The Highlander

Date: 22 Dec - 26 Dec 2007
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Places Visited: Warwick, Coventry, Edinburgh (duh!!!), Kircaldy, St. Andrews, Loch Lomond National Park, Glasgow, Birmingham
Partners-in-Crime: Adit, Mannu, Yours Truly and Maris (see below)

India has a population of 1.12 bn, nominal GDP of $1,089.9bn and, hence, per capital income of $964 p.a. Scotland has a population of around 5.1m (yes, that is right - 1/23 times India's population), nominal GDP of $170bn and, hence, per capita income of $33,460 p.a. (yes, that's right - 35 times India's PCI) - and the stark economic difference is extremely obvious! What do I mean? Well, Scotland is supposed to be extremely scenic - great countryside with lush green meadows, vibrant, colourful trees arching over the carpet roads, pretty old buildings in Edinburgh boasting of its '320 million' year old history. I agree - all of that is true - driving down the countryside was such a pleasure, Edinburgh has one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen in a city, and a lot of museums and buildings strewn across the city depicting its history. However, somewhere I feel that quite a bit of it (mainly the countryside) is a 'hype'. Given their standard of living, sure their countryside will be spotlessly clean, lawns and meadows will be perfectly manicured and the Government will be able to dredge the lakes regularly - all adding to the idyllic perfection of the countryside. Also, yes, the museums will have more than enough money to spend lavishly on their displays ensuring that their 'oh-so-rich' history is properly manifested for all the wide-eyed tourists. I have been lucky enough to travel a bit in India recently (that’s what one does when one is conveniently pretending to be 'in school'! :) ) and there is no doubt in my mind that nature sits so much more comfortably in our country and history is entrenched deeper in our landscapes and the nooks and crannies of our cities. Unfortunately, lack of sufficient resources and prevalence of a fair bit of corruption has put all of it in a state of decadance.

However, let me not be cynical about my first real road-trip where we drove around 2000kms in 5 days (I don’t know about you, but I think that is a pretty good start!). And, to be fair, Scotland is really a very pretty country - the orange of the setting sun bouncing off the snow-capped mountains adding a silvery-orangish gleam to the lakes at the foot of the mountains. The city of Edinburgh (easily the most outstanding city in Scotland) was a sight to watch as the 'old and the new' literally co-existed next to each other - it is quite an interesting view when you see the old, grey, stone buildings on one side of the Nor Loch and fabulous examples of Georgian architecture (I know that is pretty old as well dating back to the 18th century, but then everything is relative, isn't it?) on the other at the same time! The caretakers of the famous Edinburgh Castle need to be commended for the creativity they have displayed in setting up their exhibits - I am more used to artifacts enclosed in staid, glass cases with a small card bearing its name and date and, hence, did not expect a museum to be set up like a movie set with background music/dialogues, shadow-plays and props to create the ambience. Specific mention needs to be made of the War Memorial and the Prison - the memorial more for its grandness and the prison, well, for just being a prison!

And, oh, yes - another 'highlight' of the trip was the 'haunted vaults' we went into. "The most-haunted place in the UK" - the pretty tour guide (we commercialise everything, don’t we?!) claimed. The tour guide's smile gave it away - it was the smile of one who knows, one who knows that she is going to fool yet another bunch of eager tourists into coughing up £8.50 for a walk in some caves as she shaped out before us stories of spirits with nicknames that seemed to come straight out of B-grade Bollywood horror films. And, oh yes, she was kind enough to let us all play detective as she handed out EFM instruments (don't ask me the full form - don’t remember) that allows us to detect un/seen sources of energy. As I saw my co-explorers laughing and cheering as they ran around the caves like zombies with their devices in their outstretched arms and an excitable fear in their hearts, I realised that this tour was nothing more than an amusement park/joyride for adults - and suddenly I wasn’t feeling that bad about spending the money - we all deserve our day out, don’t we?

This paragraph goes in to prove to someone that even I can be random at times!! :) So a side-effect of the visit to the haunted vaults was bumping into this tourist (obviously, of the opposite sex!) who was travelling alone from Ireland. She saw in the 3 of us "nice, cultural Indian boys" (her own words!!) and, hence, decided to tag along. Joined us for walks around the city and in our excursions further North into the highlands. It was interesting talking to her since got to know a bit about Estonia and, also, since she was a strong believer in ghosts, spirits and the after-life and was actually writing a book on Dark Tourism, it was fascinating to hear about her stories and the research that she had done. Anyway, enough about her.

If you feel that I have spent a fair bit of time on ghosts, spirits, et al, be grateful that I have spared you from tales of the bloody history that Scotland almost seems to be proud of. There are some really gruesome tales involving beheading, grave-digging, wars and so on if one is to believe the gentleman who took us on a 4 hour walking tour of Edinburgh (Eidyn's Burh or Fort of Eidyn). If one were to believe him, one would also have to believe that the whole world is indebted to Scotland for giving us phrases like 'raining cats and dogs' and also for Christmas' Scrooge!

Finally, a word of warning for those looking for a party time over Christmas in Europe - BAD IDEA! Unlike in Calcutta, where Christmas is another reason to party and get drunk, in Europe, Christmas is celebrated for what it is - a religious festival to be spent indoors with the family. However, annoyingly, since Europe is not as secular as India, everything, and I mean literally everything, is shut - food, water, petrol - nothing is available anywhere! Thank God for the few Indians who run their convenience stores - aakhir, deswaasi hi kaam aaya!

I unfortunately do not have access to the photos yet and will upload them as soon as possible.

Je T'aime France!

Date: 08-09 Dec, 2007
Location: Loire Valley/Paris, France
Places Visited: Cheverny, Chaumont, Chenonceaux, Chambord, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower
Beauty manifest its various forms. From the untainted, lush green lawns whizzing by as we covered more than 500kms in one day to the magnificent and awe-inspiring evidence of human creativity and skill. And of course, there was beauty of the two-legged kind as well! ;)

As one walked down the lofty corridors and hallways of the castles, one could vividly imagine the lives that the nobles would have lived in all their glory and, yet, isolation. The walls were adorned with relics that date back centuries but still havent lost the ability of providing the aesthetic pleasure that they were originally created for.

After having seen Paris and London and comparing them to Manhattan, I begin to realise how much of a difference history makes to the feel of the city. As I was literally being toyed around by the wind on the Eiffel Tower, the city sprawled in front of me, its buildings and architecture standing testimony to the wealth of culture and tradition it has accumulated over time - an absolutely breath-taking view.

However, the highlight of the trip had to be the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I am convinced now that despite all accusations of being materialistic and greedy, man has always reserved his (or her, to be politically correct!) creative genius for devotion to God. A magnificent structure paying homage to the Creator in all His glory. I was lucky enough to be there for the Mass on Sunday. A small observation - having been to a few chapels/cathedrals now, I feel that no other religion has been glorified as much as Christianity - starting right from the elaborate paraphernalia worn by priests to the rich controversies surrounding it.

On that note, would describe the trip to France as 48 hours of packed, hectic fun with a great friend!

P.S. A special thanks to the weather gods who were timing their "wrath" to perfection for us - always rained when we were indoors or in the car!

Link to some photographs from the trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/keshavbhojania/France