That title was not a typo from ‘London zoos’ nor I wanted it to rhyme like ‘Hyderabad Blues’. The first few things I encountered in London were Loos!
First, I should be telling you how to get to the Loos …
Travelling around in the country
London is such a huge city, but commuting within is never tedious. The underground tube trains are tactfully networked and all that one has to have in hand is a tube map. That map too is ‘user friendly’ and would prove Allan Pease wrong for what he said – “Women can’t read maps”! In UK, buses are mostly on time. You can even get a printed itinerary in any bus station or a train station if you want to travel from one place to another. Information and infrastructure when it comes to travel is available aplenty in this part of the world.
https://tfl.gov.uk
The Loo Part of it …
After getting down from the network rail, I had to take the BakerLoo line of the Underground tube trains. We had it all figured out about the places to visit. First we decided to go and see the London eye and for that I had to get to the WaterLoo station. First thing that came to my mind is that Water-loo should be the best oxymoron I have come across, at least in UK!
London is a great place for sight seeing. A stroll down the Thames would take us to few important places like the Big Ben, Westminster Bridge, London eye, Shakespeare globe, TATE science museum and the Tower Bridge. There are few beautiful parks near the Downing Street and the cavalry and the Trafalgar Square. Madame Tussauds wax museum too is a place not to be missed, if you want to shake hands with the Big B and hug Aishwarya rai, or pose with Spielberg for a MS foto! And, did I forget Lords where Kapil lifted the covetous world cup long back in 1983?
The difference you would find from being in India …
The culture is obviously very different here, to the extent that you see Ads on buses for divorce and pamphlets that tell encourage you to ‘move-out’ as a sign of independence. Things are more formal here. You should hold the door until the next person gets in; say ‘Cheers’ for anything and everything and every person including the bus driver for stopping in the stop you wish to get down. Never mind if you were in a bad mood and your ‘Cheers’ with a stern face would look doubly irritating, but say it! :)
When I speak of difference, I am missing fans here. No, I didn’t mean the people who like me for there aren’t any, but the ceiling fans. They have been a part of my life for 23 years and I miss them very badly! Not that it is hot here, but the fan and its noise have become a part of me that I feel lonely without them!
The terrorist in me ...
I took a train back from London to the now popular Highwycombe (Not because envyram stays there, but it was in breaking-news scrolls a month back!). I almost fell asleep in the train and then suddenly a boy from a small group of young boys shouted, “There is a terrorist in our train”. I would have got angry if I had realized immediately or pitied them for their ignorance if I had known late, that they were referring to me. But because I realized a bit late and just too early, I felt embarrassed. Almost all eyes were on me. May be because I was on a train to High wycombe, I appeared like a terrorist for them or is it that almost every Asian may look like a terrorist to them? It’s always advisable to travel in a group, if you can, to save yourself from such scenarios.
Do you think I would have left the incident just like that? The guys were getting down the train and one who actually shouted managed to look straight at me. Only then I could confirm that he was actually referring to me and immediately … baaaang the door closed and creek creek creek … the train started moving. I come back and write the incident in a review! Not a bad incident for me though, I always struggle and think hard when people ask me about most embarrassing moment in life. I have got one now.
In short, I have mixed feelings about being here in UK – good money to earn and take back home, great places to see and a couple of embarrassing moments. Those were just a few things about me and UK in General (Just to emphasise I did stick to the topic!)
Thanks for reading
-Vinayak
(Please do leave your comments)