Adios Windy city - Chicago trip 2022

 Bulls and Bears aren't just limited to the Wall Street. The Football team Chicago Bears and the city's basketball team Chicago Bulls are household names here. The sporting teams are butts of jokes too. Papa and Mama Bear were going through a divorce settlement. The judge asked Teddy Bear to make the choice of going with either Papa or Mama Bear. 'No' I will go with Chicago Bears. "Why ?" the perflexed judge asked. "Because they never beat anybody" said the cute Teddy Bear. 

As icing on the cake was the snow which fell on the day of my departure. The white snow started falling like tiny cotton fluffs bursting out of torn pillows after a pillow fight between two lovebirds. The snow blanketed the ground, looking like a vast cotton plantation in Dixieland or a large flock of sheeps in some Scottish Highland. The supine maiden on on the front yard covered with snow looked like taking a foam bath after a tired day. What a wonderful sight of pristine white everywhere, from tree top to chimney, from cars to shrubs all covered in spectacular white beauty.

From the windows I watched the last yellow color leaf from a tree falling down, then defying gravity as it went upwards floating like a butterfly before hitting the ground, rolling over a few feet before lying still. It reminded me the poignant story "The Last leaf" penned by the great American writer O'Henry. Many works of creativity emanate from restless minds. O Henry was one such writer who wrote his classics from jail including this one.

Since childhood, most from my generation have been fed with this idea of controlling our restless mind for creativity. Now I am fed up with this notion. I have reason to believe that a controlled mind achieved via controlled breathing and meditation might earn you a great Job or higher Grades, but shouldn't be seen as the best bet for innovation.

I can site several example to contradict this myth. The best example to bet against this prevalent theory are the eminent writers R.K. Narayan and Khushwant Singh. Both were never academically brilliant. The ebullient, unorthodox Sardar, the perpetual agnostic admitted that college exams gave him nightmares. He hated Yogas and Asanas prescribed to him, as it hardly made any difference to his fertile mind. One of my favorite poets John Keats wrote his best poems when Consumption (Tuberculosis) was consuming him.

Many creative brains and innovators are poor degree holders. So also Toru Dutt, the talented Bengali poetess of 19th Century, who wrote some masterpieces before she died at the tragic young age of 21. Most of her poems were composed during her painful battle with terminal tuberculosis, which eventually claimed her.

Earnest Hemmingway, the brilliant American writer was suffering from depression, eventually committing suicide. So also the Oscar winning Robin Williams and our own legendary Guru Dutt. An Oscar winning Hollywood movie "The Beautiful Mind" best depicts the story of another eccentric genius with turbulent mind.

Kishore Kumar, arguably the most complete artist in Bollywood - an actor, singer, music director etc, was a genius but an outright eccentric. He was known to be extremely restless on the sets, but no one could match his versatility. The actors Shah Rukh Khan and the cricketer Tendulkar are also known to be extremely energetic, but are known to channel their ebullience to positive endeavor. The popular actor is a chain smoker and self proclaimed addict to video games - both tell tell signs of mental agitations.

Tendulkar, probably the best batsman India has ever produced, rarely gets a good night sleep before an important game. Yet, he hardly shows any sign of fatigue on field, eking out one master knocks after another.

And there are many such examples. The mind of a normal person like me may benefit from a boost from reigning it in using meditations and mind control. For a genius, a restless mind is the best bet. Geniuses are always born - rarely made. Their minds need not be altered, best left to themselves.

Now the time has arrived to bid adieu to the Windy city, post my staycation (a vacation where I mostly stayed at my sister's home) some wonderful time spent with the cherished company of family and friends. Advancing age and having lived  long in South has taken a toll on my cold tolerance. Struggled a bit to adjust to the cold, but enjoyed the snow on my day of departure. Goodbye Chicago. Catch you later...