Free Lecture at Gresham College.

May5

Tuesday, May 5, 2009
London

The city limped slowly back to life today after the three-day weekend and by 10 am. it was business as usual on High Holborn–and I mean that literally. So many shops that had stayed closed through three long days opened their shutters noisily this morning and got on with their week.

I spent the morning, after an early breakfast (cereal–yes!! after ages with a cup of strawberry yogurt) transcribing an interview I did with Ashley Jacob. It went really quickly as his responses had been brief. With an hour on my hands, I sat to write a commissioned essay for a new forthcoming anthology on The Anglo-Indian Woman to be published by my friend and mentor Blair Williams of New Jersey. It also progressed rapidly. Ideas came fast and furious and I put them down quickly, editing as I went along. So engrossed was I in my task that I did not realize it was already 12 .15 and I just about had the time for a quick shower before I set of for Gresham College that is just across the street from my building.

It was only this past Sunday when I went to mass that I picked up a booklet in St. Etheldreda’s Church listing a series of Free Public Lectures run by Gresham College and given by leading experts in a variety of fields. I so wish I had found out about this earlier as the location is so convenient to reach and the topics so fascinating, There was, for instance, a whole series of talks on American politics and, in particular, on the significance of some recent presidents to the history of the nation. I know I would have dearly loved to attend those.

Well, this afternoon at 1 pm, the lecturer was Tom Korner of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and his talk was intriguingly entitled “Mathematics and Smallpox”. I arrived at Gresham College’s St. Barnard’s Hall about five minutes before it began. This gave me the opportunity to scrutinize my surroundings and take in the lofty timbered ceiling, the oil painted portraits on the wall–Thomas Gresham’s portrait was nearest my seat–and the air of intellectual antiquity that the space exuded. Ah, it did feel good to be in the presence of so many eggheads–about a hundred in all, all math whizzes I would bet…which ought to have made me feel completely out of place!

Except that I did not. In fact, I felt fully in my element. Tim Korner’s lecture was obviously prepared a long long time ago and was being quite cleverly recycled–having become rather apropos in the frenzy surrounding the global outbreak of swine flu! It was delivered through a series of OUP projections–now how long ago did that device become defunct??!! Time he got acquainted with Powerpoint, I thought to myself as he began to describe the pattern of occurrence and symptoms of smallpox with reference to Dickens’ Bleak House and the unnamed disease that Esther Summerson has (which rendered her temporarily blind and scarred for life).

Korner’s lecture focused on mathematical theories of probability and their effectiveness in predicting outbreaks of the disease as well as the efficacy of inoculations in curtailing them. I found it deeply interestingly despite the fact that I knew little about mathematics and less about smallpox at the beginning of it! The talk lasted exactly 50 minutes which left 10 minutes for questions. Within an hour, I was out of there and in five minutes, I was back home–now how fabulous is that?

Back at my laptop, I continued writing my article, all the while keeping an eye on the word count. By about 5 pm, I was pleased with the first draft and decided to email it to Blair for his initial feedback. During the next couple of days, I shall fine tune it and will, hopefully, have it ready before Chriselle gets here. God knows I will not have a second to breathe once she is here with me as we want to squeeze so much into our very limited time together.

At 5pm, I decided to set out for some fresh air, this time to the Senate House Library where I had to return a book I had borrowed (Alison Blunt’s Domicile and Diaspora–a book about Anglo-Indian women in their domestic milieu) and used the opportunity to get to my office at NYU to print a number of documents on which I have been working this past week as well as photocopy some parts of Blunt’s book. I also needed to pick up a stack of papers left for me for grading on ‘Topics in Contemporary British Politics and Culture’ and I needed to empty out the shelves of books in my office as I would now like to start shipping my books back home to the States. When I vacate this flat at the end of the month and move to my new place in Farringdon, I want to take just two suitcases with me filled only with the clothes I will need for the months of June and July.

Ticking all these items off my To-Do List once I got to our Bedford Square campus took me more than 2 hours. So it was only after 8pm, that I left my office to return home with my strolley filled with all my books, files and other paraphernalia that I have accumulated in 8 months’ use of that basement office space! It left me time to check email again, then have my dinner (a piece of fried cod and a small salad) while watching a special on the Gold channel–a series of extracts from the TV show Blackadder that all my new English friends have been telling me I should make certain I watch. Did you know that there is a group on Facebook that calls itself “The Everything I Know about British History I learned from Blackadder Group”? I discovered that some of my favorite British actors are a part of the cast (Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and, of course, Rowan Atkinson, for instance). I also discovered that one of my favorite British writers–Richard Curtis–was involved with the script from the very beginning. How marvelous, I thought. I really ought to buy the series and take it back to the States with me to watch at my leisure at home.

It was about 10.30 before I dragged myself to my bathroom to brush and floss my teeth, write this blog and get ready for bed because I suddenly found myself feeling sleepy and rather exhausted–and this though I had decided not to continue on the Julbilee Walk but to give my feet a day’s rest !!!

As they would say in Brooklyn, ‘Go figure’!

The Jubilee Walk –Part 3

May4

Monday, May 4, 2009
London

When I awoke at 6.45 am today, the silence outside my window told me that it was a holiday. I had an early breakfast (went back to two slim slices of multigrain bread with Three Fruits Marmalade from Sainsbury and a cup of coffee–deciding to return to the carbs but go easy on them as I have reached my goal weight), then returned to my PC to start transcribing the interview I did with Dulcie Jacob. In-between I responded to email that keep trickling in as a response to the mass mailing I did yesterday to thank folks for their entries in my Golden Memories Album.

With the interview in the bag, I spoke to my parents in Bombay, then had a light lunch–a slice of pizza and an apple–and set off for Piccadilly and Knightsbridge to run a couple of errands. Holborn is such a commercial area that on a holiday there are so few residents here. Most of the businesses were shut and with some buses off the road, I entered the 242 to Holborn, then switched to a 38 that took me to Regent’s Street. I headed straight for the Visit Britain office to pick up the two London Passes I had booked for Chriselle and myself together with the 3-day Travelcards that will allow us to use the city’s transport system to get from one attraction to the next. With Chriselle’s departure around the corner, I am getting really excited about seeing her again.

I then hopped into an old Routemaster Number 9 bus from Piccadilly headed towards Knightsbridge and went straight to Harrod’s to buy some gifts for the French family with whom I will be staying in Paris next week. I know no better gifts to give people than something with the Harrod’s trade mark logo. It really seems to be very much appreciated and it so ‘London’ a gift. With that purchase safely in the bag, I got on the bus and returned home (but not before I tried out a few fragrances at the Jo Malone counter and gave myself a nice deep penetrating nectarine and honey mask with their Vitamin E and protein serum. I wiped it off after fifteen minutes with their rosemary and lavender toner. Lovely!

The Jubilee Walk–Part 3:
Back home, I deposited my buys, checked email and left my flat again–this time I was headed to Waterloo Bridge to continue with the Jubilee Walk–Part 3. It was an overcast day and the sun stayed stubbornly hidden behind a cloudy sky. The breeze was also pretty chilly and I wished I had worn a warmer jacket though my thick merino wool sweater served me well. London was left to visitors and Londoners today and it was clear to me how many numbers of people commute into the city to work. On a day when they are not required to be at their desks, the city appears empty. This was another rather interesting observation that I made.

My first stop was the National Theater Box office where I hoped to find some way to exchange some tickets I had purchased for another day. But since there was no way out, I will have to figure out some other way to resolve my dilemma. And with that, I began my walk at exactly
3. 45 pm.

The Jubilee Walk (Part 3) today all along the South Bank took me past some of the area’s most recognizable landmarks such as the National Theatre, of course, which I think is a terribly ugly building, the Tate Modern (another ugly building that is redeemed by the unusual lines of Wobbly Bridge (the Millennium Bridge), the Globe Theater which must be one of London’s most unusual structures, the OXO Building, the new City Hall (Sir Norman Foster’s handiwork that is very similar to the glass dome on top of the Reichstag in Berlin (same concept–a winding spiral staircase inside a glass dome), and Tower Bridge that is getting a new lick of paint (in preparation for the Olympics, perhaps?). The absence of the sun’s rays made it difficult to get good pictures but I did pose for a few and asked a variety of people to click for me.

One of the more interesting aspects of my walk today was the lifting of the Tower Bridge’s drawbridge that opened up to allow a sailing craft with a very tall mast to pass by under it. It was fun indeed to watch it rise and then lower itself so smoothly. Of course, all foot and vehicular traffic came to a standstill as everyone stopped to watch this fascinating and rather rare phenomenon. Needless to say, I clicked away hoping to see the drawbridge in various stages of operation.

Though for the most part, I have traversed these paths several times before, there were some aspects of this walk that were new to me. For example, I had never gone under London Bridge and I found it rather spooky and very reminiscent of the novels of Dickens. So it did not surprise me to find my notes pointing to the fact that Bill Sykes killed Nancy at this spot in Oliver Twist. The London Dungeon is not too far away and walking by it, I saw a brochure which indicated to me very clearly that this exhibit is not my cup of tea! I also passed through the Hay’s Galleria for the very first time–I had read about this place in one of my English Home magazines. Though it was less frenzied than it might be on a working day, it was fun to sit inside and rest my weary feet for a while.

A little later, I was crossing ornate Tower Bridge and finding myself on the other side where I followed the Jubilee Route that took me to St. Katherine’s Dock with its yacht wharf and its restaurants. Back in the vicinity of the Tower of London, I posed for a picture with an obliging Yeoman Guard (one of the Beefeaters) with Tower Bridge in the background and then stopped to take a close look at Traitor’s Gate and tried to imagine all the unfortunate souls who were led to their deaths through this entrance (Sir Thomas More and Anne Boleyn, for instance). How wretched they might have felt!

At this point, I passed a kiosk run by Paul’s Patisserie and since their hot chocolate is my favorite in the city and the wind was so biting, it felt good to nurse the paper cup in my frozen palms as I sipped the elixir slowly. At this point, my quest for a bus to get back home took me through a most convoluted route past the Guildhall that I was seeing for the first time until I found one that could get me to my doorstep.

By the time I reached home at 6 pm, I was starving but my email kept me busy as did a call from Llew. I was able to eat dinner (a cup of asparagus soup, Scotch egg, and my Pear Salad) only at 8 pm by which time I was dreaming of a refreshing shower and a good long and very deep sleep.

Baisakhi at Trafalgar Square and The Jubilee Walk (Part 2)

May3

Sunday, May 3, 2009
London

I awoke at 6. 15 am to the realization that it was my Dad’s birthday today. Given the time difference between London and Bombay, it would be best to call him at 8 am. But then, since it is a Sunday and I’d be getting ready for church at that time, I thought it best to call him just before I left for the 9 am mass.

Between taking a look and responding to my email and proofreading this blog, it was almost 8.30 am before I got out of bed, washed and dressed and left for the 9 am mass at St. Etheldreda’s Church at Holborn Circus. I did call my Dad and had a brief word with him, my Mum and my brother Russel before I left my flat. Mass was through at 10 am when I got straight home to eat my breakfast. I have lost about six and half pounds in two weeks on my low-carb diet but I have to say that I am craving sweets and feel a deep sugar deprivation. Still, I managed to fight the urge to eat something sweet and opted instead for eggs, bacon and sausages with coffee.

Then, I sat down to transcribe the interview I had done with Marion Holley a couple of weeks ago and found that it went rather quickly as her responses had been brief. Since I did not stick to a definite questionnaire with the Holleys, I had to fit their comments into the questions I usually pose to my subjects. It was close to 2 pm when I was all done with it and ready to email it to my office to be printed.

Baisakhi with London’s Sikh Community:
It was another beautiful day in London and realizing that the Punjabi holy day of Baisaikhi was being celebrated at Trafalgar Square, I dressed and decided to take a peep at it and when I was done there to get to Great George Street to continue Part 2 of the Jubilee Walk. The bus dropped me at Trafalgar Square which was already jammed with Indians, mainly Sikhs. There was a stage erected and a musical troupe was singing some spiritual songs. On one end of the square were a number of food kiosks where free Punjabi vegetarian food was being distributed. I joined the throngs and received a plastic spoon, plate and paper napkin before the food was doled out to me: a helping of chole, a paratha (which I declined–too high in carbs), a samosa filled with peas and potatoes and a bottle of spring water. Other than the samosa which contained potatoes, I guess I didn’t too badly on the carb front. When I finished my lunch (while seated on the parapet that faces Africa House), I walked down Whitehall towards the Horse Guards Parade. I crossed the Parade Ground and arrived at the point at which I had ended Part 1 of the Jubilee Walk yesterday.

The Jubilee Walk (Part 2):
Part 2 took me to Parliament Square and then to the doors of Westminster Abbey. These, of course, are parts of the city that I have often traversed both on foot and numerous times by bus. Still, it was fun to follow the silver disks set in the pavements and to read the notes that give a brief history of each of these famous landmarks. It was exactly 2. 30 when I began my walk and by 2. 45, I was crossing St. Margaret’s Green and arriving on the opposite side of the street and entering the Millbank Gardens where I had never been before. I saw August Rodin’s sculpture The Burghers of Calais for the very first time in its London setting–I have seen other castings of the same sculpture at the Rodin Museum in Paris many years ago and, of course, there is another version in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Petrie Court.

The Thames flowed placidly by on this clear and very pleasant afternoon. There was a slight breeze that picked up occasionally making me zip up my light suede jacket and tie my silk scarf more closely around my throat; but, for the most part, I was very comfortable temperature-wise. In the same park, I saw a the Buxton Slavery Abolition Monument with its interesting enamel decoration and conical shape and then on I went across Lambeth Bridge.

I had never been across Lambeth Bridge before and when I arrived on the South Bank of the Thames, I discovered Lambeth Palace. I had never even heard of Lambeth Palace and I wondered again how many palaces there are in this city. Right next to Lambeth Palace is the Church of St. Mary’s, Lambeth, a beautiful stone church with a flat clock-faced tower–the kind I find so evocative of the English countryside. Well, guess what? This church is not a church anymore–it is a Garden Museum! I read a notice board that explained that its conversion to a garden museum prevented it from being demolished! The museum was closed (being a Sunday) but I was able to stroll through a most charming garden that was already in full bloom.

A Garden in Shades of Pink and Purple:
I just cannot get over the fact that spring comes so early to England and then progresses so rapidly! At this time of year, daffodils are just making an appearance in New England gardens on the North Atlantic coast and it would not be until mid-June that I would see the lush growth that has already taken over the perennial flower beds in this museum garden. These beds were just gorgeous to behold and I took an endless number of pictures of plantings that had been ingeniously designed to feature a lavender color palate. There were marvelous giant irises in the softest mauve and the deepest purple. There were lovely aliums rising tall and stately in the middle of the beds. Magenta and pink flowers whose names I do not know combined with the shades of purple as did a profusion of white bushes. The design was so superb that I marveled at the talent of the gardener who had conceived of these combinations. Though the notes informed the visitor that this was a particularly difficult part of the garden to plant and maintain, you certainly could not guess that fact. I enjoyed this garden so much that I spent a few minutes on a bench near an iron fountain that wasn’t playing but which brought a nice focal point to the landscape.

Then, I was crossing the road and walking for a long while along the Albert Embankment taking in the sights of the Houses of Parliament across the river and all the time approaching the London Eye. This is a particularly quiet part of the river walk and is a marked contrast to the other side that you arrive at after you stroll under Westminster Bridge.

Below Westminster Bridge:
From this point on, the activity becomes rather frenzied as the crowds thicken. Again, this is a part of the Embankment that I have never walked through and I was amazed at how many tourist attractions are crammed in its vicinity. There is the London Aquarium, the Museum of Movies (there was a Charlie Chaplin double on a balcony above entertaining the crowds below), and, of course, this is the boarding point for the London Eye. This was one attraction I have not been on and really did want to do; but I figured I would do it when Chriselle got here and now with her change in program, I don’t think there will be time for me to fit it in. I shall certainly do it with Llew when he comes back here in July.

So on I went, after I took a few pictures of the London Eye and this time I was headed towards Waterloo Bridge–a section of the South Bank that was simple chockful of street side entertainers all along the border of the Jubilee Gardens. There were singers and dancers and musicians, jugglers and costumed characters of all kinds. They vied for attention and the competition was stiff. I realized that with the weather having changed for the better, these guys will now be out in droves entertaining the flocks of tourists who pay good money just to pose with them.

I went back the British Film Institute and the Hayward Gallery and the National Theater and by then it was 4. 30 and my feet had had enough for the day. I climbed the stairs, found myself on Waterloo Bridge and took the bus back home.

A Productive Evening at Home:
At 5 pm, when I reached home, I was hungry and my craving for sugar hadn’t abated one bit. I decided that I just had to give in, having been so good for 2 whole weeks–so I ate a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam and a pot of Sainsbury’s hazelnut yogurt and I felt replete. This certainly satisfied my sweet tooth but probably did extreme damage to my metabolism that hasn’t had to process sugar for a long while. OH well!!! I refuse to feel remorseful about giving it to temptation. Since it was such a late tea, I decided that I would not probably have myself a dinner tonight.

At this point, I spent more than an hour of the evening doing something I have been meaning to do for a whole year–send out Thank you notes to all the folks who had walked down Memory Lane with me last July when Chriselle had sent out requests for items for a Golden Memories Album for my birthday. I had imagined that this would take much longer than it actually did and now I can’t understand why I waited for such a long time to send out these messages.

I sat to make a few calls to my relatives and friends and then decided to do something else I have been meaning to do for a long while–have myself a long soak in the bath tub. Now that I have to vacate this flat at the end of the month, I want to savor all its pleasures and I began by running a bath and pouring a few drops of fragrant Pomegranate Noir bath oil in it by Jo Malone. Then I lit myself a grapefruit scented candle, dimmed the lights low, found a copy of The English Home magazine and gave myself up to the delights and comforts of a long and very leisurely soak.

Then, I got ready for bed, for I was feeling extremely dehydrated after my soak. I wrote this blog, checked to make sure I had no more email from my students who are looking for feedback on their final essays… and then I finally fell asleep.

In Search of Burberry and The Jubilee Walk (Part 1)

May2

Saturday, May 2, 2009
London

I awoke at 4. 00 am today (groan!!!) and I could not sleep after that. So, I switched on my bedside lamp and began reading The Order of the Phoenix for an hour. At 5. 30, I felt sleepy again, dropped off (thank goodness!) and then awoke at 7 am.

Email, calls to India (to my brother Roger and my nephew) and I was ready to make myself some coffee. Holborn was silent as a graveyard (as it usually is on weekends). This weekend will be quieter than usual as it is the long “Early May Bank Holiday” (whatever that means!) weekend and I guess most people will have travelled out of town. I carried a tray with my coffee and other paraphernalia to my bed and began to work on a revised itinerary for Chriselle’s trip.

There were numerous calls to make. I phoned Bishop Michael at St. Paul’s to reschedule the tour of the Cathedral that he had set up for us this morning as well as our afternoon tea plans at The Wolsley Hotel and then the Backstage Tour at the National Theater. I also booked tickets for us to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theater and finally I booked our 3-day London Pass which includes 3-day Travelcards because they are being offered at a special May Day 10 % discount rate and I figured I might as well take advantage. What with all this stuff to do, I could only have my breakfast at 11 am (eggs and bacon and sausages–yes, still low-carb).

Buying a Trench coat at Burberry:
By then it was almost 11. 30 and with the sun shining so beckoningly outside, I decided to do something I have wanted to do for a long while–get to the Burberry Factory Store in Hackney to buy myself a new trench coat. This was definitely something I wanted to take back home to the States and having done some research, I discovered that rates are best in this factory outlet. Though it is quite a hike into Hackney, I figured that with my bus pass, I could get there quite easily. Besides, there is a direct bus that goes from right outside my building (the 242) all the way to the far side of the East End.

And then since I was going to Hackney, I figured I would also visit Sutton House, a National Trust property that is not very well-known. Using the internet, I found directions to the venue and off I went. The bus trundled along within a few seconds of my arriving at the bus-stop. En route, I graded a bunch of student essays–so the ride was very productive for me. We passed the busy Bank of England area and went further and further into Shoreditch, past the Geffrye Museum and into an area that I had never traversed before. Before long, I was at Hackney Central mainline station and on my way to the Burberry store.

This part of London is entirely different from anything I have seen so far. First of all, it is all rather run down. Secondly, I passed a series of auto body shops that ran parallel to the railway line. Auto mechanics were the only people on this entire road. Thirdly, the population demographic had changed completely and I realized that I was right in the heart of Black Britain–there were loads of people with Caribbean accents all around the place–many recent immigrants among them. The bus stops were teeming with people and there was no sign of a queue of any kind.

I was amazed at how many people were at the Burberry store before me! It turns out that there was a big Sale on–now whether this sale was only for this weekend or has been on for a while, there was no telling. Many of the racks were all cleaned out–which probably means I had arrived at the tail end of it. The space is large and the amount of items to be perused was rather confusing. I did manage to find the racks that held the khaki trench coats that I wanted and in a few minutes I found one in my size–thank goodness they have American and European sizes listed on the labels–this made it easy for me to find the size I was seeking. The price was right, the fit was good, the decision was made. With my coat under my arm, I went looking for a scarf in their signature beige tartan and, guess what? I ended up buying the very last cashmere one on the shelf!!! These were exactly the two things I had hoped to find and as soon as I spotted them, I swooped on them and headed to the till. There was a long line ahead of me–people were buying clothing as if it were going out of style! Thousands of pounds worth of merchandise changed hands before my eyes as the line inched forward slowly. Then, with my buys safely in my possession and the VAT refund slip helpfully filled out by the sales clerk, I was on my way.

The National Trust’s Sutton House:
I asked for directions and in about ten minutes, I was at Sutton House, my next port of call. This is a really nondescript building clad in dark brick with a rather sombre look to it. Once inside, I found it rather empty. There was an assistant in the shop and a small cafe at the back (with very reasonably priced eats and drinks), a small courtyard garden that was quite delightful with its climbing vines and potted flowers. And then my tour of the house began.

Sutton House is a Tudor building that was built by one Ralph Sadleir in the middle of the 1500s. He was a close confidant of the King and played a major role in the politics of the reign of Henry VIII being involved in the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. As a nobleman, his home boasted some of the trappings of the day that pronounced status and power such as the oak wood panelling that is still to be found in many of the rooms. My very favorite pattern of Tudor panelling called Linenfold Paneling is evident in the Grand Room on the ground floor. The carving on the wood looked like folded, or more correctly, pleated cloth. I had been most taken by this feature of interior decor at Hampton Court Palace about five years ago when Llew, Chriselle and I had spent the day there. Little did I think that I would have the chance to see it again–and this time I was delighted because I was able to take pictures of it as well (something that is forbidden at Hampton Court).

My self-guided tour took me upstairs into a few more rooms that boast more carved panelling and some paintings including one of Sadleir and his later 18th century descendants painted by a female portraitist called Mary Beale–a rather unusual find as women portraitists were so rare at the time. There were other rooms in the house (A Georgian Parlor, for instance and a Victorian dining room) but other than its age, there was really nothing that this property can boast and I wondered why the National Trust even bothers to run it (since not many people bother to visit it).

On the floor at the very top of the house, while I was inspecting a large mural that was presumably painted by squatters who had taken over the house during its transition into the care of the National Trust, I heard a buzzing sound (as if made by a bumble bee) and then a rustling. I have to say that I panicked as there was no one else in the room with me and no one around on that floor at all. My mind went immediately to a ghost as so many of these old London homes have resident ghosts in them and the last thing I wanted was to feel someone or something brush past me or tap me on the shoulder! I got the heck out of there as fast as I could and decided that if I am going to explore any more of these National Trust properties, I had better go to homes that are crowded with visitors. These deserted, even neglected, properties might be filled with interesting antiques and night hark back to fascinating epochs of history but they do give me the creeps!

A short walk later, I was back at Hackney Central and boarding the 242 bus home. My papers were graded on the bus and with a stack under my arm, I got back home to have a very late lunch (it was 4 pm and I was hungry but contented myself with a cup of soup and a salad). I spoke to Llew on the phone for a few minutes, then sat to rewrite my interview with Henry Holley–it required a great deal of restructuring to fit my questionnaire format and proofreading before I could send it off to my office for printing. By the time I finished, it was about 7 pm and with daylight still streaming through my bedroom window, I decided to set out on another one of my ambitions while in London–the Completion of the Jubilee Walk.

I had intended to do this when Chriselle came here but now with her plans having changed, we will not have the time to do it together and with the weather so perfect and my feet feeling much stronger, I figured I could complete it in the next few days before Chriselle’s arrival. So I picked up the Map and my bus pass and set out while the evening was still young.

The Jubilee Walk–Part One:
The Jubilee Walk is a 14-mile walking path that snakes over Central London’s most significant sights. It was created in 1977 in the year of the Silver Jubilee of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. If you have seen silver disks every so often set into London’s pavements and wondered what those are…well, they mark the path of the Jubilee Walk. There is a crown in the center and the cross set in it always points in the direction in which the walker should proceed. There are several walkers, I understand, who just about do the entire walk in a day–while others do it over a period of a few days. I decided to do it in about 5-6 installments.

The bus took me to Leicester Square where the walk begins. Since the evening was so perfect, there were scores of people in Leicester Square and for the first time in my life, I actually noticed all of its many interesting features. I have to say, somewhat ashamedly, that I had never noticed the sculpture of Shakespeare right in its center! Nor had I noticed the one of Charlie Chaplin close by! There is a bust of Hogarth at one of the gates. Probably I did not notice these before because I had never entered this park. All I have done is skirt its periphery or make my way to the half-price theater ticket booth at one end

This time, armed with my camera, I took several pictures and then made one more discovery. Just as there are palm prints set in cement outside Grumman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, so too there are palm prints cast in metal all along one side of the Leicester Square Park. The palm prints, of course, belong to eminent contemporary British actors such as Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth not to mention Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore and Sean Connery (James Bonds all!). Gosh, I thought, this walk is going to open my eyes to things I have passed by a gazzillion times and never noticed!

Then, I followed the crown discs and walked alongside the National Gallery where Baisakhi (a spiritual festival of the Punjabi Sikhs of North India) is to be celebrated tomorrow. I saw kiosks set up all over the square and thought I should go across for some Indian food. At each point, during the Jubilee Walk, the map I was carrying gave me details about the history and importance of the place and I quite enjoyed discovering new facts about each venue.

In The Mall, I passed under Admiralty Arch and the statue of the Duke of York on its towering pedestal and then I was walking alongside St. James Park (London’s oldest, I discovered, created in the mid-1500s) while the Mall was created in the mid-1600s. Most of the flowering trees are at their peak now and soon foliage will cover every branch and give every corner of this city a completely different look. I arrived at Buckingham Palace at the end of the Mall and discovered why it is so called. It started its life as a simple town house that belonged to the Dukes of Buckingham and I believe that the first British monarch to inhabit it was Queen Victoria!

Around St. James’ Park I went. The light was starting to fade away at about 7.45 pm and I had to hurry with the pictures I composed. There was a profusion of lovely spring flowers in the beds around the sculpture of Queen Victoria as past the grand gates I went and noticed so many lovely perennial flower-beds in the Park that sported an abundance of spring color as the azaleas have started to bloom in hot shades of pink and red and orange. Very striking indeed!

This time, I turned and walked the length of the Birdcage Walk and rounded the corner to arrive at the Cabinet War Rooms (which I hope to visit on the London Pass once Chriselle gets here) and the sculpture of Lord Clive of India dominating the grand steps that connect the two impressive buildings. Before long, I was passing the back of Number 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British Prime Minister since the mid-1700s, and found myself at the Horse Guards Parade where a number of stands have been set up around the periphery. I asked a friendly bobby what they were in aid of and he told me “Beating the Retreat and Trooping the Color”. I had no idea what either of these things meant and he explained that they were ceremonies associated with the Queen’s Birthday in June. He also told me that tickets are available and that I could purchase one if I went online. I made a mental note to find out more when I got home.

By this point, I was tired, it was 8. 30 and dusk had fallen. I could not longer take any pictures and I decided to stop and continue the Walk tomorrow. I reached the nearest bus stop and caught the buses that brought me home at a little after 9 pm for my dinner of fried cod (M&S) with a salad that I fixed with everything I could find in my fridge (romaine lettuce, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh apricots, and a dressing of mayonnaise, mustard, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I watched Masterchef At Large on UK TV’s Food channel (in which there is a contestant called Michelle who, I suspect, is a South Indian Christian probably from Mangalore or Goa. She has been churning out a variety of typically Indian dishes–minced meat cutlets, Hyderabadi biryani and shrikhand with fresh mangoes. She has made the list of semi-finalists, so naturally, I am now rooting for her).

Then, at 10 pm, I sat down to bone up on my French (in preparation for my forthcoming trips to Paris and Lyon in France in the coming weeks) and sat down to write this blog. I finally felt sleepy at about 11. 30 pm and decided to call it a day. Hopefully, I will not wake up at 4 am tomorrow morning!

A Stroll Around the Serpentine in Hyde Park

May1

Friday, May 1, 2009
London

Awaking at 6. 30 am today, I was filled with dread wondering if I am slowly returning to my schedule of a 5 am wake time. I really do hope not. I tried hard to fall back to sleep, but it simply didn’t happen and, fifteen minutes later, I sat up to read some more of The Order of the Phoenix. I turned next to email and drafted a response to Chriselle to try to figure out how best to work around her new London travel plans. At 9 am, I showered, breakfasted and at 9.45, I left home for my meeting with one of my students who wished to interview me as part of his final ethnographic assignment. This was done at 12 noon by which time I was able to go up and see Yvonne for a while to resolve some tax issues.

I stood at the bus stop on New Oxford Street for a full 10 minutes before I began to suspect that something had gone wrong with the service. Not a single bus had passed by in all that time, which is most unusal, as there is normally a bus every minute. Then, someone passed by our bus stop and told us that there was a May Day March that had caused suspension of bus service for an hour or two. I walked home then and was in my flat by1. 30 pm when I had my lunch (a salad and a cup of broccoli cheddar soup).

By 2 pm, I was transcribing my taped interviews with Henry and Marion Holley that I had done a couple of weeks ago in Windsor. I really struggled with the transcript as the tape had picked up a ton of background noise from the restaurant in which we had sat eating lunch and chatting at the same time. It was with the greatest difficulty that I managed to finish the transcribing by 4 pm at which point, since the buses had started running, I decided I needed to get out again for some air.

I also had to return my books to the Holborn Public Library, so off I went and when that errand was run, I hopped into the 38 bus that took me to Hyde Park Corner. It was a particularly warm day and with only a light jacket on, I had boarded the bus after having crammed a few term papers into my bag. My idea was to get to The Serpentine, the lake in the midst of Hyde Park to which I had never been, and to do some grading after strolling for a bit by the lake side.

In about a half hour, I was there and asking for directions and following my map, I arrived at the Serpentine. The lake is so large, it amazed me. I had never been there before and the scene before my eyes was just delightful. Boats were scattered all over the lake–some row boats (which reminded me of a scene in As Time Goes By in which a macho Lionel tries to show off his rowing skills to a very amused Jean but succeeds in merely taking the boat for a spin and getting them nowhere!) and some paddle boats that were making much greater progress across the lake.

The sky was cloudy and since we were about an hour from sunset, the dying rays made colorful streaks in the sky. Ducks paddled by the banks, joggers and cyclists were on the tracks and a bunch of strollers walked airily by every so often. It was so lovely, I could have sat there forever. However, with the breeze having picked up, I felt rather chilly and was soon pulling my jacket more tightly around me. Interestingly, I was grading a pile of essays on John Constable and his world–Suffolk and the impact of nature on his art. My students had done well overall and I was very pleased with their work as well as the beauty of nature spread out before me in the simple pleasures to be had on the lake.

In about an hour, with all my papers graded, I closed shop, put them away into my bag and walked back towards Knightsbridge to take my bus back home from Hyde Park Corner. In just a minute, I boarded it and some 45 minutes later, I was home. It had been a lovely outing and I was so glad that I was able to tick one more item off my To-Do List in London (“Stroll Around the Serpentine!”).

Switching on my PC, I discovered from my email that Chriselle has decided to come to London after all even if we get only 4 days together. I will leave for Paris on schedule (mainly because I have to attend a symposium at NYU-Paris next week) and she will continue to stay on in my flat and spend a few days discovering London on her own. She is trying to see if one of her friends, currently in Belgium, is free to join her here–in which case she will have company while I am away. At any rate, she has a few friends here who, I am sure, will also make sure she has a good time.

Llew called me and I updated him on her plans, then I sat and ate my dinner (salad with Chicken Kiev from M&S) and then decided to write this blog before restructuring my itinerary for Chriselle’s visit.

A Visit to Primrose Hill and the Cittie of Yorke Pub

Apr30

Thursday, April 30, 2009
London

I did not do anything very exciting today which, I suppose, is just as well as I had so much work pending. I awoke at 7.00 am which pleases me no end, but at the same time, I am no longer able to get done all the writing I used to when I awoke at 5 am! So I am now losing two productive hours of work!!!

I spent the entire morning transcribing an interview I did with one of my subjects last week. I started at 10.00 am and by the time I finished with it and was able to send it off to my work email address to be printed, it was almost 2 pm at which point I stopped for lunch.

The drizzle which had wet the place this morning had stopped by the afternoon and with the skies bright again, I could not resist the thought of getting out and about for a bit–I had, after all, been chained to my PC for the entire morning. So I had a shower and hopped on to a bus from Holborn and took a drive and then a long walk in Primrose Hill, a part of London of which I had heard so much and wanted very much to explore.

Primrose Hill is just north of Regent’s Park. I wasn’t exactly sure how to get there, so I hopped off at Camden Market and walked all along the periphery of Regent’s Park. This brought me to the very pretty Regent’s Park Tow Path along the Regent’s Canal–a lovely space filled with houseboats on the water. I took a few pictures and continued my walk, asking for directions as I went along. Finally, about 45 minutes later, after going by the entrance to London Zoo, I arrived at Primrose Hill. This area is mainly residential and has become very upscale in recent years what with a few English celebrities having moved here. I thought I would find some nice stores in which I could window shop, but all I saw were a few coffee chops and a large number of estate agent’s offices. There were some interior decorating stores that I browsed in, but apart from that, well, nothing much and I was disappointed.

Back home, I was getting ready for my meeting with a friend named John with whom I would be visiting the Cittie of Yorke pub that is in my very building and boasts the largest bar in all of London–in fact, it is so large that one book describes it as being “more of a baronial hall than a pub”. It also proudly states that it serves beer from Yorkshire’s oldest brewery.

But just as I was getting ready to meet up with John, Chriselle called me about a change in her dates for her visit to London and now as things stand everything is still up in the air. Since her time here will now overlap my proposed dates for a visit to Paris, I am trying to see if I can get her a Eurostar ticket to join me in Paris on the Chunnel train. This is assuming the folks in France can also accommodate her at their Paris apartment in addition to me.

Oh well… I guess we will all have to take these changes in our stride. I am happy for her as the reason for the change in her plans is that she has rather suddenly landed the part in an important commercial in the States and is looking forward to her role in it. I am really glad for her and I am now keeping my fingers crossed that everything will fall into place and that we will spend quality time together no matter where it might be.

John did ring my doorbell on schedule and we did spend a very pleasant evening together talking about my research and our mutual interests. Over a glass of white wine, he gave me many ideas and suggestions for more places to explore in the vicinity of London and I am looking forward to covering all of them.

I reached home an hour later and spent most of the evening trying to resolve the issue of dates and flight timings and that sort of thing. I was quite wrung out mentally by 10. 30 and fell asleep after brushing and flossing my teeth.

Visiting Ham House and an Afternoon with Stephen Tomkinson

Apr29

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Richmond, Surrey

It seems as if I am sleeping longer as the days are getting longer. This morning, I awoke at 7 am–not too bad at all and a far cry from 5 am. which had been my usual wake-up time for months! It left me enough time to write my blog, read 40 pages of The Order of the Phoenix and catch up with email.

I got out of bed after 10 am, showered, had my breakfast and left the house for my long bus ride to Richmond. I ran two quick errands before I boarded the bus–I had to return a battery I had bought from Maplin for a refund and I had to hand in a refund form to London Underground–I had bought a Day Travelcard on the day I traveled to Norwood and not knowing that it was also valid on the bus network, I had spent 4 pounds buying two separate bus tickets for which, I was told, I was entitled to a refund–which the clerk told me would take 21 working days! Don’t you just marvel at the way British bureaucracy works??!!

Well, I used the time aboard the bus to grade papers on what was another fabulous day. Warm sunshine and the slightest hint of a breeze made it particularly lovely. I made swift and easy connections and arrived at Richmond Tube Station at 12. 15 pm at which point I connected with another bus (the 371) that took me to Ham Street. On the bus I entered into friendly and enlightening conversation with a lovely lady from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who has lived in London for 35 years. She told me of other places to nearby visit but I simple did not have the time.

My idea was to try and squeeze in a quick visit to Ham House, also in Richmond, that is run by the National Trust. Since I have a membership to the Royal Oak Foundation (the American equivalent), I get free entrance to all National Trust-run properties which have only recently re-opened for the season. Since Richmond’s Ham House is one of these, I figured I would see it today.

It was a 10 minute hike from the bus stop to the gate of Ham House which looks far less impressive on the outside than it is within. It also has extensive formal gardens but since I had only an hour in which to check it out, I made straight for the house. Two very helpful female volunteers provided me with the brochures that would make my visit more enjoyable and suggested I go to “the Dairy” to watch the 10 minute film that gives a brief history of the house. This was exactly what I did and 15 minutes later, I made my way to the upper floor past a very small chapel, having acquired a good background about the house and its former inhabitants.

The wooden staircase is richly carved and very impressive indeed and on the upstairs landing, you are greeted by a number of 17th and 18th century members of aristocracy who gaze at you from the gilded frames of several oil portraits. The same large number of oil portraits, many by Peter Lely, are to be found in the Long Gallery, as also a large number of cabinets in ivory, Japanese lacquer and marqueted wood. The grand rooms on the ground floor speak of the wealth of the house’s inhabitants, prime among them being Elizabeth Murray whose parents originally owned the house. She married well (I forget the name of her first husband) and her husband’s wealth helped her maintain the grand home.

But Civil War broke out and very shortly, she was widowed. During Cromwell’s reign, she acted as a spy for the supporters of Charles II in exile in France (placing her life in jeopardy) and was richly rewarded for her loyalty to him when he returned to the throne in 1660 to make her a Countess. This led to her second married to the Duke of Lauderdale which furthered her power, prestige and wealth and allowed her to extend Ham House adding the opulent rooms that we see today. However, she died in poverty, easily and quickly forgotten by the royal circle within which she had revolved. Her descendants approached the National Trust, a few years ago, to maintain the house for them and visitors today are led into the intrigue and prestige of the 17th century in the rooms that were created for the visits of Queen Catherine of Braganza and her entourage.

I would dearly love to return to Ham House and Gardens and perhaps shall do so when I spend a night with Stephanie at her place in Richmond. The banks of the Thames outside London are strewn with such grand estates (Syon House is one other) and now that the weather is changing and I am free of teaching duties, perhaps I can try to see the National Trust ones.

But I had other plans for the afternoon, so by 1.45, I made my way outside, back to the bus-stop and arrived in Richmond in time for my 2. 30 pm show of Tim Firth’s Sign of the Times that starred only two actors–Stephen Tomkinson (whom I was delighted to see in the flesh after having seen him on TV in Ballykissangel) and Tom Ward. They played each other off very well in a gently amusing comedy in which Tomkinson showed his versatility by playing a character that was very different from his role in Ballykissangel where he played Fr. Peter Clifford. I munched on an apple and a peach and some pistachios in the theater–my lunch–until I bought myself a Scotch Egg at Tescos after the show and had myself a very nice afternoon at the theater.

Then, I was on the bus again headed for the city–using the drive to continue grading my papers and getting a neat batch done. But when the bus passed through Kensington High Street, I could not resist the temptation to alight and on impulse I entered Holland Park to take some pictures of the Kyoto Garden and the Orangery as I had my camera with me. I spent the next hour in these lovely environs, surrounded by flowers and twittering birds and the fragrance of wisteria and lilacs in every possible shade of purple. The Kyoto Garden has become one of my very favorite parts of London and with the azaleas in bloom in shades from soft pink to hot magenta, I was enchanted. I took my pictures, then sat on a bench overlooking the small waterfall and graded more papers as I enjoyed the perfect temperature of this gorgeous day. I had waited all winter long for days like these and now that they are here with us, I want to enjoy as much of them as I can out-of-doors.

By 7. 30 pm, I was back home, chatting with Llew on the phone and proofreading a bunch of travelogues I had written before I mail them off to my friends with my April newsletter.

Croydon Anglo-Indians and an Evening with Andrea Levy

Apr28

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
London

I awoke at 7. 30 this morning–YYYEESS!!! It is the latest I have woken up since I came to live in London. I felt enormously rested and very much wanted to stay in bed for a lazy lie-in…but I had too much to do before I left for my long journey to Croydon to interview more Anglo-Indians. I had spent a good part of the morning trying to figure out the best way to get there by using Journey Planner.

Shower and breakfast done, I took Bus 341 from Gray’s Inn Road to Waterloo Bridge from where I connected to the 176 to Penge. I got off at Penge High Street and the Pawlyne Arms (a pub) and connected to the 75 that took me to the Norwood Junction Clock Tower from where Dulcie Jacob of the South Norwood Anglo-Indian Association picked me up in her car and took me over to her place. The whole jouney took me about an hour and a half during which I graded one lot of student papers–no doubt, it would have taken me an hour had I used the interline train. The day was bright and warm and filled me with a tremendous sense of optimism.

In about ten minutes, I was seated in Dulcie’s living-room having met the other three respondents–her husband Ashley, and their friends: Florence Daly and John Stringer. It was the first time I was interviewing four people at the same time and I was extremely nervous and doubtful about my ability to do that effectively enough. Still, I tried as best I could and after introductions were made, and Dulcie served a welcome round of coffee, I began with my questions.

Needless to say, I found all four of them very interesting indeed. It is amazing how divergently people think despite that the fact that their core experiences in the UK have remained similar–they are all first-generation mixed race immigrants from India who ‘came out’ in the 50s and 60s. As always, it is their graciousness that most charms me–where have these old-world manners and customs gone? It is in my close association with these people that I realize what a fine job our Indian educators did in raising a generation of people who might not have a string of degrees behind their names but are informed, articulate, polished, socially graceful and open-minded. Maybe I have been extraordinarily fortunate in having made contact only with people who possess such admirable qualities, but I have rarely felt disappointment after an interview. Despite the fact that the interview went on for hours–I was, after all, speaking to four people at the same time and juggling four interviews simultaneously–they were respectful of my work, remarkably patient and often humorous in their responses–yes, they do also have a huge sense of humor–it is probably this that saw them through their roughest years in this country.

We took a break at lunch time when Dulcie brought out a few typically Anglo-Indian items of food–marvelous ‘patties’ (something I have only seen in India–ground meat parcelled in rectangles of crispy puff pastry) and fruit cake studded, rather unsually but deliciously, I thought, with candied stem ginger. Another round of coffee followed. Despite the fact that I am on a low-carb diet, I managed to find sustenance in the patties though I declined the cake. I was amused to notice that a bottle of hot sauce made the rounds and accompanied the patties–some habits die hard, I suppose, including a fondness for the fiery cuisine of India. It explains why the one thing to which the Anglo-Indians have stuck resolutely in this country is their need for daily rice and curry!

I resumed the interview after these snacks and things went along swimmingly with a lot of laughter and cheeky comments occasionally thrown in. These folks are old friends who are fully comfortable with each other and have found the kind of camaraderie that fills their retired days with the happiest of moments. It felt great to be in their company, to absorb some of their massive love of life and to be conscious of their achievements. I believe that while there is an upside to interviewing four people at the same time–it saved me time and the trouble of going out to Croydon more than once–though it did take away, I think, from the quality of the interviews I ended with as I do think that I did not get the kind of in-depth responses I have received from people whom I have met as individuals or in pairs. Still, I also got some startling new information from these folks of which I was unaware and for that I was very grateful.

Dulcie dropped me to the Bus terminus which allowed me to make my bus connections back to town–but going to the terminus lost me valuable time–over 45 mintues–and I was not able to get home as I had expected to change before my evening’s appointment into something more presentable than jeans and sneakers. However, when I realized that I no longer had the time for a change of clothes, I switched plans and got off at Tottenham Court Road from where I walked directly to the Congress House on Great Russel Street to attend an NYU organized event–an evening with novelist Andrea Levy, author of Small Island.

Andrea Levy is one of the most notable names among Black British writers today. She is the author of several books but it was Small Island that won her huge fame and kudos. A second-generation immigrant from Jamaica, her parents arrived in England on The Windrush, the famous ship that carried the first lot of Caribbean immigrants to England in 1948. Her novels have been systematic attempts to understand the motivations that drew these folks to England, to articulate their early experiences with racism and difference, to document their struggles and their triumphs and to comment on the changes that have occured within their community in over half a century–her work, in fact, is–you guessed in–very similar to my current research project, except that I am dealing with mixed-race Indian immigrants and am an outsider; (i.e. not an immigrant in the UK but from the USA; and not a member of the Anglo-Indian community at all) while Levy has emerged from amidst this community and can, therefore, write about it based not just on observations and interviews but shared experience. Still, in trying to write about Collective Memory, our objectives are identical and I was eager to find out what she had to say.

So, it was with rising excitement that I listened to Levy read from her novel. She chose the voices of four of her characters and dramatized them beautifully as she changed her accent and intonation to suit each voice. Not only were we entertained by the comedic aspects of her ‘performance’, but we were given an additional insight into how these folks might have sounded when they first arrived in Great Britain. Despite the attempts of the fairer-skinned ones to ‘pass’ as English, it was these accents that gave them away–similar to the Anglo-Indians I’ve been meeting who told me that though some of them were pale enough to be mistaken for native Britons, the moment they opened their mouths to speak, they gave themselves away.

I was pleased to be able to chat with Levy for a few minutes after the reading and to take a picture with her. I found her a remarkable speaker who answered questions very competently and very thoroughly and brought her characterisitic sense of humor into her responses. The evening’s questions were moderated by Ulrich Baer who arrived from New York where he is in-charge of multi-cutlural programs at NYU. As a specialist in Comparative Literature himself, he was really the best person to moderate the evening and he did a splendid job.

Then, we all adjourned to our Bedford Square campus for the reception. I was heartened to see how well attended the talk had been and how many students had turned up to hear Levy despite the fact that this is the last week before classes end and they are up to their eyes in homework commitments. The table was laden with the most appetizing finger food–grilled prawns, salmon goujons, chicken satay, smoked salmon bruschetta, among other things while on the other side were drinks. I was disapppointed not to find a diet Coke and had to make do with a glass of white wine but there was enough choice of food for me to have a mini-dinner before the evening was through. I did have the chance finally to speak to Prof. Javed Majeed who is my counterpart here in London in that he teaches Post-Colonial Literature to our students here–similar to the courses I teach in New York. We have made plans to meet later in June. Over all, it was a wonderful evening but a rather tiring day and when I left campus at about 9 pm, I arrived home quite wrung out.

I managed to draft my April newsletter before I looked at plans for the rest of the week and switched off my bedside lamp at 11. 30 pm. Tomorrow, I am off to Richmond again to see a play Sign of the Times at Richmond Theater, but the long drives are now providing me with time to grade papers, so they are rather productive on the whole.

Boo Hoo–Last Classes, Last Faculty Meeting at NYU-London

Apr27

Monday, April 27, 2009
London

So, it dawned–faster than I could ever have imagined–my last two classes at NYU-London. And with that, the academic year has come to an end, for me at least. Since I only teach on Mondays, I am done for the year as next Monday is a Bank Holiday and I am off work. My colleagues will keep teaching all of next week, but for me, I collected some more essays to grade over the next few days and closed shop. Though I was really sorry to say goodbye to my students, I took consolation in the fact that I will see several of them next academic year (i.e. in September) in New York as they have signed up for my course on South Asian Studies. So it was Au Revoir, not Goodbye.

It occurs to me that I have to start to clear out my office and ship back my books and files home to Connecticut–so I guess this is really the beginning of the end of my stint in London. Despite the fact that I will remain in the UK at least until the end of July, my teaching responsibilities have come to a close and I can now focus on my research and writing. I am still looking for Anglo-Indians to interview with the aim of completing at least 50 interview. With 30 of them done, I am hoping that the months of May, June and July will provide me with 20 more interviews. Fingers crossed.

Right after my classes, I had a short meeting with Yvonne to sort out my utility bills and then I hurried straight to our faculty meeting–another last one–the last one of the semester and academic year. It is always preceded by a light dinner–which, I realize in the UK usually means tea sandwiches and tray bakes for dessert. Since I am still on my low-carb lunch (I had a scotch egg and a cup of soup for lunch), I took the fillings out of a few of the sandwiches and ate them for dinner with a Diet Coke.

This last meeting gave me the opportunity to speak on behalf of my colleague Karen and thank the Director of our program here David as well as the administrative staff and my faculty colleagues for all the support they provided us over the past two semesters. It has been an unforgettable professional opportunity and I know that this year will remain forever etched in my memory as one of the happiest I have ever known. I am aware of the fact that in another three months, this entire year will seem like a dream to me as I get caught up in the routine of my regular domestic life in Connecticut and my professional life in New York. But for the moment, I am trying hard to live entirely in the moment and savor each second.

A few of my colleagues actually came up to say goodbye and wish me well and said they hoped they would see me back in London sometime. Then, I said my own goodbyes all around and hurried off home, went straight to my ‘larder’ (M&S Simply Food) and bought a few items (eggs, bacon, sausages, chicken) as I need to cook for this week. This low-carb diet means that I am pretty restricted in what I can eat and I need to cook more than I have done in all these months.

Then, I did something I have been putting off so too long–the reconciliation of my accounts and the filing of all my credit card slips for almost two months. This took me an hour (as I had expected it would) and left me only with enough time to find out, using Journey Planner, how to get by bus tomorrow to Norwood Junction where I shall be meeting some more Anglo-Indians.

Being too tired to do anything more productive, I read a little bit of The Order of the Phoenix and went straight to bed.

Celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday–in Stratford and Warwick

Apr26

Sunday, April 26, 2099
Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick

Though I switched off my bedside lamp at 1.30 am last night, I did not fall asleep for at least an hour. Awful tossing and turning and vain efforts to count sheep left me deeply frustrated. Yet, I awoke at about 7. 00. So it is little wonder that I was yawning loudly and frequently in Stephanie’s car on our way back from Warwick this evening. We’d spent the day in Warwickshire (visiting his birth place of Stratford-on-Avon–for the third time, in my case– which is the second most popular tourist town in the country after London) in celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday. Can you believe that he was born and died on the same day–April 23!!! Stephanie couldn’t. ” How weird is that?” she kept asking for she simply had never heard of anyone coming into this world and leaving it forever on the same day.

Now that Stephanie lives in Richmond and I have a bus pass again (and the Tube fare to get there and back is a whopping 7 pounds), I thought I would try to figure out the way to get there by bus. And using Journey Planner, I discovered that it wasn’t difficult at all, especially on a Sunday morning when there is barely any traffic and the bus flies. I was there in about an hour and a half and that’s just because I wasn’t sure where to make bus connections. On the way back it took me just an hour and ten minutes–on the Tube it takes an hour–so it felt really great to find the way without having to spend a bomb on the Tube ride.

Stratford-on-Avon–Shakeapeare’s Beautiful Birthplace:
Stephanie and I first made our way to Stratford-on-Avon (which, I finally found out, is pronounced exactly like the name of the cosmetics company). It took us about an hour and a half to get there which meant that we were parking at the Stratford Leisure Center a little after 12 noon. Stratford was swarming with visitors–not just because this is The Bard’s birthday weekend but because the Stratford Triathlon was also held today (the same day as the London Marathon) and hundreds of people had arrived on what was a splendid day indeed.

As usual, we were famished by the time we reached the town and headed straight for food. Only since my low-carb diet lays strict restrictions, I could only eat the fried fish part of a fish and chips platter that I found at a place called The Golden Bee–certainly not the best fish and chips I have eaten. It was soggy and greasy and over-fried and quite disastrous. Stephanie had gone off to see Shakespeare’s birthplace (I have seen it before, so did not go inside). When we did hook up again, we walked through an antiques fair where I was delighted to find a watch at a rock bottom price. It felt so good to have a wrist watch again!

Our next port of call was Trinity Church with its beautiful grave yard and moss-covered grave stones. This is the church in which Shakespeare was baptised and then buried. Inside, I made the discovery that visitors are required to pay 1. 50 pounds to visit Shakespeare’s grave as it is badly in need of funds and figures it could make some money this way. On the two occasions in the past when I have visited this church–once, 22 years ago, when I was a student at Oxford and then about 10 years ago when I had returned with Llew and Chriselle during our tour of the Cotswolds–we had seen the grave without paying any money. While Stephanie went up to the altar to take a look, I used the opportunity to say a few prayers in the church before we walked out again on to the sun-flooded banks of the River Avon where boats plied on the swan-filled waters.

En route, we had seen the other important Tudor and Elizabethan buildings for which the town is known such as Nash’s House and Hall’s Croft. Since this is the week on which Shakespeare’s birthday is celebrated, there were yellow flags lining the streets and arrangements in the garden that created his portrait in fresh flowers–a rather unusual touch. Poetry readings and a literary festival were a part of the week-long celebrations but both Stephanie and I lacked the enthusiasm to do much more than stroll around at leisure.

Everyone felt suitably festive in the bracing spring air. For me, one of the best parts of England in the spring is the opportunity to admire the incredible chestnut tress with their profuse large candle-like white flowers that we do not see at all in the United States. Also putting on a showy display of lavender blooms all over the stone walls of aged houses are wisteria vines. It is impossible to pass them by without stopping to examine their complicated construction–they hang in heavy bunches, looking for all the world, like grapes. Flower-beds in all the public gardens are blooming luxuriously with flowers in a shocking variety of colors and I have been taking pictures galore. Oh, it sure feels good to enjoy England in the spring time!

It was just 3 pm when we were done strolling around Stratford. We were both disappointed the The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theater is undergoing massive renovations and has been closed down temporarily. All shows are being performed in the nearby Courtauld Theatre which we visited briefly. Stephanie was not interested in seeing the home of Shakespeare’s wife–Anne Hattaway’s Cottage in nearby Shottery–even though I told her that it is one of England’s prettiest thatched cottages with a delightful cottage garden. She was more keen on seeing Warwick Castle which is only an 8-mile ride away.

Arrival in the Town of Warwick:
I thought it was a a capital idea and into the car we went. Just fifteen minutes later, we arrived in the medieval town of Warwick which I had never seen before. We headed straight for the castle but by then it was already 3.45 pm and we discovered that entry fee was almost 17 pounds. Neither one of us thought it worthwhile to spend so much money on a ticket that we’d only be able to use for a couple of hours. We skirted the periphery of the Castle property spying some showy peacocks in the Elizabethan Knot Garden before we decided to discover the town on foot as we had already spent money on the parking meter.

Warwick is one of England’s most intact medieval towns. It has all the ingredients that make a town a tourist attraction and we had a chance to sample some of those: the River Avon flows gently through it (as it does at Stratford) and we were able to see a few oarsmen rowing their boats in the water. There is the beautiful stone Church of St. Mary with its blue-faced clock staring benignly upon the bylanes of the town that are lined with listed houses. Then, there is, of course, the massive 13th century castle which until very recently was inhabited by a family of Dukes. There was several medieval buildings with exposed beams and stucco walls including the stunning Lord Leycester’s Hospital which is a misnomer as it was never a hospital at all. It was once the guildhall of the town and then a chantry and a chapel and, ultimately, on being purchased by Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex (and supposedly the only man that Queen Elizabeth I ever really loved), it was turned into homes for former military men –a function it still fulfils. We took some charming pictures of this lovely gabled building before we strolled for a bit in the public gardens that were a riot of colors as flower-beds had sprouted to life bringing tall and stately tulips in their wake.

It was at about 5 pm that we started our drive back home and it was at 8. 30 that I arrived home, tired and very eager to have myself a nice shower and a light dinner, to write this blog and get straight to bed.