I miss can't haves

After coming back from London, I have been bingeing a lot. This makes me wonder ... why? Before going to London, I was on a controlled diet to make myself healthy. But after coming back, I have been eating like I never ate before. The only rationale that I can think of is that I didn’t had the option of eating home made food in London. This might sounds little weird, but it is the truth. My mind plays such games – when I stay at home, I don’t eat food like daal-chawal (pulses-rice), rotis (Indian bread), etc. I prefer to eat salads and fruits to keep my weight in check. But when I came back, I just ate and ate over the weekend. The thing is – I started missing solid food when I did not had a choice ... weird isn’t it. Similarly, when I stay at home, many a times I don’t interact with family ... probably I take them for granted ... my bad. But when I was there I missed my family ... dearly. Again, the rational remains the same. I feel the worth of things only when they are not near to me or when I know that I can’t have it. I feel restless ... it drives me crazy.

Is it human nature to miss things when they are not near or is it just me?

Back from London

Yippee !!! I’m back ... back to Delhi.

On Tuesday, I went for shopping at Primark (Oxford Street). I heard about this store from few of my colleagues at Delhi. They told me that it’s like Mecca for all foreign budget tourists. Even though I was not too keen on buying anything from London per se, but Divya (she came to London with me for training) was very keen on shopping. Girls ... what can I say ... they are inherently shopaholics. Anyhoo ... I tagged along and got out of the office little early (5:30ish). The store was just outside the Marble Arch tube station and it was really big. On weekdays the shop is open till 9 PM, so we had ample time to shop around. I was just roaming here and there and when I saw some of the good stuff at almost throwaway prices, I just couldn’t resist and bought few gifts for my kid cousins. I also treated myself with a pair of jeans, a white shirt, and a backpack. The cost of backpack was ₤3 ... imagine that. I would recommend any visitor with limited budget to look no further and visit this place. Little by little I bought few gifts and amazingly it all put me back by mere ₤60.

Next day I went to Tesco Metro near Liverpool station and picked chocolates. Took me a while to pick up chocos because there were so many varieties ... most of which I have absolutely no clue of. Anyhoo ... final day came and I woke up early to pack up all the stuff. The cab (booked online by office) came at sharp 8:30 AM and we reached Heathrow Terminal 5 after little more than an hour. At Heathrow, you got to tag your check-in bags at automated check-in machines (before getting the boarding pass). While tagging the bags, the machine told me and Divya that we do not have a confirmed seat yet. That was shocking ... we rushed to the British Airways counter and asked them about it. The person at the desk told me that since there were many flight cancellations in last few days due to bad weather, the flight is over booked. So he gave us 2 options – either go for next flight or wait for an hour to get the status of the existing flight. He also informed us that if we go for voluntary scheme of next flight, we would be compensated with €300 (in cash) or €450 (in gift vouchers) ... EACH. Ohhhh yeah ... my mouth was filled with water ... so I asked when is the next flight and he told me that it’s after 4 hours. €300 cash for 4 hours of patience ... seemed so cool to me. But I said NO ... I wont be going for that scheme and asked the guy to put me on stand by for the current flight. OK OK ... I know it sounds little crazy not to take that €300 for mere 4 hours of wait ... but I did not took that because of couple of reasons – first I knew about the weather forecast ... it was not good at all. I didn’t wanted to take the risk of staying back and then get stuck in snow or thundershowers. Secondly, I am a very impatient man ... I cant wait for anything to save my life ... so 4 hours seemed like 4 days to me (and I really wanted to go home ASAP). So we were put on the stand by list and the helpdesk guy told me to come back after an hour to get the final status about the boarding passes. At 11 AM, when I reached the helpdesk again ... I got the boarding passes ... that was surprising because I remembered the guy telling me that I was 50th on the list. But when I turned around I saw a huge line of people standing in the voluntary zone – mostly Indians – aah the lure of money ...

The flight took off at 12:30 PM (EST) ... after 40 minutes delay (scheduled to be at 11:50 AM) ... due to air traffic. Finally I reached Delhi at 2:30 AM (IST) ... and reached home at 4:30 ... did not sleep because I had to go to office. I was feeling very sleepy so I thought of writing this post ... now the eyes are little open ... opps gotta go ... lunch time. C ya.

Snowing cats and dogs

It started to snow on Sunday evening and continued until Monday night. It was not mild flurry – it snowed cats and dogs (if that is an emphatic expression). The roads, tree, buildings ... everything wore a snow-white look. Is it my luck or what ... I like snowfall like I love chocolate ... and it snowed like the heaven’s gate were let loose by the almighty. Aah ... the weather is bringing out the writer in me. Well anyhoo ... where was I ... ooh yeah ... the snow. I just saw on the telly (very British ... ahahahaha) that this was the worst (magnificent to me though) snowfall in last 2 decades. So much so that the entire city’s public transportation stopped. It was Monday ... but judging from the streets you would not have guessed it. The streets were empty like it is a curfew. My office was almost empty ... in fact none of my teammates came. To be fair ... they simply could not because there were no buses or trains to travel. This was the story across all the offices ... the schools were closed ... most of the tourist spots were empty ... overall the entire city stood still.
 This brings me to the famous Mumbai rains couple of years ago when entire Mumbai was crippled due to relentless rains. We all were quick to point out the hapless public infrastructure. I distinctly remember that I said that if something like this happens in any rich city they would have handled it in better way. Ooh ... how wrong I was. I saw what happened to London and to be honest I felt like Mumbai dealt with it in a better way. At least the Mumbaikars showed more grit and determination to deal with the nature’s fury. My brother in law walked 15 kms back home from office and his brother stayed at office for 2 days. But Mumbai never died like London did yesterday. It is very easy to point figures when the public system breaks down. But today I realized that no matter how affluent a city is, it is still a pawn in nature’s hand. When Mother Nature unleashes her fury ... no amount of planning or organization can save us. Nature still dictates the terms and we human beings are still way behind to calm her or face her wrath.

Talking about mother ... I miss my mommy ... coming home soon mom ... I so miss you.

London Tour: Tower Bridge and Westminster

After a hectic day, I was sleeping like a baby ... suddenly at around midnight, fire alarm broke out in my room. I was horrified ... I thought that it was the wakeup alarm ... I was still half asleep ... so I tried to shut the phone alarm ... but to my surprise the alarm kept ringing. I tried to switch off every electronic stuff in my room ... but the alarm kept ringing. Darn !!! Then I got out of the room and saw everyone was outside ... bemused and little bit annoyed ... just like me. So we all went downstairs. Man ... it was freezing outside. So I went back to my room (climbed 6 floors ... wuf !!!) ... got little cosy in my thick jacket ... grabbed the money and passport and ran back downstairs. We all (around 200 guests) stood in the freezing cold ... tired and sleepy ... oh what an ordeal. The fire brigade found that someone broke the fire alarm at 10th floor. They checked all the floors for fire and then we all were let inside. Goddam ... what an anticlimax to an eventful day.

Sunday ... time to see the rest of the stuff today. Today was Westminster and Tower of London day. Took the tube to Tower Hill and as soon as I got out the tube station, I was little horrified to see the weather. It was cloudy and very very cold. Well ... should have known because the weather channel predicted to be a bad weather day. Anyhoo ... got to the tower of London ... boy, it was sooommmeee bridge. I remember that whenever I saw any picture of London, it always had either Tower of London bridge or Big Ben. Seeing it with my eyes ... it felt kinda surreal. As a kid, I always dreamt of visiting all those places whose pictures I saw ... like New York, London, Paris ... and to actually see them in person ... the feeling is indescribable. I crossed the bridge and got to London Bridge Pier from where I took a ferry ride to Embankment. I always enjoy the ferry rides ... there is something in water bodies which makes you go ... mmmmm !!!. After getting out of the ferry ... I went straight to Big Ben. I tried to snap pictures but due to bad weather they all appeared a little dark. So I decided to come back to that place after doing the London Eye and Aquarium.
 I crossed the Thames and went to London Eye. Since I already bought the ticket in advance (group ticket at Madame Tussads), I simply got it vouched at the ticket counter and got in the line. The line wasn’t long and soon I got inside the famous London Eye giant wheel. Basically London Eye is simple a monstrous version of a giant wheel ... its monstrosity makes it FUN. The wheel circled very slowly giving us ample time to see entire London and snap plenty of pictures. It took almost half an hour for the wheel to circle ... plenty of hang time I must say ... hahahaha.
 
 When I was boarding the London Eye, it started to snow. But when I got off it, the weather changed drastically ... plenty of sunshine ... aaah what a relief. I went straight to London Aquarium. I had a discount coupon with me (which I picked up from my hotel) and asked the ticket lady to give me the 20% discount on the ticket. She told me that since the aquarium is not fully functional they have reduced the ticket prices and the discount won’t be levied on the reduced fare. Oh what the heck ... I took the tickets and saw the aquarium. Fishy I must say ... saw plenty of fishes ... big and small ... most of them were simply breathtakingly beautiful. When I got out of it ... my stomach was asking for fuel. So went straight to McDonalds and got the only vegetarian burger along with some fries and soda.
 
 After the refueling, I went to see Big Ben. So again I got to cross Thames ... and on my way I saw loads of police personnel trying to control people’s movement. Then I saw a lady ... she was standing on the bridge ... she was trying to jump and commit suicide and the police was trying to talk her out of it. I tried to stand and watch the proceeding but the police man told me to move along. Poor lady ... I prayed that the policemen successfully get her back to safety. Anyhoo ... I went to Big Ben. What a building ... marvelous is a small word for the architecture. You got to see it to believe it ... aah ... I know I keep repeating this line ... but what can I say ... it is true.
 After the Big Ben, I went to Trafalgar Square ... it was buzzing with people. When I reached there I saw a huge stage ... it was a Chinese new year celebration show. From there I went to Oxford and Piccadilly Circus. Another hectic day ... and by the time I reached hotel the weather took a turn to worse. It started to snow again. Perfect timing I must say.