Shivam Chokshi
Shivam Chokshi graduated from law school in Chicago on May 8th 2026 and we were invited to attend his graduation ceremony and family reunion by Parag and Rupa Chokshi.
Prerna and I chose to drive from Monroe Township New Jersey to Chicago while stopping on the way at Canton Ohio Hotel. we left on Thursday 7th May in order to get to Ohio and spent the night and next day left for Chicago. we drove exchanging stories as well as listening to music all the way to chicago.
Naman flew from Tampa to Chicago and was there with his second cousins. Navan came on Friday the 8th late night to Chicago from Columbia, driving after his long residency day. We four spent a little longer at Chicago as tourists and did our family vacation in Chicago and Columbia, Missouri.
Shivam Chokshi is the youngest son of Parag and Rupa Chokshi. Parag is Prerna’s cousin from her mother’s side. Shivam graduation was celebrated with many family members coming together and having a family reunion.
Samir Medekhar
May 9th 2026
In Chicago I met Sameer Medekhar; Samir and I were classmates in St. Xavier’s Boys’ Academy between 1974, when he joined in the 8th standard to 1977. Samir is an amazing man, he started his business after engineering degree in India (non-IIT) in Atlanta, Georgia and then moved to Chicago later on.
In 2015, he was diagnosed with cancer. He is my age, so around that time, he was only 5455 years of page. He quit his company sold it and retired, however, every months he goes for check-up in cancer, and until COVID, he started doing every 3 months. Unfortunately, for sameer, he gets diagnosed early for different cancers as it spread throughout his body every 3 months. He has been treated for various cancers : lung, pancreatic, colon, and as they find then he gets treated. He cannot travel and/or get out of the house to visit folks, on some days or weeks. He takes care of his mother who is 85 years and has Alzhemiers and wants to be fed by her son or daughter everyday. Fortunately, she lives in Chicago area too.
What is amazing about Samir? His optimism is infectious and even though he will tell you that he and his family have been going through 10 years of not knowing whne he will pass away; they continue to make plans and live in optimistic way. When I talked to him on the phone 2 years ago it was like that and then when I met him he is awesome. His optimism rubs off on you and most of the time he does not talk about his health and it slowing him down etc. He is a pilot, owns a small plane which he still flies. He invited me over next visit to his house so he can even fly me around. Definitely, a memorable meeting!
Samir and I had breakfast on 9th May 2026 nearby my hotel. He drove 45 minutes from his house to meet up with me. While walking back to the hotel, we saw this road construction near the hotel I was staying with the family.
After I got to the room, Naman, Navan and Prerna also saw this from our hotel room on 11 th floor.
All meals for Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, were hosted by Parag and family. Some photos of our weekend in Chicago with extended family are below
Chicago (May 10th-13th)
Most of the extended family left on May 10th morning or early afternoon. We stayed back to do our annual holiday in Chicago area. We took the hop on and hop off bus and went the Bean and clicked some wonderful memories.
One of the uniqueness of Chicago is its’ downtown which is bigger than Manhattan, NYC and many different buildings with various architecture. In fact, a lot of tours start in the river and show the architecture.
I had been to Chicago more than 2 or 3 times for work and stayed over on weekend to view the city and its’ charm. Of course, mom and dad used to come to Chicago from Madison for grocery shopping (Indian stores) and visit their friends via bus, in the 1963-1966 time frame. I liked Chicago as people can live in the city and work without breaking their pay check. Like most cities all over the world, Chicago is now crowded and traffic jams are common everday of the week. Parking is a nightmare too and expensive.
One of the buildings in Chicago is the Chicago Tribune building which I saw in 1990s when I took a tour bus. This building has bricks on the outside from all over the world, for example, they have a brick from the great wall of china, one marble slab from Taj Mahal, another from the 9/11 rumble, one from berlin wall, one from Roman civilization, Eiffell tower, and from all the 50 states in USA. The building has in the front and sides of the building these bricks and it keeps growing as they are able to obtain permissions from the various governments etc. Truly a unique building! I specifically showed this building to Prerna, Naman and Navan and they too were impressed by the amount of effort, time that the building office takes to maintain it.
(For more details https://thenewchicagoan.com/chicago/tribune)
We also went to Prerna’s cousin’s house in a suburb of Chicago and had dinner.
Here are some more photos from our vacation in Chicago
This road trip is continued over https://myvoice.rajeevkuruganti.com/2026/07/22/columbia-to-denver/
Leave a Reply