Tuesday, February 17, 2009
London
I put in a solid three hours of work at my PC in bed before I stirred out to start my day . Before 6 am, I turned to The Prisoner of Azkaban and by 7 am, I was checking and responding to email. Then, because I knew I had to be at Buckingham Palace by 11 am, I began transcribing the interview with Cecil and Mary Wilson that I had done a couple of weeks ago.
This is strenuous and exhausting work and it absolutely guzzles time away! When next I looked at my watch, it was 9 am and I had merely begun. Still, with time spent on my breakfast, my Alternate Soaks and my exercises, I could only just squeeze in a shower before I had to leave my flat for the bus ride to the Palace. The website had informed me last night that in winter the Changing of the Guard takes place every alternate day while in summer it occurs daily. I was keen to get pictures of the guards in their winter garb–wearing the long grey coats in the style of their Kremlin counterparts, so there I was making my way on a pleasantly mild day to find a spot most advantageous to the clicking of pictures.
Only I did not bargain with the fact that this is ‘half-term week’ (winter break)–when schools all over the country are closed. Droves of youngsters have descended on the capital from every corner of the United Kingdom and they had found themselves seats all around the Victoria Memorial. Long before I got to the Palace precincts, while I was still in St. James Park and strolling along Pall Mall, I wondered at the heavy police security and the numbers of people that had turned up despite it being what I thought would be ‘off-season’.
Still, I found myself a spot, though not the best as I later discovered and positioned myself for the clicking of photographs. I did not have not to wait too long. Within ten minutes, the first marching banks passed along in their red cloaks, their instruments gleaming golden in the watery sunshine. Indeed the sun made valiant attempts to elbow its way through a mass of thick clouds, but failed hopelessly in the effort. As the first rows of guards appeared, I discovered the name of the giant bear-skin hats they wear–busbees! Live and Learn, I thought, for I had never known that this was what those hats were called–I always just called them bear-skin hats! I received this little nugget of information from an English Dad standing near me who was explaining the ceremony to his little girl. I know I will never forget that word–busbee!
After the marching band and the crocodiles of guards went past–all attired in the expected grey overcoats, their winter regalia–a pair of coaches kept riding by in stately fashion. They were fully covered and I failed to see the point of them. Was there someone inside? If so, who and where was that person going? I was much too far from the Palace gates to see what was going on within the front yard. But at least I do know where to stand the next time I decide to do this highly “touristic” activity–in the summer, when they are back to wearing their red uniforms. In fact, I still find it hard to believe that despite innumerable visits to London, this was the very first time ever that I was ‘doing’ the Changing of the Guard. One more item just got ticked off my To-Do List!
Mission Accomplished, I made my way to the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies as I was keen to borrow two books that I need for my Anglo-Indian research. It is the information contained in these books that will allow me to call for the specific documents that I wish to examine at the British Library. To my dismay, I discovered that while I can use the SOAS library for reference, I cannot take material out of the premises. This is because NYU is not affiliated to the University of London colleges–only to UCL (I’m still not sure what the difference is!). Hence, I can use the Senate House Library at the University of London freely.
Disappointed, I made my way past the Hare Krishna free food stall outside SOAS where I availed myself of the services of the organization to pick up a plate of rice with peanuts, a vegetable curry and some pumpkin bread. Replete with my unexpected meal, I made my way up the maze that is the Senate House Library and on going through the online catalogue and stacks, I had another disappointment for I discovered that the two books I wanted to borrow were not in the library (Frank Anthony and Herbert Stark). Very dejected indeed, I borrowed two other books instead (Alison Blunt and Lionel Caplan) and will now have to find a way to get those books out of SOAS–probably by having someone else take the books out for me.
Since it was still only a little after 3 pm, I decided to get to the nearby British Museum and take a look at the 20 Highlights that are supposed to be covered by first-time visitors to the Museum in three hours. I became aware of this self-guided tour through my students Frank and Max who took the tour on the date that I had assigned a Museum visit in lieu of a class (when I had so bad a hoarse throat that I could barely speak). It was easy enough to follow and I decided to cover about 12 of them on the Ground Floor. These were the items I saw today:
1. The Sloane Atrolabe (map that points to the position of the stars).
2. A Colossal Bust of Rameses the Great in the Egyptian Gallery (Supposedly inspired Shelley’s Ozymandias).
3. An Easter Island Statue called Hoa Hakananai’a. (Since I will probably not get to Easter Island itself, this was the closest I came to one of these mysterious sculptures).
4. Aztec Turquoise Serpent (Exquisite)
5. Group of Tang Ceramic Tomb Figures (Massive and quite astounding indeed)
6. Cloisonne Jar with Dragons (really large ginger jar with minute enamelling all over it)
7. Jade Cong (Couldn’t quite made sense of these objects at all despite the accompanying explanation. They are 5,000 years old and show superb craftsmanship for the time in the precision with which they are cut and polished)
8. Jade Terrapin from Allahabad. (This was really astonishing…a giant jade turtle that was made for Prince Salim–who became the Emperor Jehangir–in India. He had a special love for wild life and the turtle is found in the waters of the Ganges river where it meets with the Yamuna at the town that the Hindus called Praag and that Emperor Akbar changed to Allahabad)
As I had already seen the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon Marbles and the Assyrian Lion Hunt Reliefs earlier on other visits, I decided to skip them though they were also on the Highlights List. There are about 12 more items on the Museum’s list and I shall try to complete my study of them this week.
Then, I was headed home on a bus, fairly falling from fatigue. I made myself an Alternate Bath and sat to watch the new TV channel that debuted today–Blighty. It featured a show on the Coast of Scotland (Orkney Islands) with special emphasis on the marine life to be found in the area. I found it interesting but as I have so little time for TV watching, much as I would like to to, I don’t think I will find a great deal of time to get acquainted with the channel and its promising offerings.
At 5 pm, I continued the transcribing of the taped interview that I had left unfinished in the morning, I had been concentrating on my work so much that I quite forgot that Ivana was on her way to meet me as we had made plans to meet up for a drink. Ivana arrived at 8pm, just as I was putting the finishing touches on my interview with Cecil Wilson. I excused myself for another five minutes while I wrapped up, then climbed into my clothes and left with Ivana.
I suggested The Mitre, a neighborhood pub in Hatton Gardens that Tim and Barbara had pointed out to me which dates from 1542. It is certainly the oldest pub in our neighborhood and when Ivana saw it, she was totally enchanted. She walked around it as if in a trance, taking in the cute courtyard (filled with worried attorneys drowning their sorrows in ale–who knows how long they will continue to have jobs?) and the bar area that was so small, so cozy and so ancient, it reeked of so much more than booze–age and history was what was proclaimed from the exposed beams–as we settled down with our shandy and cider and then decided to order a bite as well. We enjoyed the pub’s ‘toasties’–toasted sandwiches and sausage rolls and pork pies and caught up on our lives. I was amazed to recall that I hadn’t seen Ivana since our walk in Chelsea and Battersea just before Christmas. She wanted to know all about my trip to Berlin (as she grew up in that historic city) and everything else that I had been doing since we last met!
By 10 pm, though Ivana wanted another pint, I was nodding off and told her that I had had a very early start. We parted company at the entrance to my building, promising to get together again at her place at Elephant and Castle sometime soon. Then, I brushed my teeth and climbed into bed and began to jot down a few lines on to this blog.