Dinner in Chicago

Here we are at Mysore Indian restaurant in Chicago. Front left seated next to the artist Karen Brown is our host Dial Gidwani (http://us-indiaartculturecenter.org/aboutus_total.aspx).

Dial is one of the three individuals who organized the artist exchange program that is taking G. Ray and I to India. A more detailed explanation of the program can be found at: http://us-indiaartculturecenter.org/aboutus_total.aspx.

Seated next to Karen Brown is Ajay, Dial's son, and an executive at the travel agency Dial owns--Ajay and his deep professional phone voice was very helpful to us in planning this trip. Next to him is Dials charming wife Lakshmi. I am in the far background on the other side of the table. Next to me is another Mike; he's either an attorney or a travel writer: he sure knew a lot about India. G. Ray is next to him. A young woman named Sydney is next to G. Ray. The blonde woman in the foreground is either Sydney's mother or a reporter for the Chicago Tribune--I'm not sure because she was at the other end of the table so I didn't get to talk to her much.

John Wilson, one of the primary organizers of the program, was supposed to attend our dinner but he was not able to make it. John was G. Ray's roommate when the two were undergrads at Michigan State (I think Eisenhower or Truman was President at the time).

The ever-gracious Karen Brown got her MFA at Cal State Fullerton. She now teaches at Northern Illinois University at DeKalb about an hour outside of Chicago (for some reason DeKalb isn't recognized by the spellcheck here). Karen was kind enough to pick G. Ray and I up from the Hilton at O'hare airport, were we spent the night, and take us to the dinner.

Tomorrow we will get on a plane to New Delhi, via a brief layover in Frankfurt. Since G. Ray and I are the first American artists to participate in this program we are no sure what to expect. Thus begins our big adventure. If it goes badly I can always blame G. Ray since he's the one who got me into this.