Quick. Which is the only profession in which you can afford to be wrong every single day? Weather Forecasting, of course. Britain, perhaps by virtue of being an island, has a notoriously varying climate at any given point of time. Most of the time the recorded temperature displayed at train stations is a joke, due to varying winds. It only takes a wrong turn into an alley on a rainy day for you to fall victim to eccentric gales. The only thing predictable about these blasts of chilly air is the direction they choose – Diametrically opposite to the way you hold your umbrella, of course. One of my friends, less familiar with these eccentricities, had to buy 4 umbrellas in one month! Eventually, he got smarter and started using a raincoat.

Sainsbury, the only affordable supermarket here, makes me take a long detour on the way home. Eventually I drag myself up the stairs to my bedroom. I release the bag of groceries from my left hand. As cold as ice, the fingers slowly feel each other’s dulled presence. My right hand was nestled in the pocket of my leather jacket is much more alive. I bring them together. It is almost as if a stranger placed his hand on mine. Next I do what come naturally to me. My rightie deftly massages my leftie back to life.

Today, Dinky (one of my best friends) just told me over messenger an amazing piece of news. He will be traveling to US for a short term transfer. He would be in Texas and staying with his cousins. In fact that is exactly where Archie is. So there you see, world is indeed a small place!

I have wondered how one word descriptions would go for certain people. Let’s start with easy ones:

A footballer is a person who plays football A fisherman is a person who catches fish A comedian is a person who acts comically And…. Arun Ravindran is a person who always keeps reading

Well, this profound insight can be easily proven if you know my daily routine. The moment my mecum covered eyes crack open late morning, I fumble for my mobile phone to read the time. At the station, I read the next available train timing. I read Metro while traveling in the tube. Once I’m at office, I spend almost all my time reading numerous documents either on my PC or printouts. As a persistent hangover from my days on bench (a term for no project assigned), I read/browse hundreds of web pages for news and trivia. Thanks to the huge void in my life brought by the absence of a TV (fondly referred to as telly in the UK), I spend my time creatively reading books or Sunday supplements.

Now that you know what kind of creature I am, it must come as no surprise to you that I have managed to get a library membership in London. Jason Goode, a really friendly guy in my office, managed to lead me into the maze called Barbican Center. The membership was free and one can take up to 12 books for 3 weeks. You can reissue by phone up to 3 times. Though lacking in the technology section, it was well stacked in varied fields of art. I spend many delightful moments discovering sections unheard of such as Paranormal Studies, Videography etc. I managed to find 2 books on photography. Owing to their picture-book format, I have lapped them up in no time. As a strange consequence, I now find myself reading more information in every photograph I put my eyes on. Seems some creatures never change, they just evolve ;)

As we walked towards the wooden entrance amidst this forest-like surroundings, we felt suddenly inside a Mayuryan courtyard. A flock of peacocks await us decked in their colorful plumes. What a breathtaking reception to the Loveliest Castle in the World – Leeds Castle. Surrounded by a beautiful lake which functions as a moat, the castle is home to more than 400 birds from all over the world. It affords you a trip back in time when these extravagant monuments built in stone were winter or summer homes. I have never seen the interiors of a palace before and hence the experience was delightful. Typical of any castle every painting had a story to tell. One striking portrait was of three ladies who were erstwhile royal inhabitants. Between them they shared 7 husbands or so. The dominant lady in the picture was a chain smoker and it shows even in the painting. A great deal of information about coat of arms, an inherited symbol denoting a family, is on display. From the wine cellars to creaking banquet halls, a spooky feeling can be felt everywhere, thanks to hundreds of horror movies in such settings. In an unbelievable coincidence, I met Avinash Bhat, my classmate at TAPMI while touring the castle.

Have you ever solved a maze from inside it? Well, maybe if you play a lot of 3D games. It’s easy to get lost in the Leeds' maze made of hedges. But with a little persistence you reach the center with a prized view of the vineyard. The surroundings of the castle is spell binding. It is an ideal place to bring your romantic partner along. Swans, the symbol of eternal love, of different kinds have made Leeds their home. I had Fish ‘n Chips, the national delicacy, for lunch and quite enjoyed it. All in all, a very pleasant trip.

Click here to see one of my most beautiful albums

Carefully posing myself next to Beckam I’m wondering ‘Is he really this short?’ I’ve heard he is a six-footer, but perhaps he has hunched up for the in-the-middle-of-the-run pose. It’s a lovely hall; all lit up for partying and one can’t help bumping into celebrities. Yikes, my chance has come to pose next to Madonna! Somewhere nearby Arnie stands tall in my all time favourite Terminator costume and cool makeup. Would have anybody believed it if told them? Sometimes your camera can be a life saver. Check out the snaps.

Am I kidding you? Not really. We were kidding ourselves. The party is at Madame Tussauds and the celebrities are just plain wax models. But what they have essentially tried to capture is a moment in the glam world. A moment which we would love to be a part of (judging from the enormous amounts glossy trash that gets consumed in the name of magazines and tabloids). There are moments when you confuse between the wonderstruck onlooker and a lesser known wax model. You might even reach out to touch, but then….Oops!

Tussauds is a very tourist oriented experience. But it’s worthless if you don’t carry an essential tool – a camera. I don’t deny that there are thrills. Chamber Live! For example is a dungeon with live actors dressed up to resemble gruesome serial killers. But, somehow the killers took fancy only on the women and children. Coz by the time we hear a scream and run up to the spot, the ‘murderer’ would be smirking affably in a corner hiding for the next ‘victim’. Deprived of even a single horror experience, we somewhat enjoyed the London History ride due to its colourful three dimensional experience.

Keen that fireworks by the Thames (or more accurately by the London Eye giant wheel) should not be missed on this particular day, we planned to move accordingly. Coming from the land of deafening and scintillating fireworks displays, Thrissur; I had a unique opportunity to compare traditional Chinese fireworks and modern electronic pyrotechnics. Simply due to the fact that they are electronically ignited allows for more controlled and spectacularly synchronised effects. The London Eye was effectively portrayed many times as a gigantic fiery windmill with fluorescent strands. Another camera-happy moment for me [Snaps are here]. I naturally put my A95 in Fireworks mode which, I later realized, makes for long exposure times. Hence a tripod would have been handy, though I cannot imagine a spot to place it in that dense crowd. Swarms were pouring into stations in such numbers that police stepped in for crowd management. The huge water dispensing trucks could be also spotted at some places. Again, quite thoughtfully, portable toilets were installed at ‘strategic’ points. Despite all this, beer bottles would get smashed and an odd ruckus would start at some distant street.

People were generally in the pink of health, not because of healthy diets, but because of all-night pubbing:wink:. However, most of them were in the best of their ‘spirits’. One actually came up to us, as we passed by, claiming he had an Indian friend and would like to wish a wonderful new year to all Indians ….. He continued bawling his ode to whoever holding him upright. We simply kept walking, thinking smug in our minds ‘We share yur feelin, mate!'

[Apologies for posting this at a later date. Guess punctuality is one bad habit I haven’t picked up]

If you thought what happened in Christmas Eve was interesting, you have missed the most interesting bit. Midnight. Yes the moment Christ was born. Kate suggested that in the true spirit of the celebration, we might as well join a mid-night mass. I loved the idea. Kate’s mom joined us though they haven’t been doing so for a long time now. I haven’t visited many churches, the ones I have were mostly for marriages. But this was a very small and elegant church. By the time we arrived, the sonorous chimes filled the chilly air and people were quietly moving in. Thanks to the pamphlets and the hymnbook, I could sing along in karaoke pretty well (not particularly distinctively, but still). Kate, despite all the years, sang pretty well. The church singers also did a fine job. The sermon was not particularly interesting. At the stroke of midnight, chimes were sounded again. In the end, we walked towards the altar for blessings from the priest. Later, he did a quick job of finishing the 2 goblets of wine left ;)

I’m sure most of us in the house had very little sleep last night. Some of us were too excited wondering what was hidden inside those lovely colourful packing. There were so many of them stashed in so many places. Some had shapes that would easily give away. So they were not taken out. Some of the elderly amongst us were busy being Santa. Tiptoeing close to the Christmas tree he/she was swiftly filling all the stockings. In spite of all this, next to the tree was someone who was dead as a log. Yep, that’s me. Totally oblivious, as usual, once the lights go off (even if it’s back on ;)).

I quickly wake up early morning thinking… So early? A Christmas miracle?? After a healthy breakfast, we all gathered in the living room. Presents were to be sorted into piles based on the recipient. I opened my giftbox and I gasped. That’s because in my last minute shopping in Pune I had bought everything available to beat the cold, including caps, extra jacket, thermal wear etc. But they managed to get me what I missed. I was truly surprised to find a beautiful pair of hand gloves and a muffler. There were gifts of every conceivable type: sweets, clothes, durables etc. Everyone meticulous wrote down the names of the sender so that later they could send thank you letters. Check the pictures here

Christmas day is a day of feasting. I’m personally a great fan of snacking. Almost every 2 hours, my natural hunger cycle peaks. But Penny kept on bringing mince pies, chocolates and cakes at such regular intervals that I was virtually exhausted. As a nice diversion, we played a lot of traditional games like scrabble and pictionary. Shelly got a nice thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. We thought it would be a cool time pass. Trust me it was huge.

Cut to Christmas dinner. Of all the delicious treats in the table, obviously, turkey stole the show. Made in 2 different delicious stuffings, it takes hours to be cooked in an oven. Finally, we broke crackers (the harmless Christmas variety) and shared the trivia/jokes we found inside them. We got hooked on to tabletop air-hockey till we were tired of it. Looking back, I’m sure it would one of the best christmas I’ve ever had.