I am not a fanatic of the Airtel Super Singer Junior, but once in a while I jump from my computer to hog the TV screen to hear one of the younger ones blast out the most beautiful of songs. I do at times feel dejected when they dont render my favorite songs as per my wishes. I am definitely not a vocal expert and my judgement usually defers from those of the judges!
It was one of those days today when I was just rivetted in front of the TV for 4 minutes, hearing Prasanna and Srinisha render one of the most melodious love duets in recent times, "Kangal Irandal" from Subramaniapuram. As astonishing as it seems, I havent heard this song of the year 2008 till today. But it was so impressive that the song runs in a loop for the past 2 hrs in my DVD player and I have hunted down all relevant youtube videos. I have hardly been so excited about a song in a long time, like this one.
I would be extremely glad if someone gives me the link to the Super Singer Junior version. Music not only breaks down barriers, but its the best medicine for a sick guy like me who is recovering from a surgery. The song definitely made my day today!
PS: Prasanna, you rock machi!!! I have become your fan after today's rendition!
Lyrics
Kangal irandal unn kangal irandal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai poodhadhenna
chinna chiripil oru kalla chiripil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mooddi maraithai (x2)
Peysa enni silla naal aarugil varuven
pinbu paarvai podhum enna naan ninaithen nagardheney maatri
kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavithai kaadhal thaanaa
oru varthai illaiye idhil oosai illaiye idhai irrulillum paddithidda mudigiradhey
iravum alladha pagallum alladha pozhudhugal unnoddu kazhiyumaa
thoddavum koodadha paddavum koodadha iddayivelli appodhu kuraiyummaa
madiyinil saindhidda thoodikudhey
marupuram nygaanamum naddukudhey
idhuvarai yaariddamum solladha kadhai
Kangal irandal unn kangal irandal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai poodhadhenna
chinna chiripil oru kalla chiripil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mooddi maraithai
thiraigal anddadha kaatrum thinddadha
manadhurkul eppodhu nuzhandhittai
uddallum alladha uruvam kolladha kadavulai poll vandhu kalandhittai
unnai andri vear oru ninaivillai
inni indha vuon uyir ennadhillai
thaddai illai saavillumey
unnoddu varra
kangal ezhudhum iru kangal ezhudhum
oru vanna kavithai kaadhal thaanaa
oru varthai illaiye idhil oosai illaiye idhai irrulillum paddithidda mudigiradhey
Peysa enni silla naal aarugil varuven
pinbu paarvai podhum enna naan ninaithen nagardheney maatri
Kangal irandal unn kangal irandal
ennai katti izhuthai izhuthai poodhadhenna
chinna chiripil oru kalla chiripil
ennai thalli vittu thalli vittu mooddi maraithai
Random Access
The search has just begun !!!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
An Ode to the 200
I have always considered Sachin a very good batsman, a very good selfish batsman who ensures that people talk about him 20 years after he has retired, much like his mentor and city-dweller Gavaskar. Famously, fierce foes from both sides of the border, Gavaskar and Javed Miandad, concurred on one thing, that this new kid on the block will re-write all batting records. Well, may not be everything, but definitely he replaced one yesterday. And what a knock that was!
Enough has been said by now in the surprisingly low 893 news articles in google news about the match and the context in which he achieved it, which I read through all morning. Having missed the live version yesterday until my passionate friends rang me up to tease me, I even caught the replay of the entire innings in my own 4*4inch tv, aka mosaic in this part of the world, as I wanted to write a proper account of it. What caught by attention was the quality of the innings, rather than the number of runs scored. Here was a guy timing his innings to perfection, he wanted to achieve the landmark and he knew exactly what he had to do to achieve that. Having gone to 191 in the 43rd over, he strolled to his 200 in the 50th over and left it till the very end, keeping the billions watching to the edge of their seats. No one knew whether he would make it, but for himself. He also was keen to ensure that he batted the whole 50 overs "to test himself", so that injects more sense into it. It was least surprising for me, who has watched almost all of his 46 hundreds, and his agonising and lengthyyyyyyyyy 90s.
That Sachin would be the first to the landmark was a bit surprising to me. I would have expected the dasher version of Sachin in the 90s to have done it, I would have expected the frenzy of Sehwag to have accomplished that, I would have to even think the 6 hitting chaos of Jayasuriya to have gone past it. But the Sachin of today is more focussed, he knows he doesnt have the time left in him and he has to make the most of what comes to him. With 10 hundreds in the last 12 months, and with 93 centuries to his name now, I am sure hes on the right track. Yesterday, he could not have asked for a better combination than a small ground, flat pitch that road contractors would be proud of, a number of able partners who took the pressure off him and a wayward attack that pours full tosses and full length balls. But still, the credit goes to him for making it stick, where a lesser player would have thrown his wicket away.
Although I do crib about the selfish attribute of Sachin's innings, there have been some classy innings by Sachin which I have admired along the way. The Perth genius of 1991, The Cape Town massacre of 1996 with Azhar, Desert Storm at his peak in 1998 and a lesser version of it in Australia 2009, the Chennai heartbreak of 1999 which I happened to watch live at the stadium and the equally poignant Hyderabad version of 2009, the World Cup classic against Pakistan in 2003 are the ones that have stuck to my mind. Being a critic of Sachin is never easy, but given only a handful of gems in 600+ innings doesnt make my feelings any better.
I always rate the quality of an innings by a few factors, the number of edges, the number of threes, the number of fours to name a few. The bowling attack is irrelevant as you are as likely if not more likely to get out to a poor shot than to a good ball. It is in this respect that the innings yesterday stands out for it was of an outstanding quality. Sachin had the discipline yesterday to rival his cover drive-cutting innings of Sydney 241 and Nagpur 100. He hardly had any edges, with every ball striking the middle cleanly. It was phenomenal that in 50 overs and 200 hard runs, there wasnt even one half chance. That the maximum consecutive dot ball count was 4 at the start of the innings is a glorious statistic. He even ran two 3s, and quite a few singles, which has characterised all his innings and shows that he doesnt mind working hard for his runs. He doesnt mind having to run unlike some of the lazy bums around in international cricket content with whacking the balls out of the ground. The 25 fours that he hit yesterday was another record I am proud of, cos it means he found the gaps to the boundary on a small field with 11 fielders on it. This is where the men are sorted out from the boys who whack 6s like in street cricket. His accumulation of runs were brilliant, his 50s taking 37, 53, 28 and 29 balls respectively. This is where most of the dashers like Sehwag, Jayasuriya and Afridi fail. Theirs is more likely to read 19-26-out. The beauty of the innings is the way the acceleration comes after reaching the primary 100. While the others done care if they get out at 0 or 99, Sachin doesnt care whether he gets out at 100 or 139. Definitely, he does care about 99, 149 or 199, where he wouldnt mind offering a perfect defensive stroke or two to the combined agony of a billion souls ;) And the way he takes a single to fine leg or square leg or third man to invariably reach his hundred off a single behind the wicket is testamount to his superior skills of eschewing risks while reaching landmarks.
Sachin is definitely the world's premier run machine whose consistency is outstanding. While there could be one off wonders like Zimbabwe's Coventry who will continue to threaten this record created yesterday, I am sure there will be some like his overall ODI run tally that will stand the test of time, similar to the first ODI 200 which took 39 years in the making. Records are meant to be broken, like he himself said it, but class is permanent. He is a class apart when it comes to run scoring and creating benchmarks for others. Hats off to Sachin on breaking the unbreakable. Like the famous Roger Bannister's mile under four minutes, I expect that many will follow suit now that the seemingly unbreakable has finally been broken. If there is a winner yesterday, its the spirit of sportsmen, which constantly breaks the barriers considered unbreakable.
Random Access
The search has just begun !!!
Enough has been said by now in the surprisingly low 893 news articles in google news about the match and the context in which he achieved it, which I read through all morning. Having missed the live version yesterday until my passionate friends rang me up to tease me, I even caught the replay of the entire innings in my own 4*4inch tv, aka mosaic in this part of the world, as I wanted to write a proper account of it. What caught by attention was the quality of the innings, rather than the number of runs scored. Here was a guy timing his innings to perfection, he wanted to achieve the landmark and he knew exactly what he had to do to achieve that. Having gone to 191 in the 43rd over, he strolled to his 200 in the 50th over and left it till the very end, keeping the billions watching to the edge of their seats. No one knew whether he would make it, but for himself. He also was keen to ensure that he batted the whole 50 overs "to test himself", so that injects more sense into it. It was least surprising for me, who has watched almost all of his 46 hundreds, and his agonising and lengthyyyyyyyyy 90s.
That Sachin would be the first to the landmark was a bit surprising to me. I would have expected the dasher version of Sachin in the 90s to have done it, I would have expected the frenzy of Sehwag to have accomplished that, I would have to even think the 6 hitting chaos of Jayasuriya to have gone past it. But the Sachin of today is more focussed, he knows he doesnt have the time left in him and he has to make the most of what comes to him. With 10 hundreds in the last 12 months, and with 93 centuries to his name now, I am sure hes on the right track. Yesterday, he could not have asked for a better combination than a small ground, flat pitch that road contractors would be proud of, a number of able partners who took the pressure off him and a wayward attack that pours full tosses and full length balls. But still, the credit goes to him for making it stick, where a lesser player would have thrown his wicket away.
Although I do crib about the selfish attribute of Sachin's innings, there have been some classy innings by Sachin which I have admired along the way. The Perth genius of 1991, The Cape Town massacre of 1996 with Azhar, Desert Storm at his peak in 1998 and a lesser version of it in Australia 2009, the Chennai heartbreak of 1999 which I happened to watch live at the stadium and the equally poignant Hyderabad version of 2009, the World Cup classic against Pakistan in 2003 are the ones that have stuck to my mind. Being a critic of Sachin is never easy, but given only a handful of gems in 600+ innings doesnt make my feelings any better.
I always rate the quality of an innings by a few factors, the number of edges, the number of threes, the number of fours to name a few. The bowling attack is irrelevant as you are as likely if not more likely to get out to a poor shot than to a good ball. It is in this respect that the innings yesterday stands out for it was of an outstanding quality. Sachin had the discipline yesterday to rival his cover drive-cutting innings of Sydney 241 and Nagpur 100. He hardly had any edges, with every ball striking the middle cleanly. It was phenomenal that in 50 overs and 200 hard runs, there wasnt even one half chance. That the maximum consecutive dot ball count was 4 at the start of the innings is a glorious statistic. He even ran two 3s, and quite a few singles, which has characterised all his innings and shows that he doesnt mind working hard for his runs. He doesnt mind having to run unlike some of the lazy bums around in international cricket content with whacking the balls out of the ground. The 25 fours that he hit yesterday was another record I am proud of, cos it means he found the gaps to the boundary on a small field with 11 fielders on it. This is where the men are sorted out from the boys who whack 6s like in street cricket. His accumulation of runs were brilliant, his 50s taking 37, 53, 28 and 29 balls respectively. This is where most of the dashers like Sehwag, Jayasuriya and Afridi fail. Theirs is more likely to read 19-26-out. The beauty of the innings is the way the acceleration comes after reaching the primary 100. While the others done care if they get out at 0 or 99, Sachin doesnt care whether he gets out at 100 or 139. Definitely, he does care about 99, 149 or 199, where he wouldnt mind offering a perfect defensive stroke or two to the combined agony of a billion souls ;) And the way he takes a single to fine leg or square leg or third man to invariably reach his hundred off a single behind the wicket is testamount to his superior skills of eschewing risks while reaching landmarks.
Sachin is definitely the world's premier run machine whose consistency is outstanding. While there could be one off wonders like Zimbabwe's Coventry who will continue to threaten this record created yesterday, I am sure there will be some like his overall ODI run tally that will stand the test of time, similar to the first ODI 200 which took 39 years in the making. Records are meant to be broken, like he himself said it, but class is permanent. He is a class apart when it comes to run scoring and creating benchmarks for others. Hats off to Sachin on breaking the unbreakable. Like the famous Roger Bannister's mile under four minutes, I expect that many will follow suit now that the seemingly unbreakable has finally been broken. If there is a winner yesterday, its the spirit of sportsmen, which constantly breaks the barriers considered unbreakable.
Random Access
The search has just begun !!!
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Europe Day 13 - London
Today is the last day of the tour, and had loads of time to reminiscence all that happened. The flight was in the evening, so we had a slow and easy morning lazing around and packing our stuff. It didn’t appear much when we bought it, most of it small items, but only when it all went in that we knew exactly how much. With suitcases blown up to their maximum limits, we were sitting on top of them to close it. We went to the airport quite early and it helped as there was a bit of an issue with the VAT refund counter. Not being chauvinistic, but the ladies usually tend to be more aggressive than men when handling these kind of roles, especially customs and any refund. As usual, there was an Indian and a Chinese looking woman at the counter. I knew what was coming when the Chinese woman accused the previous customer who was talking in an East European language of accusing her in a foreign tongue. She refused both my requests without any consideration, and I had to go to the VAT counter after immigration where it was fine within 2 minutes. We were laughing when we were told stories about the inflexibility during check in and VAT counter, where they did not even give refund for a pen!
On board the flight, I was doing a quick recap of the tour and what I found special about each of the places I have been to, and the people there. In short, this is how I would describe the people based on my extremely short time spent there.
Italy – Stylish
Austria – Beautiful
Switzerland – Graceful
Germany – Hot
Netherlands - Fabulous
Belgium - Homely
France – Elegant
England – Sophisticated
The trip has definitely been quite a fantastic one, with so many different experiences and visiting so many places in such a short time. Although rushed and I cannot claim to have visited any place in great detail, this tour was meant to be an introduction to central Europe and enable us to identify which parts we would like to explore more in detail. I would definitely want to visit Switzerland and France again, spending a lot more time to comprehend all that these countries have to offer. I have been thrilled and fascinated by Europe during winter, coming from the tropics to experience the snow and the chill. It has been great to spend this Christmas and New Year in Europe and this trip will always remain in my memory.
On board the flight, I was doing a quick recap of the tour and what I found special about each of the places I have been to, and the people there. In short, this is how I would describe the people based on my extremely short time spent there.
Italy – Stylish
Austria – Beautiful
Switzerland – Graceful
Germany – Hot
Netherlands - Fabulous
Belgium - Homely
France – Elegant
England – Sophisticated
The trip has definitely been quite a fantastic one, with so many different experiences and visiting so many places in such a short time. Although rushed and I cannot claim to have visited any place in great detail, this tour was meant to be an introduction to central Europe and enable us to identify which parts we would like to explore more in detail. I would definitely want to visit Switzerland and France again, spending a lot more time to comprehend all that these countries have to offer. I have been thrilled and fascinated by Europe during winter, coming from the tropics to experience the snow and the chill. It has been great to spend this Christmas and New Year in Europe and this trip will always remain in my memory.
Europe Day 12 - Paris and London
Paris was a very fascinating city in most aspects. Today morning, we were supposed to board the Eurostar to London, so we arrived at the Nord station 3 hours before, after a nice French breakfast including the tastiest croissant. The station wasn’t very massive, but had enough facilities to keep the travelers busy. It was a unique sight seeing quite different engines in each platform, ranging from the Paris local train to the German TGV to the French Eurostar. Sensing the opportunity to click more photos, I went out looking for the right angles and the right light setting. I came back after a while, and we had to fill up immigration forms and go through the security checks. I have never been to a place where the emigration and immigration was next to each other, so it was different to see the French and UK border agencies together. Once I went through it, I realized that my camera lens cap had gone missing. This is not the first time its happening this way, and I had got enough warnings from my wife about my carelessness, so now I had to hear the “I told you so” stories. I was feeling quite sad, as the lens cap was an integral part of the well being of my dear D5K. It was quite a lousy cap though as it was tough to take it off and put it on every now and then. So taking care of the camera on the last day of the trip to take photos became the highest priority.
We had kind of created a trend of buying souvenirs in every country we have been to this trip. We got a nice Venetian glass in Italy, a painting of Salzburg and Swarovski crystal showpiece in Austria; a Swiss knife from Switzerland, a glass shoe from Germany, a model of houses from Netherlands, a model of the Atomium in Belgium. We used this last opportunity in France to buy a model of the Eiffel Tower with a marble base, and did some last minute hurried shopping. Actually, the leather handbags were cheap and nice in the train station.
Boarding a train is a nightmare if a big group of 40 people have to take in their luggage and organize it, while being compassionate to fellow passengers who are not part of the group. With boarding allowed only 15 minutes before train departure, it was a hell of a rush, with old people struggling to take their bags up and people placing their bags in a haphazard manner blocking the way for others. With 5 minutes remaining and more than half the bags and people waiting outside, a group of young enterprising guys including me decided to take over the situation. We quickly organized ourselves and divided the work without any explicit agreement, so that the bags can be loaded in. We just about finished the job when the train departed, right on schedule to the minute.
There was a train from Paris to London every hour. The train was impressive, with enough room for all the luggage, hand carries and shopping bags, nice seat with cushions for the neck rest, and a nice pantry. The only negative about it was the leg space, with the Caucasian opposite me poaching my space. Once the train started galloping, we were off to the pantry to see what it has in store. We got a couple of drinks and were chit chatting as the train noiselessly whizzed past the French countryside. The speed of the train was impressive, and much faster than any other train I have ever been in. I could hardly hear the “toddok toddok duduk duduk duduk” rattle of Indian trains, although it was traveling more than 200 kmph. On the outside, the countryside was beautiful and serene. The smoothness of the train is like a nice lullaby nursing you to sleep. The Euro tunnel is an impressive 50km long tunnel below the English Channel, although we couldn’t see much once is was underground. The English side of the track had a lot of small tunnels, and it was bad for the ears, with every tunnel clogging the ears. We finally arrived in London at 12.30 pm, right to the minute on schedule. It was impressive speed and accuracy. It just feels so nice to start on time and arrive on time, even if you are not pressed for time. 5 stars to Eurostar.
Once in London, the first thing I noticed was the massive number of Asians and Blacks there. England seems to be totally diversified across different ethnicity. There were a few Indians hounding us to buy some calling card and mobile connections every time we passed them, there was a restaurant run by Indians and there was Indians just everywhere.
We boarding the bus and went on a city tour. We learnt about the three parts of the city, the Westminster, the city of London and the new More London part being built up for the Olympics in 2012. London was more like a modern Paris, with old robust buildings but with more vibrant colors. It was interesting to know about the history of the “London bridge is falling down” nursery rhyme. It seems that they built houses on the bridge which made the bridge collapse. They rebuilt it and made the same mistake quite a few times. Then it fell down due to other causes like fire and rebuilt again. I was surprised why they never learnt from their mistakes. We passed over the other famous bridges in London, including the Tower bridge which opens up, the Millennium bridge opened on this day ten years back to commemorate the new millennium and so on.
We saw the nice skyline of the city of London, and visited places including the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. The Westminster Abbey is the most famous Anglican church and many important persons are buried there, including Sir Issac Newton. This burial was praised by the French revolutionary Voltaire. The Big Ben was named after the nickname given to a short and stout Ben who created the bell on top of the tower. It was such a nice coincidence that when we were at the Big Ben, the clock struck 4 and boomeranged with its chime heralding the New Year in Singapore 10000 km away! We had a look at the prime minister’s office, the London eye and the houses of parliament on our way to the Buckingham palace. We saw it from the front, but after seeing the Versailles one the day before, it seemed quite ordinary. We learnt how Queen Victoria, who became a queen at the age of 18 opted to shift out of the then residence of Kensington palace to this palace. She was a famous queen and a golden statue outside was a tribute to her. The London eye is not as tall as the Singapore Flyer, but it was very colorful at night. We could also spot some rehearsals for the big New Year’s Eve party. Half of London was being closed down for the celebrations, and we were strongly advised not to come anywhere near the centre of town, which is what we all wanted to do. Bummer!
We went to Piccadilly to do some shopping and were given the directions to go to a Chinatown restaurant for dinner. We went around Picadilly taking in the sights and sounds of the festivities. We went into a few souvenir shops to do some shopping. We got a nice 3D glass image of the London skyline. Once we were done with the shopping, we started on our way to go to the restaurant. However, the direction was from the main road, but I thought it was from the place the bus stopped. Going straight from there, which was the other side of Chinatown, it was a very sleazy place with every shop selling adult content and services. It is definitely not the place to be with your wife next to you. We realized that we had lost our way and after crossing a few streets and finding more of the same, we traced back to the main road and asked people for directions to Chinatown. When we finally reached the restaurant, we found more of the same crap Chinese food we had grown to hate during this tour. Here in London, the Chinese restaurants strangely put mashed shrimps into the Sichuan chilli, so we were careful to confirm with them and avoid taking it.
We checked into a hotel in Wembley near the new stadium due to the lack of accommodation on this special day anywhere else. There were Indians in the reception and it took a hell lot of time to check in, much more than we had ever waited. Looking around I spotted very Indian trademarks, so I realized that the place is run by Indians. They had put up posters everywhere to let us know that they charge for everything, and even had a poster warning us of thieves in this area! We went through a maze of doors to our room. I have never gone through so many doors in a hotel before. The room was shoddy to say the least, and I was almost rolling on the floor laughing seeing a century old Thomson TV.
We had kind of created a trend of buying souvenirs in every country we have been to this trip. We got a nice Venetian glass in Italy, a painting of Salzburg and Swarovski crystal showpiece in Austria; a Swiss knife from Switzerland, a glass shoe from Germany, a model of houses from Netherlands, a model of the Atomium in Belgium. We used this last opportunity in France to buy a model of the Eiffel Tower with a marble base, and did some last minute hurried shopping. Actually, the leather handbags were cheap and nice in the train station.
Boarding a train is a nightmare if a big group of 40 people have to take in their luggage and organize it, while being compassionate to fellow passengers who are not part of the group. With boarding allowed only 15 minutes before train departure, it was a hell of a rush, with old people struggling to take their bags up and people placing their bags in a haphazard manner blocking the way for others. With 5 minutes remaining and more than half the bags and people waiting outside, a group of young enterprising guys including me decided to take over the situation. We quickly organized ourselves and divided the work without any explicit agreement, so that the bags can be loaded in. We just about finished the job when the train departed, right on schedule to the minute.
There was a train from Paris to London every hour. The train was impressive, with enough room for all the luggage, hand carries and shopping bags, nice seat with cushions for the neck rest, and a nice pantry. The only negative about it was the leg space, with the Caucasian opposite me poaching my space. Once the train started galloping, we were off to the pantry to see what it has in store. We got a couple of drinks and were chit chatting as the train noiselessly whizzed past the French countryside. The speed of the train was impressive, and much faster than any other train I have ever been in. I could hardly hear the “toddok toddok duduk duduk duduk” rattle of Indian trains, although it was traveling more than 200 kmph. On the outside, the countryside was beautiful and serene. The smoothness of the train is like a nice lullaby nursing you to sleep. The Euro tunnel is an impressive 50km long tunnel below the English Channel, although we couldn’t see much once is was underground. The English side of the track had a lot of small tunnels, and it was bad for the ears, with every tunnel clogging the ears. We finally arrived in London at 12.30 pm, right to the minute on schedule. It was impressive speed and accuracy. It just feels so nice to start on time and arrive on time, even if you are not pressed for time. 5 stars to Eurostar.
Once in London, the first thing I noticed was the massive number of Asians and Blacks there. England seems to be totally diversified across different ethnicity. There were a few Indians hounding us to buy some calling card and mobile connections every time we passed them, there was a restaurant run by Indians and there was Indians just everywhere.
We boarding the bus and went on a city tour. We learnt about the three parts of the city, the Westminster, the city of London and the new More London part being built up for the Olympics in 2012. London was more like a modern Paris, with old robust buildings but with more vibrant colors. It was interesting to know about the history of the “London bridge is falling down” nursery rhyme. It seems that they built houses on the bridge which made the bridge collapse. They rebuilt it and made the same mistake quite a few times. Then it fell down due to other causes like fire and rebuilt again. I was surprised why they never learnt from their mistakes. We passed over the other famous bridges in London, including the Tower bridge which opens up, the Millennium bridge opened on this day ten years back to commemorate the new millennium and so on.
We saw the nice skyline of the city of London, and visited places including the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. The Westminster Abbey is the most famous Anglican church and many important persons are buried there, including Sir Issac Newton. This burial was praised by the French revolutionary Voltaire. The Big Ben was named after the nickname given to a short and stout Ben who created the bell on top of the tower. It was such a nice coincidence that when we were at the Big Ben, the clock struck 4 and boomeranged with its chime heralding the New Year in Singapore 10000 km away! We had a look at the prime minister’s office, the London eye and the houses of parliament on our way to the Buckingham palace. We saw it from the front, but after seeing the Versailles one the day before, it seemed quite ordinary. We learnt how Queen Victoria, who became a queen at the age of 18 opted to shift out of the then residence of Kensington palace to this palace. She was a famous queen and a golden statue outside was a tribute to her. The London eye is not as tall as the Singapore Flyer, but it was very colorful at night. We could also spot some rehearsals for the big New Year’s Eve party. Half of London was being closed down for the celebrations, and we were strongly advised not to come anywhere near the centre of town, which is what we all wanted to do. Bummer!
We went to Piccadilly to do some shopping and were given the directions to go to a Chinatown restaurant for dinner. We went around Picadilly taking in the sights and sounds of the festivities. We went into a few souvenir shops to do some shopping. We got a nice 3D glass image of the London skyline. Once we were done with the shopping, we started on our way to go to the restaurant. However, the direction was from the main road, but I thought it was from the place the bus stopped. Going straight from there, which was the other side of Chinatown, it was a very sleazy place with every shop selling adult content and services. It is definitely not the place to be with your wife next to you. We realized that we had lost our way and after crossing a few streets and finding more of the same, we traced back to the main road and asked people for directions to Chinatown. When we finally reached the restaurant, we found more of the same crap Chinese food we had grown to hate during this tour. Here in London, the Chinese restaurants strangely put mashed shrimps into the Sichuan chilli, so we were careful to confirm with them and avoid taking it.
We checked into a hotel in Wembley near the new stadium due to the lack of accommodation on this special day anywhere else. There were Indians in the reception and it took a hell lot of time to check in, much more than we had ever waited. Looking around I spotted very Indian trademarks, so I realized that the place is run by Indians. They had put up posters everywhere to let us know that they charge for everything, and even had a poster warning us of thieves in this area! We went through a maze of doors to our room. I have never gone through so many doors in a hotel before. The room was shoddy to say the least, and I was almost rolling on the floor laughing seeing a century old Thomson TV.
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