Not Without my Bath....

A saturday at Bath, county of Somerset....Back in Bath after nearly a decade!

Musings on LSE.....

Has been good to see LSE in different avtaars....the first day when we landed up, was blustery, cold and bleak. LSE was relatively deserted - the extensive courtyards and pathways free and quiet. Term time was still 10 days away.

With the on-set of the term, LSE is swarming with people, mainly the youngsters. Undergrads and post grads are together 8000 - a huge number. the economics comes in - a vast number are on the money fetching MBA type programmes. In line with what the recruiters and the market want I guess. There is a buzz around campus. Well, campus is not a perfect word for the cluster of buildings in a broad geographical area that constitute LSE. With Bush House, Australia House & India House on one side ( the last has the longest queues in London, the famous Visa queue, that would remind one of Dhaka), and the Lincoln Inn Fiels & the Royal Courts on the other, there really is not much ofa distance. But with Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Strand next door, who is cribbing?

The entire LSE is wire internet enabled ( wi-fi), normally at blistering speeds. And everything is e-enabled. Library books are re-issued, fees are paid, Courses are joined, Clubs are formed: all over the internet. "Send me an email" or " Do it on LSE for You" are the most often heard phrases on campus. The Library, again has a vase electronic collection apart from the normal texts, and concepts as yet new to me like self- issue of books, and self- returns ( ...as in a TESCO, in the wee hours of the morning or late at night).

Eating was a bit of a problem ( cold sandwiches), till we discovered the Brunch Bowl. Nice, hot meals - a whole variety of it, at prices signficantly better than the street side). Fish and chips for 1.95, jacket potato with filling for 2 quid, salads,a stir fry bar, salads and such stuff. A decent feed for 3 pounds, and that too hot!! Enough place to sit, including an outdoor terrace for nice weather days.

Lots of bars around, open from the mornings. A pint pulled seems as popular as a coffee..and both cost about the same..the students seem to have this as the regular adda after class! With a travel agency on campus, stores and a post office next door, things are well, cool!

Gurukul has a special status: Tushar, was honoured by being asked by the prof that it was an honour to have a Gurukul scholar. and better, that we were addressed by the likes of David Held, whom the faculty has not even met!!!

Busy week next week....Pascal Lamy, India Observatory and then Geneva.....

Globalisation Ho!!!

Well, week 2 of the Gurukul programme kicks off. If Week 1 was focussed on the UK, this week is about Globalisation...so everyh seminar as the Globalisation these built into it. Some good, some very good - and some irrelevant. But that is par for the course I guess.

A sampler: Globalisation: Opportunities or Dangers? ( David Held, a big name in the area),Globalisation, Regulation and Development, Globalisation and Technology, Globalization & Retailing.

But where is the globalisation: it is everywhere. I have a Turkish supervisor, an English professional mentor ( a lady in the Legal profession) and the faculty is from all over the world. With regular students now coming in, the diversity is now so evident.

The big theme is Alan Greenspan on campus, in conversation with Howard Davies, the LSE Director. As Gurukuls, we have been invited to the reception in his honour after his session.

The session was, well partly comprehensible - Alan being a mumbler with his American accent and advanced age. But sharp in his comprehension and precision. David made up for the wit though!

Fine eats as snacks and an excellent range of wines were the high points of the evening....before I sneaked off to Vijayanand's Sinha's home for dinner. He has an excellent home, right at South Kensington Underground. Good fun catching up.

Becoming more confident with London buses now ( cheaper than the underground - and you see a wee bit of the city).

White..well not quite, but it is is still Dover!!

Now,the first full Sunday in London...and it almost looks as if could be sunny! A few swift decisions follow, and the Architect of the group, Tushar, had the men enthused ( Railwayman Mukund having some personal commitments had to opt out) to hit Dover - the promise of the White Cliffs beckoned. A coach ride from Victoria, for the princely price of 13 pounds, had us there via Canterbury in 21/2 hours flat - I suspect the bulk of it was spent traversing greater London and sub-urbs.

The ladies decided to hop in as well, and came an hour behind us : but that hour was enough to do a full round of the good ol' town of Dover! ( As a local told us, Dover is a town, if you want a city go to Canterbury!)

The country side of Kent is extremely picturesque, with undulating moors all the way - the the last dip into the valley that gets you into Dover, past the "haunted" castle on the hill is quite spectacular. Sunday is however sleepy- and we seemed to be just about lucky to find a store open, to stock up on a few cans of beer. The signboards were multi-lingual, and a sure sign that there are enough Frenchmen transiting Dover ( though I am told the traffic is largely in the other direction: France being much cheaper!)









With one high street, Dover is nice and chilled out - with a lovely quiet sea front with quaint buildings, with what Tushar advised is is French architecture. A quiet half hour was put to good use with Goutam being philosophical with his beer, Tushar admiring the architecture - and the cry of the sea gulls punctuating the silence.

And a glimpse of the white cliffs, though thee has been recent construction around the area. A boat trip could not materialise, which would have - pier walk was worth it, andwell hopefully, given us the feel of crossing over by sea from France, and seeing the white cliffs as the harbinger of England! A long the mood of everyone around can be gauged in the pictures! A sunny Sunday well spent - and back in London and Scala for the night! English Channel, we'll be with you again shortly, inshallah!

No Parking, Yes Parking!

Parks of London.....peppered around the city, huge - and very diverse! Need I add, mostly Free - never an unimportant consideration.

So a sunny Saturday afternoon spent on a long walk with Anita through Oxford street ( frightfully crowded with pedestrians) , Marble Arch and into a corner of Hyde Park....and then the vast, vast expanse of Hyde Park...big enough for a plane to land!

Let the pictures tell the tale. The Serpentine is a nice sight, along with a Serpentine Cafe and a modernistic Serpentine Gallery too - with a winding pathway to the top fora birds eye view of the gallery!

And a return throght Knightsbridge!! And the glamorous show windows!

In the Eye....

The walk was lovely, past London Bridge and others and we were soon there...




A pre-booking made sure that all was set up for us inside the Eye ( well, weather excluded- couldn't be helped). Anita ( pictured with the wine glass), discovered that the overall package cost nearly six hundred pounds - and that added to the "value" of the experience. The Gurukul Academic supervisors and professional Mentors were expected to join in: some did, the weather did the others in. Intended as Drinks on the London Eye at Sunset ( no sunset today :( - no regrets), we were more than delighted to see a host board with a hamper full of goodies.

The Capsules are quite big, and the Eye does not you as you get on or off - so the boarding is an efficient process. Being run by/ sponsored by British Airways, you Check - In, Board etc etc....a quarter of the journey up, our host(ess) discovers that we have the wine bottles but no opener! A frantic call or two, and the Eye stops, and is reversed!! ( Remember the train scene in Omkara...) ...and we just said that the Eye does not stop!! Aaah well.... the ride was smooth, glorious views ( said to be 40 miles on clear days) even in the rain...excellent wine and the nibbles...and in an hour we were back on terra firma, in extremely high spirits!

Back after the hiatus!

Sorry folks...it's been more than ten days that the blog was updated...and certainly not for a lack of intent. Will certainly try to be a lot more disciplined about it now!

Week one saw the admin and the settling in procedures taking up some time, apart from a series of seminars on the UK ( politics, economy, sociology etc). Come Friday and we find ourselves on an interesting part of the understanding UK module - a walkabout London!

But this would only be after the "working lunch" at the CDR - the Chairman's Dining Room, in the old building of the LSE. A nice spread, all vegetarian awaited us. Lots of salads, and other exotic looking and sounding stuff - the menu card pix shall help set the perspective. A cold lunch which some of us found upsetting...but some found interesting. Defined a s a working lunch, it was till then the most sumptuos lunch that we'd had all of that week - and a welcome relief from Wright's Cafe sandwiches!

The weather put paid to the best of intent, and we had to jump onto a bus for a short ride down to the St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. Probably the first use of our Oyster passes too! Now for a bit of London that we'd not been to: a walk across the pedestrian Millenium Bridge across the Thames, with the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern on the other side. We were escorted across the Tate Modern, and while the enthu guide did try to enthuse a lot of passion, there is only so much of modern art that I can follow! But the Tate itself is grand, a converted powerhouse beautifully restored into one of the best galleries in the world now. The famous Turbine room was under some renovation, so we missed that part.

Spirits high, we strolled along the South Bank of the Thames, holding onto our umbrellas in the gusty winds will we reached the London Eye ( worth looking up on the web) - possibly London's best new landmark. Looks awesome and is superbly located......