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Footloose Indian in London

Somewhere between commutes and late night bashes, I pause and ponder on London's strong historical and cultural linkages with my own roots and "Indianness."

By Janardhan Roye December 3, 2007 at 1:12 PM

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On a recent visit to London, it struck me how easy it is for Indians educated in English to relate to Britannia. Right from its celebrated buildings and landmarks, childhood memories unzip easily in this vibrant multi-cultural capital. Somewhere between commutes and late night bashes, I pause and ponder on its strong historical and cultural linkages with my own roots and "Indianness."

Nostalgic Throwback

There she was in flesh and blood, Queen Anne Boleyn arisen from her execution in 1536.

Sitting in that most enduring of London icons, a red double-decker bus, as it cruised past the houses of parliament, the mind did a back flip to Peter Pan, "the little boy who doesn't grow up," merrily flying into the starry sky with Wendy and brothers in tow. A beginning of a thrilling journey made dramatic with the gang silhouetted against the yellow glow of the giant Big Ben.

At Harley Street, fact and fiction collide. Outside Baker Street station, an individual wearing a deerstalker cap, pulling on a calabash pipe, hailed passers-by. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's illustrious and uncannily gifted sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, was inviting people to his celebrated apartment turned handsome museum. A nominal entrance fee gave you a chance to snoop at a literary heritage.

At the National Portrait Gallery, a twinkling Jerome K Jerome hurled me back in time to happy school days and his cheery, lightweight classic Three Men in a Boat and the priceless high jinks of George, Harris, the narrator, and the dog, Montmorency, on their famous Thames boating holiday. During my visit, every time I happened by the river, my mind kept returning to the picnic and the antics of the impossible Uncle Podger and his attempts at hanging a picture.

Hyde Park forms the backdrop for many Bollywood scenes.

Gold Paved Streets

Who can go to London, see a cobblestone pathway and not think of Dick Whittington? He was in my very first English textbook. Now at Highgate Hill, the pauper turned four-time mayor of London was standing before me darkly, stonily gazing out, his legendary black cat by his side. London's streets are indeed paved with gold for many enterprising Indians. The list of successful, wealthy individuals, many of whom started from scratch, is legendary. The city boasts over 10,000 Indian businesses. Apparently many Indians peered over Whittington's shoulders and were dazzled no end by the golden opportunities that greeted them and set to work.

No cricket fan's visit is complete without a pilgrimage to Lord's, the mecca of cricket.

There's the steel mogul Lakshmi Mittal; the four Hinduja brothers with an impressive presence in global finance, telecommunications, film, transportation and oil businesses; airline tycoon Naresh Goyal; commodities trader hot-shot Anil Agarwal, to cite random names from a Who's Who in the UK. The Indian Diaspora thrives in several important areas of British life - business, law, media, medicine, engineering, IT, you name it. At the macro-level, Corporate India is presently engaged in what seems like a "reverse colonization" - rapidly gobbling up English firms and well on the way to becoming the Numero Uno foreign investor in the UK.

Indians feel at home in London thanks to the hundreds of curry-houses and exquisite restaurants that dish out practically every type of desi khana and a thriving Indian community. A visit sets many rich Indians thinking about a second home. London realtors have their phones buzzing. Homes costing

St Paul's: Flaunting a recently introduced Bollywood Movie Map, Indian movie aficionados are busy playing spotting games: "Yaar, guess which Shah Rukh Khan movie had this location?"

£500,000 to £1 million are in great demand. Corporate bigwigs with ideas for guesthouses look in Central London. In Belgravia, Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Oxford Street, Marble Arch, St. John's Wood, Kensington and similar exclusive areas, homes top $10 million. That hasn't stopped Indian buyers. Even many parents and young corporate climbers see a house in London as a good long-term investment.

"Indians flourish in London, not just because of hard work and commitment to education," says long time resident and economis, Ratnakar Kini, "But because colonial India and its aftermath has prepared them to be 'propah' and 'ready' for Britannia's ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity."

Mecca of Cricket

Moving from the world of commerce to the world of cricket. Indian cricket fans invariably make a pilgrimage to that Mecca of cricket, Marylebone Cricket Club, better known throughout the cricketing world as MCC or Lord's. The whirlwind tour offers up rushes of sepia-tinted images of shorts, rubber balls, endless hours of cricket,

Albert Memorial

and summer holidays in bungalows. The tour of Lord's begins, appropriately, at cricket legend W.G. Grace's statue. Nearby, the museum and the stadium are stocked with images and icons of several Indian cricket greats, such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and CK Naidu. My old scrapbooks had precious pictures, press clippings and autographs of such British cricketing icons as Fred Trueman and Colin Cowdrey.

I watched a local match on the hallowed turf from the stands. Somewhere in the distance, there was roar and thunder of another day - a time in 1971 when the spin quartet of Bedi, Chandersekar, Venkataraghavan and Prasanna beguiled their opponents with 197 out of 244 wickets and propelled India to a historic series win.

It is easy for Indians educated in English to relate to Britannia. From its celebrated buildings and landmarks, childhood memories unzip easily in this vibrant multi-cultural capital

Face to face with English history

On a windy chilly morning at the Tower of London, English history came alive most unexpectedly. There she was in flesh and blood, Queen Anne Boleyn arisen from her execution in 1536. Buxom, rosy cheeked, attired in 1500s modest gear, she caught many a tourist's eye. Speaking in modern idiom and mixing with commoners, including a woman in hijab, she detailed her dilemma, her heart-touching plight. "I am not a witch," she cried, anguish writ large on her pretty face, "My sin, if it is a sin, good people, is not producing a male heir. Am I to be tried for treason for that?"

Bollywood Chalo

The city has served as the backdrop in countless film scenes and plots. Footloose movie-aficionados invariably get that strange feeling of having been there before as they pass Portobello Road, Bedale Street, King's Cross Station, St Pancras Chambers, Hampstead Heath, Penzance Place, Portland Road, Borough Market, Holland Park, etc. Many of these places have been immortalized in popular cinema, such as Bridget Jones' Diary (2001),

National History Museum to the Future.

Shakespeare in Love (1998), Elizabeth (1998), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Blow-up (1966), A Hard Day's Night (1964), The Italian Job (1969) and French Lieutenant's Woman (1981).

Not to be outdone by their western counterparts, Indian moviemakers are showing up in droves. An endless stream of Indian moviemakers with their colorful stars and crew keeps flooding the city. In 2006, more than 40 Hindi movies were shot in London. Notable blockbusters, such as Cheeni Kum (2007), Kabhi Khushie Kabhie Ghum (2001), Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jayenge (1995), all had London as their inspirational setting, a potpourri of the traditional, modern, diverse and exciting.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's illustrious and uncannily gifted sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, invites people to his celebrated apartment turned handsome museum.

As you go around London, you're likely to bump into nattily clad Hindi movie-buffs lost in the pursuit of making instant connections with reel and real London. Flaunting a recently introduced Bollywood Movie Map, they, gorgeous babes included, are out in force at Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Natural History Museum, Tower Bridge, the Royal Albert Hall, Millennium Dome, the houses of parliament, Nelson's Column, and the London Eye playing spotting games: "Yaar, guess which Shah Rukh Khan movie had this location?"

Postcolonial Miasma

Movie-crazed, young upwardly mobile desis are "doing" not just Singapore or Dubai, but venturing further to London. Wide-eyed and camera-snappy, like sleuths in a mystery drama, they make tracks to the very locales made popular in umpteen super fillums. Meanwhile the local Indian population is beginning to assert its identity, upbeat, as it cozies up to its hip country-cousins, sampling from a lavish spread after spread of the richness of India's culture and tradition, joyfully dancing, celebrating everything from prenuptial bashes to big, fat Punjabi wedding galas.

The intrepid British tourism department is rolling out the red carpet, showcasing India-themed programs and festivals from Deepavali and Baisakhi to Durga Pooja and Bharata Natyam to Hindu epics on stage, neatly packaging and selling the country to a new generation of wealthy Indians who it seems don't tire easily and keep returning for more. That keeps the British cash register jingling merrily in this postcolonial miasma.

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Comments (7 posted)

Viveka Mathew September 14, 2010 at 2:46 PM

This article has done for me more than all the travel brochues that I picked before the trip to London. A thoughtful friend sent this link. what can I say? Awesome writing that hooks and leads readers on a merry trip to a city well-known to any child schooled in English. Give us more, Janardhan Roye!

Valerin Fernandes January 8, 2008 at 2:19 PM

I was emailed a link to this interesting article by a friend from Chelsea. I agree it gives a fresh perspective of the capital. It is a nostalgic take that many Indians like me schooled in English will easily relate to. It was nice to know that people of Indian origin people are making impressive strides around the world and in the UK. It is another sign of the confident Indian armed with English lanugage skills and ability going places!!! Isn\'t it time the Indian government take note of this English enablked-progress...and encourage children particularly from rural and small town areas to study this international language and develop their future?
Valerin Fernandes

Mandaar Suman January 2, 2008 at 9:30 PM

Excellent writing. transported me to good ol\' blighty.

Sanjeev Kapoor December 30, 2007 at 9:33 PM

Very interesting. I \'ll be seeing London in a new light after this reading this travelogue.

Ravi Rao December 29, 2007 at 1:25 PM

I am an NRI presently based in London. This article was emailed to me by my mother from NYC. It opened my eyes to the city I was living in for the last 15 months and thought I knew well. Well, not any more. Thanks to your article I now get out early morning, and just wander around...and enjoy the historic megapolis.
Ravi Rao

Sylvia Sluzman December 23, 2007 at 5:13 PM

I loved your article on London. It brought the city alive and gave me a free trip there. It also was a panorama of the Indian sense of bonding with the
country. Janardhan Roye\'s writing is witty, energetic, elegant and well informed. My daughter. Sumitra, read it and is enchanted with the presentation of her
home town. Thank you for publishing this wonderful article.
Sylvia Sluzman,
Bangalore