Some photos from the day

 

London Trip 

Day -1 (the travel day)

We started on Saturday afternoon from Panchkula. The train journey was nice and comfortable – did some settings on Instagram for Bambi and mostly just chatted. Then we met Aman Puri and his family. It was a short and sweet visit and nice seeing Aunty after such a long time. I do have some opinions about the family but what is so endearing is their love for Amit. Then we went to Zina/Bijoy/Shrey/Raga/Aslan’s place… everyone was eagerly waiting and it is always such a warm feeling being there… it was a bit uncomfortable as Zina and Bijoy gave us their room… Zina made Ragi dosas and it was the best dosas as per Amit. I also liked talking to Raga – she has so much to say to this world and love her spirit and her candidness. Really enjoyed being with them.

Day 0
Got up early in the morning and had an Uber fiasco – where the driver kept looking for the house but couldn’t find it… and we got a bit late… Bambi was a bit nervous and I was also feeling that we will have to run at the airport but things went off quite smooth – no lines at the check-in counter and no lines at immigration and security… all cleared and we had enough time so Amit could buy jeans and Bambi could eat a quick Subway before we boarded the flight.

The flight was really relaxing… for me it was true unwinding – actually – for me last one week had been very hectic, I was not well, a lot of work at Chhoti Si Asha, Bambi acting up for Instagram, my menopause mood had kicked in and I just had become so sensitive and just wanted to cry at the drop of a hat and Amit thought I am blaming while for some reason I am always full of guilt… Anyway – I loved being in the aeroplane – where nothing was expected of me except to entertain myself… and that I did.

I saw 3 amazing movies – “Tenet” – I loved the story, the storytelling and the acting – even though I did not understand it completely and had to Google a few things during our layover at Helsinki. The second movie was “Argo” – I loved Ben Affleck in that movie – he looks exceedingly handsome and has acted brilliantly and has directed the movie as well. It is based on the Iran crisis when the coup happened in the late 70s and 6 American diplomats had to be gotten back from Iran. I was sitting at the edge of my seat literally praying that they don’t get caught… liked the ending a lot. The movie left me with a smile. Again – apart from the story – I loved the storytelling as well.

The third movie that I saw was – “A Complete Unknown” starring Timothée Chalamet and Ed Norton. It is a biography on Bob Dylan… I loved the narrative sprinkled with some beautiful songs of Bob Dylan – understated emotions so beautifully portrayed and for me the movie was like poetry. The experience of watching such diverse movies left me fully satisfied and I felt so unwound (not sure if that is a word and YES – I did not sleep during the flight) and so ready to chill! 

We reached London, did our immigration and met Lakshya (Bambi’s facilitator for his program) who had come to pick us up. The journey to Oxford with him was quite pleasant. Came to know about him – he was born in Afghanistan – moved to India and lived here for 2 years and came to London when he was 2 years old… he had studied in a Sikh school in London and had gone to India periodically to do sewa… he also told us that he was getting married and so had gone to India for shopping and all. Anyway – we reached Oxford and were absolutely wowed to see the Jesus College where Bambi is staying. Met the other facilitator – Steve – who is an American – equally warm and seemed quite excited about the program. After dropping Bambi – we found our way (after having dinner – noodle bowl – me and some weird dish – Amit) to Christ College where we are staying – a small warm room in the heart of Oxford. So far loving it!! And slept like a baby for the rest of the night.

Day 01

Got up late and rushed for breakfast (as it is available only till 9AM). It was lovely sitting in that giant room that I had only seen in the movies – to eat breakfast there was quite a feeling… there is so much wood in Oxford – everything seems to be made of wood and I wondered “ki inke deemak nahi lagti kya!!”.

Anyway – before heading out Amit and I decided to change into a bit warmer clothes as it was cold… and then we walked and walked and walked the whole day – stopping wherever we saw something interesting or when we were hungry… we saw the museum and what was interesting was apart from history of Oxford, about 1/4th of the museum was dedicated to putting down everyday people’s history – these are people of Oxford – it included – Iraqis, East Timor, India (Sikh), LGBT community, differently abled etc – all people who make up the current Oxford. It was lovely to see the inclusivity… and it was lovelier to see a little girl interact with the exhibits and listening to the oral history (there was a very cool exhibit – a telephone kept there and to listen to a person’s history – you had to dial a number).

Then we walked again – visited the prison of Oxford and then we just were walking – and we entered a library – went in and looked at some books and while coming back – a man (maybe in his 60s) asked Amit if he would like to play half chess with him – Amit noticed that the chess board was half – so he told him that it is 5-a-side chess and his name was Paul and he suffered a stroke and his speech was affected and so he has challenged himself to play 100 games of half chess and interact and talk to people while playing… it was very heartening to see the courage and resilience of this guy.

Then we walked some more and came back – Amit slept while I worked a bit and then we went hunting for dinner… got something and we had dinner while talking to Bambi – he mentioned that he loved the facilitators but not so much the other kid participants except one but he is a day scholar. It was good to get an update from Bambi.