London. The Swinging City. A beautiful modern day metropolitan with the old world charm. Given a chance, each one of us would love to visit London. But while we aren’t, go ahead and immerse yourself in this “Conversation over a Cuppa” that we had with Mr. Adwait Kasbekar.
Aditi: Hello Mr. Adwait! You visited London last year. That must have been quite an experience! Tell us, what was the trip all about?
Adwait: I visited London last year for two months, in October and November when the winter season was just setting in. It was a business trip for which I was staying at Canary Wharf, a commercial city center. Most of my week days were spent in the office which is why I used to wait for the weekends to travel and explore London and places around. I found London to be truly magical with its old buildings co-existing with a metropolitan temperament. It was an amazing trip, both professionally and from a traveller’s point of view.
Aditi: I’m sure it was! 🙂 What did you love the most about London?
Adwait: Parks! I am person who really enjoys open spaces and London has many beautiful parks. Hyde park was one such place that I visited and really liked. I visited Greenwich, which is the reference point of Greenwich Mean Time. I took a ride in the famous London Eye, which gives a beautiful panoramic view of the city. I also visited a museum known for its exclusive collection of over 40,000 varieties of single malt whiskeys, known as the “Scotch Whiskey Experience” in Edinburgh which, by the way, is pronounced by the Britishers as “Edinbu-rah”. Its funny how they pronounce certain words.
Aditi: Oh yes! The famous British accent. Did you have a difficult time keeping up with it? Funny moments?
Adwait: (Chuckles) Yeah! Actually, there are a couple of funny incidences. I was pronouncing Greenwich as it is spelt. (Later on, I found out that the Britishers pronounce it as “Green-ich”.)
So when I went to my office the next day and told them about my visit to Greenwich, they failed to understand. Finally when I mentioned GMT, they realized, that I visited this place called “Green-ich”. On another occasion, a colleague invited me to attend a concert at the “Albert Hall” which is very famous for, of course, musical events and concerts. It took me a while to understand that she meant “Albert Hall” and not “Abert Ha”. So yeah, that happened.
Aditi: Noted! Thanks for the heads up, I will keep this in mind before my trip to London! How is the food in London?
Adwait: I’m a vegetarian! Thus, I could not explore much. Yes, one good thing about UK is that if you go hunting, you will find any cuisine you demand. Name it, and you will surely find it. From Japanese to Mexican to Moroccan to Middle Eastern. Surprisingly, it was also very easy to find vegetarian food, maybe due to the growing number of vegans in London. Also, there are plenty of Indian restaurants. There was a particular Indian restaurant, which I read, served authentic Indian food. Turns out, their food was comparatively much less spicy, almost bland, but yes, Indian enough.
Shraddha: How did you explore the city? What was the most convenient mode of transport?
Adwait: Buses. Awesome connectivity. I remember this bus ride I took on one of the weekends. It was basically a “hop on hop off” bus tour. You can get off at one stop and get back on the bus on another without having to buy multiple tickets. I visited the Trafalgar Square, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Statues and a few other museums which are of great historical importance. Actually, I needed an entire day to properly enjoy one single museum but unfortunately I didn’t have that much time. I will keep that in mind during my next trip.
Aditi: Lifestyle in India and lifestyle in London. What are the differences?
Adwait: People are very different in London compared to India. They are highly professional and they really value their personal time. Also, very punctual about office hours. If you plan to meet your work colleagues on a weekend in India, they will probably agree to it. But back in London, informal meetings are limited to a couple of beers in the evening after work; weekends are for family and friends. And did I mention? So, on the recommendation of a colleague, I decided to go for a Pub Crawl, which is a British tradition followed by college students.
S: Wow! Pub Crawl! Tell us more about it.
A: A Pub Crawl is basically when you go to a bunch of pubs back to back and have a drink or two in each pub, talk to people, make friends and enjoy. Normally, youngsters engage in the “Pub Crawl” but since I was there, it was totally worth a try. I actually quite enjoyed it. I got into an interesting conversation with a local, and we talked about a variety of topics for hours through which I found out a lot about the history of these famous pubs.
S: Tips for anyone planning to visit London?
A: Getting on the London Tube, remember if the entrance is packed with passengers, it’s better to wait for the next tube as they value personal space a lot. Asking them to excuse is not really a good idea. Secondly, you’ll eventually have to get used to the accent. It will be really difficult to keep up with, but once you figure out the basics, it’s manageable. Also, explore the city on foot and definitely try out the food the city boasts of which I could not do, rendering to the fact that I am a vegetarian.
Aditi: Were there any specific clothes and accessories that you carried along?
Adwait: Yes. I bought this amazing 2-in-1 jacket from Prrem’s! When I visited the store, the very nice lady there suggested the said jacket for the time period I was visiting. I also packed a muffler and a cap as I am a true Mumbaikar and not really used to low temperatures. I didn’t carry any gloves though, which I slightly regretted when I visited Edinburgh. So yes, if you plan to visit London, do not miss out on a pair of gloves. The weather is generally between (17℃ to 4℃) and the hands can feel cold when one is outdoors. With gloves, you can explore and enjoy with the comfort of warmth.
S: Things that you would want to go back to UK for?
A: I think the one big reason would be to visit Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Those places are wonderful and full of natural beauty which you don’t particularly get to see in England.
S: Are you a traveller by nature?
A: Yes! I love travelling. Unfortunately, my job now doesn’t allow much of travelling abroad as it’s based in India. But as opportunities come my way, I will grab them readily!
A & S: It was great talking to you! Whenever you visit UK next, do let us know. And we can have another conversation over Cuppa!
Adwait: Absolutely! It was nice talking to you too! 🙂
