Waiting at Standsted

My flight back to Berlin is delayed for about 1:30 hours. Waiting in Stansted Airport...doodling. Didn't know that this airport had a past.

During World War II Stansted Mountfitchet Airfield was used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force as a bomber airfield and as a major maintenance depot. Although the official name was Stansted Mountfitchet, the base was known as simply Stansted in both written and spoken form.

Bought the new James Bond novel 'Devil May Care'. It has been written by Sebastian Faulks as Ian Fleming. I bet this will be rendered in a movie in 3 years time.

Gotta check out.. my purchased one hour time is up! See ya all later.

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In London.. Again

I arrived in London - Stansted airport today well on time. The last time I had a bitter experience of going through the horrors of a cancelled flight and the need to find an alternative flight at another airport to reach on time for my exams. I came one day early just to avoid the stress.

This is a typical UK weather, you never know when it drizzles and when the sun shines. The temperature is just at par with Berlin.

Basically this trip is a deja-vu for me. The Ryan Air flight again landed on time and they played the same taped message cheering the feat. The Italian crew at the Terravision coach spoke terrible English but took us safely to Liverpool Street station. I reloaded my Oyster card bought during previous journey.

This time around there are a lot of constructions going on in London for the 2010 summer Olympics. Improvements are going on in many tube stations. That was a bit of bother to find the way to the destination. I saw a Bangladeshi wedding party on the way. The guests came by bus, women wearing Sari and a lot of makeup. The boys and guys on suits. Reminded me of home.

The next days look more challenging as ACCA mailed me that there is a tube strike which will hamper the journey towards the exam hall. Well I have to work on an alternative route after the first exam. I wonder how London will function without the tubes, which is a lifeline of the mega-city. I can't guess how long will it take in Bus (with dense traffic) for the 1 hour journey in tube, 2 or 3 hours?

The 20-20 world cup is happening right here in UK. Its a shame that I am not able to watch any one in an stadium. I am keeping myself away from TV for the exam preparations. However am cheating myself by watching the game via this site or following in cricinfo. After all what do we live for?

Here is a small video of the landing in Standsted:

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Images from London

One fine morning about 100 passengers checked in the Berlin Schoenefeld airport for their Ryan Air flight to London Stansted and were waiting in the boarding lounge. All of a sudden they were asked to vacate the lounge. The immigration police were one the job to reverse the process of immigration and the passengers were wondering why. After a while they realized that the flight was cancelled and this was the reason.

I was one of them. And I had to reach London that day to be able to appear at my exam the next day. After some tensed hours of waiting in queue in front of the ticket desk trying to find out what to do next and the horror of finding that no flights were available in the day, purchasing a new ticket (thanks God the laptop was with me), hours spent in train/bus to reach the other end of the city with all the luggage to board a British Airways flight. By the time I reached in the evening to my destination in London finishing with hours of tube journey I was completely exhausted and almost sick. But at the end of the day I felt that I was lucky to be able to make it.

London is cold, battered with a weak pound but has not lost its usual colors beaming with hope and its wealth of multi-culturism. I framed a shot in my mind while I was in a tube today going towards London Bridge: a few hands clutching on a rod in the packed tube, a few faces moving in and out of the frame; dark, brown, white, Asian, Caucasian, African, young, aged, male, female. This is what I miss in Berlin.

Here are some images of London at dusk:

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Memories

Snippets from my recent London tour. This time I did not forget my camera:

In memory of someone who loved the view.

If you are wondering what view she had.

London craves for poshness.

And is truly multicultural.

I was occasionally online via my friend's Iphone. Wish this baby could be mine.

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England, a photo essay

London is a bustling city with funny looking vehicles and a lot of congestions. You have to pay a lot to get your car stuck in traffic in certain areas. The clever option is to use the tube (underground).


This giant egg represents many of the modern architectures that are dominating London skylines.


Suddenly you spot a Shahid Minar (White Chappel road) and realize that you have entered Bangla Town.


The Bangla Town in East London has the full flavor of Bangladesh. Shops at Shadwell.


London city has all the historical attractions that a tourist craves for. Tower Bridge at night.


Don't forget that it is a big island with hundreds of miles of shorelines. The photo was taken from The Deep in Hull, East Yorkshire.

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In London

I am back in London for my exams, a town which has the most Bangladeshi flavor in Europe. If you don't believe it just walk through the Bangla town. You can feel the known Bangladeshi faces popping up everywhere in all shapes, sizes and attires and speaking in various languages. Don't be surprised to see a Shahid Minar in the Whitechappel Road. A bustling community. Fully multicultural and quite unique.

I visited some local Bengali shops in Shadwell, for the ingredients of the Khichuri and fried Hilsa my friend cooked for me. The shops had fishes from Bangladesh in awesome sizes some of which are even rare in Dhaka. A popular commercial in TV shows a big size Ruhi (carp) being caught fresh from a pond in bangladesh. A guy asks the price. The fisherman asks "do you have British Visa"? He was telling the perplexed buyer that that fish was bound for UK so he has to buy it from there. The theme couldn't be much befitting.

Dinner was in the Lahore Kebab house courtesy of my friend who came all the way from Luton just to visit me for a couple of hours. The environment was Bangladeshi (or South Asian to say) but it was packed with Sahibs (Britons) and some odd South Asians.

London is a busy city. You get the glitters and shabbiness packed in one box. Accustomed in left-hand-drive road direction I got honked for not watching right in an intersection with a lane on the left, while a car could just brake to save me. Even the taxis are typical British, new models old looks, with two folding extra sits behind the front seats. The tube was crowded, some moving like a sloth and special boards for the service status of tubes are vital if you have to reach somewhere in hurry and find a non-existing fast alternative.

But I like the British people in general, for their cordial behavior, courtesy and most importantly being catalyst of a friction free (almost) multicultural society.

And what do you know we will be having a London bloggers meet again. If you are in London and happen to be free tomorrow evening feel free to join us.

I will be here a few days more. But I feel like going home as my little one is terribly seek. She was crying loud for papa over phone. I am missing her, she is missing me. I wish I could go back right now.

Photo: Farid Akbar. My snaps will be uploaded on the next available opportunity.

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London allures

I hope you have noticed the lack of post in my blog recently. I had an exam yesterday in London and I hate exams for the amount of pressure it creates on a person.

I am writing from my friend's place near Bethnal Green in Tower hamlets, which is also known as Banglatown. The next street is the famous Brick Lane. You feel so much at home here (photos coming soon). Its normal here that your friend comes down to the street to greet you in his Lungi. London's financial hub is Liverpool street and it is located about 10-15 minutes walk from Banglatown. You will see a totally different environment there, people in complete suits, posh buidings. The great thing about London (especially these parts) is the mixture of cultures, races. They blend so well here, absolutely friction free.

And I have seen the struggles of some Bangladeshis students here. London is an expensive city and more alluring are the attractions of money. Students come here to study and when they hear the sound of penny and pounds from their part time jobs they get distracted easily. One pound equals 135 Bangladeshi Taka. If they can save 50-100 pounds a month they can support a family back in home. So they try to work as much as they can. But visa restrictions don't allow more than 20 hours a week to do a legal job, which should be enough for a human being to sustain him/herself here. Some find other ways to earn money and their education becomes less important. Their study gets prolonged and so is the time of stay here. Their ultimate goal is to stay here for 8-10 years so that they can apply for permanent residency. There are so many educational institutions (dubbed visa colleges) here who are willing to enroll you for a fee but don't bother whether you are actually studying or not.

Just providing you with a scenario of how the students live. A rented duplex house accomodates 5 students. X & Y are a married couple, X is an architect from Bangladesh and studying masters now. Y is doing a PhD which cost her £9000 a year. They both work hard to sustain and its common not to see them in the house before 10 O'Clock. P is studying law and can afford to live in a 40 sft room only. She has changed a lot since she came here first. She has no option than to do a part time work but study is still priority for her. Q & R are bachelors and live a stressed life trying to balance job and study. They all share works in the home, cook for themselves, and share only one toilette.

In a few years of time they will have a good degree and probably some well paid jobs to live more comfortably. And London makes it possible for them, because they feel close to home. As a citizen of a Commonwealth country they are eligible to vote in Great Britain from day 1 (unlike Germany where even after gaining permanent residency you are not allowed to vote). London has been named the world's top business center this year.

"We all need money, but there are degrees of desperation."

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