Observations as London Goes Past

Imagine going all the way to UK and spending all day with customer or inside the hotel room. Last week the weather in England was miserable. It rained incessantly - almost like tropical rains. So instead of visiting my favourite museums and reliving the past, I opted to observe the present.

And here is what I observed.

1) A Marathi lady, just married, working at a restaurant as a waiter. We talked to her. She wouldn't be caught dead as a waiter in India. So, do Indians learn about dignity of labour only when they are away from India?

2) A Mongolian girl, all of 28, has a 10 year old son in Mongolia. She works 7 days a week. 5 days as a waiter and 2 days in a company where she hopes to join soon since she has completed her MBA. She pines for her son but works hard to achieve her dreams. Some day her son will join her and lead a comfortable life. We can learn life lessons from everyone.

3) Pani Puri being sold at a pound a piece - 5 pounds a plate. In Bangalore, I gobble down 7 for Rs. 10.

4) Corn-fed Chicken seems to be the flavour of the season. I had it twice, once in an reservation-before-6pm restaurant and then in a small bar. I never noticed "corn-fed chicken" in a menu before. Perhaps I was not looking. Or perhaps, it is a delicacy only on Worcester.

5) London Underground is very clean. No empty beer cans, or wafer packets. Even on a weekend! Is it the London Olympics?

6) Blackberry users seems to far outnumber any other smart phone user in London. And before anyone screams bad sampling, I would like to tell you that this was on a Saturday and in non-rush hour. SO it is unlikely that I sampled all office goers.

Things to do at London

Here are a few things to do when you are in London. Note that you cannot do all of it in one go. But eventually you will get there.

1. Take a walk on Oxford Street and get the Mumbai feel in London.

2. Visit Harrods to see women falling over themselves to catch a sale.
3. See a movie in Odeon.
4. See an Egyptian Mummy in the British Museum - entry is free.
5. Take a walk in the Hyde Park or the Kensington Garden or any of the numerous green spots in London.

6. Visit the National Art Gallery - entry if free.
7. Watch a play - I am not likely to forget my experience of the Starlight Express in this life or the next.
8. Walk from St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tate's Gallery of Modern Art over the Millennium Bridge. Stop a while on the Millennium Bridge and see river Thames flowing by. (Entry to Tate's Gallery is free.)
9. Time yourself to see the Tower Bridge open up to let a ship pass.
10. Visit Greenwich. Stand with your legs on both sides of the Prime Meridian. Ask someone to click a photograph of you striding the east and the west at the same time.
11. Be wowed by the life size Diplodocus at the entrance of the Museum of Natural History.
12. See the Tipu's Tiger at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
13. Buy science toys for your kids at the Science Museum.
14. Tired of museums? Sit at the Trafalgar Square - preferably in the evening and see humanity enjoy life. (I once arrived much before the opening hours of the National Art Gallery. So I went and sat on a bench at the Trafalgar Square. There were a couple of people around. And it was nice and sunny. It is not a bad place to while away your time at that time of the day too).
15. Take a ride down the history of London at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.
16. Go to Piccadilly Circus on a Saturday around midnight. I think the whole of the London youth congregates there.
17. Get a 1 Pound (dry) massage done on the main road at China Town.
18. Regain your childhood at Hamleys.

This is all I could think of in one sitting.
Care to add to the list?

My Favourite Spots in London

These are not available on standard tourist maps. These are not what a tourist would like to do in London. But I would recommend these without hesitation to anyone who wishes to seek my advice.

These are:
Hamleys - a place to rediscover your childhood. Perhaps the greatest collection of toys and games under one roof. And if I am not wrong has 5 floors of pure pleasure.

Foyles - All the books you can read. Amazon is good but Foyles is great. Heaps and heaps and heaps of books under all possible categorization.


Nando's - Their peri-peri chicken is to die for. A most wonderful family living in London takes me to Nando's every time I visit them.

Visit these and thank me for the rest of your life.

F100! Not G20

Headlines scream: World Leaders agree to "fight back" against global recession at G20 summit.

An alien reading this would rightly conclude that recession is some external agency threatening mankind. And that the world has united to fight it. Funny that!

Ok here is a better idea than G20. I would call it F100. Get the top 100 companies of the (World) Fortune 500 together and ask them to come up with a plan. They will not 'fight back' the recession. They will solve the economic crisis. They are the insiders. And they created the chaos in the first place. They should be able to do a better job that politicians.

Anyone out there reading this blog?
Ready to take up the challenge?

A little-known fact?

The problem with books that are written in a lighter vein is that you don't know if they mean it or it is supposed to be a joke of some sort (that escapes you, in any case).

Could any one confirm that this is correct:

Did you know - this is a little-known fact but absolute truth - that when they dedicate a new multi-storey car park [in London?] the Lord Mayor and his wife have a ceremonial pee in the stairwell? It's true.

The above is quoted from Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island.

Picture courtesy: Andrea Cuccureddu