In and around the city...

I went to London..
I saw a gundan..
His name was Manikandan.
This was the first and only instance i had heard of London before coming here. of course, i
was aware of the bomb blast.but then this is all i could ve shared with you if you had
asked me about this place.
last weekend i had spent in the hotel itself.. trying to call most of the ppl back home.
this weekend a batchmate of mine had come down to london. so we both went out for sometime
on saturday.. collected passes for roaming around the city the next day and then came
home.. that day also turned out to be my first day ofcooking..i wasnt cooking all alone.. i
had this friend of mine and my roomies to help with the cooking and took care that the food
never went to the dustbin.. and it turned out pretty tasty that we ate up every bit of it..
so after that we went off to sleep after a tired day and hoping for some more of roaming
around and fun for the next day..

london i had known is a very good place for sight seeing and attractions around. but one
thing i did not know was we need to really know the history of the place to really
appreciate the marvels.since i did not know, i never bothered about it..
i did not have any expectations before going around.. not the thrilled kind of feeling to
go around the city singing,.
londona suthi paaka poraen...
bukingham palace paaka poren..
big ben il eri nikka poren..
na elizabeth raani pola varen..

but still knew it would take care of the day..so got up slightly early.. around 7 and
started ....not knowing a thing about the city, the tubes and the places to see.. just asked a
roomie about where to start and with that rough idea, me and my friend ajay left..
before i go any further, the london transport needs special mention.especially the tube
system..its slightly complicated. but once u understand it, it makes u appreciate how
systematic it is. u dont need to ask a single person to travel from one place to
another.buses are also good. its just the time taken is more in case of bus.. and both are
a reliable source of transport.
we took a travel card that costs around £6 that would let us go anywhere within london
through either bus or train or both..and it turned out to be worth the money.. made full
use of it( just like i would make the maximum out of an unlimited meal)
The first place we went to was the bukhingham palace.i knew the queen lived there.but when
i went there there were so many buildings within the compound that i did not know which one
was the palace and where exactly the queen lived. there was a guard with a long cap who
never battered an eyelid just like the guy who stands at vgp golden beach. probably that
was the place the queen lived..but too much for a single person to stay.. just to give an
anology, seven people stay in our house and that would probably be the size of the toilet
in that palace...it was huge..
and then we had gone to St.James Park. Picturesque spot it was. but couldnt really enjoy
because it was too cold to slowly walk around..
and then very near to that was the big ben...i have heard about that but when i saw it was
just like our central station. again as i said i should ve gone through the history of it..
still i do not know..so ur kind of spared of some of that story in this mail..
and then the old palace of london.. huge one..i kept gazing like i had done when i first
saw the LIC..london is probably the best place to be onsite i thought..i still havent gone
to a few places there because i thought ill go there once i get a camera..and so next we
started to our next spot.. the tower of london... this is yet another place which i ve seen
only in wallpapers which we get in email forwards...i have heard about this.. very early in
lkg..with that rhyme.. london bridge is falling down.. my fair lady.. build it up with iron
bars.. my fair lady.. memoirs of an lkg boy.. with a bridge connecting the two sides of the thames river.something like the pamban
bridge.. not that sacred a place.but good enough to feel proud of walking over the famous
Thames River of England. it really is nice to visit places which we never would ve thought
would ve been possible. the best part is that we get a chance to visit these places with
the company's help..
from there we went to lecester square.. not sure if i ve spelt it right.. thats a shopping
area in london. very crowded place it is.. we can call it a sophesticated ranganadhan
street..

after that we were back home... to 32,connaught avenue.( thats where i live.. very short
for an address right. more like 7g rainbow colony..)
ok...now here is the wrap up..

Even in my wildest of dreams, i had never thought i would be onsite at such an early part
of my career and that too to a place like london which is supposedly the most expensive
city in the world. I have been lucky to have got this opportunity to come here and also go
around the city.. i thank god for giving me all this which i really do not know whether i
deserve or not. but i know one thing for sure that there are still so many of them who
deserve to get all this. For all those who are onsite and goin to be onsite, remember u are
lucky for ur goin to be visiting exotic places...for all those back home remember that u
are now at the most loveable place in the world coz that is where ur home is. cherish every
moment u spend in india.. in chennai.. and in your home cos that is where ur people are..
that is where love is.. all the indians abroad miss india a lot...hold india very high and
walk with pride that more than anything else they are indians..and that is the same way i
am.. all through this blog, which i just went through, i had inadvertently compared the
places i went with places in india...the analogies may not be perfect but thats the way i
see it.
sorgamae enralum adhu nam naatuku eedaguma..
ada ennadhan enralum adhu nam oora pola varuma...

i may not have been very eager to go around london.. but am eagerly waiting to
sing...madrasa suthi paaka poren.. for which i might have to wait for one more year...


Watch this space for more updates!!!