Royal London

Even though I was born many years after India’s independence, the influence of Great Britain on my life has been significant; as I am sure it has been on many of our lives. English is my first language and one I am most comfortable with by a long mile. While the phrase is not used anymore, I like many are all “Macaulay's Children”. Of course we all have been deeply influenced by the books we read as children – Noddy, The Famous Five etc etc and the board game Monopoly. We knew London street names and areas much before any one of us ever travelled to the UK. I am sure many saw the recent Royal Wedding beamed to our living rooms from London. So the Queen of Kutch and I decided to take a walk through `Royal London’.

It was a hot sunny day and the buildings looked gorgeous. Most tourists have gone back so crowds were very manageable.

Our walk started from Charring Cross which led us onto Nelson’s Column at Trafalgar Square guarded by the four lions. From there we started walking down Whitehall with its magnificent buildings. The Horse Guards and the two monuments in the middle of Whitehall, the Cenotaph and the newer Women of the War monument erected in 2005, 60 years after the end of WWII came next. The image of Charlie Gilmore swinging from the Cenotaph in a moment of madness during a student protest in May 2011 is an image that disgusted many Britons. The man faces a stint in jail.

Lord Nelson

View from an arch at the Horse Guards

The image that deeply upset the Brits

A short peep into Downing Street which has now been cordoned off so getting to see 10 Downing Street is not possible.

From there we came onto Parliament Square, the Houses of Parliament and the butt of all Gujju jokes, the Big Ben. The Buildings are really quite magnificent. The rains ensure that the buildings remain clean and the gold shines thru. Really quite nice.

Churchill

Oliver Cromwell

Next up was Westminster Abbey. It’s huge and parts of it very very old. The renovations and extensions over the years have been so skilfully done that it’s really difficult to tell want is new and what is not. Photographs are not allowed inside the main Abbey, I inadvertently clicked one, a genuine mistake.

The Abbey Roof with Big Ben in background

From inside the Abbey 

Central Methodist Church

From the Abbey we went onto Buckingham Palace. Rather underwhelming I must say after the grandeur of the other buildings. We all know its magnificent inside but the outside is unremarkable.  

Fish and Chips

The last few days in London have been cool and cloudy. Today was bright sunshine and a consequent increase of temperature to an uncomfortable 26 C. It’s not much fun being in the sun, i.e. walking around in that much heat. The sun is a lot brighter and really hurts your eyes. If this continues I will need to pull out my hat!

What could be more British than fish and chips for dinner? The classic fish and chips dinner is completed with a couple of slices of sliced bread and a mug of tea. However that is a bit much for us. A classic chippy is painted yellow. In Marylebone, is a very old chippy called Golden Hind which has been a chippy from the early 20^th Century. It was owned by a succession of Italians until it was taken over by a Cypriot in 2002. Over the last few years Golden Hind has been getting more and more favourable reviews. The number of people going to eat has been steadily increasing. Last year the chippy doubled in size with the owner buying the next door premises. He has been a friend of ours since we first ate here in 2006 and we make it a point to eat here every time we are in London. A couple of weeks ago, the Golden Hind was voted by the Times newspaper as one of the 30 best chippys in Britain and one of only two from London. Business has since skyrocketed and this fact has been put onto some Japanese travel guide resulting in a glut of anxious Japanese punters.

Last night we went across for dinner. After a fond greeting we were seated. Our order is standard. One Cod, one Haddock, one chips, one Mushy Peas, a pickle and a pickled onion. Absolutely beautiful fish. Covered with a thin crisp batter, the fish steams and is wonderfully cooked. Lashings of Vinegar and a sprinkle of salt and you have a meal fit for a King. This we washed down with a cold bottle of white wine. Superb.

Inside Golden Hind

Cod

Mushy Peas

Being the sunny day I have written about in the opening paragraph, we walked from St. Pauls Cathedral along the Millennium Bridge past Tate Modern to Borough Market. St Pauls looked glorious as is evident in the photos. Borough was a pale shadow of itself. Quite empty and with some very ordinary stalls by the Green/Lefties/Health food nut jobs. Sad. Hope that this situation changes for the better.

Old London and New London roofs

Church outside Borough Market 

Our lunches have been a delight. Our usual Chinese soup and soup noodles. So lovely and in so many variations.

Hand pulled noodles with Beijing style Preserved Pork

Noodle Soup with Siu Youk [Crispy Pork]

Noodle Soup with Dumplings

Dan Dan Noodles with minced Pork

The West knows nothing

People in the West are incredibly dumb!. Don’t all of us Indians love saying that? After all we invented the `Zero’, we have some 3000 [or is it 5000? – doesn’t really matter] years of culture from the Indus Valley Civilisation. We have CEOs [some women CEOs to boot] who head their mega multinationals and financial institutions. We are really quite smart and have the smugness to match.

If you were allergic to nuts [the real nuts, not nut cases] or if your child was allergic to nuts what would you assume if you were given a packet of nuts to eat. You or your child would simply read the label and push the packet away. Would you require further instructions to tell you that the packet of nuts does, in fact, contain nuts? No. You see, we are Indians, and, we are smart. Here in the West you are not smart and need everything spelt out. Please see the instructions on the packet of Cashew Nuts that are served on the flight.

Now, we Indians [especially the religious ones which basically means virtually everyone] know instinctively what is veg and what is non veg. Veg and non veg themselves being words of Indian origin, the Western word would be non vegetarian. In fact, on many occasions my crafty vegetarian friends have looked at a dish suspiciously and declared `It looks non veg’, such is their power. Last night we had fish and chips for dinner. The West, by the way, regards both fish and chips as vegetarian!!! I opened a bottle of wine I had and read the label. The label says the wine is suitable for vegetarians. I mean what do these guys really know?  Fish is definitely non veg, potato is definitely off the menu in any Mahavir respecting Jains house [which is basically 75% of rich Indians] and wine, and it’s totally off the menu. These guys really know nothing. I feel so sorry for them.