Tuesday, August 30, 2005
London over the long weekend
To take advantage of reduced coach fares over the in-demand bank holiday weekend, I had to wake-up at 3:00 AM on Saturday and walk about 40 mins to the coach station to get the 5:50 to Victoria. Once there, (owing to what I assumed was sleep-induced nonchalance) I promptly spent a good few minutes in the wrong queue before being directed underground.
Having sampled the very-easy-to-figure-out tube system, and some of Chakra's sambhar and paruppu usili in Chesham, Chakra, Anand and I ventured back into the city.
After Anand admiringly zommed in on and clicked away at the lightning conductor running down Nelson's backside, we ventured into the National Gallery. I'm certainly impressed by what London has to offer. I got to see some of the best paintings in the world (including many of my personal favourites) for free. Considering that, you need to spend a day in each room. Definitely on my to-do list when I do go back there. But all we had time for was a tinge of the impressionists, a glance at the rennaissance painters; and an icecream cone.
More 'culture' and more wrong queues to come as Chakra and I rushed to the Royal Albert Hall to experience first-hand, the grandeur of the auditorium, the skill of the World Orchestra for Peace, and the wonderful music of Rossini, Debussy, Wagner and Rimski-Korsakov. All for just 4 quid! Prom 57 was a delight. Now I know why so many of us love the solo violin in Sheherazade! My CD does not do justice.
Sunday afternoon involved meeting London Indian bloggers over lunch. At the time of typing, Chakra and Dubukku (I cannot find a permalink) have blogposts. Anand, Dubukku (aka Renga), Jag and Guru took pictures.
Apart from some unfortunate references to my hairstyle related to a recent Tamil movie, it was a fairly cordial meeting I should say. Praveen provided some wholesome entertainment, while I finally got to meet Radhika. I tried some of my terrible Kannada on a rather terrified Sriram (the kid has a blog?) while I chatted with his dad about what else, but Kalki. It was also nice to get to know Neha and Subhashree. They were the only ones who's blogs I had not read until then (apart from the kid, of-course). It was also nice to finally meet Mr Route 79 in person. Then came the really fun part when Jag took Chakra, Anand and me for a guided tour of London. Anand should post some pictures. I sure am coming back for more Jag.
I know I am stating the obvious, but the interesting thing is that I had not met any of these guys before (including Chakra, who put me up and fed me for two days), but it never felt like we were meeting for the first time.
Also, having lived in Bristol for close to a year, I suddenly realised the actual population of Asians in Britain in very high (at-least in London, every second person I saw was Asian). Most tube stations somehow remind me of Nungambakkam and Perambur stations; and there are chaps who sell Proms tickets in 'Black'!
Comments to London over the long weekend
Anand, were the "some unfortunate references" to your lush-black locks more on the lines of "are you a "University" Jeevan look-alike?"
:-)
posted by 
Krish
Aaagh!Come-on Mukund. Why does somebody have to get it wrong every time? Was University a 'recent' film? Not that I find that reference any less 'unfortunate'!
posted by Anand
Looking forward to having you back here! It sure was a lot of fun - and I finally meet a movie star! Actually - I think I mean a movie-producer in the making! ;-)
Seriously though - I really enjoyed it - and am really keen that we do something like it again soon - as there is so much to see and do - enough to keep us all occupied for a lifetime!
posted by Jag
Glad to see the posts abt Blog meet from everyone... Good that everyone enjoyed it!
posted by Chakra
Jag, You meant you met two movie stars, didnt you.
And yes, Great to meet all you people there.
posted by 
It was absolutely fun and I had a great time there with you all.
Praveen - Probly Jag meant 3 :P
posted by Dubukku
Yes - I meant all three! Actually - I meant 4 (inc. myself of course!) ;-)
posted by Jag
I simply don't get it. Who're all these movie starts we're talking about.. I certainly didn't see Jack Nicholson or Nicole Kidman at the restaurant!
posted by Anand
"...I suddenly realised the actual population of Asians in Britain in very high (at-least in London, every second person I saw was Asian)"
Come on, we're supposed to believe along the lines of "We two, ours one" ;^)
Know the #1 prolific ethnicity in US? In the world ranking, I read it's Nigerians which explains the onslaught of email.
posted by OJ_Audet @ HotMail.com
Anand, its Mansur Ali Khan(Praveen), Me and Jag.
Ofcourse you are also included in the 4.
:)
posted by
YB: Nigerians.. hmmm fancy that! Didn't see much of them in London.. maybe I wasnt looking behind the computers!
posted by Anand
Apart from Anand and Jag, the other two self-mentioned movie stars I have seen as key non-human actors in Jurassic park. Ofcourse dubukku starred in a different mobile phone movie taken during blog meet which is due to be released only to his wife.
posted by Guruprasad
Hilarious.
London does seem like a lovely place. Must give a visit sometime.
posted by satosphere
Post a Comment
