were falling off... and this was one of them....

Made people look for more...

There were many options that people could choose from...

She was my alien :)

I was going to jump out of the damn aircraft and rush towards the ground at 120 miles per hour !!! sounds scrary? Well… You have to be there to really know what the fkk it means to JUMP… there was not much going on in my mind when it was happening, except that what the fkk is happening !!!

More pretty Aliens...

We drove back to Chicago, and spent the rest of the evening walking around the Cloud Gate, the Navy Pier etc etc etc... actuallly I don't want to write more and want to think about the jump again...

The Dodge Calibre I was driving...

enjoy the pictures of the walk and fireworks below...

The Cloud Gate, popular as Bean...

The Chicago downtown skyline... just before the fireworks...

I was tempted to start walking back home :)

Goodman di laltain...

Oh, and before I go, here is a visual account of what I did !!!

Ready to get on...

Dave(Photographer), me and Fin(Instructor)...

And I flew !!!!

Without wings...

For a while....

Ok, a li'il more....

And a smaller chute opened to keep us balanced while we fall at speeds of 120mph+ towards the ground

Kept Falling...

For a while more...

And landed after 5 minutes, but after the parachute opened, and we flew around in the sky...

And I am still high !!!!

This is Kshitiz's video... the second around minute and a half in this video have me jumping out of the plane !!!