Conversations with a noose by the river Thames
‘What is this noose doing out there?’ I asked as we watched it swing ominously in the wind that blew in from somewhere in the direction of Tower bridge in London. ‘I really am not sure,’ said the young Frenchman who was clearly not aware of any stories that would be connected to this noose....
Look down to discover chewing gum art in London
Travel get more interesting at times when you begin stumbling upon wonderful undiscovered facets of a city or a country. And during my 2017 trip to London (which is still going on… and I do pray I meet and interview this chewing gum artist) I happened to read about chewing gum art on the Millennium...
Create or die
Being pro creation doesn’t mean you need to procreate or you will die. Nor does it work out if we just pick words out of create and say things like eat or die or rate or die. But then I guess we have all sorts in this world. After all, our eateries are thriving and...
Plane Tales, Maharaja Style
Flying Air India can be quite something. More than a mere experience I’d say as even a few hours have the power to reward one with a lifetime of humorous tales. The plane, the staff, and the flyers come together as one to keep one entertained for the entire duration and sometimes one doesn’t get...
Travel is all about new eyes and not new landscapes
The first time I was in London was sometime in the mid-nineties and then for the next three years the city became an annual celebration. There was then a gap of a few years and the London happened again… and then again a couple of years later. I remember a friend asking, ‘Don’t you get...
The adventurous woman in my life
I clicked this and the other pics inside the London Olympics Park in Stratford. This happened on one of our walks there when Specky, my wife, pointed to the site where a Burma bridge and other rope obstacles beckoned. She said, ‘I’ve never done all this.’ I said, ‘Go ahead and reach for the top....
My Yorkshire aromas
My awareness of the relationship between an aroma and a place began around twenty years back in York. We were here because Specky was a Commonwealth Scholar at the University of York and working for her DPhil then. Out of India for the first time, every little whiff of any sort of fragrance that came...
The battle between black cabs and mobile apps
London. 11 June 2014. The black cab strike London is a great city if you choose to walk. Well, there are buses, trams, trains, and cabs too but if you’re in central London, you really don’t want to pay for a transport miss out on stopping every few seconds to unsling your DSLR and go...
Poet for hire
London. Queen’s Walk. 10 June 2014 London surprises you every time. I mean, just look at what happens on crossings in New Delhi. You find the same kind of ragamuffins selling pirated books, or similar looking amateur kid gangs doing the same act of threading their unexpectedly slim body through an astonishingly small ring...
Back to the Thames River walk
London. 09 June 2014. We’re a mere 10 minute walk from our sighting of the Tower Bridge in London. Our first day in London began as a day that was classified as a pleasant day here and towards afternoon, Monika said, ‘Let’s go out.’ And thus began our Thames River walk again after a gap...
QR 565 and QR 005
New Delhi to London via Doha. Qatar Airways. 08 June 2014 Uber. The day has been outstanding so far or as the German would have said: ‘Above the ordinary!’ It began with a ride in Uber Cabs to IGIA, then some great service in Qatar Airways, and then a few hours spent at a...
Passion, Pain, and Possibility
The year was 1994. Specky, my wife, came in and said, ‘I’ve won the scholarship.’ That’s it. Nothing more. But I didn’t need any more information. I knew exactly what she meant. She had just been awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship to go and get her DPhil from the UK. So this is how I got...
