A holiday in London

While toying with the prospect of a visit to US, I thought a stopover at London for a few days would be a good idea. And so we reached London on Monday afternoon of 21st May 2012. Having studied the tube map and the London city map in Bangalore,  we had no problem leaving the huge Heathrow Terminal and find our tube train to King's Cross in Central London. The first trip by London underground train was an experience. One cannot but notice, that the map of the route was clearly visible on the side panels of the compartment with announcements being made on the next arriving stations and final destination. The announcements did not leave out the important landmarks nearby too! Colour coded routes on the  underground tube rail made journeys very helpful.

Hotel Crestfield, where we stayed was cozy, comfortable and just two minutes away from St Pancras and King's Cross stations. London Eye was first on our list. Getting  tickets online saved us the bother of standing in  queue. The giant wheel takes 30 minutes for a full circle and offers a panoramic view of the City and River Thames. Hopping in and out of the London Eye is quite easy though its on the move! On a sunny day you can see up to 40 kms away and we were lucky as London was having a clear skyline.

The cruise on the River Thames was wonderful affording sights of landmark monuments standing still with the passage of time. The historic landmarks like the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower Millennium, St Thomas Hospital (remember Nightingale?), Butler Wharf and the ships berthed which have now transformed into Museums are a visual delight! Replete with a view of historic monuments, the cruise on  the river Thames leaves you spell bound!

No tour of London is complete without the Red Double Decker buses and hopping in and off it! The Red Bus Tours offers magnificent insights of London which is never possible even by a chauffeured car ! Criss crossing historic landmarks with a freedom to alight and take the next bus or skip and continue are the convenient options. We rarely skipped and went on and on till we were tired of walking long distances! But assimilating the historic venues rejuvenated our tired bodies and we were ready for more! It was a tiring long walk from the Parliament House through Trafalgar Square to the imposing Church - St Paul's Cathedral ..but amply rewarded with its intricate beauty and history! Hyde Park and especially the famed Speakers corner held a special place in my heart. It was wonderful being there and having a say !!

The Tower of London showcases the plunder and cruelty meted out to those who had befallen out of the pleasures of the Royalty! Dungeons and eerie corners with spooky and ghostly nooks added to the mythical ensemble! Black Ravens hovering around and pecking on the litter of tourists added to the aura of mystique!  Spiral staircases with an  almost vertical ascent tested our agility to the core.  The display of the Royalty's jewellery, the huge gold plates, cutlery  including the Kohinoor Diamond (our's actually..and i did tell the security police about that) was a sight to see! We picked up some gifts for our dear ones back home from the curio store. The Tower of London will ever remain etched in our memory!

One of the most enchanting things about London is the importance given to intricate detail. Be it the cables neatly bundled into stays alongside the walls of the underground / overground or the signages intimating alighting / boarding points. Just the first travel by the underground tube can enlighten the visitor and he can surely guide any other! "Mind the Gap" announcement still rings in our ears! We couldn’t find the stiff upper lipped Englishman with his umbrella and nosed into his newspaper! On the flip side living out of a suitcase in a 3 star hotel and wanting to take on the sights and do a little gift shopping can be quite expensive. The tube train and the buses are quite expensive when we compare them to similar services back home! 

The taxi is a strict no no –and reserved for an emergency only! Small gift items like a T shirt or even a curio object is priced not less than 10 Pounds which at today’s rate of Rs 89.90 is almost Rs 900/-. Though, we had firmly decided against converting the prices to INR we ended up mostly doing that!! Indeed there was a wide gap!!

Pl leave your comments/brickbats in the comment box 

Fifty Plus Bullet lovers Club, Bangalore

Age 50 + Celebratory Ride & Club formation

We are ardent Bullet fans aged 50 + and would like to form a similar group of Bullet enthusiasts .

We intend to hold interactive meetings, enjoy short rides in the beautiful countryside around &

beyond Bangalore too. This is a purely non profit and a social initiative to build camaraderie

among Enfield owners aged 50 +. We invite bullet lovers aged 50 and above whose passion for

their Bullet has not diminished with age. Safe riding etiquette / adherence to all aspects of

road safety /Age will be the main criteria for joining this club. We also intend doing some social

service at destination or enroute villages during our rides. If you know of any 50 + bulleteer who

is also passionate of bullets like you, please contact me.

Please register through Facebook at Enfields of Brookefields, Bangalore or join Yahoo
Groups "50 + Bulleteers" or email us at 50plusbulleteers@gmail.com

Enfields of Brookefields Motor Cycling Club, Bangalore

Just an idea to get Bullet owners who are passionate about

their Enfields, residing in the vicinity of AECS /BEML layout/Sai

layout/Gulmohar Enclave/ Rohan Vasanta / Purva

Riviera /Fountain Square/ Shriram / Alpine Eco/ Palm

Meadows/Knightsbridge/Brookside/ Rainbow

Renaissance/Brooklyn/ Spring Beauty (or more specifically this side of Marathalli

bridge up to Whitefield) to come together as a friendly group & form

a club ….have safe rides into the beautiful countryside around us and yonder.

This is purely a non profit and a social initiative

to build camaraderie among Enfield owners.

There are no fees to join except eligibility criteria.

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK AT "ENFIELDS OF BROOKEFIELDS"

An Experience of Resilience

An Experience of Resilience

We left for Pondicherry by road on 27^{th Dec 2011} to be among close relatives during the festive season of Christmas & New Year. While leaving Bangalore we had no inkling of the Cyclonic Storm “Thane”. Hardly crossed 200 kms from Bangalore, we had calls coming from friends & relatives of the impending cyclone named “Thane”. Nevertheless, we surged ahead to Puducherry! We had left Bangalore at around 7.30 am and reached Pondy late afternoon after a taking a circuitous route (450 Kms) and checked into a nice hotel booked thru www.travelguru.com.

After Krishnagiri we took the recommended deviation on the road to Tiruvannamalai. The road is the NH 66 but not the 4 lane toll road. Stopping for breakfast at Alis for ….this owner guy….(see Photo) persuaded us to go back to Krishnagiri and reach Pondi via Kancheepuram…all the while assuring that though it might be just 50 km more but the road is much better. Some of the hard lessons we learnt was never to depend on good intentioned advise of petty roadside restaurants owners on road conditions…we miserably did 250 kms more of the fast highway almost upto Chennai and crawled the remaining 150 kms at snails space b’cos of bad roads. So much so for advice of guys who are clueless on distances or road conditions one bit. Of course, in life too we experience guys pompously generous with advice!!

Pondicherry was too good. The Auroville forest, the Visitors Convention Centre and its eco friendly approach featured was impressive. The fact that they have been emboldened to blaze a lifestyle trend which is unique for residents who have adopted NATURE as first mantra is adorable & worth emulating all over.

The beach was crowded on 28^th and the waves were creating gigantic waves. Many locals told us that the predicted cyclone would pass over and would not affect Pondicherry as it had not done in the past 30 years! How wrong they were!!!

Alas, on the fateful midnight of 29^th Dec 2011, the cyclone name “THANE” hovered near the beaches of Pondi and crossed the coast at 7.30 am bringing down all the trees and hoardings of impending New Year celebrations in its path! We could see huge buntings, dish antennas and satellite dishes flying like flying saucers from the 5^th floor of our hotel. The fury of the wind of a cyclonic storm has to be experienced rather than described!! The night at the hotel was nightmarish as the roof of the convention centre above our floor had almost fully blown away and what was left was just clinging on the remaining hinges swaying up & down and banging to wind speeds of over 140 kms, creating such a demonic sound that we thought that the sea had engulfed the hotel. Huge trees fell across main roads, felling all power lines, TV cables, Phone lines & made Pondi a dead city in just a matter of few hours!!! We took a lot of photos of the Auroville forest. But it was painful reading newspapers reporting that Auroville forest has lost 70 % of its tree cover!

BUT…the important message in this write up is the speediness with which the people of Pondicherry battered with such a storm garnered in just a few hours to overcome their terrible fate! As soon as the velocity of cyclone slightly reduced…the civic authorities were in action along with hundreds of citizen volunteers…repeat along with HUNDREDS OF CITIZEN VOLUNTEERS to cut / clear the fallen trees, electricity poles (power was shut off), telephone cables thus enabling tourists to move away from Pondicherry. Hats off to the Collector (& District Magistrate) young IAS officer (think, his name is Deepak) who spearheaded the rescue and disaster management initiatives so effectively.

Thank you citizens of beautiful Pondicherry, despite all your problems, you exhibited resilience of high order and assisted outsiders. We will remember you always! It is in times like these that we experience the goodness of people.

Ajit lakshmiratan