4th of July

Happy 4th of July

As we sit here at that bastion of Victorianism, the Bombay Gym, watching Djokovic and Nadal battle it out, close to a full year after we left Chicago, we wish all six of our American readers a happy Fourth of July. And so this week's blog is not about Bombay and all that it has to offer, but about the things that we miss about life in the Etados Unidos, and Chicago in particular. 

1. 1.First and foremost, America's gift to the free world:
   
   

1. •Barack Obama?
   
   
2. •The Library of Congress?
   
   
3. •The transparency of Chicago city politics?
   
   

All worthy contenders, but the winner is ...

The whoopie pie, available in handy boxes of six at Trader Joe's. 

Picture courtesy of Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell, San Francisco, 2010

1. 2.Next up, the prize for the most outstanding retail experience:
   
   

1. •Sak's Fifth Avenue? Nice, high snob value and the best choice of over priced stuff you don't need. 
   
   
2. •Target (Targé)? Certainly has Kumud, Mira and Tarini's vote. 
   
   
3. •My vote goes to the Kirkland Family and its chain of Costco stores. As a logistics guy, how can you not love shopping among racks and pallets, and have a choice among 30 flat screen tv's?
   
   

1. 3.Radio. Of course nothing beats BBC Radio 4, which we still listen to, but the best music was on 93.1 XRT. Close second: Sound Opinions on NPR, also broadcast from Chicago btw.  
   
   

1. 4.Political talk shows. Sitting on the sofa on a Sunday evening with Kumud and watching three hours of recorded Sunday morning political talk shows. 
   
   

1. 5.Great neighbors.
   
   6.Great colleagues. 

1. 7.Donuts and Danish pastries at work on Fridays (and on any other day when it seemed to make sense). 

1. 8.Carol's Oscar night parties. 
   

1. 9.Online shopping. 
   
   

1. 10.Online banking menus that make sense. 
   
   

1. 11.Good tech support from india. After moving here we figured out which market the bad tech support guys had been assigned to. 
   
   

And now for the stuff we don't miss:

1. 1.The NPR / WBEZ pledge drive. Surely there has to be a better way to raise money then to have two a -commercial anthropology graduates drone on at each other for 9 hours explaining how happy they are to be handing out a set of matching WBEZ coffee mugs. 
   
   2.The Department of Homeland security's airport details. Never before were stupidity, boorishness and physical intrusion brought together on such a scale, and so early in the morning. 

1. 3.Indian call centres. Strangely, since moving to Bombay no one called Bob with a deceptively indian accent has tried selling us on new phone services. 
   
   

But on balance, we had a great time. Thanks for everything. 

Happy Fourth of July to all our friends.