The woman who missed four trains

Colours. Costumes. Paints. Masquerades. Floats. Samba. Dance. Streets. Crowds. Fun. Photos. Whistles. Horns. Drums. Bands. Food. Drinks ... These are the terms that would feature in a word cloud if I were to create one depicting the Notting Hill Carnival. The thing to bemoan about this day is that it marks the end of summer. Besides, for the working lot of Londoners, it is the last (bank) holiday before Christmas.

This Afro-Caribbean Carnival is being held in London since 1964. On second day of the Carnival this year (first day is children's) when the weather was cloudy with intermittent rains, I began my adventurous journey to Notting Hill. (And as I am writing this, my balcony door is shuddering with heavy winds and rain, and birds are struggling to find shelter; flapping their wings against the strong winds. Looks like the carnival did mark the end of summer.) 

As the last holiday of the season (and the next) in a city that is flooded with tourists, and preparing for the Paralympic Games, and hosting a carnival, should one have expected less crowds in the tube? I was standing, almost leaning at the doors and was four stations away from Notting Hill when a huge group of people stood before me as the doors opened. A bunch of people screamed "push" (I never witnessed anything like this before, not even during the overly-crowded London of Olympics). A few did manage to push enough to squeeze in. Thankfully from the other side of the door. 

I assumed I was fine just when I felt someone poking fingers at my shoulder (by this time I had moved bit sideways). As I looked over my shoulder I saw a lady with short, white hair screaming something. No, it was not "push". It was a sentence that wasn't audible partly due to noise, and partly because my ears were blocked (as a result of going several feet under ground). Then she made me understand what she meant with louder screams and hand gestures. In about two minute's time that the tube remains at a station, she screamed the sentence repeatedly. I simply couldn't move. I tried, but there was no space inside. Few seconds before the doors closed, she jumped into an already jam-packed tube...

The atmosphere was entirely different when I reached a vantage point from where I could view the Carnival parade. Loud music boomed in trucks, which were accompanied by men and women in brightly-coloured costumes and make-up. Carrying floats and head dresses of various themes and designs. Dancing to the tunes. On the streets. Even he who's never danced before would immerse himself in the mood and respond to the beats of loud music felt inside the chest. Notting Hill Carnival, indeed, is "the largest street party in Europe" and I think it is what they say about taking dance to "where it began" (to the Streets) and about freedom to be. 

Oh by the way, I had figured out back then that the woman who poked at my shoulder in the tube (more than four times, I believe) was screaming – "I've missed FOUR trains."

Showing me four fingers she repeated, "I've missed FOUR trains." "I've missed FOOOOOOOOUUUUR trains". I forced to stop myself from (repeatedly) telling her – "it may be a train, but it's called tube."

The feel of Olympics

There is no dearth of talent and ideas around the world. You just have to find the right people and enable them to showcase their talents. London 2012 has achieved that successfully – it found the right people and survived as the "biggest summer event". Things began well and ended well. 

London 2012 was not about sports alone, but also how it brought people together…. It was about the spirit and the energy, the smiles and the tears, and perhaps a lot more. The event has given birth to legends, "inspired a generation" as it rightly claimed, and set benchmarks for the next round of the Games. There were moments of pride and moments of disappointment. Moments of elation and moments of outrage. Moments that will be remembered and cherished forever.

Having been in London before and during the Games, I can tell you that the whole city was lit up and not just with lights. With colour. There was this reminder that the event is on wherever you went in the city. Particularly at the tube stations. People obsessed with pink colour had a rather pleasant time, as all the signboards were in pink and that too bright pink, and there were far too many of these. Olympic stewards also wore pink jackets…. On a serious note, wonderful ideas were implemented. London Eye was all set to reflect the mood of United Kingdom. It would lighten up every night according to the % of people in a happy Olympic mood and twitter was used to evaluate that. What an idea. I simply loved it. I chased the mood almost everyday on the web page and went to see the Eye when UK's tweeps suggested a 75% happy mood.

This was the night before the Closing Ceremony of Olympics and I was crossing Westminster Bridge when I noticed the Houses of Parliament (Westminster Palace) looking bright and beautiful. I guess it looks so every other night. But there was something special going on there. A light and sound show. It was a projection of the images of the Union Flag, the Olympic rings, the winners, record-breakers and record-makers, and other iconic images from the three Olympics London has hosted so far in 1908, 1948 and 2012, with commentary. The show ran every fifteen minutes the Big Ben chimed and I spotted Usain Bolt and Roger Federer from London 2012 in the projections. IT. WAS. BRILLIANT. 

Reporting from London 2012

27 July 2012 was a big day for Great Britain and for rest of the world. That night formal inauguration of Olympics 2012 took place in Stratford, London. It must have been a very proud moment for the Britishers as the entire world watched them recall the history of the nation during the opening ceremony. From J. K. Rowling to Tim Berners-Lee, literary and other key figures in the British history were honoured with performances surrounding their contributions. For those inside the stadium that night would become a lifetime memory. Other Londoners were content with watching the ceremony on television or Red Arrows flying past over the city or the astounding spectacle of fireworks above the stadium from their rooftops.




Tickets for the Olympic events were sold out well in advance and then, you know, there was the controversy about empty seats (seats that were issued to sponsors). Ticket-less public were left with the options of watching events on television or on screens that are put up in open spaces all over London, and going to events that are open to public.




Evening of 4 August was Men's 20 km Race Walk event. It was a Saturday and I thought of getting a taste of Olympics, outdoors and live. And a chance to cheerlead for my country's athletes. I stood opposite Victoria Memorial in front of the Buckingham Palace among a crowd of thousand spectators, as most part of the event was free for public viewing. People had reached the venue about 2 hours before the event started and occupied the best spots to see the race.

Race walk seemed funny in the first lap, because we are not used to seeing men walking (or racing) like that. You can youtube "men's race walk" to know what I am talking about. I wasn't the only one laughing by the way...But then that was it. The first lap. In the remaining laps the crowd wasn't giggling at all. Rather cheerleading for the athletes.


The Olympic fervour was all-time high. Spectators were hooting, shouting their country's names, taking pictures, clapping. As is obvious, they brought along their country's flags. The biggest lot was from China, by the way.

The race was scheduled for 80 minutes with 10 laps of 2 km each. 56 athletes competed. By the end of first lap a Chinese athlete named Suzuki took lead and kept much ahead of the remaining athletes over the next few laps. But soon he appeared jaded and was left behind in the remaining laps. Much behind. He finished 36th. From 1st to 36th!




And then there was this athlete from Serbia (in red), named Predrag Filipovic, who was by the beginning of the 2nd lap, lagging much behind the rest of the athletes. In fact, he walked last for a couple of laps. But managed to finish 48th, the last rank allotted in the game. From 56th place to 48th. Here goes the saying – "Slow and steady don't always win the race."






Indian athletes are usually referred to as "Men in Blue", but here at the race they were "Men in Black" for the colour of their costumes. There were three of them – Irfan Kolothum Thodi who finished 10th, Gurmeet Singh finished 33rd and Baljinder Singh 43rd. India's performance wasn't that bad if we look at the effort they had put in...but they didn't win a medal. 



China won Gold as well as Bronze. Silver was won by Gautemala. 


You can spot the Men in Black in the pictures. In the third photo from the top – Irfan Kolothum Thodi. In  the last-but-one photo – Gurmeet Singh. In the last photo – walking way behind many others – Baljinder Singh (see more of my photos here.)



No longer ecstatic, I returned home that Saturday night, disappointed and exhausted. 

Landmark day

The last couple of months have been like a roller-coaster ride for me. Too many changes but not much relaxed time to allow things to seep in. As things turned out quite unexpectedly and somewhat unplanned, I moved to London three months ago. Nervous and excited, I have explored the city in the best possible way thus far and developed some new interests. I have no full-time job and I shall focus on the positive side of not having one. I am free as a bird to go anywhere I wish to, exploring new streets, museums, talks, exhibitions, stores, etc. even during the weekdays. 

5th July 2012 happened to be a landmark day of my stay in London. By the time I completed my household chores, it was early afternoon. I wasn't left with much time in the day to explore all the 21-plus exhibits at the Summer Science Exhibition that the Royal Society had organized over the last week. I decided to use whatever time remained, rewarding myself a prospect of revisiting another day. Royal Society happens to be the oldest science academy in the world. Every summer, since the late 18th century, it has been organizing a science exhibition. As it happens to be my first British summer, it was my first chance to visit the exhibition.

Just in case you are beginning to think that you are being fed sciency stuff under the guise of a travel blog-post, relax and read further...After I left Royal Society a bit more science-literate, I headed straight to Tower Hill. This is one of the most famous tourist spots in London. Lying on the bank of River Thames, in its vicinity you can spot a great number of famous buildings and structures, including the Monument, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Shard, Bullet Building (Gherkin), and the historical royal palace – Tower of London.

Of these, the famous Tower Bridge (in the photographs on the right) was the first tourist attraction I had been to in London. Soon after reaching here I learnt that Tower Bridge was mistakenly called London Bridge, which lies upstream. There's also an amusing legend (rumour?) according to which an entrepreneur had bought London Bridge confusing it for Tower Bridge. The truth is that he did buy the old London Bridge and moved it to the US. A new (existing) bridge was then constructed. Tower Bridge remains where it was. It was constructed way back in the late 19th century. It is painted in the colours of the Union Flag – red, white and blue, and is more eye-catching in the dark with lights on.

The most interesting fact about Tower Bridge is that it opens for ships with tall masts to cross through and dock in the stretch between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. London Bridge is a low, fixed structure and tall ships cannot go through. Since the very first time I visited Tower bridge and I learnt about its functioning I wanted to see it split-open. I missed the diamond opportunity on 3rd June when the bridge did open for a couple of hours to allow ships, as part of Thames River Pageant. I was away in Scotland then. Even if I had been in the city, the heavy downpour would have been a reason to sit back home and watch it on television. 

So after two months of wait, I got really lucky on the 5th because the moment I reached Tower Hill the bridge opened. It opened again when I was going to cross the bridge. The siren blew, followed by evacuation and traffic was held at either ends. The bridge opened another two times as I stood across the river waiting for a Laser Light and Sound show to begin. While I didn't get the chance to witness this engineering marvel over the past few months, it was a miracle that I did so four times in just a couple of hours.

The third event that marked my outing of 5th July was the inauguration of Europe's tallest building, the Shard (see photo on the right). The Laser Light and Sound show deployed 12 lasers and 30 search lights over the city skyline. I could hear no sound where I stood. Though the show was below the expectations (that were partly engendered by hype  in media), the public did enjoy it going red, blue, yellow and purple.

I would have been more disappointed with the Laser show if Tower Bridge had not kept me occupied with its age-old mechanics.

Killer jaws

Imagine yourself in an underwater sea world. The only barrier between you and the sea being glass. You are fascinated by a whole universe of life under water, something you have never seen before. What you find most attractive in the sea of creatures is a bunch of Sharks with jaws that you know can rip tissues apart.

I grew up watching Discovery channel. I had seen those "I shouldn't be alive" documentaries about people who had survived shark attacks. As much as I was moved by these, I was disappointed every time I saw how brutally sharks are killed for their liver oil and fins. As a matter of fact, the number of shark attacks on humans every year are much less than human attacks on sharks. The numbers are incomparable.

Tube stations in London seem to me like hotspots of information on which theatre group is playing in the city, books released, upcoming movies, new exhibits at museums and galleries, etc. Basically, they tell what's on and trending in the city. I was at Stratford station (near the Olympics stadium) when I first noticed "More Sharks than Ever Before" advertisement of Sea Life Aquarium.

I had never seen Sharks in real life. Besides I always wished for an underwater experience of watching swarms of fish. Both came hand-in-hand at Sea Life. But then I also had my set of apprehensions and I was wavering. Does the aquarium really has sharks? Is it worth a visit? A quick google search gave me the answer about sharks. Whether it was worthy of time and twenty quids could be judged after the visit.

When I arrived at Sea Life, which is housed close to the London Eye, it was heavily crowded. Something that baffled me was queuing outside for 1 hour and 30 minutes to buy the ticket! What more could I have expected on a weekend anyway? While I stood there in the cold next to the Thames what added to my impatience was the direct VIP entrance bypassing our queue to reach the ticket counter. The Big Ben right across the river stood as a perfect reminder of time in such a situation.

Everything wasn't so bad though. As I moved closer to the entrance I could hear a lady, representing an NGO, share facts about species in the aquarium. What a blessing she was. If I run into her some day, will thank her for keeping me interested, occupied and for sharing those facts (that she remembered so well).

Finally the wait was over and I was inside. The aquarium offered a grand welcome with sharks swimming underneath a glass walkway. It felt like I am crossing a shaky wooden bridge over a marsh inhabiting crocodiles. Except that sharks replaced crocs and glass replaced the bridge. Some tourists were so scared, they skipped the small walkway. And I stood there for so long, dazzled, that my husband had to pull me with, "You will get to see more inside. Let's move now." He was right. I got to see the shark tank from three different levels. The third level wasn't too crowded, so I could spent a couple of minutes relaxing and watching Sharks swim right in front of my eyes. Some were resting on the floor.

Sharks are not the only attraction at the aquarium. There is Jelly Fish, Star Fish, Sea Horse, a pair of Sea Turtles, Gentoo Penguins, Rays, Crocodiles, Poisonous Frogs, Flat Fishes, Piranhas (flesh-eating fishes) and a lot more. The underwater glass tunnel walkway was simply the best. Music that played in the aquarium resonated with what it felt like exploring an unseen world.

When I was near the Ray Lagoon it felt like I was studying Zoology again, except this time it seemed much more interesting. The lagoon had a variety of rays with beautiful skin patterns. On the right is a picture of how a ray looks on the downward side. On the left is a picture of an African Red Knob Sea Star, strikingly red.

Undoubtedly, I was dumbstruck seeing the Penguins. The last time I saw them it was in the animated movie, Happy Feet. Seeing them swim in the water was like a dream come true. They walk really funny with their webbed feet. Though I am aware that the aquarium is making great efforts in conserving a variety of fish species, turtles, etc. and I admire that, it's a shame that the Penguins are kept in an enclosure not quite matching their natural habitat. There was a white platform (and that was not ice!) and paintings of an iceland on three walls of the enclosure. I was about to leave when something caught my attention. It was a penguin hitting a wall with its beak...I don't know what that implied but for some reason my smile was gone.