HYDERABAD: For my second visit to the UK, I was well prepared: I binge- watched The Crown to sustain the mood and the flavour of the British. I also watched Victoria and Abdul on the Emirates flight, to add further fervour - though the film didn’t contribute to the quaintest admiration for the monarchy. I liked the film, fell in love with Ali Fazal, thanks to Dame Judi Dench’s extraordinary histrionics, I could see Queen Victoria from a different angle and empathise.
I took a train from Manchester and reached London on a cold, blustery forenoon. When I got into the cab in Euston, after a while Lee (the driver) and I started talking about London, the newly coming up bicycle lanes causing traffic jams; chicken tikka masala, and the beautiful monuments on the way. Then I asked in all my enthusiasm, if he was excited about the royal wedding, and planned to watch it live? He said in all seriousness, “Why? I had rather watch a football match instead!” This had almost stumped me. I met a Britisher who’s not a fan of the royalty.
My guide in London, Marguerite Ryder-Large, a Blue Badge tourist guide, expertly steered me through the busiest streets, and ‘crowded to the brim’ London tube stations: weaving in and out, her large frame leading with confidence and authority, while I followed, juggling with two bags, a heavy camera and an umbrella. The city is simply overwhelming even if you are visiting for the nth time. Though I have seen most of the touristy places during my last trip, I was awestruck by the city’s magnificence.
In London, every corner has some relevance to history, literature or something that I can always relate to. It just feels like connecting the dots… every place brings back memories of a novel or a book that I read fondly or a film that I watched and remembered dearly…most of the places give me a déja vu feeling.
London offers different types of walks depending on our interest – in these guided walking tours we can explore alleys that are keyholes into London’s past. I chose “Charles Dickens Walk” to experience the Dickensian London that I read so much about and imagined. Being an ardent Dickens fan, I read almost all of his books. This tour takes you to the Dickensian landmarks in London, the places that feature in his books. Marguerite and I got down at the Embankment Station close to the polish factory where Dickens worked as a young boy. My heart went out to the poor little boy.
Then we went to 15, Buckingham Street, where he lodged briefly and the hero of his novel ‘David Copperfield’ also lived here - it is said the book is his veiled autobiography. We stopped briefly at Rules Restaurant, Maiden Lane. It is London’s oldest restaurant: Dickens had his own table on the first floor at the back. The smartly dressed guard Attila Bodis is from Slovakia and he was so happy when I told him that I visited his country and liked Bratislava, where he hails from. He spoke fondly about his hometown, and immediately sent me a friend request on Facebook: now we are FB friends!
We went past St. Mary-Le-Strand where Dickens’s parents were married and then headed to 26, Wellington Street – Dickens’s last address in London that housed the offices of Dickens’s Magazine “All the Year Round” and his private apartments from 1859 to 1870 as the blue plaque on the wall says. I was most curious to see Covent Garden Piazza - the notorious Bermondsey slum featured in Oliver Twist.
It was here that Dickens worked as a child labourer and looked longingly at the fresh pineapples in the marketplace; years later he had his offices here; then we saw the Bow Street police station, where the ‘Artful Dodger’ was brought after being caught by the Coppers in Oliver Twist. In 1879, the court moved across the road to its current location, opposite the Royal Opera House (Dickens often visited this place).
We also went around Lincoln’s Inn, which featured in his Bleak House; “The Old Curiosity Shop” where “Little Nell” lived; and lastly 48, Doughty Street, where Dickens lived from 1837-39. Now it is a museum, but more about it later.
The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection, numbering some eight million works, is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. Almost the whole world is featured here and Marguerite knows the museum like the back of her hand! She said, “Many people don’t know that in London 20 museums are free, open every day of the week- people can make use of these free entries and benefit.”
I thought it’s a valid point. The museum is like a large ocean packed with information and our Indian gallery is with precious Indian artefacts. Then we called it a day and came back to my hotel, which is close by in Harrington Gardens, Kensington: tired with processing so much information in my small head, that night I went to sleep, thinking of Dickens.
(The author is a documentary filmmaker and travel writer; she blogs at vijayaprataptravelandbeyond.com)
Useful links: www.visitbritain.com
www.walks.com