England Diary Part 2: Tryst with Big Ben and the Mahatma

As I was climbing the stairs out of the Westminster tube station, I could see the cheerful and touristy hustle outside.

It was a week after I had landed in London, and I was getting used to the intricacies of various routes that the suburban trains or ‘tubes’ had on offer. 

Once I came out, I saw the iconic Big Ben – one of the most photographed structures. It figures prominently on the social media accounts of people who land in London.

It was a Sunday afternoon and the October sun brought no relief from chilly winds.

People were clicking endless photos and selfies and I overheard one young woman grumble, “Damn my phone has run out of storage space.”

Luckily, I arrived a few seconds before 4 o'clock. Though the crowd was waiting in anticipation for the Big Ben chime, I was blissfully unaware of it.

Hence, when it let out its melody, it came as an unexpected surprise.

Barring the vehicles on the road, the whole place got into a suspended animation with all eyes on the landmark clock. Once the chiming ended, the footpaths came back to life.

With the British Parliament and Westminster Abbey in close proximity, the whole area has an upmarket heritage look and has been vigorously marketed for tourists with open-top double-decker buses and guides chaperoning the tourists.

A lot of the tourists happened to be of South Asian descent (read loud-mouthed uncles and aunties, and their equally noisy extended families), with a smattering of Southeast Asians and others thrown in.

I decided to explore around on my own and came across a wooded place where there were many statues.

They were the statues of all the worthies who had made a mark in Britain’s political history.

The first one I came across was Winston Churchill, and to me he looked quite out of sorts without his top hat and cigar. Then I came across other greats like Lloyd George and Robert Peel.

What I next saw was something I was not prepared for. It was a famous face we Indians can never miss. It was the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. 

It came as a very pleasant surprise and made me wonder how the statue of a man who was responsible for the downfall of the British empire find a place right next to the British Parliament! 

Truly, it shows the maturity of the British politicians and the people. Though Gandhi was responsible for ending their empire, they now appreciate his greatness as a person.

To satisfy my curiosity, I later did a Google search and found that it was erected fairly recently in 2015 during the time of David Cameron. 

This is something a person like Churchill, who had called Gandhi a ‘naked fakir’, would not have appreciated, to put it very politely. 

Gandhi stands in good company here - his neighbours are Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln, both of whom shared his egalitarian views and made it a mission to fight inequalities.

I tried to visit Westminster Abbey nearby, but was told that tourists are not allowed on Sundays, as it is reserved for prayers.

As I was ambling along, wondering ‘what next’, I saw a road sign near a junction, ‘Trafalgar Square’. I decided to walk in that direction. 

I came across a memorial called ‘Women of World War II’ to honour their contributions during the world war. It was in the middle of the road and I could see lots of flower laid near the memorial. 

As I was passing by, I saw on the other side of the road a fit-looking soldier’s statue. 

It made me stop by and wonder, “Is this him?” 

The face looked somewhat similar to the black and white photos I had seen in books and documentaries on the Second World War. 

My hunch grew stronger as the man in the statue was sporting a beret, which used to be his trademark. 

I decided to cross the road to verify. Once I reached, I realized, “Yes, it is him” – Field Marshal Montgomery, who led the British Army during the famous battle of El Alamein in the present-day Egypt.  

He was famously known as Monty, which was prominently written at the bottom of the statue. 

He was standing there unsung. No flowers, and I was the lone visitor at that time. 

Probably it was one of those odd, low-turnout days, or the guides think people may not be interested.

The defence ministry office was located right behind the statue.

After that, I walked down to the street to Trafalgar Square. 

The road was strewn with various government buildings, all easily 400-500 years old. 

At Trafalgar Square, the famous Lord Nelson statue was placed on a very high column, and it was barely visible from the ground. 

I had to move away to the adjacent street to capture it on my phone.

I wish I could see the battle of Trafalgar hero - the original one-eyed Jack, who stopped Napoleon from invading Britain, from closer quarters.  

By now, the dusk was falling, and the nip in the air was getting stronger. 

I decided to call it a day and moved to the nearby Charing Cross station to go back to my lodgings.

England Diary Part 1: The Ubiquitous Letter Boxes

 

During my recent visit to the UK, what struck me on the very first day was the presence of letter boxes on street corners. 

I stood by to take a closer look at one of them near my lodgings and realised that it was a functioning one with a neat coat of paint and clearance timings distinctly written on it.

It had a regal appearance with an ornate top when compared with our bowler hat top letter boxes.

Before the advent of internet, they were the foot soldiers who kept the wheels of communication, both official and personal, running. 

They were the broadbands of that era.  From the central business districts of metro cities to the far-flung hinterlands, they stood steadfastly braving harsh summers and winters.

Royal Mail has a 500-year-old history dating back to King Henry VIII, and in India it is a legacy of the British Raj, established in 1854.

The coming of internet and mobile phones pushed them to the margins and in India these letter boxes soon started gathering rust and disappeared unceremoniously.

Hence, it was quite a surprise, tinged with amusement, for me to see a functioning letter box in the UK.

During my subsequent days of stay in the UK, I came across the presence of gleaming red 'Royal Mail' vans, many of them electric, at various parts of London and other towns I visited.

All this gave me the impression that the despite the internet and mobile phone, the good old 'snail mail' was still not a 'has been' in the UK, and it whetted my curiosity.

Later on, during my visits to some households, I noticed that all houses invariably had a letter box plate on the front door to receive letters. 

I also saw a pile of letters lying on tables near the house entrances. 

I noticed they were mainly official communications, mainly from the NHS and power supply companies.

During my conversations with my hosts, I got to know that many of the official correspondence continue to happen through letters.

So, I surmised that it is the official correspondence that was keeping the Royal Mail afloat. 

But I was in for a surprise while at a Tesco outlet near my lodging. 

There was a section for greeting cards, which almost reminded me of the 1980s and 90s India, when such a display of greeting cards was the norm at all book shops and fancy stores.

The cards ranged from festival greetings for Christmas and Easter to personal ones like birthday, wedding or even a job promotion.

Though the sale of cards may not be anywhere close to the pre-internet, -mobile phone days, it was encouraging to know that there still exists a market for such cards, and people value sending and receiving cards with the handwritten messages scrawled in it.

Something totally forgotten in India.