at cambrdge, london and framlingham

Our GSE team shifted to new hosts at Cambridge.
I was put up with Rtn Rosemary and John Turner in a village called stapleford. The nice gentle couple made my stay very warm and comfortable. That afternoon, we had a nice lunch of bread and salads and juice in their lovely little garden. The first evening we drove to a place called beech garden and trekked into the little beech tree woods till sun was setting. From a lovely view point I got the first glimpse of Cambrigde city and its magnificent buildings. I prepared uppitu for them and Rosemary prepared the Italian veg Lasagne for me, following a paper recipe. Both were delicious. The couple had so much to tell me about English culture and ask me about Indian culture. The gentleman had been to parts of north western India a few years ago and also knows some Indian cuisine.
The next morning we drove to the imperial war museum with our coordinator Kevin. A great part of the day was spent watching the amazing aircrafts most of which were used during the world wars. That evening we went to the south Cambridge rotary club for a dinner meet. A guest speaker spoke about the time pieces (evolution of clocks) down the ages it was interesting. We were introduced to the gathering briefly.
The next morning 18th may 2010, was our vocational day. We all visited the places of our vocational interests. I was taken to the Long road 6th form college. I walked around the campus meeting the staff and others concerned. A few students demonstrated drama and dance. The admin head Ms Gale was very cordial and led me around. The principal Sarah Hamilton Fox was a smart accomplished lady and spend good time with me telling about their academic achievements. I particularly liked textile art work of the students. That afternoon we gave a presentation at the university arms hotel for the rotary club of Cambridge.
I was then taken to the BBC radio centre Cambridge at Milton road. The anchor Su was very happy to introduce me and the GSE team on air to the listeners. I briefed her about our GSE programme and told about the exciting learning experience we were having through out. It was a very informal chat though. That evening was another presentation at the Royston club. We also met an Indian Rotarian there.
The next day I took a day off to rest myself for I was slightly tired of the hectic travel. I stayed back home and my host made my stay more than comfortable. I was feeling better that afternoon and preferred t go out wit my host. I accompanied her to the local market Waitrose. On the way back we took a refreshing long walk across the world famous Grandchetser meadows which is known for the elite scholars and poets and scientists who walked there and drank tea. It was all sunshine and breeze as we walked through the fresh green meadows by the side of river Cam.
The next day, 19th may 2010, was visit to Eely cathedral and clubs. I opted out to stay home as I had minor health problems. It was rather a day of rest for me. However I went shopping at the local market with my host and walked across the historical Grantchester meadows by the side of river Cam nearby which is known for the elite scholars and poets who have made it their walk path and have derived from ages. It was one of the loveliest places I have seen.
The next day, 20th may 2010, was a great day for us at Cambridge. Rtn Gorden took us to Cambridge University. We first visited the Christ college, known for its famous scholars like Charles Darvin and Newton. It was amusing to see on the frontal gate tower, an image of king Henry with a broken chair leg in his hand, in place of the traditional staff, which was actually kept there by students decades ago when the original staff broke. We saw the window of Newtons and room and an apple tree that was generated from the historical apple tree that inspired Newton to ponder over gravitation theory. We walked into the courtyard of the college and were show where Darvin stayed. We saw some important chapels and halls of the college and proceeded to see Trinity college. This is the richest of all he colleges in Cambridge University, and houses grand magnificent buildings. From there we walked down the historical streets seeing the administrative block academic building, the big clock with a monster ‘time eater’, university press and sbook shop and many others. King’s college is magnificient particularly the chapel inside is beautiful with pictures of Bible and lovely sculptures some of which even documented the joyous and sad happenings in the royal family of Henry 8th who built it. We sat in the chapel for about 15 minutes enjoying the splendid view on the walls around. We walked through the corridors and courtyards seeing and hearing interesting things. We were shown form outside the rooms where Burtrand Russel, Ramanujam, the famous Indian mathematician and others stayed during their tenure as fellows of Cambridge University.
We then proceeded to the Queens’ college. There are magnificient halls in the college reminding us if the aristocratic legacy that it once witnessed. The courtyard has a sundial and a huge unusual clock which still works intact on basis of the shadow of sun and moon. We then had lunch with the rotary club and had hearty discussions with the members who meet there every week. Since it was a business meet, we did not give any presentations formally.
From there we went punting on River Cam, that was one of the most exciting parts of our trip. As our boat drifted along the stream, the row man who was punting it explained about all the learning centres on the shores. It was a lovely sight as well as informative. We enjoyed the cool breeze along with sunshine that made it all the more pleasant for us.
We had a brief shopping programme at the local open market in Cambridge and then returned to our homes. I went to Rtn Ann Marie’s house for dinner. She had bought some Indian food and prepared rice and salads for me. She had arranged a lovely candle light dinner table for me. She is a Swedish woman and is a pharmacist and business consultant and we had so much to talk about regarding culture economy and social practices of our countries.
When I returned home to The Turner’s, I had a long chat with John and showed him many pictures of India, Bangalore, dance and music and family. They had so many queries about Indian customs and traditions. They were a wonderful couple who did everything to make my stay comfortable there.
The next morning, 21st may 2010, myself and Shruti were shifted to Worlington hall country house hotel, where our guys of our team were hosted. As Shruti was tired, she took her day off. I was led to The Miltonhall college of technology by Rtn Terry. He took in a lovely German BNW car with an open roof!. It was an exciting 25 mts drive towards the college, through the greenery, as the morning sunshine shone on us directly from above! Terry took me into the college and we were shown around. As Terry was a retired Headmaster form the same college a couple of years ago, we had access to most places inside. The spacious classrooms, sports block, performing arts block, labs and libraries were all beautiful and well maintained. One of the most interesting features of the indoor sports stadium is that the globe shaped tall building was built in one day through a special method of casting the cement into moulds. This was supposed to be the second of its kind in Europe. After that Terry took me to the historical museum there. The small but well maintained museum contained some beautiful furniture, artifacts, implements, machinery and technology of ancient and medieval Europe. Another interesting feature of the museum is that it preserved the huge roman treasure that was dug up in Milton hall 1970s. Now the original treasure containing mainly silver utensils is shifted to the British museum at London.
I then was then welcomed by Chandrashekhar sir and Rajeev and the local Rotarians who led us to an Indian restaurant ‘Gandhi’ and treated us with delicious Indian delicacies! We had a nice chat over the dining table too. We then drove with Terry to the British horse racing training school. It is unique of its kind and the jockey/ instructer Jane drove in her van to show the actual nature of training that is given there for serious trainees as well as students. The various race horses and the facilities created are amazing.
Terry then drove us to a parking lot and arrived with yummy ice creams. As we licked and munched into the crunchy milky bars, he sped the open car through the green paths in a high speed. We were screaming with delight as the cool breeze whizzed past our hair! We returned to Worlington hall hotel for a brief refreshment and then Rtn John drove us to a special nursery play home called Busy bees and Bee hive. The lady, Jane was an extraordinary lady who had made wonderful settings for the tiny tots to grow. The classrooms, gardens, kitchen and animal farms in the campus are unique. The albekas which we saw were lovely and we also were enlightened about the process of sheering the alpacas hair and manufacturing yarns out of it. It was a vast campus with many colourful and interesting aspects. The commitment and zeal with which the lady had built up the nursery school is interesting indeed.
We returned to the hotel where rotarians and their wives were waiting to greet us. We had a long chat with them all. The ladies of the Rotarians showered us with questions particularly related to Indian culture. Our tea leader cordially introduced at all and I grabbed the opportunity f introducing him to the. I sang few songs and danced the facial expressions and answered their many questions on dance, music etc. Shruti gave them a taste of bollywood dance. They were delighted to see and here them all and our exchanges went al till midnight!
The next day Dock drove us to Cambridge to catch the train to London. We took the 10.32 am train and arrived around 11. 30pm and Nick was waiting for us received us with his wife Anne and we changed a couple of trains to get to our hotel Premeir at Prince Regent. As we were just settling down in our rooms, my cousin Radhika generously brought us hot Pulao and raita and we all ate to our hearts content. That evening we left by tube train service to central London. We had booked tickets for Madam Tussauds and thoroughly enjoyed it there. We delighted in getting photographed with the almost realistic wax models of many world celebrities there. The scary house and taxi ride through medieval European history were fascinating too. From there we went to Subway and grabbed a few veg sandwiches and rushed to the Oliver show. It was a world class display of talent, direction, theatre skills and music. We sat in rapt attention enjoying every bit of it.
It was then 10.15 pm and my team members went ahead to enjoy the night London. I went to my cousin Radhika’s house for that night. I delightfully munched on some Indian food and relaxed, chatting with her for a loooooooooooooong time! After all we met after a long gap. The next morning was relaxed and peaceful. I cooked Chitra anna with Radhika and packed it up for our lunch. Radhika joined me in joining the GSE team at Bucckingham palace. We had a glimpse of the grand guard changing ceremony in the frontal courtyard.
Radhika then walked us around the important places of central London, like traffalga square, Downing street, Big Ben, Westmisnter abbey, covent garden, Harod's shop and some other commercial streets. We enjoyed the stylish display of fashion and prosperity of London. We munched on delicious ice creams and walked on and on and on on the streets to our content. Radhika stayed on till evening and we continued on. We had delicious Indian food at a restaurant called sagar. We then proceeded to have some photographs of Big ben and westnminster abbey during sunset.
Of course Rajeev's camera was hungry to grab them!! The sunshine on these towers made them golden in colour. Rajeev clicked some excellent snaps that evening. The breeze was cool, sunshine was damcing on the thames and we were simply mesmerixzed by the scenic beauty around. After sunset we proceeded to Tower bridge that was lit up with series of lights. Rajeev captured some lovely pictures of the same. We took the DLR train back to our hotel and rested.
The next morning Nick and Anne took us by train to Epswich. From there our respective hosts drove us all to our homes. Nick is my host inFramlingham.
He is a wonderful person, with a great heart and wonderful sense of humour. He does the toughest of jobs and handles the biggest of responsibilities with a smile on his face. He is optimism personified. His wife Anne is an amazing lady. She is a Jockey and has her own horse. She has a cute 40 yr old tortoise, George in her kitchenyard. She has been handling a bRownie since 15 yrs apart form working for a company. She is always busy in doing various things. The elegance and energy she carries are indeed commendable.
The first evenng Anne took me to her Brownie where I enjoyed the company of the little girls and was almost a part of their games and activities. That evenng Nick and Anne and myself had a loooong chat on many interesting topics. What fascinates all westernesr particularly about India is the family setup and we had many related discussions. Anne had made a yummy pasta with tomato and aplle crumble for us.
The next morning our GSE team was taken to the Framling ham castle, a 13th century relic and we enjoyed the wall walk and scenes around fro the top.
There is a lawn chess game there and Rajeev and Nick entered into a match. It was India vs England and India won!! haha
That afternoon we had a memorable picnic lunch out in the green meadows beside the castle. We had some songs and chatting and lots of fun!!
The next day, 26th may, 2010, we visited the Long way engineering museum at Leiston. Trevor Hwakins, a retired engineer who once worked there showed us around giving us valuable information about the ancient 17th century workshop (now a museum) It wa snice to see the antizue engines and also watch the demonstrations of some. We had a nice lunch of Peitza at a nearby hotel and very useful conversations with the rotarians there.
Form there we proceeded to Ron Geater's flower farm. That was the largest and most accomplished flower industries we ever saw. The hardwork, skills, technology and marketing styles were all simply amzing and well managed. For about a couple of hours we feasted our eyes on the lovely colours of hundreds of flowers all around us.
That evening I cooked Indian food for all our GSE menbers and there hosts. The menu included sambar, rasam, veg curry in north Indian style, payasam, kosambari (we got readymade chapatis to add to it). It was fun and laughter all the way for all of us. Rajeev helped in me in serving and washed most of the utensils!We had a funfilled evening this day.
tomorrow is our vocational visit, I am going to Dance East.
Well more next time. Bye
Arathi