2 weeks gone by :))...8 more to go !! Tomorrow is Payday :), uske baad me gonna live life kingsize :p.
Yehan pe me has finally found a nice place to stay in South Kensington :), whr two of my good Lehmann frnds (Prabhjeet and Nitin) have also put up , and I made frnds with two IIMC ppl, Niranjan and Priyanka...amazingly Niranjan turned out to be my bro's hostelmate at IIT-B :o (world is such a small place, afterall :)), its said U can find a relation to any person in India within 3 persons, and in the world, within six !!!, dat means I am common frnds with Amrita Rao with juss 2 ppl in between and with Salma Hayek within 6, dats some wishful thinking :P).
Yesterday's journey started with the famous Big Ben @Westminister and Nitin managed to click me somehow with the Big Ben in the backgrnd (tuff feat, considering Big Ben is like a skyscraper !). Then we moved onto The London Eye, a huge Ferris Wheel which goes arnd verry slowly and shows one the whole of London :). But, since all of us are unpaid paupers as of now, an entry fees of 12.5£ proved to be an unsurmountable barrier for the whole grrp, and we decided to do it next week, along with the famed London Tour, which includes a boatride over the poet's river, The Thames !.
Uske baad, we walked past 10, Downing St., official home of Tony Blair, and someone even recorded on video, an Ugandan protest rght outside the building (strange musing, but how many of us, even though we would have stayed in Delhi, have taken notice of the Parliament, and watched any protests b4 it ?). Then onto the famous House / Horse guards , guards who are paid to stand in one particular position for an hour, without emoting !!!, they are like stone !!!
Niranjan bought a Policeman's Helmet for £1.5 and boss ! wat rocking use did we make of it :p. Juss let the pics come in. Then we criscrossed St. James' Park to the Buckingham Palace, and to put it midly, it was grandeur redefined. The British really indulged themselves when the Sun never used to set on them, u would take atleast 5 mins to get through the driveway to the door of the residence :), I think dat would give some idea of the magnificience I'm talking abt !
Fir, we walked back to the Trafalgar Square :), the cultural hub of London, a performance by the London Institute of Young Artists was ON, and the band rocked. But, knowing me :p, I went inside the immense National Art Gallery, one of the most impressive collections on the planet, juss second to the Louvre of Paris perhaps (isse yaad aaya, me doesnt have a shenzen visa :((, cant go to Paris, achaaa next time arnd :p). And for an hour or 2, I was lost in Monets, Angelos and Dalis :))). After I had my eyeful, decided to call it a day, and came back with Priyanka, while the rest of the gang decided to do some more of exploring arnd !
Dat waz an amazing day :)), and after a long time, I had such a nice time :). London is a perfect city for bachelor's like moi :D, so much of art and architecture to feast ur eyes upon, abhi toh 100's of gardens baaki hain, and movie theatres bhi baaki bees !!!).
Kal washed clothes for the 1st time in a Laundromat, and it costed me £3 (240 rs. ke kapde dhoye !!! itne mein toh india mein royal-clean ho jaata !!!!). I know i have to get out of this conversion mentality fast :)).
Now to end this post, some excerpts frrm my emails :)) ::
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I noticed something yesterday. U change locations, u change cultures, but ppl live more or less the same way. I was walking down this street which houses the famous Falkner house ( I bet if u read enuff Ludlum / Follet / Forsyth, u must have seen this particular location :p), and I noticed, ppl. grew gardens the same way, u know, wahi long, rectangular or trapezoidal pots, same kinds of flowers and shrubs, I also got to look upon some open studies (they have spl. roomz here ofcourse :))), and they somehow reminded me of my dad's desk back home :). I really miss India at times, the crowds, the hustle-bustle, the dust :((( and most of all, ppl :((((....all my frnds :(.
Thrz this supermarket called Tesco's, which takes only Indian / African ppl as its receptionists, and u can almost feel the warmth when an Indian prepares ur bill, he / she is also as much happy to c a fellow Indian as u :))) and dat makes my day. Today I had a royal breakfast by my standards :p
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one does tend to miss home, especially when u walk past these posh stores which have shoes' prices starting from £90 !!! and u muse, "Juss wait, One Day...:p, woh din kab aayega pata nahin !!", wahin India mein u could walk in most of the stores w/o wondering much abt the prices, afterall the famed PPP works, u know :).
I have a Ferrari showroom beside my apartment, and I get to watch the sleekest cars in the world daily :p (I religiously take atleast 10 mins b4 crossing dat showroom :)..The latest Ferrari price is £95,950 which translates to approximately 75 lac INR :ooo.
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Dats all for abhii toh :)), will c u again sometime (soon I guess :d)
ranjan
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