...Can't live with it...Can't live without it!
Monday, August 30, 2004
Saturday, August 28, 2004
London-Oxford in pictures!
Finally managed to upload, label and format all the pictures online.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shweyta/album?.dir=7282&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shweyta/my_photos
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shweyta/album?.dir=7282&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shweyta/my_photos
Oxford/ Basingstoke - Day 8
Day 8 (Saturday 28th Aug 04’):
A late morning and a weather-check later, SD, Yash and I set off in the car to Oxford. The POA was to get to the city, park in the huge parking lot outside it and then board the famous green d-d bus that takes tourists into the city. As SD explained, having huge and free parking lots outside towns and smaller cities, encouraged people to leave behind their cars and use the public transport within the city, a concept frequently observed in the UK. So we set off on a beautiful hour-long drive; ( my deja-vu: drive between Edinburgh and O'Bahn, about a couple of years ago, except that Icchita was missing in this one as she had to work that Saturday) On an alternative note, the drive through the virgin Scottish countryside remains my favourite drive to date. An hour later we found ourselves parked in the parking lot and waiting for the green d-d bus to take us into Oxford City, the city of the dreaming spires as they call it. Entering Oxford, felt like entering an archaic Victorian movie set or the sorts. The town, as I have mentioned before of London, had a very intimate scale, from the streetscape to some of the monuments. Oxford stands true to the same description, but it is a city of a much smaller scale than London. If in London, one sees a collage of the old and the new, in Oxford, one sees the dominance of the old over the new in Oxford. As our tour guide explained to us, the name Oxford was derived through an interesting story: Oxford grew up at the conjunction of two rivers, the Thames and the Cherwell (pronounced Char-well). Indeed, the very reason for Oxford's existence was the presence of a ford for oxen crossing the Thames (that ford was located near the present Folly Bridge). Hence; the name of the city. As we boarded our d-d bus that would take us on a cyclic tour of the city, I had another deja-vu of a time in the past when I last visited an academicia so renowned for its intelligent productions. It was at Harvard Square in Boston. The Oxford experience however topped the Harvard one in the same aspects as any place in Europe tops over that in the US: an authenticity and a rich historical past. Harvard enamours me with its scholarly ambience, Oxford on the other hand, reeks of knowledge. There was a sudden excitement and a glint of recognition in our eyes as the guide rambled upon names as we drove past the various universities and their campuses; Sir Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie, Sir Lewis Carroll, Indira Gandhi, Tony Blair, Rowan Atkinson. There was a whole new meaning to the word "campus" here as each university had sprawling lawns and beautifully kept gardens. My personal favourites were The Trinity College lawns, had I to make a choice of my school in the city. To a self-proclaimed romantic like me, the idea of going to school in this thick cultural context, among lush greenery and high spires with bells tolling was very appealing; almost like living the life of a princess in Victorian times. They say that education at Oxford is considered one of the best even today, simply because the universities here believe in imparting the knowledge needed to think, as against delivering the goods directly in most modern universities. It being a Saturday, we were'nt able to spot too many students in the universities. There were however a lot of young people everywhere else in the city, as guides, shop-keepers and ofcourse waiting on tables in restaurants. I thus; could'nt help but be in awe of this young kid (with a load of piercings over his face) who waited on our table in the restaurant where we had lunch. (He had mentioned earlier, rather casually, that he was studying law at the Trinity College, Oxford.) After two whole rounds on the cyclic bus tour ( the first one to see the city, the second one to experience it) and lunch, we walked through some tourist shops. My dad had mentioned bringing an Oxford dictionary back home, not that it could'nt be found anywhere, but all the same; for authenticity's sake. So I armed myself with two little Oxford Mini dictionaries at the store and then we got onto the d-d bus. The drive back was more beautiful in the dusk as the mountains wore a dull green over their natural blue against the ochre backdrop. After coming back home, a scrumptious spread lay out for my dinner, following which I found myself in an "UNO" competition with little Yash. This was the official end to my UK tour, as tomorrow I was to leave for Mumbai, from LHR at 10:00 am.
So with another long chat with SD and Icchita, we called it a night. Tomorrow SD was to drop me to the airport at 8 am for the next phase of my vacation....in Mumbai, India - my first home ever!
Thus ended one of my most memorable vacations ever, partly as I had experienced the city all by myself for most of the time and partly as I had spent quality time with family and friends after long.
Since I have already interspersed my afterthoughts in the previous notes, I will not surmise them here at the end. Instead I'll leave with the same promise I made to myself when I left London : to return as often as I can!
A late morning and a weather-check later, SD, Yash and I set off in the car to Oxford. The POA was to get to the city, park in the huge parking lot outside it and then board the famous green d-d bus that takes tourists into the city. As SD explained, having huge and free parking lots outside towns and smaller cities, encouraged people to leave behind their cars and use the public transport within the city, a concept frequently observed in the UK. So we set off on a beautiful hour-long drive; ( my deja-vu: drive between Edinburgh and O'Bahn, about a couple of years ago, except that Icchita was missing in this one as she had to work that Saturday) On an alternative note, the drive through the virgin Scottish countryside remains my favourite drive to date. An hour later we found ourselves parked in the parking lot and waiting for the green d-d bus to take us into Oxford City, the city of the dreaming spires as they call it. Entering Oxford, felt like entering an archaic Victorian movie set or the sorts. The town, as I have mentioned before of London, had a very intimate scale, from the streetscape to some of the monuments. Oxford stands true to the same description, but it is a city of a much smaller scale than London. If in London, one sees a collage of the old and the new, in Oxford, one sees the dominance of the old over the new in Oxford. As our tour guide explained to us, the name Oxford was derived through an interesting story: Oxford grew up at the conjunction of two rivers, the Thames and the Cherwell (pronounced Char-well). Indeed, the very reason for Oxford's existence was the presence of a ford for oxen crossing the Thames (that ford was located near the present Folly Bridge). Hence; the name of the city. As we boarded our d-d bus that would take us on a cyclic tour of the city, I had another deja-vu of a time in the past when I last visited an academicia so renowned for its intelligent productions. It was at Harvard Square in Boston. The Oxford experience however topped the Harvard one in the same aspects as any place in Europe tops over that in the US: an authenticity and a rich historical past. Harvard enamours me with its scholarly ambience, Oxford on the other hand, reeks of knowledge. There was a sudden excitement and a glint of recognition in our eyes as the guide rambled upon names as we drove past the various universities and their campuses; Sir Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie, Sir Lewis Carroll, Indira Gandhi, Tony Blair, Rowan Atkinson. There was a whole new meaning to the word "campus" here as each university had sprawling lawns and beautifully kept gardens. My personal favourites were The Trinity College lawns, had I to make a choice of my school in the city. To a self-proclaimed romantic like me, the idea of going to school in this thick cultural context, among lush greenery and high spires with bells tolling was very appealing; almost like living the life of a princess in Victorian times. They say that education at Oxford is considered one of the best even today, simply because the universities here believe in imparting the knowledge needed to think, as against delivering the goods directly in most modern universities. It being a Saturday, we were'nt able to spot too many students in the universities. There were however a lot of young people everywhere else in the city, as guides, shop-keepers and ofcourse waiting on tables in restaurants. I thus; could'nt help but be in awe of this young kid (with a load of piercings over his face) who waited on our table in the restaurant where we had lunch. (He had mentioned earlier, rather casually, that he was studying law at the Trinity College, Oxford.) After two whole rounds on the cyclic bus tour ( the first one to see the city, the second one to experience it) and lunch, we walked through some tourist shops. My dad had mentioned bringing an Oxford dictionary back home, not that it could'nt be found anywhere, but all the same; for authenticity's sake. So I armed myself with two little Oxford Mini dictionaries at the store and then we got onto the d-d bus. The drive back was more beautiful in the dusk as the mountains wore a dull green over their natural blue against the ochre backdrop. After coming back home, a scrumptious spread lay out for my dinner, following which I found myself in an "UNO" competition with little Yash. This was the official end to my UK tour, as tomorrow I was to leave for Mumbai, from LHR at 10:00 am.
So with another long chat with SD and Icchita, we called it a night. Tomorrow SD was to drop me to the airport at 8 am for the next phase of my vacation....in Mumbai, India - my first home ever!
Thus ended one of my most memorable vacations ever, partly as I had experienced the city all by myself for most of the time and partly as I had spent quality time with family and friends after long.
Since I have already interspersed my afterthoughts in the previous notes, I will not surmise them here at the end. Instead I'll leave with the same promise I made to myself when I left London : to return as often as I can!
Friday, August 27, 2004
Basingstoke/ London - Day 7
Day 7 (Friday 27th Aug 04’):
Spent the first half of the day packing as the remaining few days seemed hectically planned. Being a Friday night, the plan was to party in London. D & A along with Salim were to hook up with V & me, to party in some place which was very “London” that evening.
The afternoon was to be spent colouring my hair at Sandra’s place. Sandra and Jack came over in the afternoon to pick up Icchita, Yash and me to go to their place. This was my first typical English home visit (D & A’s was actually my first, but their’s had a desi feel to it, unlike Sandra’s which was as English as it gets). To elaborate on that phrase, it had the conventional wall-paper look, quaint little staircase, blue and yellow on the walls, green and pink on others. The kitchen had its own little backyard and garden with a white picket fence and tiny little kettles and other show objects all over the kitchen display units. The tea kettle was on the stove, ready to boil and uniform little transparent air-tight boxes held biscuits, that we were soon to consume at tea-time. The scale of the place was small, intimate and thus, cosy, just like the d-d buses or the cobbled pathways that wind in and out of some parts of Central London. My pleasure at being given the grand tour of the place by little Jack, was limitless, partly due to my inquisition-of-spaces-where-people-live (a trait, my profession has given me) and partly as I realized my growing love for anything English:) I was also beginning to adore Jack, as he excitedly pulled my hand and took me up and down his house, desperately trying to show me the whole place. (BTW, I had been unanimously christened as “Swee” by Yash and Jack; on account of my name “Sweetoo” being too long to pronounce). So after a whole lot of “Swee, come this way”, “Swee, this is my granna and granpa in the picture”, “Swee, Would you like to play Uno?”, I was taken away by Icchita and Sandra for my hair colouring stint and Jack and Yash were packed off in the playroom.
About 2 hrs later, Sandra, Ichhita and I sat in the yellow kitchen, with tea and biscuits waiting for the colour to set into my hair. A hair-wash and dry later, Sandra and Ichhita gathered around me to admire the way the red had set in. When I went into the playroom to show-off my hair to the kids, I was quite disappointed to see them say politely “It’s nice” alone. Little kids on their way to becoming disinterested men, I said to myself. However; Jack had all sorts of questions for me a little while later, when I was about to leave, ranging from who I was going out with that night and was I going to dance? etc.. The hair colour looked beautiful and I was all set to rock that night, in London. Sandra and Jack drove us back home and then drove off with Yash as he insisted on visiting Jack’s granna. I got dressed and waited for SD to get back home so he could take me to the B’toke station, where I was to catch a train to London Waterloo.
V had ended up going home earlier from work, since it was a long weekend (It was my mistake to let him to do that, as he ended up crashing and not waking up until some 20 hours later). V hence; was not a part of my Friday night partying in London. At B’toke station, I had a rather friendly conversation with an English ticketing officer; another one of those random conversations between a local and a tourist. The T.O expressed his desire to come to the US and see Yosemite and Yellow Stone Park instead of NYC, saying he was not a very city kind of a person. I told him how much I loved London and then politely took his leave. Found myself on the 19:24 train to London Waterloo, a few mins later, while trying V’s number several times hoping his cell phone rings will wake him up but to no avail.
From London Waterloo took the 243 to Clarkenwell Green to D & A’s office. Was thrilled to see how D & A argued over where they could take me tonight “ It has to be a very London-place” one said to the other, followed by almost 5 names of bars in Shoreditch. After a series of arguments, Salim, D, A & I found ourselves sitting in MotherBar, a minimally designed concrete ambience with red wine, champagne, beer and good music. Realised how used to I was, with a non-smoking ambience, coming from NYC and that I had to now re-tune myself with the exact opposite for the rest of my vacation (in London and in Bombay). Some good times, a lot of drinks and pictures later we emerged from the bar well past midnight, when I realized I had to head back to London Waterloo to catch my last train back to SD's. Somehow I convinced my friends that I must leave now and dissuaded Atrey from calling SD to let him know that I was staying the night. We stood at the 243 bus stop, waiting for the bus, amidst our usual post-drinking chaos and laughter. Finally; I was aboard a bus, on my way to catching the last train at Waterloo. As I was getting out of Central London, got the feeling that I will miss it even more as I saw revelers doing what they do best on a Friday night: Hang out (literally outside on the pavements) of the bars and pubs.
The bus ended up taking a different route and luckily I was’nt drunk enough to realize that late, so got off it in the nick of time, at this side of the Thames. Realised that I had to cross the entire bridge and get to Waterloo myself and I had barely 5 mins to do that. So my sprint across the Thames’ on the Waterloo Bridge started, that too in heeled boots. What a let down to the amazing high I had just a few mins ago…however It was one of the most memorable sprints of my life, and I guess the best one ever, with a fabulous view. I did make it in time for my last train, made a call to SD letting him know when I would reach B’toke, a call to Dipal letting her know I was safe and in time for my train.
Caught the train, thankfully it was’nt as empty as D & A had tried to scare me earlier in futile attempts of having me stay back. (There is no equal to the pampering your friends/ family extend to you, when you see them after so long) SD picked me up at B’toke station and after a short briefing on tomorrow’s plans, it was bed time.
Tomorrow was going to be Oxford day.
Spent the first half of the day packing as the remaining few days seemed hectically planned. Being a Friday night, the plan was to party in London. D & A along with Salim were to hook up with V & me, to party in some place which was very “London” that evening.
The afternoon was to be spent colouring my hair at Sandra’s place. Sandra and Jack came over in the afternoon to pick up Icchita, Yash and me to go to their place. This was my first typical English home visit (D & A’s was actually my first, but their’s had a desi feel to it, unlike Sandra’s which was as English as it gets). To elaborate on that phrase, it had the conventional wall-paper look, quaint little staircase, blue and yellow on the walls, green and pink on others. The kitchen had its own little backyard and garden with a white picket fence and tiny little kettles and other show objects all over the kitchen display units. The tea kettle was on the stove, ready to boil and uniform little transparent air-tight boxes held biscuits, that we were soon to consume at tea-time. The scale of the place was small, intimate and thus, cosy, just like the d-d buses or the cobbled pathways that wind in and out of some parts of Central London. My pleasure at being given the grand tour of the place by little Jack, was limitless, partly due to my inquisition-of-spaces-where-people-live (a trait, my profession has given me) and partly as I realized my growing love for anything English:) I was also beginning to adore Jack, as he excitedly pulled my hand and took me up and down his house, desperately trying to show me the whole place. (BTW, I had been unanimously christened as “Swee” by Yash and Jack; on account of my name “Sweetoo” being too long to pronounce). So after a whole lot of “Swee, come this way”, “Swee, this is my granna and granpa in the picture”, “Swee, Would you like to play Uno?”, I was taken away by Icchita and Sandra for my hair colouring stint and Jack and Yash were packed off in the playroom.
About 2 hrs later, Sandra, Ichhita and I sat in the yellow kitchen, with tea and biscuits waiting for the colour to set into my hair. A hair-wash and dry later, Sandra and Ichhita gathered around me to admire the way the red had set in. When I went into the playroom to show-off my hair to the kids, I was quite disappointed to see them say politely “It’s nice” alone. Little kids on their way to becoming disinterested men, I said to myself. However; Jack had all sorts of questions for me a little while later, when I was about to leave, ranging from who I was going out with that night and was I going to dance? etc.. The hair colour looked beautiful and I was all set to rock that night, in London. Sandra and Jack drove us back home and then drove off with Yash as he insisted on visiting Jack’s granna. I got dressed and waited for SD to get back home so he could take me to the B’toke station, where I was to catch a train to London Waterloo.
V had ended up going home earlier from work, since it was a long weekend (It was my mistake to let him to do that, as he ended up crashing and not waking up until some 20 hours later). V hence; was not a part of my Friday night partying in London. At B’toke station, I had a rather friendly conversation with an English ticketing officer; another one of those random conversations between a local and a tourist. The T.O expressed his desire to come to the US and see Yosemite and Yellow Stone Park instead of NYC, saying he was not a very city kind of a person. I told him how much I loved London and then politely took his leave. Found myself on the 19:24 train to London Waterloo, a few mins later, while trying V’s number several times hoping his cell phone rings will wake him up but to no avail.
From London Waterloo took the 243 to Clarkenwell Green to D & A’s office. Was thrilled to see how D & A argued over where they could take me tonight “ It has to be a very London-place” one said to the other, followed by almost 5 names of bars in Shoreditch. After a series of arguments, Salim, D, A & I found ourselves sitting in MotherBar, a minimally designed concrete ambience with red wine, champagne, beer and good music. Realised how used to I was, with a non-smoking ambience, coming from NYC and that I had to now re-tune myself with the exact opposite for the rest of my vacation (in London and in Bombay). Some good times, a lot of drinks and pictures later we emerged from the bar well past midnight, when I realized I had to head back to London Waterloo to catch my last train back to SD's. Somehow I convinced my friends that I must leave now and dissuaded Atrey from calling SD to let him know that I was staying the night. We stood at the 243 bus stop, waiting for the bus, amidst our usual post-drinking chaos and laughter. Finally; I was aboard a bus, on my way to catching the last train at Waterloo. As I was getting out of Central London, got the feeling that I will miss it even more as I saw revelers doing what they do best on a Friday night: Hang out (literally outside on the pavements) of the bars and pubs.
The bus ended up taking a different route and luckily I was’nt drunk enough to realize that late, so got off it in the nick of time, at this side of the Thames. Realised that I had to cross the entire bridge and get to Waterloo myself and I had barely 5 mins to do that. So my sprint across the Thames’ on the Waterloo Bridge started, that too in heeled boots. What a let down to the amazing high I had just a few mins ago…however It was one of the most memorable sprints of my life, and I guess the best one ever, with a fabulous view. I did make it in time for my last train, made a call to SD letting him know when I would reach B’toke, a call to Dipal letting her know I was safe and in time for my train.
Caught the train, thankfully it was’nt as empty as D & A had tried to scare me earlier in futile attempts of having me stay back. (There is no equal to the pampering your friends/ family extend to you, when you see them after so long) SD picked me up at B’toke station and after a short briefing on tomorrow’s plans, it was bed time.
Tomorrow was going to be Oxford day.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Basingstoke - Day 6
Day 6 (Thursday 26th Aug 04’):
Slept late, woke up late, spent the first half of the day browsing the net, checking/ replying to emails etc. Finally made friends with Yash who is always shy when he meets me first, but opens up the next day. That is also when he starts barging you with numerous questions in his cute little accent.
Met Sandra, Ichhita’s English friend. Sandra is a single mom, whose son Jack is Yash’s best mate (pronounce as “might”) in school. Jack is an adorable six yr old, white, quite podgy and an extremely cute little gentleman. He and Yash argue a lot, but really have not much choice but to get along, as their Mom’s are great friends. Sandra came over to meet me, (this whole meet-the-guest-from-NYC fest had begun I gathered, with more of it to continue in Bombay as well). As I chatted with Sandra, I discovered that she had been born in London, but had just recently visited it for the first time ever after she moved out to live in B’toke. She worked with the City of B’toke and as a hobby, practiced hair-dressing. That’s when the whole “let-me-colour-your-hair” stint started and as ready as I always am to experiment with my locks, I gave in. The choice was two colours, a dull red of course ( this is the third time I am colouring my hair red) and a shiny brown to complement it, as Sandra said, over the crown. So her visit more or less became like a pre-colouring session, as we went through the various shades of colour and she explained to me how she did Icchita’s hair (Ichhita has this really cool bob with red streaks which makes her look very European, quite a transition from how I had seen her last time in Edinburgh, two years ago).
After a while, Sandra and Ichhita left for work and Yash and I chilled out at home, making a colour-paper house together, over watching Thomas (Yash’s favourite engine) run along the tracks with his friends. When Ichhita returned, we ate a fabulous desi home-cooked meal and Yash, Icchita and I set out towards the bus stop to get to the Town Centre to window-shop. While there, I came across a good book sale and a few books (each worth 99p) and some good crepes later, we were back at the bus stop. V called and I invited him home for dinner. We co-ordinated our plans so that he could meet us at the Bus stop and we all got back home together.
Ichhita cooked up some fabulous Soul Kadhi and a million other tasty delicacies while SD, V and I chatted up. V was happy (His happiness is directly proportional to the food you provide him) as this was the first desi home he was visiting in B’toke. So after 4 hours of time well spent discussing anything from Working in the US Vs Working in the UK, to my hair-colouring stint next afternoon, V bid us goodbye and thus ended my least-hectic day in the UK, as far this trip was concerned.
Slept late, woke up late, spent the first half of the day browsing the net, checking/ replying to emails etc. Finally made friends with Yash who is always shy when he meets me first, but opens up the next day. That is also when he starts barging you with numerous questions in his cute little accent.
Met Sandra, Ichhita’s English friend. Sandra is a single mom, whose son Jack is Yash’s best mate (pronounce as “might”) in school. Jack is an adorable six yr old, white, quite podgy and an extremely cute little gentleman. He and Yash argue a lot, but really have not much choice but to get along, as their Mom’s are great friends. Sandra came over to meet me, (this whole meet-the-guest-from-NYC fest had begun I gathered, with more of it to continue in Bombay as well). As I chatted with Sandra, I discovered that she had been born in London, but had just recently visited it for the first time ever after she moved out to live in B’toke. She worked with the City of B’toke and as a hobby, practiced hair-dressing. That’s when the whole “let-me-colour-your-hair” stint started and as ready as I always am to experiment with my locks, I gave in. The choice was two colours, a dull red of course ( this is the third time I am colouring my hair red) and a shiny brown to complement it, as Sandra said, over the crown. So her visit more or less became like a pre-colouring session, as we went through the various shades of colour and she explained to me how she did Icchita’s hair (Ichhita has this really cool bob with red streaks which makes her look very European, quite a transition from how I had seen her last time in Edinburgh, two years ago).
After a while, Sandra and Ichhita left for work and Yash and I chilled out at home, making a colour-paper house together, over watching Thomas (Yash’s favourite engine) run along the tracks with his friends. When Ichhita returned, we ate a fabulous desi home-cooked meal and Yash, Icchita and I set out towards the bus stop to get to the Town Centre to window-shop. While there, I came across a good book sale and a few books (each worth 99p) and some good crepes later, we were back at the bus stop. V called and I invited him home for dinner. We co-ordinated our plans so that he could meet us at the Bus stop and we all got back home together.
Ichhita cooked up some fabulous Soul Kadhi and a million other tasty delicacies while SD, V and I chatted up. V was happy (His happiness is directly proportional to the food you provide him) as this was the first desi home he was visiting in B’toke. So after 4 hours of time well spent discussing anything from Working in the US Vs Working in the UK, to my hair-colouring stint next afternoon, V bid us goodbye and thus ended my least-hectic day in the UK, as far this trip was concerned.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
London - Day 5
Day 5 (Wednesday 25th Aug 04’):
Woke up early at 7 am; (the drill-work on the roof and the smell of tar did it for me). After our regular morning routine, D, A & myself left for Harrod’s. Since it was my last day with them, D & A decided to spend half a day, sight seeing with me. We took the bus and reached Harrod’s to explore London’s most famous retail outlet and the most-visited one by the who’s-who of the world. Checked out the Egyptian Hall’s of the store and realized it had a unique cultural feel to itself, quite much like London City itself. On reaching the food level of the store, lost all sense of a 26 yr old when I saw Samosa’s and Wada’s for sale. Did’nt however buy them as they were cold. A & D told me that the Samosa was Britain’s national snack, to be found everywhere you go, not just exclusive to Indian stores/ restaurants and Chicken Tandoori was the official favourite dish.
Food for thought? I fell a little more in love with Britain. Note: It wasn’t the samosa or the tandoori chicken alone, it was the idea of such enormous acceptance of another culture, so unique and different from theirs, into their culture which killed me. “Food-for-thought” to be continued in the conclusions part of this travelogue.
We had lunch at a Thai restaurant, over more talks and exchange of our life-stories for over two hours. After lunch, thank-you’s, a hug and a handshake later, I wandered off to find the V & A (The Victoria and Albert) Museum and D & A went off to work. I was leaving for Basingstoke that evening, to spend the rest of my time in England with my cousin and his family. This lunch had officially marked the end of my stay with D & A.
The V&A is another one of those famous London museums I would recommend to any visitors to the city. Not only does the museum take you to see Britain and Europe’s glorious past but also delves into the history of Materials to a very detailed extent. I spent most of my time fascinated by some of the most intricate embroidery, metal work, glass work, sculpture and jewellery. The museum also displays textiles and clothes from various parts of the world as also a pavilion for Asia (mostly those nations which Britain colonized in the early 20th century). The fascination for India, I realized does not run in this land as a recent trend, it is more of an ingrained and inherent part of the English, as they refer to India as one of the most favourite colonies of Britain. Another exhilarating film was the making of the great Crystal Palace in the Hyde Park, a well spent and very informative 10 mins in the museum for me.
After venturing into the V & A store for a while, I decided to get back to D & A’s place to pick up my luggage to go to Basingstoke. As I left the museum, the London rain appeared as usual, as it had done all of that week, at High Tea time as I called it. A quick tea later I was sitting in the d-d mapping my route back home on my bus map. In trying to connect to another bus which would take me right across from D & A’s place, I ventured off in the wrong direction again, but realized it soon and was on my way again. By this time, I was getting a good grip on the transport system all by myself, which for me is a great high..(my friend’s who tease me about walking and traveling in the subways’ in NYC, will vouch for this insane high of mine). Got back home, took my luggage and another formal “American” kind of a thank-you note for D & A ( something they could’nt stop teasing me about for long after) later, I set off to Waterloo to catch the train to Basingstoke.
After 2 hrs, I found myself lugging my bags up the stairs to Waterloo Station, with a little help from a sweet English couple. An act of kindness common to NYC and London: strangers helping you up/ down the stairs with your luggage. Nice!
An expensive one-way ticket to Basingstoke (ironically the ticket was called a cheap one-day fare), a train time-table and some phone calls later, I was on the National Rail to B’toke. Could’nt help but notice the plush interiors once again, analogized the experience to being in the Metro North; which connects NYC to CT and other Northern parts of the tri-state area. Reached B’toke, found SD (my cousin who lives there with his family) waiting for me, over a smoke and left to go to his place, my place of stay for the second chapter of my stay in the UK.
Met Ichhita, his wife, Yash his 6 yr old British son, loved his accent and decided to learn it as much as I can and after dinner and plans to explore B’toke ( actually the town has just one mall and a town center which we were going to see the next day) called it a night! Dreamt of London City and the past four days I had spent there, all night. As D had aptly pointed out in a telephone conversation earlier that evening; "London sure is missable!"
I was in love, again! Sigh!!!
Woke up early at 7 am; (the drill-work on the roof and the smell of tar did it for me). After our regular morning routine, D, A & myself left for Harrod’s. Since it was my last day with them, D & A decided to spend half a day, sight seeing with me. We took the bus and reached Harrod’s to explore London’s most famous retail outlet and the most-visited one by the who’s-who of the world. Checked out the Egyptian Hall’s of the store and realized it had a unique cultural feel to itself, quite much like London City itself. On reaching the food level of the store, lost all sense of a 26 yr old when I saw Samosa’s and Wada’s for sale. Did’nt however buy them as they were cold. A & D told me that the Samosa was Britain’s national snack, to be found everywhere you go, not just exclusive to Indian stores/ restaurants and Chicken Tandoori was the official favourite dish.
Food for thought? I fell a little more in love with Britain. Note: It wasn’t the samosa or the tandoori chicken alone, it was the idea of such enormous acceptance of another culture, so unique and different from theirs, into their culture which killed me. “Food-for-thought” to be continued in the conclusions part of this travelogue.
We had lunch at a Thai restaurant, over more talks and exchange of our life-stories for over two hours. After lunch, thank-you’s, a hug and a handshake later, I wandered off to find the V & A (The Victoria and Albert) Museum and D & A went off to work. I was leaving for Basingstoke that evening, to spend the rest of my time in England with my cousin and his family. This lunch had officially marked the end of my stay with D & A.
The V&A is another one of those famous London museums I would recommend to any visitors to the city. Not only does the museum take you to see Britain and Europe’s glorious past but also delves into the history of Materials to a very detailed extent. I spent most of my time fascinated by some of the most intricate embroidery, metal work, glass work, sculpture and jewellery. The museum also displays textiles and clothes from various parts of the world as also a pavilion for Asia (mostly those nations which Britain colonized in the early 20th century). The fascination for India, I realized does not run in this land as a recent trend, it is more of an ingrained and inherent part of the English, as they refer to India as one of the most favourite colonies of Britain. Another exhilarating film was the making of the great Crystal Palace in the Hyde Park, a well spent and very informative 10 mins in the museum for me.
After venturing into the V & A store for a while, I decided to get back to D & A’s place to pick up my luggage to go to Basingstoke. As I left the museum, the London rain appeared as usual, as it had done all of that week, at High Tea time as I called it. A quick tea later I was sitting in the d-d mapping my route back home on my bus map. In trying to connect to another bus which would take me right across from D & A’s place, I ventured off in the wrong direction again, but realized it soon and was on my way again. By this time, I was getting a good grip on the transport system all by myself, which for me is a great high..(my friend’s who tease me about walking and traveling in the subways’ in NYC, will vouch for this insane high of mine). Got back home, took my luggage and another formal “American” kind of a thank-you note for D & A ( something they could’nt stop teasing me about for long after) later, I set off to Waterloo to catch the train to Basingstoke.
After 2 hrs, I found myself lugging my bags up the stairs to Waterloo Station, with a little help from a sweet English couple. An act of kindness common to NYC and London: strangers helping you up/ down the stairs with your luggage. Nice!
An expensive one-way ticket to Basingstoke (ironically the ticket was called a cheap one-day fare), a train time-table and some phone calls later, I was on the National Rail to B’toke. Could’nt help but notice the plush interiors once again, analogized the experience to being in the Metro North; which connects NYC to CT and other Northern parts of the tri-state area. Reached B’toke, found SD (my cousin who lives there with his family) waiting for me, over a smoke and left to go to his place, my place of stay for the second chapter of my stay in the UK.
Met Ichhita, his wife, Yash his 6 yr old British son, loved his accent and decided to learn it as much as I can and after dinner and plans to explore B’toke ( actually the town has just one mall and a town center which we were going to see the next day) called it a night! Dreamt of London City and the past four days I had spent there, all night. As D had aptly pointed out in a telephone conversation earlier that evening; "London sure is missable!"
I was in love, again! Sigh!!!
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
London - Day 4
Day 4 (Tuesday 24th Aug 04’):
After the usual morning routine at home, left for the west part of London today, to get the Lord’s Tour. Took a full day bus pass and went to the stadium at the North-West side of Zone 1 to realize I had just missed the last tour of the day. Of course; had to be a stiff Indian-Brit who conveyed that to me at the gates in a rather unfriendly fashion that only strengthened my belief that Brit-Indian’s are more racist, especially towards Indians than Brits. My first regret of the trip, missing the Lord’s tour, easily one of the biggest reasons I would re-visit London in the future.
Decided to walk along the Park Road (comparable to the Oval Maidan area) of Bombay and reached the London Zoo. Spent a while in there and walked all along Prince Albert Road to reach Madame Tussaud’s. Thought if I really wanted to go inside, as I ve been twice in the one at Times’ Square. Decided that the only reason I would want to go is to see Amitabh’s wax statue in there, but it was too late to enter. Regret No. 2, another must-do place on my second visit. (Note: Having lived abroad and been to various places that have branches in other global cities, really makes you question re-visiting them. Quite similar to the experience I had when I stepped into the GAP, Banana Republic, H & M stores on Oxford St. and got out comparing the prices, back home in NYC. I have, however concluded to myself that when it is in a city, where you don’t live, just visit it rather than regret not doing so later.)
Took the bus and got off at Oxford Street. Walked over to Selfridges to check out why it was so big on a London shopper’s list. Bumped into SRK and Gauri Khan with family there and witnessed a classic case of fan-bothering-star-on-his personal visit situation. Was going to go upto SRK to ask for a picture, but decided against it when I saw him deal with an Arabic female fan in a rather unfriendly fashion. Did’nt quite know what to make of it, was it a genuinely frustrated reaction or was it just the air’s-and-graces….left the scene with a rather sympathetic glance towards the star and his family and walked out without as much as being star-struck. The most interesting part of the whole incident was my two-minute conversation with this old, british lady (read as OBL below)
OBL: Who is that, dear?
Me: That’s Shahrukh Khan, a Bollywo…
OBL: Goodness gracious, Is that Shahrukh..the King Khan?
Me: Uh..Yes Ma’m, I am afraid he is ( funny look on face)
OBL: You must be absolutely delighted, is’nt it dear, to see him here? I am sure you love him a lot, being Indian..
Me: Well, unfortunately not. I am not particularly fond of him. In fact I don’t think too highly of him or his work.
OBL: Shhh!! Beware my dear! You must’nt let anyone hear that here, people in this city love him, Brits, Asians the like. He is the “King Khan” after all now, isn’t he?
Me: ( in my head) Brit’s often end their sentences with rhetorics, hence this particular rhetoric need’nt be answered….
Me: (aloud) It was nice talking to you Ma’m, but I must move over to the next floor. Have a good evening!
…and I was out of there, just like that!
One of the most priceless conversations I’ve ever had with a stranger, in a foreign land!
Walked into happier surroundings, shopper’s and tourists strutting along the cobbled pavements and some taking their breaks under the Marble Arch. Walked across it to Hyde Park and spent the rest of the afternoon there. Another high tea later, found myself walking back on Oxford Street (this turned out to be my most visited area in the city), ducking in and out of stores to check out the London fashion scene, concluded that London has a wilder streak to its fashion sense than NYC, for sure. Walked into H & M, my favourite store, and checked out the stuff that I would soon find myself buying in their store in Manhattan. Figured the price tags carry the same figures, except that the currency is different, hence cheaper to buy in NYC than here. Saw the Mc’Donalds and concluded they too looked different and more designed than the ones in the US. Realised I was officially crossing the line between admiring London and falling in love with it, what with each conclusion favouring London over NYC. Was shocked to see my biases shifting, but did’nt bother myself with wondering about it as much then. After some more voyeurism and looking through some tourist-shops to figure what could I carry back home, realized that they could do with some better designed t-shirts for tourists to carry back home; maybe they need a Tantra there. Found some ‘bobbies’ along the street and took their pics, as they reminded me of Mr. Goon from Enid Blyton’s five find-outers. Took the bus (Atrey’s bus map was the best thing ever) and got back to meeting D & A outside their office. Went to Blockbuster with them, picked up some movies and decided to cook at home for the night. When Salim came over, sat down with WKD (blue vodka) and had another series of good talks across the table, partly architectural, partly anything. Cooked up a good desi meal and after dinner watched Lost in Translation amidst a lot of ancillary comments and laughter. Finally at the end of the movie, called it a day and my official last night at D & A’s home.
After the usual morning routine at home, left for the west part of London today, to get the Lord’s Tour. Took a full day bus pass and went to the stadium at the North-West side of Zone 1 to realize I had just missed the last tour of the day. Of course; had to be a stiff Indian-Brit who conveyed that to me at the gates in a rather unfriendly fashion that only strengthened my belief that Brit-Indian’s are more racist, especially towards Indians than Brits. My first regret of the trip, missing the Lord’s tour, easily one of the biggest reasons I would re-visit London in the future.
Decided to walk along the Park Road (comparable to the Oval Maidan area) of Bombay and reached the London Zoo. Spent a while in there and walked all along Prince Albert Road to reach Madame Tussaud’s. Thought if I really wanted to go inside, as I ve been twice in the one at Times’ Square. Decided that the only reason I would want to go is to see Amitabh’s wax statue in there, but it was too late to enter. Regret No. 2, another must-do place on my second visit. (Note: Having lived abroad and been to various places that have branches in other global cities, really makes you question re-visiting them. Quite similar to the experience I had when I stepped into the GAP, Banana Republic, H & M stores on Oxford St. and got out comparing the prices, back home in NYC. I have, however concluded to myself that when it is in a city, where you don’t live, just visit it rather than regret not doing so later.)
Took the bus and got off at Oxford Street. Walked over to Selfridges to check out why it was so big on a London shopper’s list. Bumped into SRK and Gauri Khan with family there and witnessed a classic case of fan-bothering-star-on-his personal visit situation. Was going to go upto SRK to ask for a picture, but decided against it when I saw him deal with an Arabic female fan in a rather unfriendly fashion. Did’nt quite know what to make of it, was it a genuinely frustrated reaction or was it just the air’s-and-graces….left the scene with a rather sympathetic glance towards the star and his family and walked out without as much as being star-struck. The most interesting part of the whole incident was my two-minute conversation with this old, british lady (read as OBL below)
OBL: Who is that, dear?
Me: That’s Shahrukh Khan, a Bollywo…
OBL: Goodness gracious, Is that Shahrukh..the King Khan?
Me: Uh..Yes Ma’m, I am afraid he is ( funny look on face)
OBL: You must be absolutely delighted, is’nt it dear, to see him here? I am sure you love him a lot, being Indian..
Me: Well, unfortunately not. I am not particularly fond of him. In fact I don’t think too highly of him or his work.
OBL: Shhh!! Beware my dear! You must’nt let anyone hear that here, people in this city love him, Brits, Asians the like. He is the “King Khan” after all now, isn’t he?
Me: ( in my head) Brit’s often end their sentences with rhetorics, hence this particular rhetoric need’nt be answered….
Me: (aloud) It was nice talking to you Ma’m, but I must move over to the next floor. Have a good evening!
…and I was out of there, just like that!
One of the most priceless conversations I’ve ever had with a stranger, in a foreign land!
Walked into happier surroundings, shopper’s and tourists strutting along the cobbled pavements and some taking their breaks under the Marble Arch. Walked across it to Hyde Park and spent the rest of the afternoon there. Another high tea later, found myself walking back on Oxford Street (this turned out to be my most visited area in the city), ducking in and out of stores to check out the London fashion scene, concluded that London has a wilder streak to its fashion sense than NYC, for sure. Walked into H & M, my favourite store, and checked out the stuff that I would soon find myself buying in their store in Manhattan. Figured the price tags carry the same figures, except that the currency is different, hence cheaper to buy in NYC than here. Saw the Mc’Donalds and concluded they too looked different and more designed than the ones in the US. Realised I was officially crossing the line between admiring London and falling in love with it, what with each conclusion favouring London over NYC. Was shocked to see my biases shifting, but did’nt bother myself with wondering about it as much then. After some more voyeurism and looking through some tourist-shops to figure what could I carry back home, realized that they could do with some better designed t-shirts for tourists to carry back home; maybe they need a Tantra there. Found some ‘bobbies’ along the street and took their pics, as they reminded me of Mr. Goon from Enid Blyton’s five find-outers. Took the bus (Atrey’s bus map was the best thing ever) and got back to meeting D & A outside their office. Went to Blockbuster with them, picked up some movies and decided to cook at home for the night. When Salim came over, sat down with WKD (blue vodka) and had another series of good talks across the table, partly architectural, partly anything. Cooked up a good desi meal and after dinner watched Lost in Translation amidst a lot of ancillary comments and laughter. Finally at the end of the movie, called it a day and my official last night at D & A’s home.
Monday, August 23, 2004
London - Day 3
Day 3 (Monday 23rd Aug 04’):
Woke up at 9: 30, bid goodbye to D & A who left for work and then after a while, left for my first day of official London sight-seeing, all by myself. Decided to cover East London all day. So set off by bus no. 243 to Waterloo Station. Was a beautiful bus ride especially when the bus goes over the bridge across the Thames. Got off at Waterloo and decided to walk along the embankment, parallel to the Thames.
First stop was the Tate Modern Museum (of particular interest to me, as the only international museum where my undergraduate school had been invited to exhibit some of their work on Bombay). Spent a whole 4 hours of the mildly wet afternoon there, closely touring all the exhibitions and genuinely reading up about most of the work on display there. Strengthened my aspiration to take up Modern Art Criticism course in NYU or Columbia on return to NYC. The tours were reminiscent of classes I took as an undergrad in Architecture, in Bombay. Also was reminded of Kaushik Mukhopadhyay, an excellent artist and a teacher who I knew in school and who has also had the honour of exhibiting his work at the Tate gallery. Visited the Tate Shop and bought myself a Van Gogh planner for 2005 ( my most expensive planner, yet) and of course my favourite one too, as it features some of my favourite artists, best works.
Next Stop was the Shakespeare Globe Museum & Theatre to catch glimpses of Shakespeare’s life and works. Could’nt spend much time there as it was not on my list of priority stops for the day. Instead spent a lot of time standing by the Thames and taking a lot of pictures, penning down some lines and of course crossing the Millenium Bridge to the other side and back.
Moved onto the Southwark Cathedral and spent some time inside. Lit a candle and prayed to the English lord for a bit. Also saw the Southwark bridge and passed the Vinopolis, though skipped the tour of the world’s best wines and free wine-tasting. Thought I could always do that in California, don’t know when thoughJ
Next stop was to be the famous London Bridge (which most of us confuse to be the Tower Bridge, or was it only me?). Stopped by the London Bridge Pier, which houses the Hay’s Galleria, for lunch. Skipped the London Dungeon, London Fire Brigade Museum, Britain at War en route to the HMS Belfast (England’s war ship from WW 2 which makes you experience some of the naval battles of that time). Presumed it to be similar to INS Vikrant that I’ve visited before and decided to skip the experience and move on to the Tower Bridge.
One of the most famous bridges in the world, an excellent example of Victorian engineering built in 1894. An iconic image of the city, which most of us have seen on typical postcards from Britain. Visited the upper part of the bridge which houses the Tower Bridge Experience and details the history and working of the bridge. Came back to the embankment and spent some time photographing the City Hall, another modern heavily-glassed Foster creation, that converges into a narrow point at the top. A told me later that it’s the only other phallic building in London, the first one being the Swiss Re Headquarters; jokingly called as Foster’s ‘thing’ (when you see the image, you will know what I am talking about). Quite an eye sore among all the Victorian structures around, but a reminder that London is about the past and the future. The constant collage of modernist structures with Elizabethan and Victorian ones, makes one constantly wonder and sometimes marvel at the city which seems to not just want to retain its glorious past, but also builds a future that iconises modern and post-modern architecture. Slight divergence there from my tour, but an interesting observation all the same, quite reflective also, as you walk along the Thames and look at the various bridges spanning across it.
The last stop along this bank of the Thames was to be the Design Museum, which A had highly recommended. Reached there just 45 minutes before it was closing for the day and so luckily got the last tour. Saw on display some of the best Jaguar’s on exhibition, including the history of the jumping cat that you see on each Jag. Modern day products and their evolution including the Apple Mac’s and the iPod were on display in their chronological sequences. The museum had definitely kept itself abreast of every-day product designs and evolutions, upto as recent as yesterday. Quite reminiscent of the MOMA Design Store in NYC in a way, as I walked through the four storeys of the building. This last stop marked the end of my Thames Embankment tour as was planned earlier in the day. I left the museum and stopped by for some high tea in the museum café and looked across the river to London on the other side. Foster’s ‘thing’ stared back at me, another eye-sore from across and the Tower Bridge stood between the two banks on the left. The sun shone down on the Thames and I sipped on my cup of English Tea, staring into the water, thinking to myself, it’s a beautiful English day.
After leaving the Design Museum, I decided to cap off the tour with a cruise on the Thames. So got on the 6:45 pm Thames’ cruise and took a 45 minute ride on the deck, over the river. It was a thrilling experience to zip past all the sights I had just toured and from under the bridges. Passed by the London Eye (A British Airways’ sponsored ferris wheel that stands 443 feet tall and offers a vertical tour of the city.)
A fantastic cruise and a full memory card later, I found myself at Westminster Pier. Even though it was’nt part of my agenda for the day, I decided to explore the Parliamentary side of the capital city. Walked through the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (was lucky to be there when the bell on the tower, one of London’s most famous landmarks, that stands 336 ft tall, announced the day’s closure of events), Parliament Square and Cabinet War Rooms. Went into St. James’ Park and walked along the pond to emerge outside Buckingham Palace. Felt sorry for the Queen to see so many people standing outside the gates trying to peek through to see the activities inside. Was in time to see a change of guard outside the gate (not the same as the grander change-of-guard that one sees at 11:00 am). Walked along to The Royal Mews and passed a guard, that could almost be mistaken for a statue. It was funny to see him stand there, as royal as they can get, with his posture erect and looking straight up, even though he had boisterous kids all around him trying to poke him to move. Was hilarious and I could’nt help but wonder, does the sense of duty or royal loyalty really drive you to be so stiffly upper-lipped? A true British royalty experience; Splendid!
Finally I walked to Victoria Station and took the bus no. 38 from there to get back to Farringdon where D & A work. Met them at the mutually decided meeting point of ours, and went to this Italian place for dinner with their Lebanese co-worker Salim. Concluded all Lebanese men are the same, wherever in the world you go. Had a good time and came back home to watch T.V till late. Saw a new program called NY-LON (short for NYC-LONDON), heard Atrey’s trivia-of-the-day on how the material Nylon got it’s name (By the end of the tour, I had reaffirmed he was one of those kids we grew up with, who knew all the capital cities of the world:) and called it a day on lot’s of laughter and some good blue WKD.
Woke up at 9: 30, bid goodbye to D & A who left for work and then after a while, left for my first day of official London sight-seeing, all by myself. Decided to cover East London all day. So set off by bus no. 243 to Waterloo Station. Was a beautiful bus ride especially when the bus goes over the bridge across the Thames. Got off at Waterloo and decided to walk along the embankment, parallel to the Thames.
First stop was the Tate Modern Museum (of particular interest to me, as the only international museum where my undergraduate school had been invited to exhibit some of their work on Bombay). Spent a whole 4 hours of the mildly wet afternoon there, closely touring all the exhibitions and genuinely reading up about most of the work on display there. Strengthened my aspiration to take up Modern Art Criticism course in NYU or Columbia on return to NYC. The tours were reminiscent of classes I took as an undergrad in Architecture, in Bombay. Also was reminded of Kaushik Mukhopadhyay, an excellent artist and a teacher who I knew in school and who has also had the honour of exhibiting his work at the Tate gallery. Visited the Tate Shop and bought myself a Van Gogh planner for 2005 ( my most expensive planner, yet) and of course my favourite one too, as it features some of my favourite artists, best works.
Next Stop was the Shakespeare Globe Museum & Theatre to catch glimpses of Shakespeare’s life and works. Could’nt spend much time there as it was not on my list of priority stops for the day. Instead spent a lot of time standing by the Thames and taking a lot of pictures, penning down some lines and of course crossing the Millenium Bridge to the other side and back.
Moved onto the Southwark Cathedral and spent some time inside. Lit a candle and prayed to the English lord for a bit. Also saw the Southwark bridge and passed the Vinopolis, though skipped the tour of the world’s best wines and free wine-tasting. Thought I could always do that in California, don’t know when thoughJ
Next stop was to be the famous London Bridge (which most of us confuse to be the Tower Bridge, or was it only me?). Stopped by the London Bridge Pier, which houses the Hay’s Galleria, for lunch. Skipped the London Dungeon, London Fire Brigade Museum, Britain at War en route to the HMS Belfast (England’s war ship from WW 2 which makes you experience some of the naval battles of that time). Presumed it to be similar to INS Vikrant that I’ve visited before and decided to skip the experience and move on to the Tower Bridge.
One of the most famous bridges in the world, an excellent example of Victorian engineering built in 1894. An iconic image of the city, which most of us have seen on typical postcards from Britain. Visited the upper part of the bridge which houses the Tower Bridge Experience and details the history and working of the bridge. Came back to the embankment and spent some time photographing the City Hall, another modern heavily-glassed Foster creation, that converges into a narrow point at the top. A told me later that it’s the only other phallic building in London, the first one being the Swiss Re Headquarters; jokingly called as Foster’s ‘thing’ (when you see the image, you will know what I am talking about). Quite an eye sore among all the Victorian structures around, but a reminder that London is about the past and the future. The constant collage of modernist structures with Elizabethan and Victorian ones, makes one constantly wonder and sometimes marvel at the city which seems to not just want to retain its glorious past, but also builds a future that iconises modern and post-modern architecture. Slight divergence there from my tour, but an interesting observation all the same, quite reflective also, as you walk along the Thames and look at the various bridges spanning across it.
The last stop along this bank of the Thames was to be the Design Museum, which A had highly recommended. Reached there just 45 minutes before it was closing for the day and so luckily got the last tour. Saw on display some of the best Jaguar’s on exhibition, including the history of the jumping cat that you see on each Jag. Modern day products and their evolution including the Apple Mac’s and the iPod were on display in their chronological sequences. The museum had definitely kept itself abreast of every-day product designs and evolutions, upto as recent as yesterday. Quite reminiscent of the MOMA Design Store in NYC in a way, as I walked through the four storeys of the building. This last stop marked the end of my Thames Embankment tour as was planned earlier in the day. I left the museum and stopped by for some high tea in the museum café and looked across the river to London on the other side. Foster’s ‘thing’ stared back at me, another eye-sore from across and the Tower Bridge stood between the two banks on the left. The sun shone down on the Thames and I sipped on my cup of English Tea, staring into the water, thinking to myself, it’s a beautiful English day.
After leaving the Design Museum, I decided to cap off the tour with a cruise on the Thames. So got on the 6:45 pm Thames’ cruise and took a 45 minute ride on the deck, over the river. It was a thrilling experience to zip past all the sights I had just toured and from under the bridges. Passed by the London Eye (A British Airways’ sponsored ferris wheel that stands 443 feet tall and offers a vertical tour of the city.)
A fantastic cruise and a full memory card later, I found myself at Westminster Pier. Even though it was’nt part of my agenda for the day, I decided to explore the Parliamentary side of the capital city. Walked through the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (was lucky to be there when the bell on the tower, one of London’s most famous landmarks, that stands 336 ft tall, announced the day’s closure of events), Parliament Square and Cabinet War Rooms. Went into St. James’ Park and walked along the pond to emerge outside Buckingham Palace. Felt sorry for the Queen to see so many people standing outside the gates trying to peek through to see the activities inside. Was in time to see a change of guard outside the gate (not the same as the grander change-of-guard that one sees at 11:00 am). Walked along to The Royal Mews and passed a guard, that could almost be mistaken for a statue. It was funny to see him stand there, as royal as they can get, with his posture erect and looking straight up, even though he had boisterous kids all around him trying to poke him to move. Was hilarious and I could’nt help but wonder, does the sense of duty or royal loyalty really drive you to be so stiffly upper-lipped? A true British royalty experience; Splendid!
Finally I walked to Victoria Station and took the bus no. 38 from there to get back to Farringdon where D & A work. Met them at the mutually decided meeting point of ours, and went to this Italian place for dinner with their Lebanese co-worker Salim. Concluded all Lebanese men are the same, wherever in the world you go. Had a good time and came back home to watch T.V till late. Saw a new program called NY-LON (short for NYC-LONDON), heard Atrey’s trivia-of-the-day on how the material Nylon got it’s name (By the end of the tour, I had reaffirmed he was one of those kids we grew up with, who knew all the capital cities of the world:) and called it a day on lot’s of laughter and some good blue WKD.
Sunday, August 22, 2004
London - Day 2
Day 2 (Sunday 22nd Aug 04’):
Woke up next morning after a refreshing and much needed sleep at 1 p.m. Realized was already late for lunch with Varun. D & A left for work (yes, even on a Sunday) and I got dressed and left to go to the bus stop. Picked up a coffee from a Turkish cafe that was to become my breakfast joint for the week to come. Called V to realize the poor guy was already sitting in the Lebanese restaurant at Marble Arch where we had our lunch date. Planned to meet him at Tottenham Court Rd. Station in 1/2 hr. Then of course got into a bus that went to Tottenham Swan (lesson to be learnt later: all Tottenham's are not the same) and reached close to the tube station at Seven Sister's (Zone 3). Seven Sisters’ is the equivalent of the Bronx, so felt like my friend Saurabh who had goofed up likewise in NYC and instead of Queens had landed up in the Bronx. Safest retreat seemed to be the tube station (when in doubt of the locality, duck into the nearest subway: lesson learnt courtesy living in NYC), so ducked in and decided to get to Tottenham Court Rd. Station by tube. Reached in 45 mins, (consecutive stations are quite far apart on the tube lines as compared to the subway in NYC) to find a harrowed, hungry and a slightly overweight Varun waiting for me outside the tube station. After my apologies and a hug we decided to walk down Oxford St. to get to a place where we could eat lunch. Finally got into a Steak House and sat there catching up over lunch for a good 4 hrs. After lunch, the plan was to get to Leicester Square and check out the bars and pubs there. En route to Leicester Square, I took several detours whenever I saw an interesting landmark. So ended up going to Buckingham Palace lawns, where we sat and chatted for quite a bit and debated over living in the US Vs living in the UK etc. Then walked to Trafalgar Square and of course all the while I kept troubling V to take pics of me in silly touristy places, for eg: outside the Piccaddily Circus Station....(couldnt help but think of ‘Monopoly’ all the while) Then finally reached Leicester Sq. after walking through some flea markets and stood there seeing an Olympic badminton match screening in the middle of the square. Called D & A as we were supposed to hang out at a bar that night and V & I went to a bar in Chinatown to drink.
Varun updated me, like D & A had last night, that in London people love to drink after work. Everyday after work, the bars and pubs get populated with formally dressed office-goers who come there for their daily beer and after about 2-3 hours of social drinking, go home. V said this happens every day and I secretly believe this is the key to his belly's happiness. However; the idea that people should choose to unwind in such an intoxicating fashion every evening after work, did seem really appealing to me. Although, I dont know how I would wind up in such a regular drinking scenario..but on vacation or for a little while, it certainly sounded "rather fun", shall I say?
At the bar, while V & I chatted away, we waited for D & A and eventually realised that they were’nt going to turn up as work had made them very busy. So V & I decided to wind up after 2 hrs at the bar and not-getting-so-drunk, to catch the tube to get home. I got back from Oxford St. by bus and did'nt lose the way this time. (The previous day I had gone ahead to Hackney, another Black neighbourhood as I had dozed off in the bus after leaving Binny & Prina at Oxford St.) Met D & A outside the office (another thing that was routine all week: meeting outside their office every night where they would pick me up. D was paranoid that I would lose my way among those random London streets and warehouses in Farringdon, where their office is, or would get mugged or lost if I tried to come to their office alone from the bus-stop.) and then went back with them to the office and then for Desi Dinner in the area's bangladeshi restaurant). Also called a common friend of our's from architecture under grad, who lives in Wembley (a desi locality somewhere in Zone 3) and caught up with her after ages. Empathised with her as her husband had gotten mugged in some tube station just a few hours earlier and decided to catch up again soon.
Got back home, chatted up for a while, got Atrey's maps (which were a boon for myself; the lone traveller:) and planned the main areas I should cover for the next 3 days and after more exchange of words and much laughter ( the latter being a frequently occuring phenomenon at the D & A residence, especially with D around) called it a night!
Woke up next morning after a refreshing and much needed sleep at 1 p.m. Realized was already late for lunch with Varun. D & A left for work (yes, even on a Sunday) and I got dressed and left to go to the bus stop. Picked up a coffee from a Turkish cafe that was to become my breakfast joint for the week to come. Called V to realize the poor guy was already sitting in the Lebanese restaurant at Marble Arch where we had our lunch date. Planned to meet him at Tottenham Court Rd. Station in 1/2 hr. Then of course got into a bus that went to Tottenham Swan (lesson to be learnt later: all Tottenham's are not the same) and reached close to the tube station at Seven Sister's (Zone 3). Seven Sisters’ is the equivalent of the Bronx, so felt like my friend Saurabh who had goofed up likewise in NYC and instead of Queens had landed up in the Bronx. Safest retreat seemed to be the tube station (when in doubt of the locality, duck into the nearest subway: lesson learnt courtesy living in NYC), so ducked in and decided to get to Tottenham Court Rd. Station by tube. Reached in 45 mins, (consecutive stations are quite far apart on the tube lines as compared to the subway in NYC) to find a harrowed, hungry and a slightly overweight Varun waiting for me outside the tube station. After my apologies and a hug we decided to walk down Oxford St. to get to a place where we could eat lunch. Finally got into a Steak House and sat there catching up over lunch for a good 4 hrs. After lunch, the plan was to get to Leicester Square and check out the bars and pubs there. En route to Leicester Square, I took several detours whenever I saw an interesting landmark. So ended up going to Buckingham Palace lawns, where we sat and chatted for quite a bit and debated over living in the US Vs living in the UK etc. Then walked to Trafalgar Square and of course all the while I kept troubling V to take pics of me in silly touristy places, for eg: outside the Piccaddily Circus Station....(couldnt help but think of ‘Monopoly’ all the while) Then finally reached Leicester Sq. after walking through some flea markets and stood there seeing an Olympic badminton match screening in the middle of the square. Called D & A as we were supposed to hang out at a bar that night and V & I went to a bar in Chinatown to drink.
Varun updated me, like D & A had last night, that in London people love to drink after work. Everyday after work, the bars and pubs get populated with formally dressed office-goers who come there for their daily beer and after about 2-3 hours of social drinking, go home. V said this happens every day and I secretly believe this is the key to his belly's happiness. However; the idea that people should choose to unwind in such an intoxicating fashion every evening after work, did seem really appealing to me. Although, I dont know how I would wind up in such a regular drinking scenario..but on vacation or for a little while, it certainly sounded "rather fun", shall I say?
At the bar, while V & I chatted away, we waited for D & A and eventually realised that they were’nt going to turn up as work had made them very busy. So V & I decided to wind up after 2 hrs at the bar and not-getting-so-drunk, to catch the tube to get home. I got back from Oxford St. by bus and did'nt lose the way this time. (The previous day I had gone ahead to Hackney, another Black neighbourhood as I had dozed off in the bus after leaving Binny & Prina at Oxford St.) Met D & A outside the office (another thing that was routine all week: meeting outside their office every night where they would pick me up. D was paranoid that I would lose my way among those random London streets and warehouses in Farringdon, where their office is, or would get mugged or lost if I tried to come to their office alone from the bus-stop.) and then went back with them to the office and then for Desi Dinner in the area's bangladeshi restaurant). Also called a common friend of our's from architecture under grad, who lives in Wembley (a desi locality somewhere in Zone 3) and caught up with her after ages. Empathised with her as her husband had gotten mugged in some tube station just a few hours earlier and decided to catch up again soon.
Got back home, chatted up for a while, got Atrey's maps (which were a boon for myself; the lone traveller:) and planned the main areas I should cover for the next 3 days and after more exchange of words and much laughter ( the latter being a frequently occuring phenomenon at the D & A residence, especially with D around) called it a night!
Saturday, August 21, 2004
London - Day 1
I am travelling for a month starting now, 10 days of which I am in the UK with family, friends and all by myself. Following are the events of the days I spend here, kind of a travelogue. There are tons of images that will be available for view as soon as I am done uploading them.
Day 1(Saturday 21st Aug 04) :
Landed at LHR at 7:05 am. Bid goodbye to Neel ( my flight friend) after exchanging no.s and stood in the long immigration queue at LHR. After entry clearance, collected bag and called Dipal to wake her up. Then freshened up at the airport lounge and realized LHR seriously lacks dust bins. Was astounded when on asking the ticket guy for one, was told that you have to carry your trash with you and that there is no way it can be disposed off. This was also the case in the toilets. After taking all my trash in a plastic bag, I set out to catch the Piccadilly Line to Holborn in Central London where I was to meet my friend Dipal.
Loved my first ride by the London tube. The train travels underground and above ground as well, atleast on this line. Some of my immediate realisations in the tube were its smaller and more intimate scale as compared to the NYC subway. Since I use the NYC subway everyday, the comparison was but natural. Also; like London the tube had a royal feel to it as well. Spotlessly clean and cosy, it felt like any of those conventional Brit houses that I was about to visit on my trip. Completely upholstered in velvet, with bright coloured floral patterns of blue and red, with a matching exterior was a fantastic start to the day. The fare on it however was'nt as pleasing, as I tried converting pounds into dollars.
Reached Holborn and waited for Dipal outside the tube station. Saw my first London red double-decker and was pleased beyond imagination. Felt seriously doped in the head as I was on NY time 2 am, in London where it was 8 am. Met Dipal and had a lousy cup of tea (so not English the tea was) some place and then took the first ride in the d-d bus. Reached her place, cosy little house, met Atrey (didn’t hug him as it makes him uncomfortable) and sat chatting over chai for the next 4 hours. Too little time, too much to catch up on. After a while, left with them to go to their office (the great Zaha's sweat shop as it is called) and hung out there checking emails etc. Called Binny who was in London with her sister for the day and planned to meet her at Oxford Street that afternoon. Called Varun and planned to hook up for lunch the next day i.e. Sunday.Atrey dropped me to the bus stop at Clarkenwell and I took the bus to Oxford St. There, hooked up with Binny and her sis Prina outside Marks and Spencer. Shopped and walked around a bit, ate some stuff and chilled out all along. Was a nice sunny day and the street was crowded. After walking around, came back to Dipal & Atrey's office and then went home with them. Cooked all together, daal, sabji and had a good dinner. Slept off finally and literally died on the bed due to jet lag.
Day 1(Saturday 21st Aug 04) :
Landed at LHR at 7:05 am. Bid goodbye to Neel ( my flight friend) after exchanging no.s and stood in the long immigration queue at LHR. After entry clearance, collected bag and called Dipal to wake her up. Then freshened up at the airport lounge and realized LHR seriously lacks dust bins. Was astounded when on asking the ticket guy for one, was told that you have to carry your trash with you and that there is no way it can be disposed off. This was also the case in the toilets. After taking all my trash in a plastic bag, I set out to catch the Piccadilly Line to Holborn in Central London where I was to meet my friend Dipal.
Loved my first ride by the London tube. The train travels underground and above ground as well, atleast on this line. Some of my immediate realisations in the tube were its smaller and more intimate scale as compared to the NYC subway. Since I use the NYC subway everyday, the comparison was but natural. Also; like London the tube had a royal feel to it as well. Spotlessly clean and cosy, it felt like any of those conventional Brit houses that I was about to visit on my trip. Completely upholstered in velvet, with bright coloured floral patterns of blue and red, with a matching exterior was a fantastic start to the day. The fare on it however was'nt as pleasing, as I tried converting pounds into dollars.
Reached Holborn and waited for Dipal outside the tube station. Saw my first London red double-decker and was pleased beyond imagination. Felt seriously doped in the head as I was on NY time 2 am, in London where it was 8 am. Met Dipal and had a lousy cup of tea (so not English the tea was) some place and then took the first ride in the d-d bus. Reached her place, cosy little house, met Atrey (didn’t hug him as it makes him uncomfortable) and sat chatting over chai for the next 4 hours. Too little time, too much to catch up on. After a while, left with them to go to their office (the great Zaha's sweat shop as it is called) and hung out there checking emails etc. Called Binny who was in London with her sister for the day and planned to meet her at Oxford Street that afternoon. Called Varun and planned to hook up for lunch the next day i.e. Sunday.Atrey dropped me to the bus stop at Clarkenwell and I took the bus to Oxford St. There, hooked up with Binny and her sis Prina outside Marks and Spencer. Shopped and walked around a bit, ate some stuff and chilled out all along. Was a nice sunny day and the street was crowded. After walking around, came back to Dipal & Atrey's office and then went home with them. Cooked all together, daal, sabji and had a good dinner. Slept off finally and literally died on the bed due to jet lag.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Once every year...
we can call the Empire State "ours"!
Happy Independence Day, India!
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shweyta/
detail?.dir=/13f4&.dnm=ef1c.jpg
Happy Independence Day, India!
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shweyta/
detail?.dir=/13f4&.dnm=ef1c.jpg
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Am I in a New York state of mind?
Often, discussions with friends, reveal how I've taken for granted the city I live in. It's not a fact hidden from anyone, that New York City is one of the most important cities in the world. It still has'nt sunk in yet, for me I guess. So today when I left work with all these thoughts in my head, I tried to look at everything around me with a new perspective. I walked on 7th Ave ( also known as Fashion Ave.) with my back facing the hullabaloo of neon's we call Times' Square. When I was in India, I had never imagined that there will be a day when walking within Times Square will become routine and perhaps occassionally frustrating ( due to the tourist's galore). Then, it was one of the most successful urban experiments in a metropolis, a far-out-in-the-distance destination I wanted to be in...today it is such an unavoidable part of life.
As I turned around and continued to walk towards 34th St, I found myself facing the Empire State Building right up ahead. Another important icon, historically and in the present too as it once again reclaims its honour as NYC's tallest building. I looked at it for a good 2 mins, as I always do from the toilet window:) ( A silly detour here, but I use a particular toilet in the Ladies' Rest room at work, the window of which overlooks onto the Hudson. Literally as Gandhiji would say, most of the thinking gets done on the toilet seat. Very true; as my daily introspections take place literally staring straight onto the Hudson and the Empire State right across).
To continue where we left off, on 34th St. was Macy's, the world's biggest store! I walk past it everyday and see crazy shoppers' with huge bags filled with stuff from there...never really understand why from there of all the places..but well..it's an american cultural thing to do..shop at Macy's. So anything goes, just as a souveneir from the New York Macy's. Metaphorically the world's largest consumerist phenomenon, all right there, sprawled out on one whole block and 5 floors...
So there they were, the world's most famous Square, easily one of the most famous buildings and the largest store, all within a 2 minute walk. Icons I pass everyday and hence possibly am beginning to take for granted.
I get into the subway and when we emerge out in Queens, on the other side of the East River, I turn around to see one of my most favourite views from a running train...The entire New York City skyline stretched out like an oil on canvas, with the sun scenically setting behind the Chrysler and the Queensborough Bridge sprawling across the waters to meet Manhattan...and I ask myself...Is this for real?? Do I live here now?
Or is this what they call being in a New York state of mind?
GOOD WATCH: Malena
As I turned around and continued to walk towards 34th St, I found myself facing the Empire State Building right up ahead. Another important icon, historically and in the present too as it once again reclaims its honour as NYC's tallest building. I looked at it for a good 2 mins, as I always do from the toilet window:) ( A silly detour here, but I use a particular toilet in the Ladies' Rest room at work, the window of which overlooks onto the Hudson. Literally as Gandhiji would say, most of the thinking gets done on the toilet seat. Very true; as my daily introspections take place literally staring straight onto the Hudson and the Empire State right across).
To continue where we left off, on 34th St. was Macy's, the world's biggest store! I walk past it everyday and see crazy shoppers' with huge bags filled with stuff from there...never really understand why from there of all the places..but well..it's an american cultural thing to do..shop at Macy's. So anything goes, just as a souveneir from the New York Macy's. Metaphorically the world's largest consumerist phenomenon, all right there, sprawled out on one whole block and 5 floors...
So there they were, the world's most famous Square, easily one of the most famous buildings and the largest store, all within a 2 minute walk. Icons I pass everyday and hence possibly am beginning to take for granted.
I get into the subway and when we emerge out in Queens, on the other side of the East River, I turn around to see one of my most favourite views from a running train...The entire New York City skyline stretched out like an oil on canvas, with the sun scenically setting behind the Chrysler and the Queensborough Bridge sprawling across the waters to meet Manhattan...and I ask myself...Is this for real?? Do I live here now?
Or is this what they call being in a New York state of mind?
GOOD WATCH: Malena
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Safe!
What is it about NYC and this time of the year? Last year on the 14th of Aug we had the now infamous blackout.(Yah I have my own story to relate about the whole thing, something which I wrote about last year and will post on this blog sometime soon.)
Today there was something again?? This time it was in the Ernst & Young building, right next door to us, in Times Square...The building had been evacuated, but there were not too many cops outside it. So maybe it's not serious, we all thought and said out aloud to each other.
Cut to last year, same time when we heard about the power outage. Same reactions, different people. On the outside everyone was positive that it was only a casual incident but within, everyone worried if it was'nt the terrorists at it again.
Both the times, there were those typical cases of paranoia; last year, when someone could'nt get in touch with his boyfriend ( yah, there's no typo there) during the blackout and today when a paranoid, otherwise shy lady, in a step outrageous to her demeanor, picked up her bags and left to go home, way too early in the day, right under the bosses' nose. Soon we were to know that it was a freight elevator accident and that there had been one unfortunate death in the incident.
What can I say? It's New York!! Things happen here and you have to live here knowing that.
Someone said to me the other day; "Why do we need to go through all this insecurity and uncertainty, feeling "unsafe" so often...this city isnt even "ours" to being with!"
That attitude really made me wonder....When do we say a city is "ours"? How long do we need to have lived in it to do so? How attached do we have to be to the city we're living in? How well do we need to know it, to love it?
These are questions similar to those, we ask of ourselves in relationships.
When we live somewhere and love living there, should'nt we accept the city whole heartedly? With all it's qualms and goodies, it's a package deal. With comfort and fame comes constant danger and threat. It's just the attitude we choose to sport, to deal with these things.
Familiarity brings comfort. Sometimes the more we know a city, the more we love it. When there's love, there's loyalty, no matter what...then may the love be a person or a place. And then all our life, we belong there, if not wholly, maybe partially. We start using a "my" before the "city". Whether we continue to live there or not. When the city hurts, we hurt. .. That is when we become "of" it.
Distance does'nt hinder that emotion. We dont have to be in a city, to be in love with it. Our attachment to a city is independent of our living in it. It's circumstantial, in some cases, that we may end up living in it for the maximum time of our lives. Or in some other cases, we may need to live there for a day to know that this is where we belong, this is what we can call "ours"
"Ours" may not be where we were born or raised. "Ours" is where we choose it to be and want it to be! "Ours" is what we call home. And when we are home, we are safe!
GOOD WATCH: Manhattan
Today there was something again?? This time it was in the Ernst & Young building, right next door to us, in Times Square...The building had been evacuated, but there were not too many cops outside it. So maybe it's not serious, we all thought and said out aloud to each other.
Cut to last year, same time when we heard about the power outage. Same reactions, different people. On the outside everyone was positive that it was only a casual incident but within, everyone worried if it was'nt the terrorists at it again.
Both the times, there were those typical cases of paranoia; last year, when someone could'nt get in touch with his boyfriend ( yah, there's no typo there) during the blackout and today when a paranoid, otherwise shy lady, in a step outrageous to her demeanor, picked up her bags and left to go home, way too early in the day, right under the bosses' nose. Soon we were to know that it was a freight elevator accident and that there had been one unfortunate death in the incident.
What can I say? It's New York!! Things happen here and you have to live here knowing that.
Someone said to me the other day; "Why do we need to go through all this insecurity and uncertainty, feeling "unsafe" so often...this city isnt even "ours" to being with!"
That attitude really made me wonder....When do we say a city is "ours"? How long do we need to have lived in it to do so? How attached do we have to be to the city we're living in? How well do we need to know it, to love it?
These are questions similar to those, we ask of ourselves in relationships.
When we live somewhere and love living there, should'nt we accept the city whole heartedly? With all it's qualms and goodies, it's a package deal. With comfort and fame comes constant danger and threat. It's just the attitude we choose to sport, to deal with these things.
Familiarity brings comfort. Sometimes the more we know a city, the more we love it. When there's love, there's loyalty, no matter what...then may the love be a person or a place. And then all our life, we belong there, if not wholly, maybe partially. We start using a "my" before the "city". Whether we continue to live there or not. When the city hurts, we hurt. .. That is when we become "of" it.
Distance does'nt hinder that emotion. We dont have to be in a city, to be in love with it. Our attachment to a city is independent of our living in it. It's circumstantial, in some cases, that we may end up living in it for the maximum time of our lives. Or in some other cases, we may need to live there for a day to know that this is where we belong, this is what we can call "ours"
"Ours" may not be where we were born or raised. "Ours" is where we choose it to be and want it to be! "Ours" is what we call home. And when we are home, we are safe!
GOOD WATCH: Manhattan
Friday, August 06, 2004
Kidding in the workplace...
In summer, the workplace changes. With the winter, goes the cold formality in office behaviour. Pin stripes, suits and coats give way to floral skirts, sandals and tie-n-dye prints. It's like being on vacation, at work.
Summer time also brings new members into the office. Little heads start appearing from behind cubicles. Everyday there's atleast one kid in the office, walking and playing around in the office. Its like the entire office baby-sitting the kid...sometimes it's little Katie, sometimes Georgie, sometimes Lizzie..sometimes all of them together. You never know when a new one is going to pop up, from right behind you, standing peering into your monitor so that when you turn around, you're shocked out of your wits. And when he/ she sees your shocked face, he/ she giggles and runs away.
Then of course, there's a task that you give them, to try to keep them busy and off horsing around. So that's when the architectural office stationery comes into use. Out come the colour pencils, sketch pens and different kinds of papers. "Now sit and draw" you instruct them. And they sit and draw, among giggles and running around office to office, saying their hello's to everyone and talking to everyone. Giving everyone that momentary transition into an informality which only kids are capable of inducing in any environment. It's incredible to watch even the oldest member in the office talk to the little one, trying to communicate in the "kiddy lingo"..and you're left staring at your senior, who is possibly your grandfather's age , transform into someone you could have never imagined.
Kids have this knack of bringing out their subordinates from within all of us. And that's when we cross over, not caring if we are at work or at home, we just become like them..innocent, unaware and care-free!
GOOD WATCH: 8MM
Summer time also brings new members into the office. Little heads start appearing from behind cubicles. Everyday there's atleast one kid in the office, walking and playing around in the office. Its like the entire office baby-sitting the kid...sometimes it's little Katie, sometimes Georgie, sometimes Lizzie..sometimes all of them together. You never know when a new one is going to pop up, from right behind you, standing peering into your monitor so that when you turn around, you're shocked out of your wits. And when he/ she sees your shocked face, he/ she giggles and runs away.
Then of course, there's a task that you give them, to try to keep them busy and off horsing around. So that's when the architectural office stationery comes into use. Out come the colour pencils, sketch pens and different kinds of papers. "Now sit and draw" you instruct them. And they sit and draw, among giggles and running around office to office, saying their hello's to everyone and talking to everyone. Giving everyone that momentary transition into an informality which only kids are capable of inducing in any environment. It's incredible to watch even the oldest member in the office talk to the little one, trying to communicate in the "kiddy lingo"..and you're left staring at your senior, who is possibly your grandfather's age , transform into someone you could have never imagined.
Kids have this knack of bringing out their subordinates from within all of us. And that's when we cross over, not caring if we are at work or at home, we just become like them..innocent, unaware and care-free!
GOOD WATCH: 8MM
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