London Onwards

London onwards….

Of late, I have figured out that Saturday has been the most happening day of the week in my life hitherto, the most important event being my birth apart from which there are many incidents which chose this day. 18th august is another one in the list. It began at 3 am in the morning when I bade farewell to my colleague with heavy eyes (instead of heart) who was leaving for India because of me as I was his replacement onsite. With great difficulty I uttered the words “good bye” and again went deep into quilt to sleep. The next alarm rang at 5.30 and this time I had to get up. I was ready with two of my roommates (Srinivasan and Devendar ) at 6.45 with a bag having some biscuits, apples, bottle of water and few print out’s of London map. I called hawk express, a private cab agency and asked for a cab to station. This 24 hour cab service is one of the many things that fascinates me. One just needs to call and tell ‘from’ & ’to’ to the operator on the other side of the phone and that’s it. Within 2 minutes I received a message saying that a blue Mercedes with so & so number will be ready in front of our gate in 10 minutes. The cab arrived and we were off to station where after a couple of snaps we boarded the train to London Liverpool. The train service is privatised here so what you have is an oligopoly of few service providers which is monitored and regulated by national rail, a government body. In our one and half hour journey I was watching the wonderful greenery outside which I was told is the attribute of the summer and would disappear in next few months. At 8.45 we alighted at London Liverpool after passing through the stations at manningtree , Colchester and stratford. One can not avoid the feel of CST which you get at Liverpool station apart from the fact that it’s a bit cleaner. The construction and all resembles our very own CST and reminds you that it was the deed of the same british. We got out and were searching for the way forward when we were offered assistance by a volunteer which I instantly felt was one of the most important improvisations we need at important stations in metropolis of Mumbai as they provide a lot of opportunities to the thugs, assuming that we want to take it to international standards, along with the ubiquitous accurate sign boards which won’t let one lose his way even if one wants.

Our first site was the tower bridge where we arrived in bus. Talking about the buses,

they are sans conductor, with automatic opening doors controlled by the driver. You need to swipe the ticket and just relax in comfortable seats. A stop button in front does the job of the conductor of ringing the bell to the driver. We were discussing our way forward when a desi sitting beside us, out of inherent Indian characteristic of helping others, suggested us about the same. There are just over a million Indians in UK which comes out about 2% of the entire population. For those interested in statistics, 70% of the staff in BT branch I work at are Indians, proof of India’s clout in off shoring. It makes you feel like home. But the same time I could feel the unrest that must have prevailed when off shoring was beginning to make impact on the higher management’s decision to reduce native’s numbers. Imagine, you are asked to leave when you are leading a good life in UK with a salary upwards of 4000£. It even made me think that if this continues we would surely have a “quit Britain” movement resembling one of ours in 1942. I could not help but wonder how such a small country at the peak of its empire ruled almost a quarter of the globe. Anyways, we reached at the famous tower bridge constructed over the river Thames (London ki ganga).

The weather was cool and breezy, with a temperature just below 20 and the place was peaceful. I found the place very romantic. I was a bit disappointed with Thames though as I expected it to be cleaner. After a good deal of photo session on the bridge and in front of the towering buildings adjacent to it we started walking over. It being a cloudy morning and since we had had enough water since morning, I got the inevitable nature’s call. I could answer it but not before following almost half a dozen sign-boards to locate the toilets and paying 20p (a whopping 16 Rs. !) as you lose the privilege of peeing along the roadside. We then headed to London Bridge, another one in the series of bridges over Thames. The next spot was the monument, a tall standing tower which was undergoing some repairs work. After having a veg roll, we went underground to catch the tube (as it is called here) which took us to embankment. Every now and then we (or rather guys accompanying me) were referring to the maps we had brought with us. Then we went to one more architectural spectacle of the British airways, the London eye. It is marvellous to say the least. A real mammoth giant-wheel, 115 m tall, supported only on one side, having some 25 capsules, from where one could see up to 40 kms and view entire London….mind blowing! The places surrounding London eye including the Hungerford Bridge, Waterloo Bridge were flooded with people. The place is so stimulating that one cannot blame the kissing and cuddling couples around. After the 30 mins of ride we went to Westminster abbey. It was around 3 in the afternoon; we had a walk to Royal Park, a lovely garden surrounding the palace. Some musical concert was going on in the garden. I must mention the soothing peace that was there but I was not able to appreciate the music. We took a brief nap (effect of that smooth music !) and then moved to the Buckingham palace.Couldn’t meet Charles as I heard he was having some good time with Camilla Parker Bowels somewhere in New Zealand! The palace is a mark of the abundance and prosperity of this small nation with a strong economy. Near the palace there are two poles on which is mentioned the names of Indian sub-continent countries saying that it is in the memory of 5 million soldiers from the region who laid down their lives in the honour of the king in the world war. Kind British!!

The next stop was McDonalds on Oxford Street where we had our lunch and went to shop. The street was full of people who had all come out to enjoy the Saturday night. Hardcore consumerism is an integral part of the developed economies and London is one place where even a person like me who is, you know, “not much into shopping” gets the itch to shop. After attending Primark and Mark & Spencer’s where the accompanying guys had some shopping, we unanimously decided that it was time we started our return journey. We boarded the 8.28 Ipswich train from Liverpool Street and reached home at 10.15. After having a paratha with some good laugh at Austin powers, I went to bed at 11.30. Another happening Saturday came to an end…..

Andy