I have been keeping a regular diary for the past 27 years. Having aspired

to inculcate this habit in my children, I find it a joy to read his school diaries.

Musing through some notings of the past days

Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra

It had been a busy evening after the week long conference came to

an end. I rushed to the Art Institute and took some paintings and

books to muse over in the coming months. Took my friend through

some sections of the Impressionist period.

Camille Pissaro and Renoir, Eduard Manet and Claude Monet.

It is not everybody’s cup of tea, I had warned him.

But the bug has caught him and he started enjoying.

The viewings of the paintings was cut short as we had to

be at the poetry recitals organized by the Poetry Foundation.

“She is weeping” my friend told me.

Initially I thought it was a trained actor giving a performance

but after some time I realized that she was really weeping as she

read out Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King” with the portraits of

Julia Margaret Cameron in the background.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra was one of the memorable things of this year

Field Museum

Next morning, it was snowing. We went to Field Museum and saw one of the

best fossil collections anywhere in the world. T-Rex Sue was a commanding presence

The 3-d film was a highlight