Ink Review - Diamine Asa Blue

This is the first time I am writing a fountain pen ink review. After having spent a lot of time on the net searching for and a lot of money experimenting with various shades of blue – I finally came across the shade ‘Asa Blue’ within Diamine range of blue shades.

To my mind, this is one the loveliest blues that I have seen as far as fountain pen inks are concerned. The color is just about right on the brightness quotient – not too bright like the turquoise blue. And the price, well I won’t call it inexpensive at INR725/- for an 80 ml ink bottle, is definitely reasonable when compared to some of the other brands available in the market such the Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki which costs approximately $35, roughly about INR 2100 at the current rupee-dollar exchange rate.

I received the parcel along with some other stationary items from Pens Avenue. As usual their service, packaging, delivery and confirmation was excellent this time around too. After I received the parcel, I simply couldn’t wait to fill up my brand new Sheaffer fountain pen to full capacity to get started. And since then I have been using this pen-ink combination for all my writing activities and I must confess I still haven’t gotten tired of it. I have always believed that for the complete writing experience one needs to have the right combination of ink color and the writing instrument – sometimes it just happens, accidentally. While there are times when a certain amount of trial and error is required to get to the right amalgamation.  This time around, I can safely assume in having found the right combination just by fluke.

The writing is buttery smooth and the color is very pleasing to the eye. It is bright and catchy and makes the writing stand out. And the beauty is that it does so with subtlety. The ink lays down consistently on the paper giving a uniform shade all over to my writing. I haven’t noticed any feathering or bleeding – I find it quite a performer for long and fast sessions of writing.  As for the pen, the first thought that comes to my mind when I hold this writing instrument is its weight – This is really heavy. Almost feels like a vintage grandfather’s pen. I love it! It is nice to hold and is pretty big – although it feels a tad too heavy after some time if the cap is placed on the rear end. The nib is of ‘medium’ grade which allows a certain depth to the writing – I find it right for my taste, not a big fan of very bold or very thin writing.

Here’s scanned image to get a real glimpse of the color and texture:

 

My score for Asa Blue ink - 5/5

My score for Asa Blue ink and Sheaffer 300 M grade combination – 4/5

(The only reason I am rating it at 4 is because of the weight, which to me is a good as well as a not too good thing , depending on the period of writing involved)

Until my next review, happy writing!!

The 9 month spell of goodness….

Well well well, it’s been almost 4 months since my last blog. A lot has changed between then and now. I have changed drastically – of course intrinsically I am the same person; or so I‘d like to believe. But a lot of external things have changed for me - my size for example. Gone are the days when I could just slip into anything from my wardrobe – these days I need to think a lot. Getting into clothes, perhaps I can still manage – it’s the “getting out” part that worries me.

Another thing that’s changed for me is the “looks”. Every time I go out I get these “looks” from people; looks full of sympathy, full of empathy, concern and kindness. Not to mention the motherly advice. It comes in plenty from all walks of life - right from my office colleague to the house keeping staff to the local auto driver to my domestic help and even strangers at shops and malls. Mothers get reminded of their pre-natal days when they see me.

 I still cannot forget the day when, for the first time, I was asked to step aside from a line meant for security check at one of the malls. The lady gave me a kind smile and let me pass through the gap between the scanner and the glass door (for the uninitiated, scanners or any form of X Ray radiation is not good for the fetus, hence the precaution). Now it has become more of a norm. I get offered chairs at shops randomly by strangers – even if I don’t feel the need to sit.

I have always had this complaint about, we Indians not being courteous enough. One such example of un-courteous behavior is that you rarely find people holding out doors for you – in fact if you hold it out for someone coming behind you – you are likely to get stranded at the door itself for no one else would bother to carry on the responsibility as long as they get to pass through. However, all this has changed for me – I no longer have to face the slamming door. In fact, I have been receiving preferential treatment. People actually hold out doors for me and I am kindly allowed to pass through them first.

If that was not enough, I have had auto drivers tell me to sit in the middle of the cart to avoid a jerky/bumpy ride. And just the other day, when I stepped into local circulating library with my mother –in-law, because our very own “Just Books” was shut, I had the guy suggesting me to pick up a copy of the book “what to expect when you are expecting” !!!

After all this I have come to think that this world is really a kind kind place for mums-to-be, don’t you think?? Life seems so much more accommodating ever since the baby bump has started to show visibly! :P

Anyway, on the personal front life goes on as usual – with some occasional pains and aches. I have had quite a normal journey so far and sincerely hope to have a normal end to the entire process. Just got done with the baby shower function – and boy did I feel the shower!! It was overwhelming. Thanks to my parents-in-law, without whom I wouldn't have had this experience.

Finally, even with all the goodness around because of the visible bump, I cannot help getting restless to get it off me and hold the little one.  So the countdown begins as I wait for the D –Day. Or rather, in my case, I count the number of movies I can catch at the theater before the D – day  for I know once the baby arrives it would be a far away dream at least for two long years.

Ah, does that sound like a complaint? Well, for now it is – not sure if I would have the time to think about movies later….. As for my next blog, I shall be back soon!!

My Expectations....

Names for a baby girl:

Pia, Bela, Nindiya, Raga, Nupur, Jhinuk,

Name for a baby boy:  

Dev Roy Kini

Well these are the names that Vikram and I have thought of for our child that is due to be delivered sometime in December.

While it is indeed “good news” (pun intended) but the whole experience of parents-to-be is quite nerve wrecking to say the least.

As we understand, this is going to be a big change for us; therefore, initially the idea of having to grow up to be parents seemed  somewhat like the experience of working for 9 hours every day – day after day- in the first job straight after college.

Not to mention the scary stories that we have heard about sleepless nights, no movie theatres for at least two years, having to watch all possible cartoon channels – fresh episodes and re-runs (especially for someone who is not too fond of animated stuff), changing diapers, watching your diet, cleaning up baby poo, having to deal with the screams and noises after a tiring day at work and endless other things…

It is a whole ball game altogether – when compared to watching someone else’s cute toddler and fondling their cheeks and saying ‘ Oh what a cute baby’  - I guess we are slowly getting an estimate of the amount of work that goes into making that baby cute!

Anyway, for better or for worse, we are gradually coming to terms with reality that life is going to change.

To find some solace and some answers Vikram and I went to watch the movie “What to expect when you are expecting” – and this was after reading the book with the same title which was affectionately gifted to us by our neighbors as they are expecting their second one. 

While the book is increasingly becoming our bible because of the information that it holds, the movie was just hilarious to say the least.

It’s about a bunch of couples who are expecting and the story revolves around their experiences through the rigorous nine months. It covers the entire stretch of initial excitement of becoming parents to the real nuances of this period - without missing some of the weirdest hormonal characteristics like flatulence and being emotional!

On the funnier side, having completed my first trimester, I shared the news with some of my friends and on three out of five occasions, I had to congratulate them back because they told me that they are expecting too!! Looks like – it’s raining ba-bi-es, hallelujah !!!

Watch this space for more…as I get hormonal! :P

Cheers!!

England Diaries [Manchester: Friday , 5th August 2011]

It has been long since I visited my blog, and the reason for that is - I have been in the UK (primarily London) for the past few months.

My stay has been very pleasurable to say the least. However, I did miss writing.  Or Did I?

Well, here’s a compilation of the emails written to my family where I have tried to capture some of my most cherished experiences during my first ever visit to  a foreign country.

1 of 4 - Manchester: Friday , 5^th August 2011

Hi there,

 I finally got some time to write. So have you all been?? Well, as for me the past few days have been quite eventful! I am sure Vikram would have kept you all updated on most of the things. And in some cases, he must have added his own updates. Like the “accent” part is definitely not true!! :P

My visit to London has been good so far. The apartment that I am staying in is at a very nice location with a lovely view. I will send some pictures as soon as possible. My office is at a prime business location too. We are surrounded by Citibank, Barclays, HSBC and NatWest.  Truly the financial centre point!

There are so many things that I have to tell you all that I don’t know where to start from :P

My first interaction after I landed in London was with my taxi driver who turned out to be a Pakistani.  In that 40 minute long drive to the apartment he told me about his six children, what each of them were studying, about terrorism in India and Pakistan, he also gave me an update on the kingpin behind the recent Mumbai blast, showed me the Buckingham palace from outside (with some insider information about what the queen was up to that evening), the London Eye , the Big Ben, the church that witnessed Princess Diana’s wedding and recently held Prince William’s wedding  and the London Bridge.

Well, I would have been happier if he would have just chatted to himself and had let me do the honours of listening.  But tough luck there; for, he turned out to be quite inquisitive about India. He wanted to know if love marriages are more popular in India, whether girls wear western formals like skirts and trousers, if I have any children and so on. On being asked if he liked staying  in London – his response was “ it used to be very nice years back when all  the Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians were in majority and lived happily together – magar abhi yeh Europeans ne aake sab bigaad diya hai”. I couldn’t help smiling :) And I gave away the award for the most bizarre answer to this one!

And oh by the way – I also found my long lost brother in him.  For when he sought confirmation that I was indeed from India, I asked him if he was from India too. His immediate response was “well I am from Pakistan, magar aap chinta maat karo – mujhe bilkul apne bhai ki tarah samjho”. So there you go!

When he was offloading my luggage I realized that I had forgotten to collect one of my bags at the airport.  So my Pakistani brother came to my rescue one last time when he connected me to the Kingfisher Airlines baggage desk at his own expense (quite literally).

It hadn’t even been three full days in London and I had barely unpacked that I had to pack my bags all over again and come to Manchester. The travel to Manchester exposed me to the underground railway (or the Tube, as it is popularly called here).  I had to change two trains to come to Euston and take a train (not the Tube) to Manchester. That is about 2 hours of journey. My train from Euston was at 11.00 in the morning and I managed to miss it. So I bought a new ticket (worth £ 69) which was also my first experience of a racing heart while swiping my card (with my mind engaged in working out the value in INR ).

That day, I had woken up pretty early in the morning to catch the train to Manchester, but it seemed like someone up there really wanted me to miss the train. Cause when I stepped out with my hand bag on my shoulder, my laptop bag on my back and my trolley bag in my hand – I realized it was raining!! And that was my first experience again - of walking in the rain in London. I didn’t quite mind it though . It was just a drizzle really.

So now I am stationed at Manchester until next Friday. It is different from London in the manner that you will see only shopping malls/centres and offices around and not much of greenery. But the buildings are beautiful. A lot of them are heritage buildings. And yes, just like the London Eye there is a big wheel here which is referred to as the Manchester Big wheel. My office (client office) is right opposite to that.

There is a general perception among the Indians in my office that people tend to get friendlier as you get away from London.  So I was fed in to believe that people in Manchester would be extremely nice and friendly – which I realize they are. However, I haven’t really had a bad experience (arising out of rude behaviour) in London either. 

Last night, I went to an English pub in Manchester with some of my colleagues. We were there only for a short while because we had to head back to our apartment which was quite far – but the experience was one of its kind.  In my mind I was transported back to one of those Hollywood movies J

Today being a Friday, we might just go out! My colleagues are planning to go to the Manchester United Football Club over the weekend (will post pictures for sure, if I decide to go with them) and there are a lot of places to shop from. 

So overall it has been good, I have had my share of adventure. I just hope this nice feeling  lasts till I am here. I do miss home terribly at times and that’s why I am looking for a SIM that would allow me to call India at reasonable rates. Will mail across my details as soon as  I get my hands on them.

For now, London seems to be a likable place :)

Well all that I have written above was common information for everyone, but I do have some specific things  for each one of you

@ Meeta: Hey I wanted to tell you that to my great relief bananas are not that expensive here. You  will get a bunch of 6 for one pound at Tesco! By the way how’s your packing coming along? Also is there anything specific I can get for you from London/Manchester? If you don’t tell me then  I am going to pick something of my choice and you will have no choice but to take it J

@Neetu:  Guess what?? I found a SPAR hypermarket here!! But the sad thing is that it is more expensive than TESCO/SAINSBURY :P  I saw some very nice shops that have an awesome range of cosmetics – so please let me know your brand J

@ Kavita: What can I get for you from here?? I  have seen  some very nice collection of office wear woollens. Do let me know if there is anything specific that you need – absolutely anything – I have six months to shopJ . Any update on the house warming ceremony?? My sister moved back to Bangalore. She is joining on Monday. I will ask her to give you a call. 

@ Moon:  Message me the list of things that you need. Offer valid only until Monday (8 August, 2011) And I am not letting you borrow any of my clothes :P

@ Guru: The location of my office is at Canada Square – which is in Canary Wharf.  It is very close to the old dockyard :) So like you had said – it is more of a Business Centre but there is an underground mall. And my place of stay is at Lanterns court – which is a residential area and is about 10 mins walk from Canary Wharf.  I should have taken your advice and should have carried an umbrella along.  Looks like I have to buy one here – wonder how much it is going to cost here.

@ Deepak: I inquired about the Beer Festival and have found a few enthusiasts within my office who are planning to go (subject to favourable project engagements) . I shall keep you updated on my plans. For now, I quite happy with Apple Cider J . Also I may need some tips on what Arhaan would like from Manchester. I know he is a big soccer fan and like I said I might go to the Manchester United Football Club but am really not into soccer. So I could use some tips from you on what to get.

@ Vinod: I can’t help giggling every time they ask me at the counter if its ‘to eat here’ or ‘to go’ . And I am tempted to tear open the packet and eat there, after having it billed as ‘To go’ !! ha ha  

@ Vikram: I will call you later :)

  

Take care everyone and do write in whenever you get time, Love you all and hope to see you all  very soon!!

Durba.

England Diaries [Southampton: Friday, 26th August 2011]

It has been long since I visited my blog, and the reason for that is - I have been in the UK (primarily London) for the past few months.

My stay has been very pleasurable to say the least. However, I did miss writing.  Or Did I?

Well, here’s a compilation of the emails written to my family where I have tried to capture some of my most cherished experiences during my first ever visit to  a foreign country.

2 of 4 - Southampton: Friday , 26^th August 2011

Hey there,

Hope you are all doing well. It’s been quite some time since I wrote. Although I have been writing/video chatting with Kavita, Meeta, Neetu & Purba individually – but again it is always nice to have everyone in the same email. It feels like a get together!!

It’s going to be a month soon since the time I landed here and I am glad that the time spent here, even though it hasn’t been favourable all the while, has  gotten me pretty much comfortable; Especially with travelling by myself.

The underground railway is very convenient and is just a sophisticated version (in look and feel) of Mumbai railways. I guess my three month stay in Mumbai was a good training ground for me to pick up the ‘tricks of train travel’.

Also another development is that I have started to cook now – In other words, I was getting tired eating out every day and it also implies that I have gradually gotten used to operating the dishwasher and the cooking range :P 

So in continuation to the story after I returned from Manchester, I went to Birmingham for a three day training workshop. And you won’t believe my luck - I missed the train again!!  But this time around it was not because I reached late – rather I did not have the tickets with me. Actually I had gotten my tickets booked online using a colleague’s card because I didn’t have a UK bank account, and was supposed to collect the tickets at the station. So I went to the station , well before time on this occasion, with a print out of my ticket confirmation number (just like my visit to Manchester) hoping that I would be asked to swipe just about any card and enter the authorization code to collect my tickets.

But the kiosk refused my ticket when I swiped one of my cards saying that it is not the same card with which the tickets were booked. I rushed to the manned ticket counter but they said they couldn’t help me unless they had the card with which the tickets were booked. I immediately called up my colleague to cancel the tickets booked online if he could. But he was not able to cancel the onward journey tickets however for the return journey – he was informed that he would be entitled to a certain sum after some deductions.

I bought a fresh ticket with a racing heart again and paid £74.50 one way!!  To give you an indication for my shocked reaction - I had paid £70 for a round trip to Birmingham online :P 

So I said bye to all my colleagues and took the next train to Birmingham. And all of this action was experienced at 6.30 in the morning- cause we were supposed to be in Birmingham by 9.30 to attend the three day workshop. Going back to the ticket drama, I figured later that in the UK they have this concept of Off peak tickets, Open tickets and Advance tickets.

Off peak tickets are supposed to cost less compared to normal ticket prices cause they are in off peak hours; the only flip side to it is the time of travel. Open Tickets are like passes to a specific route which is valid for any train up to a given time slot (say, any train up to 3.00 in the afternoon) the same day or valid for a given number of days for any train travelling that route. And finally they have another category called Advance ticket; these are for a fixed train at a given time (like reserved tickets). So if you miss an advance ticket train you gotta buy a new ticket.

Advance tickets tend to cost lesser than open tickets because of the validity. And once you have decided on the type of ticket, i.e. only if your head has not fallen off your shoulders after that spin,  and class (Standard/First) you need to make sure whether the tickets are going to be a third party collection or  otherwise. If it is a third party collection then the kiosk does not ask for the same card which was used to book the tickets. The collector can use any card that has a magnetic strip in order to get to the screen which asks for the authorization code. Once that is entered the tickets are issued without any charge to the card that was swiped. But to enable this option you need to put a tick somewhere while booking your tickets online. 

So the moral of the story is that I missed my train to Manchester because it was an advance ticket and missed the one to Birmingham because I hadn’t put a tick against third party collection while booking online :P

Thankfully I have a bank account now, but tragedy of all tragedies I am yet to receive my debit card and chequebook with my name correctly spelt on them. The first ones that I received had my name spelt as ‘Burba Roy’ :P I really couldn’t help laughing out loud when I read Natwest’s apologetic email even before I could receive the details.

Not to mention the innumerable versions of the way my name is pronounced when I am referred to. They seem to get only the ‘Roy’ part correct and look/sound rather confused when they find a girl, instead of a boy, turning up for a meeting /answering the phone :P  Anyways,  I have changed my signature to just ‘Roy’ in order to provide some respite to my shocked ears, I can deal with the confused looks/voices for now.

Anyway, I have found my Bengali connection in my room mates’ mum. Yes, she is in London too. In fact her entire family is in London (two sisters, father and mother) cause my roommate’s elder sister is based out of London. Her mum is a Tamilian but was raised in Kolkata so she speaks Bengali very well and has a fetish for Bengali saris and sweets. I already had my share of rossogollas that she had got!

Also, there seems to be a huge sea food market (run and managed by Bangladeshis – that wasn’t so hard to guess, was it?) near Canary Wharf. So I might just get some fish to cook at home this weekend.  This is supposed to be long weekend for me, Monday being a bank holiday. So I am planning to visit all the places that need to be visited in London before summer ends. It has already started to rain here but the days are still long. So I better hurry and catch up on the city.

I was supposed to visit Prashant and Gayathri as well, but am gonna give it a pass this weekend. They are all geared up for the arrival of the baby; will see them in September sometime.

Alrighty then, that’s all from me- wish you all a very happy weekend!! Take care and see ya all soonJ

Lots of love and regards

Burba..er..I mean Durba J

England Diaries [Southampton & London: Friday, 30th September 2011]

It has been long since I visited my blog, and the reason for that is -  I have been in the UK (primarily London) for the past few months.

My stay has been very pleasurable to say the least. However, I did miss writing.  Or Did I?

Well, here’s a compilation of the emails written to my family where I have tried to capture some of my most cherished experiences during my first ever visit to  a foreign country.

3 of 4 - Southampton & London: Friday , 30^th September 2011

Hi there,

How’s everyone been? Well, I am not too sure about the others but one person that has definitely been in the news is Aarav! Be it a dinner get together or Gouri- Ganesh Puja – he seems to have been the star!! (Thanks Meeta and Vikram for the updates).  I sound like a News Correspondent now, don’t I? Even if I do, I am not the one to be blamed, for these days whenever I call home I get colourful updates like:

•         Nivi goes the Osho way!

•         Mansoor Ali Khan Patuadi Passes Away – the entire nation, along with the Pataudi family and the Kapoor family, mourns. [Expert Comments by my sister: Kareena and Saif were dressed in white and were looking stunning; especially Kareena!]

•         Arhaan down with Chicken Pox, he is up and about in two weeks but craves non vegetarian food!

•         ‘Mausam’ is an avoidable suffering

•         Guru and Kavita’s Diwali 2011 Celebration in Pune !

•         Burglary attempt at Sopan Baug! Little boy gets away with small items like mobile phone , jewellery etc. Police investigation in progress.  It could be second Slumdog Millionnarie in the making.

•         Today’s special at Viman Nagar : Pan Poudo for breakfast and Sukhal Sungat curry for dinner ! (yum yum ; slurp!)

With such colourful updates, how can I not miss home!

And for those of you who are wondering how do I, Dee Roy, know so much about the Kini/Kamath/Mallaya family – well this is Durba, nowadays a.k.a Dee Roy. Yes, this is my latest name here in London. And I hope it stays that way. A lot of people were confusing my UK email ID with the one for India (because of the same display name)  so I had to request the IT team to change my display name. I was told that I cannot have just the letter ‘D’ for a first name so I added two Es at the end to emphasize and the result is Dee Roy!

It’s crazy what an incorrect name can do to your world. We use an SAP system for raising expenses, charging project time, booking leave etc. Someone has incorrectly entered my first as well as my last name as Roy into the system.  So every time I log into SAP – I get a welcome message which reads ‘Welcome Roy Roy, you cannot access the system now cause it is locked for editing by Dee Roy!’

My name abuse is quite popular among the Indian employees here so when they saw my name change to Dee on the system, I got some very wild reactions !! Some of them were instigating me to sue the IT Team but when I told them that it was intentional – everyone had a good laugh at ‘Dee’ situation!

It is close to two months, and I have started to miss home now; especially because Durga Puja is round the corner. Also I am going to miss the Diwali bash in Pune. Hmph! I shall have to make do with going to Camden for Durga Puja celebratons here in London.

As for my sojourns after Birmingham, I have been in Southampton for the past few weeks on a project. Southampton (also spelt as So’ton) is the Southwest part of United Kingdom – very close to the popular Isle of Wight. The city is located on the waterfront with several piers for fishing and general sightseeing. I was lucky to be here at the time when they host the boat show. It is absolutely stunning. They have yatches, luxurious boats/streamers/ships on display for sale. The price starts from £13,00,000  :):). Well, erm.....I didn’t quite like anything for buying right now, but it was good fun taking videos/pictures and going through the guided tours! (You will see some of them on FB shortly).

One of the evenings I also went to a place called Cowes (pronounced ‘Cows’) which is in the Isle of Wight and is about one hour ferry ride from So’ton.  By the time we reached the island it was dark so we (my colleague and I, in case you were wondering) went to one of the many outlets of a pub chain called ‘The Prince of Wales’. The speciality of these pubs is that they always have a dart board for the visitors to indulge in. We were quite amused with the game between two groups of really old ladies playing the game. One of groups among them got quite pally with us! 

However, the highlight was of my trip to So’ton was the theatre musical that I watched. It was absolutely breathtaking- I have seen theatre in India but nothing on this scale. The play was called ‘Top Hat’. It was a movie shot in 1935 – a romantic comedy turned into a musical. This experience definitely goes down my list of ‘one of the things that you must do in the UK’.

My latest additions to the UK friend circle are a bunch of Brits and a Chinese girl.  My Chinese friend is called Sisi. She is very sweet to say the least. I sort of relate to her cause she seems to be as curious about India as I am about the UK and the culture. She was ecstatic to know that I have a sibling and Vikram has two – the reason for her delight was China’s one child policy which is observed very strictly I was given to know. She was also enquiring about India’s plans to cope with rising population among other things – I didn’t really have an answer to that one. So I just grinned saying that India is trying to catch up with China. She told me that she is engaged to be married to a British guy who is also with the same firm as I.  It was nice getting to know her as we spent a few evenings together in Southampton.

The other person that I spent a lot of time with (in Southampton) is a Brit and her name is Hayley Tuck. She is very sophisticated and polite in her ways and mannerisms. It is nice to see her eat noodles with fork and knife. Every word is well articulated and every move is well rehearsed – interacting with her is like watching a classic English movie.  She seems to have similar taste buds as mine because we often end up at the same counter in the office canteen, which is to say that she likes spicy food.

Lastly, back in London, I have this colleague-friend and his name is Simon Douglas.  He is a Brit too and is married to another Brit and they both go ball room dancing every weekend! Is that fancy or what??

So that’s all the fun part that I have been having summed up in three paras. Let’s turn to the misery part. After all the missed trains for last few weeks, I have gotten a grip on myself so there are no more train stories in this email. We will take a taxi ride and talk about some rather expensive hotels instead. The cabs are very expensive in the UK. A five minute drive can cost you anything between £5- £8, while a 15 minute drive can cost you anything from £12 to £20 depending on traffic. So we usually don’t take cabs for a 10- 15 min or even a 20 min walk unless we have suitcases to carry.  But off late, since I have been travelling a lot – I have taking a lot of these taxi rides; which can range from £10 - £20, twice a day depending on where the hotel is.

As for hotels, the De Veer Grand Harbour at Southampton is a very well known one and it is quite grand (just as the name suggests). The room rate during peak seasons (boat show is a peak season in Southampton) starts at £255 a night. Well it is a lot of fun when you get to stay at a grand hotel like that and go for expensive taxi rides at the company’s expense. But my firm’s expense policy says ‘You spend it first and we will expense it later’. In other words we pay for all our expenses at the first instance and expense it later. We all are supposed to have a UK Amex card for all these business expenses, which I have applied for very diligently, but haven’t received it as yet. And that’s why I have been using my India Amex card (provided by the India team) but it does not work everywhere.  Many a times I was left hanging high and dry (Thanks to Amex!) but fortunately I had some colleague or the other to bail me out. But it is definitely very embarrassing to have your card declined! I have had the misfortune of going through that experience a few times here and now I have stopped using it altogether and use my personal credit card instead!

I also went to a few pubs here in Southampton, and I realized that one needs to very sure that you really need to drink and only drink cause most of them don’t serve any food. No food at all – not even fries. Also the PAN card is not a valid ID (if they ask you for one) for them.  They accept only passports for foreign nationals. So Sisi (my Chinese friend), Raksha (another colleague) and I had to walk out of two pubs without ordering anything and finally settle for mocktails in the third one! And  munch on cereal bars after we reached the hotel cause there was nothing to eat at the bar and the hotel kitchen , we were told, closed at 11.00 with the last order at 10.45 pm! So that’s all about So’ton – a nice city nonetheless and I have to go there again in three weeks!

I am back in London for three weeks and the weather is very pleasant, bright and sunny (in the daytime), which is quite surprising at this time of the year I am told. The only bother was the rain and the wind for sometime in London (before I keft for Southampton).  The wind was very strong. So strong that it kept my hands busy setting the backward turned umbrella right and it made me wonder if I would be blown away by it and perhaps you could see me stuck to the Tata Sky disc at Mystic Moods someday.

Anyways, so I am back to routine in London. Kavita has been asking me if I had anything interesting to eat – well there are some things that I have from the top of my list, one of them is the salmon for sure! It is a very tasty fish, in fact it reminds of one of the fresh water fish that I have had but can’t remember the name of. I also ate some nice burritos and fish and chips. I also had spicy chicken at Nando’s (Thanks to Meeta).

And like Guru had suspected, I couldn’t survive the black pudding more than a bite. And I don’t think I am ever going to have it again. It was distasteful and de appetising. The Burrow Market in London is very famous for street food- you will love the Mexican dishes there. Yellow orange rice (a biryani lookalike) with lots of sea food! It is not just yum but a delightful sight as well.

I am off to Scotland tonight with a colleague and there are still so many things to share but I realize that the mail is just getting longer. So I am going to stop now, and head for home.  I shall write more in my next email. Until then take care and have a lovely Dussera!! Miss you all!!

Lots of love!!

Durba J

England Diaries [Bexhill-On-Sea: Wednesday, 23rd November 2011]

It has been long since I visited my blog, and the reason for that is - I have been in the UK (primarily London) for the past few months.

My stay has been very pleasurable to say the least. However, I did miss writing.  Or Did I?

Well, here’s a compilation of the emails written to my family where I have tried to capture some of my most cherished experiences during my first ever visit to  a foreign country.

4of 4 - Bexhill-On-Sea: Wednesday, 23^rd November 2011


Hey there!!

How’s everyone been? And if I had to ask you the same thing here in London, I’d say : “ You, alright?” Well, It took me a while to understand that ‘You, alright?’ is the equivalent of ‘How are you?’ In the early days I remember wondering to myself if I looked confused/lost enough to make people ask me that question.  I realized later, that it’s a way of speech. It is used to say hello to people or get the other person’s attention – say you are in a queue to pay for your grocery and you haven’t realized that the person standing before you is done and therefore it’s your turn – the person at the counter would grab your attention with this line! ‘Hey, you alright?’ :P 

Well well well, if you think you are gonna have another long email about things about London and other places in the UK – you are damn right! :P  However, I am not going to bore you with lifestyle details anymore and  shall try  (the key word is ‘try’)to keep this email short and sweet. I always used to score less marks for exceeding the word limit in school; guess old habits die hard. Or, like in my case, may be they don’t die at all, they hang onto you till the end!

Soooo, It appears that it’s been really really long since I wrote. But I hope everyone’s had a good time – considering it was the festive season (Dussera/Diwali/Bhai Dujh etc). Also, I imagine all of you had a fantastic time during Diwali! I got to hear some excerpts from Vikram – and it did sound like a lot of fun (no surprises there!). So what next? Have we started planning for the next bash yet??

Time seems to have flown pretty fast for me, with my return date and the much awaited Vikram’s visit to London, approaching rapidly. I am glad that the weather has been (surprisingly) pleasant throughout my stay so far. But secretly, I am hoping for a slight bit of snowfall, just for the sake of having a white Christmas!

I have bought a lot of winter wear but like I said , it’s been pretty pleasant and therefore I haven’t really gotten around to use most of it. While I see most of my Bangalore/Mumbai/ Hyderabad colleagues wrapping themselves up in mufflers and jackets and gloves- I am pretty ok to walk around in just an overcoat. Guess, that’s my experience of having spent time in the winters up North India speaking for itself.  The air is so fresh, I quite enjoy walking up to office (whenever I am in London) in the cold!

Hmmm, life hasn’t been much different since I wrote the last time. I am getting more and more used to the weather and the people here and it’s been pretty comfortable.

As for travelling, here are some quick updates from my side. I went to Scotland for a backpacking trip and it was a very pleasant experience.  With just a couple of pairs of clothes and bare minimum necessities, staying in a hostel and making the most of the daytime until late evening visiting places till we were bone tired was quite exhilarating . While any travel book would tell you what places to visit  in Scotland  - like the Castles, High Land tours, Loch Ness, the Whiskey making factory et all, and we did all of that! ;

What I want to share with you all is this creepy once in a life time experience that we had of a ‘midnight ghost tour’ in Edinburgh! The tour typically starts at 11.30 in the night and lasts about 90 minutes; It is a guided tour where the group is taken to the famous underground vaults of Edinburgh. I didn’t realize until I was in Edinburgh and attended this tour, what a gory history a beautiful place like Scotland has.

So we all started following this lady tour guide who was dressed in a gothic style gown and was walking very fast. My colleague, Anupama, and I literally had to run to catch up with her. And to make matters worse or may be better (cause it helped set the ambience) it was drizzling!  She would lead the entire group with scheduled stops at places like an Old Church, parking lot (which apparently was the crematorium or rather just a place to dump dead bodies when Plague hit the city) and old buildings finally making our way to the vaults.

The vaults were these building structures divided into rooms/compartments built underground (spread across the entire city of Edinburgh) by the tradesmen to store goods. But because they were made of Limestone which is porous in nature and therefore cannot stand the fury of nature like rain, which Scotland is very prone to, these places were abandoned and shut down thereby leading the old, poor, helpless and the downtrodden of the society to seek shelter in there. There were dozens of people sharing small rooms – because the vaults were not enough. Lack of proper sanitation, no air/sunshine etc lead to a lot of diseases, deaths and crime, witchcraft and ghost stories!! Some very very creepy stories :P

When we were led into the vaults it was pitch dark and just so we could get our vision adjusted our tour guide was holding the torch right under her chin for a while. And that was turned off too for these creepy stories to sound even creepier!

It was during that time when the tour guide cracked a joke – she said, apparently in one of her earlier tours when she was holding the torch under chin which illuminated her face in the dark making her appear even paler, there was this 14 year old boy who had asked her “How long have you been dead for?” :P Naive kid thought she was already dead and has turned into a ghost!!

There were some unexpected screams, laughs and experiences when we were inside the vaults which did get my heart racing, body sweating and throat drying but at the end of it all- the experience was worth it! 

Finally  towards the end of our tour we made our way out of the vaults and made our way into a pub for a Vodka shot each (sponsored by the tour) to get us back to reality! #:-s whew!

So in case you are visiting Scotland, I would highly recommend this tour. If not scared you would definitely be amused!  And if I imagine Kavita and Guru going for this tour ever – I know who will get scared and who will get amused for sure!!

The dungeon was fun too and a must visit for Arhaan and perhaps for a grown up Aarav!

As for some other  experiences – recently there were a few protests in held in London, One was by the students against the rising tuition fee – and I was returning from central London that evening when I saw of lot of police patrolling the St. Pauls’ area and boy was I surprised to see them on horses! Each horse appeared healthier than the other and all of them were made to wear the bullet proof glass! I wanted to take a picture but didn’t want to risk being mistaken for a journalist so I gave up the idea.

St. Pauls’ seems to be the place for campaigning and protesting – the recent protests about ‘the Occupy Movement’ are also held at St. Paul’s. I was there one evening and saw the tents they have put up. Everyone seemed to be in a merry mood with singing, playing musical instruments and football and smoking! But given all of that, I personally feel London is still a very nice place to live in :)

Anyway, I am at Bexhill –on –Sea for the time being, which is another beach place in the South Western part of UK.  My client, apparently, is the only employer is this entire town. So most of the people in the town either work at Hastings (my client) or have retired from Hastings and the rest of them who do not fall under either of the earlier mentioned categories are tourists/have retired from other places and bought a house near the sea.

I am living in a sea facing guest house myself, which is an old English style house converted into a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) by this very adorable Old English couple, who insist that I have a double fried egg with two super size sausages for breakfast every morning – while I am happy with one of each, mixed with cereals, hash browns and some mushrooms.

By the way the food is absolutely amazing – especially the sea food. I had my first experience of eating clams & mussels here at Bexhill. The dish is called ‘spaghetti allo scoglio’ (I looked up the name of the dish in the restaurant’s menu on google ! ;P)

Oho, also I went to an Indian restaurant (again at Bexhill) and that turned out to be run by Bangladeshis :P It was nice chatting up with them in Bengali (although their accent is quite different from what we speak). Apparently all the waiters and the owner/manager were chatting up with me except for the master chef who was busy preparing my dish! The entire restaurant was empty – the reason for their undivided attention to me.    It is a tourist place and is busy only during summers because of the beach, that’s why the emptiness!

I was quite amazed on being offered a drink (on the house) by the owner/manager, which I politely refused, – considering all of them were Bengali Muslims!   At the end of it, a lot of Bengali-Bengali and India-Bangladeshi bonding!

I am going to stay put at this place for about two weeks now and am I exciting about various restaurants that are on offer to explore. 

And oh my God, see I just cannot write a short email now, can I?

Right, so one last thing before I wrap up – the shops are flooded with Christmas gifts, I really cannot decide what to buy and what to leave. Just to make my job easier, can I please ask you to let me know in case there is anything specific you would like from London :) I have already made a note of Kavita’s, Meeta’s, Neetu’s and Purba’s requests [although. Ladies, that shouldn’t stop you from writing to me about other things that you would like]; but it is the men that I am worried about, absolutely no response!  

@Neetu: You would totally love the cosmetic range here!! And I think I am going to pick a little something in the cosmetic section for everyone. But still if you have any specific thing on your mind, don’t hesitate to let me know.

@Meeta & Kavita: I hope ‘Medium’ is your T-Shirt size, if not - then I am guessing you will write to me:P

@Purba: I shall make sure that whatever I buy for you fits me perfectly!

@Everyone: In case, anyone wants shoes – I would need the correct shoe size (as per India standards)!

Ah, so that’s all from me! I guess this probably will be the last mail that you would be receiving from London (unless something drastic happens and I can’t wait to share) cause after this I am going to be home soon!! And I shall fill you in with all the details once I am back.

Until then, have a great time and take care!!!!

Lots of love and regards,

Dee :)