Trip to London - Part 2

The next day started with a lavish English breakfast.

Breakfast is one thing I love the most about travel :) because unlike other meals of the day, you can find decent veg breakfast options almost everywhere. At least I do.

Though I wouldn't call myself a foodie, the absence of quality edible food or delay in its arrival does change my mood/tone. Well, most of the time :).

After a fulfilling breakfast, we were all set to explore London.

We had to plan the agenda for what all to visit and how. Options were - taking a bus tour or do it ourselves. Like I mentioned in Part 1, a few landmarks were within walk-able distance. So, we decided to skip the bus for the first day.

We started the day with watching the famous Horse Guards Parade in the city of Westminster. The last time I had watched a horse with a rider(city police) was in Mysore, one of the better maintained historic cities of India.

This ceremony of changing The Queen's Life Guard is definitely a sight not to miss. Fascinating!

Among the things that were captivating in central London, the boat tour of the river Thames ranks on the higher side. As much as I distance myself from too-much-water .. the night-light and mesmerizing view of the Tower Bridge kept me glued to the side seats of the boat. The front seats were still too much for my water fear/disgust. 
Let's just say I am not a beach person or a ocean/river person for that matter.
A water fountain or waterfall? May be :).

The mid november London was pretty cold. Colder than what we had packed for. We did get an idea of London winter through available means but the weather forecasts cannot give accurate data for more than 8-10 days in advance.

So, we were stuck with feeling cold while still enjoying London winter. To make it worse we also had rain forecasts for next couple of days. 

Had it not been for the weather we would have visited more places on our own. All hail (hell) to London weather we were left with no option but to go for the Bus-Tour now. 

During our bus ride, I realized how much could I relate to those tourists I used to see back in Manhattan/NYC. Tourists probably resent to people who actually live at such picturesque places. (May be not; I somewhat did :P)
I mean, they have to come all the way from their respective homes, around the world, for just a few days of experience and long bills of travel/lodging expenses!

TBC ....

Trip to London - Part 1

Since a few months now, I wanted to be more regular with blogging especially because I happened to have some content to write about and didn't have to force my thoughts into a blog post. I just don't have that thing in me! I cant force myself to sit and write just for the sake of it. The topic should occur to me; the words should drive me.
I realize and I read it everywhere that one needs be more regular in one's blogging world most importantly to improve the blogging skills( I definitely need that :)).But off late I got busy with things, I will update later about, and had to take a back seat. 
Well, I am still going to be around :-).

This one was long due.
I had drafted some of the parts, mostly the key things, during the trip itself. And now, when I found some time to write, this one felt like to be prioritized before I forget the links to give a finishing touch to those drafts. Yeah, I have a very selective memory. I remember certain things/incidents (even after decades) like its carved on the stones but forget most of the others like it was written on a beach sand.

So lets start. The trip was for a week, a short one according to me. To add to that, it was a much colder London than what we thought it would be when we packed for the trip. Anyway, we did enjoy the untimely rain that caused the sudden drop in temperature but then we were not adequately prepared (clothing wise) so we could go out only when the weather allowed so with our lot.

We stayed in Haymarket Hotel in Central London. Ours was a typical British styled, cozy and elegant room. The place was perfect for tourists. Many landmarks were at a walking distance. The architecture of the surroundings dragged me straight to the history books. Each and every building around that area had a class and antique touch to it. What soothed my mind/heart along with my eyes was the fact that it was not made up to picture a theme; the built was all original and brilliant!
There was so much to cover around our hotel area itself that we decided we will wait for the suitable weather for the city tour.

After resting the first day, we started with the Trafalgar Square, which was just a couple of blocks away.
We were on an early morning walk when suddenly a gentleman stopped us to not cross a certain not-drawn boundary. It was then that we realized the camera and crew around - there was some shooting going on. The area was vacated and there were a couple of dressed up actors. Based on their attires and lights' setup, it looked like some period feature shoot to us. It was my first live shoot watching experience.
Although having lived in Manhattan for a couple of years, I did come across many chances when some shooting was scheduled nearby but by the time we used to know of it , the area used to get too crowded to see anything. This one being a very early morning shoot, didn't have much crowd/audience to disturb.
I was so excited to see how things happen that we stayed there for a while . We curiously observed all the takes/retakes, makeup/touch-up, props, director's instructions, camera angles, dialogue recitals etc. The actors certainly have a very creative and fun world :).

We managed to click this picture before we were requested not to take any photos.

We then came back to our room to have breakfast and plan the rest of the things.

to be continued...

Maasi banaya aapne :)

hello?
haan beta lakshmi aayi hain!
sach? :D
haan... baad me baat karte hai.

All smiling, I put the receiver back.
I was jumping with joy and didn't notice the filmy dialogue Mom just made. I realized it a few mins later while repeating the wonderful news in my head. Really Mamma? She surely had watched a lot of Hindi movies, I told myself.
Moreover its her first time as a Grandma, I can understand her excitement and nervousness. She probably couldn't think of her own words instantly.

The little one was going to be the first kid of our next generation and somehow the family had an intuition that it would be a Girl. So, I was ready with the name - Pari. There were so many names coming from everybody, but mine was the favorite. Yeah, I know its a very common name now but back in 2003, it was nowhere. I heard Pari the second time in a serial, which happened 3-4 months later. And, there I had struggled through months to find a beautiful and unique name for the doll who would call me Maasi .I got to hear it a few months later but the sound was totally worth the wait!
Maasi, coming from those cute little lips through few tiny teeth, made my eyes twinkle with early mist followed by a few warm drops. She was angelic. It was sheer bliss.
When Mom used to massage her, she would sing "Pahle to main mommy thi ..Naani banaya aapne". Oh she brought so much fun in our lives :).

How I suddenly thought of writing about her?

Well, just few weeks back it struck me that her birthday was approaching and she will enter into her teens this year. Couldn't believe so many years have passed already ..still feels like yesterday when we went to hospital to meet her for the very first time! I haven't been very good at handling infants so I would wait for her to sleep and then cuddle her :-)

How time flies!
Now, she is already trained in classical and contemporary dance. A talented performer, she is a part of almost every dance program happening around. At 10, she choreographed her dance for my wedding-Sangeet. Super cute it was!
Here is a pic of her(right most) with her dance group.

Birthday special tight hug and lots of love -- Maasi
God Bless You.

Second

Second.

I'm not your first. You aren't mine either. 

My tailoring business gives me enough to lead my life with dignity and provide a future to my son. 

I've never really felt a need of another man after my husband's demise. 

However, I'm moved by your gesture of accepting my son as your own. 

My son has agreed to call you 'father' after you met and coddled him. 

I can't thank you enough for giving him the happiness that was long lost. 

You decided to marry even sooner after meeting me.

I want to tell you that it's a courageous step for me to trust life again. 

It must be a bold decision for you too. 

We are ready to take up this leap of faith called marriage, again.
We'll vow to complete each other's lives soon. 

I want to congratulate you for this new life and new beginning. 

I'm a person who picks happiness from little things in life. 

I promise, I'll make sure we put our best efforts to make it a happy 'Second'!

- (written by my kid sister, inspired by a widow remarriage)

This girl/lady is a neighbor from my hometown. Coming from what they call the 'poor and backward section' of the society, she was hardly educated and married off at a very young age. She had a son soon after. The husband was a good fellow. However, the in-laws disowned her and her infant son as soon as the husband died untimely.

We always had good terms with this family and our hearts went out for her when she returned to her parents' home and started taking menial tailoring work to raise her son. She persisted and the boy now studies in 9th std.

In those small cities of northern India, its still very difficult for a woman to resettle in her life after divorce or widowhood. Naturally, we felt delighted to hear the news of her remarriage after more than a decade of single-handed struggle.

How I want the society to change for the better!