Why I like London?

Minoo and I took a small holiday to London last week. It has been some time when we have had a holiday. It was great to be at London and we had a perfect time there. Except that the weather had been bad and rainy for four of the five days we were there. But it was fun seeing history specially for me who likes to read history. London has been always a place which I liked though both times I traveled there I was on the bad side of the weather. There are several reason why I like London. The most important of them being it teaches me to be humble. I recollect being a part of a school play on Indian independence. My parents had come with proud eyes to see their son being selected in a school play but unfortunately I was in and out of the stage before they could even know it was me. Any way i recollect the starting lines of the play " The sun never sets in Great Britain". These guys used to rule 56 countries across the globe. Now the sun does not even rise for half of the year in London with rains.Just see what is left of the great empire. A country smaller than the state of West Bengal in India. This is a great example for all to be humble. You dont know when your arrogance can get back to you. Be good to all.

Its also good to see Britains acceptance of the fact that India and Indians are good for them. We have so many Indians now in the parliament. Even the tube has signs in just not Hindi but Bengali also. Ravi Bopara is among the many Indian cricketers playing for England. You dont feel out of place or afraid to travel around UK.

I also appreciate Britain's contribution to India. They have given India amongst the best structures like our parliament, Presidents house or the beautiful Luytens Delhi. The Indian railways is what it is today because of the Britishers built it. They gave us our heroes. Mahatma Gandhi and Peace is Britain's contribution to the world. If they had not tortured India to the level they did we would never have our heroes.

Well some other reasons I like London is because we located a shop in Oxford street which sells good shirts for 3 pounds. We ate the best pan cake at a street vendor on the other side of Thames from London Eye. Language and food is never a problem here. The people are friendly and very cosmopolitan. There is so much to see here that a week is not enough. And the best part is History is properly maintained. I pity the famous structures and old buildings decaying in Kolkatta. Hope we learn a thing or two from them. Like New York I would anyday like to go there for my holidays. There can never be enough of London. If just they return the Kohinoor. It was sad to see the dazzling Indian diamond lying in a London museum.

To my roots

The last weekend was a long weekend here starting with the Indian Independence day on 15th. We decided to have a weekend break to our ancestral homes at Deshnoke and Bikaner. We left for Jaipur on way to Deshnoke on 14th August afternoon after the kids were back from school. The drive is max 5 hrs to cover the 300 kms but it took us 10 hrs and we reached past midnight at Jaipur. There was a huge traffic jam because of consistent and heavy rains. Next day we did another 5 hrs drive to reach Deshnoke - place famous for Karni mata temple. Deshnoke is also the place where my Great Great Grand Father lived before migrating to Purulia. We still own the plot of land where his hut is still there. The kids - 6 generations away from him got some pictures taken in front of that hut. My Grandmother was also with us and she told that she had spent 10 days here after her marriage in this hut some more than 60 years back. We plan to build a two room apartment in this piece of land now.

Our kuldevi or family God is Sri Karni Mata. Her temple is at Deshnoke. My everyday prayers are to her. I had not been able to visit this temple and town for last 8 years and so had planed this trip with the kids and Minoo. Goddess Karni has amazing faith following and you can see thousands of rate , called kabas, in the temple. These kabas are said to be descendants of Goddess Karni. Its so surprising that despite they moving around freely, there has never been a case of plague in this town. There are more than hundred thousand foreign tourist coming every year to this temple to see this miracle apart from millions of Indians. If you click on the link above you can see more details about this temple.

Well, I am not sure why my Great Great Grandfather Sri Thakurdas Mall, shifted out of Deshnoke but the best guess could be because of economic reasons. As this is in the Thar desert and source of daily earnings might have been limited so he must have moved out of this place. There is a very interesting story behind his move. Once his cousin who was working in Calcutta came to Deshnoke with a Dhaka silk Dhoti , Thakurdasji wanted it but his cousin joked and made fun saying that if he wants to wear this he must work hard and earn himself one. This Thakurdasji took as a challenge and travelled all the way from west India to eastern India using all various means like train, bullock cart and camel cart. That's how he moved out to Purulia.

We spent the day at Deshnoke. We had dinner at the home of one Mr. Anand Sharma. His father was cook to our family - my Great Grandfather and Grandfather. We visited a newly set up hospital which was inaugurated in the morning by Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Papa had humbly given some contribution to build the hospital. I am sure this shows his attachment to this place and a way of saying Thanks to the town and its people. Next day we were at Bikaner, 30 kms from this Deshnoke. We had a Haveli in this town which is listed in a recently published book on Indian Havelis. Unfortunately we had to sell it off to some unauthorised occupants who had taken over the property as we never lived here. I took the kids to see Junagadh palace, the kings fort. Wonderful Rajasthan architecture and heritage. Minoo went out for shopping - something women never give a miss.

We had a long drive back on Sunday - around 10 hrs plus to come home. The trip was a very hectic one but very refreshing - connecting me to my roots. For the last few years we have been trying to trace our ancestry. We have been able to find out details of at least last 14 generations. We are building a family website to save all this information for future generation. Its such a proud heritage that you would like to share with all.

DAY 1 - I made my Mark

I have reached Hotel Hamilton Inn at Bedford some time back at 8.30 Pm after the shortest drive of this trip in four hours from Towanda. I last stayed in this hotel in September 2004. This is the place from where I made one of the most expensive calls on my cell phone, negotiating a land deal for the plot where LNM is located today. I am sure this hotel is lucky for me and this place is going to bring me luck in my all important meeting tomorrow. I started my long business trip within US today. I reached RLD's home yesterday night from New Jersey. It was raining badly yesterday afternoon. My drive with RLD to his home was in rains. The whole drive within PA state is beautiful but unfortunately as it was raining couldnt enjoy the beauty. This place is nothing less than you think about switzerland. I have seen this place in all seasons and its beautiful wether theres snow or in autumn when its all colorful. I enjoyed a full Indian meal at RLD's home which was quiet refreshing eating at home after some days. After a good morning meeting at Towanda I went out for lunch with Duane and Dave at Weighbridge cafe in Towanda. Weighbridge cafe is a railway station converted to a cafe in Towanda. Towanda is a small town in PA with around a population of 3000 people. Searching Google on Towanda an interesting fact I found out was it has more female population than male - they can export few of them to India - with sharp decline of female population in India. The weighbridge cafe has a wall where there are signatures of people from different parts of the world. Surprisingly there was no one from India signed on at this place. I thought let me make my mark - I took a ladder from the hostess and put in my name, town and country details with todays date stamped on it. Any one coming here sometime can see "i was here" on the wall from me. The drive from Towanda to Bedford is very scenic but unfortunately my camera was in my bag and I missed out on some good views. But Duane told me that we will cross similar good scenic views more and I am gonna keep my camera with me tomorrow as I drive from here to Bristol - almost 6 hrs. Good about driving with Duane is he lets me take my small naps inbetween where as Teppo in Finland would give the car a big jerk to wake me up - Its fun travelling with these guys.