About London

I have been remarkably silent about London on this blog....well may be not because I am mostly silent here and remarkable are the few times I decide to write something. Not that I dont have things towrite about, they are plenty. Its just that they are disjointed, random thoughts that I find very difficult to synthesise into a well structured, coherent essay. There have been so many occasions in the recent past when I have started apost and then crapped it midway. On most of those occasions, I felt midway that the posts were coming out contrived and not nearly as natural and fluent as when they were thoughts in my mind. Anyway this is another feeble attemp at describing my experiences in London.

Let me start by saying that what I attempt to do below is not a description of the city. It is beyond my limited abilities as a writer. What follow are my feelings about London and my experiences.

London, cliched as it may sound, is a complex organism. I sit on a trading floor where I have met more Indians and French than the British. And that is London for you. Travel in the tube, walk down the streets, enter the various shops and the one thing that strikes you between the eye is the mind-boggling diversity. It is as if the city assimilates everything. When I go to shop for food in the the department stores, I find packaged food catering to many nationalities. I could not believe it when I first saw rotis, papads, pulao and various other Indian food available in plenty. And this sort of variety is true for other cuisines too - Chinese, Thai, Moroccan - you name it.

Another thing I have noticed here is how well dressed most people here are. May be that is because I live in one of the most expensive areas of the city what will all thebanks around. However in my various forays outside Canary Wharf (the splendidly prosperous and therefore mind-numbingly drab locality where I am put up), I have observed that people here are very careful about there dresses and keep themselves very nattily attired. And they are very well mannered too.So, you keep getting surprised by these "thank you"s and "sorry" directed at you from out of the blue for no apparent reason. And while it is pleasing, it makes you wonder how people can be so polite all the times. Compare that with Kolkata where people manage to be rude most of the times without any reason. (May be it is the weather in Kolkata!). This manners are ingrained in people here. What it also implies is that these words soon become meaningless out of being used to death. And people just grunt out these false expressions of gratitude and regret mechanically. I have been advised by a few to take the praise from the English (rather the Europeans as a whole) with a pinch of salt for very often they are just platitudes; and be alert for crticisms for they will be expressed rather subtly and will more often than not be cloaked.

There is not the great divide that one finds in my country India. While there are very rich people, and the not-so-rich people, I haven't really seen a very poor guy around. I mean even the beggars here seem quite well fed and dressed with dignity. You will normally find beggars in the tube-station subways and they would usually be playing some musical instrument. Most people here have got the right to live with dignity unlike India where many live and indeed die in wretched animal conditions.

There are other things about London that may be worthwhile mentioning. However, I am feeling sleepyand its always a long day here. So, I'd better go to sleep. (Also i am bored of writing this.)

Good night!!