Time spent outside tourist spot

These are some photos I clicked in London. This was near a famous tourist place and the persons who drew these had a good idea on how to get people give some money to them. Instead of just asking for money, I found people doing a lot of innovative stuff.

These guys drew flags of various countries and hoped that various tourists belonging to different countries will put money on their respective flags.

The first thing that tourists did when they came close to these flags was they started looking for the flag of their contry. If their flag is not present, they ask the concerned people to draw the flag, e.g. I saw some Taiwanese people asking for the same. The tourists then placed some money on their contry's flags and click pictures while doing that. There seem to be some competition brewing as people saw coins / money on their country's flag vs. all others.

The people who drew the flags had found a good way of making the tourists part from the chnage they had. China / Chinese were leading the way here as well. It was the only country whose flag had some currency notes, in addition to the coins.

I saw a Tibetan asking the concerned guys to draw a separate Tibetan flag, and making it a point to place a currency note on the same.

It was amazing how a simple setup like this helps identify people and their countries in the otherwise homogeneous setup. I was outside a famous tourist spot, but I finally ended up spending more time outside the tourist spot than inside the it.

Poem exchange between me and Prof. SH

Sir, I didn't knew how to say to you
From one of your acts, I took a clue
And am writing something
I hope with you, it will cling

I am grateful to God
That to LEM, I gave a nod
Had I not met you
So much in thoughts, I would not have grew 

For me, you are by far the best
Difficult even to compare with the rest
You have given me a lot
I sometimes wonder how much I have got

I knew you would inspire
A lot from you, I would acquire
But was not aware of the extent
With you was time well spent

To life, you have given a new direction
Richly, you have showered all your affection
I will not let this relationship subside
And will always look upto you to guide

I wonder how many lives a man can touch
And give to each as many as much
How fortunate it is that I am from those
That got an opportunity to come such close

I know that I cannot repay
But a message, I want to convey
If you have something  some day
I will be always ready to obey

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Reply:

And the river flew along

Singing along the unsung song

Who will meet him on his way

He knows not and cannot say.

 

But the thirsty will quench his thirst

And the faithful will have his trust

That the river will come their way

And herald another bright new day.

 

How many lives did the river touch ?

An answer that one need not search

what does it matter hundred or one

Even if one of them have won

Back that he had lost

And no matter at what cost

he could reach the zenith and say

My hard work at last did pay.

 

Dear dear student of mine

My love for you in my eyes doth shine

Each one of you is a precious stone

me, the thread  that is needed to be worn

 

But even if i am not there dear boy

Spread the happiness and the joy

that in LEM  i could give to you

Nurture the love that amongst us grew.

 

Ek guru ki aur kya hai wish

Baraste rahen tum par ashish

Sada raho tum prafullit

Khush, proactive aur prasannachit.

A view on Mahabharat

Morning at the London Underground station

I believed London Underground train services were very sophisticated with the different lines and the interconnections and the fact that the city apparently runs on it.

So, I reached London early morning this Sunday for a business trip for 4 days. I thought let's use the train services to reach the hotel. I had traveled before and found it satisfactory. I went to the Heathrow Underground station and was expecting atleast one ticket counter to be operational (they have 3 counters there). To my disappointment none of the counters had a railway official to issue tickets.

I checked with sole official roaming around only to find that I will need to use one of those machines installed to get an Oyster card (the card you can use for train services). My mind said that I do have cash and a credit card, so the machines should serve the purpose. Sadly, the machines (3 of them) did not accept notes, but only coins. I didn't have enough to give the £5 deposit for the Oyster card, let alone topping it up for my trip to the hotel.

Cash was out of the picture now, and my mind said, use the card. The card charges might be higher (given the exchange rates offered by card companies), but I had no choice. Somehow, my card was not accepted, which was strange, given I have used it many times before in a few countries, including UK.

I had no choice but to head to the taxi terminal. Last thing I thought I should do before going on my way out of the train station was to check the timing mentioned on the ticket counter window. I just wanted to check if assistance was nearby. Timing was immaculately mentioned - (i) Mon - Fri: blah blah (ii) Sat: blah blah and (iii) Sun: 7:15 am to blah. I thought the counter should open anytime now and with that thought I checked by mobile to see the time. It was 7:46am. Again, unclear about how such things are happening in a city like London and within that the Underground services was not clear. Again, I approached the sole rail official to check when can I expect the counter to open. He said in 30 minutes or so. I told him that the board says 7:15am on Sundays. He looked at me as if I said something I should not have. The economic situation of UK was out there in the open. The official said, though the board says the time I mentioned, they don't have enough staff and so nothing can be done.

Just then I was again reminded, about how machines have been made to replace people more and more. And even then governments in the developed world are still not managing to fill positions with people, due to lack of resources.

As I was thinking this, another machine (the 4th one at the station) that seemed to be closed till then, suddenly sprang to life. It was a different looking one as compared to the first three. On top of the machine there was a LED display (this it had common with the other machines). It was reading something that I was looking forward to ... 'Notes Accepted'. I was happy that atleast now I will be able to use the train and not have to go all the way to the taxi terminal. There was a small queue already formed in front of the new machine and I decided to join it.

I was looking forward to getting my Oyster card and head to the hotel. I saw the rail official helping some of the passengers at the machines. Slowly as the queue moved and I reached the station, I asked the official if I can get a new Oyster card. And he said NO.

Back to where I started, I thought I had spent my share of time at the station. But just as I was about to move, I saw 1-2 people gathering at one of the ticket counters. I knew what that meant. Quickly rushed to the queue and got myself my well deserved Oyster card and to the train to the hotel.

Naive

I thought it was going on fine
With a lot of help from Lord Divine

Wondered why people said it will be hard
Very difficult one would regard

I agree that it required some change
Extent of which was difficult to gauge

I tried to do my best
And left to God the rest

Thought I made good progress
But many things I didn't guess

I was a fool to believe
Just plain simple naïve

The milestone in my rear view mirror
Had 'Start' written all over