The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park , Stratford

 I went looking for Stratford upon Avon, the birth place of Shakespeare and imagined it to be a small village. Shakespeare and his period has  been so deeply entranced in our minds that it is difficult to imagine him in today's context. Instead what we found at Stratford is a very modern developed city and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is situated here and it was here that the Olympics were held in 2012. The stadium and the surroundings areas are beautifully maintained and one can walk around canals and beautifully laid gardens. There is a small park where they have put up the details of the 9/11 attack in New York twin towers and a structure of steel and iron that was damaged has been placed as a, memorial to the martyrs of this day. The attractions of this place is also the Arcelor Mittal Orbit which is a steel structure made by an Indian Architect Anees Kapoor who was, Knighted for his contribution. The steel has been provided by Lakshmi Mittal. There are posters displayed which proudly proclaim that this structure is taller than the Statue of Liberty. One can climb on the top through a lift and get a 360 degree view of the whole of London which is amazing. There is a slide which takes you down the structure and I was tempted but with drew as I saw only young children going through the sliding tunnel.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

 I found myself at the  Victoria and Albert Museum on 30th May, 2019. This museum was established in 1852and it is spread over an area of  twelve and a half acres and has about 2.27million artifacts from around the world. It has 145 galleries that consist of artifacts from Rome, Greece, Italy, France, Medieval Europe, Islamic world and South Asia. Though I enjoyed looking at many art objects from Medieval Europe it was the South Asia section that attracted me a lot. For the first time I saw many miniatures from the Mughal Court and few from Deccan in the original. We only see copies of these in books when we teach and show them to our students. I could see gold jewelry of 18th cen India. I thought of my student Harish Srinivas a, who worked on Military history of 17th for M. Phil and 18th cen for his Ph. D when I saw a large number of 17th cen guns. They look so heavy that the soldiers carrying them need to be very muscular and healthy. Really some of the best artifacts from around the place in terms of beauty, grace and History are housed in this museum.

The British Museum

 The British Museum is a must see in London and was here on 29th May, 2019. Set up  in 1753 A. D. this is the first public Museum that was ever established. Even today after 266 years of its establishment, the only thought that comes to my mind is, My God how much stuff did these people bring about  from around the world to their  country. This museum has, a, collection of about eight million artifacts from around the world. I have Studies ancient world civilisations as a student of Ancient history and I have been teaching Medieval European and Medieval World civilisations for more than three decades but they remain only as words on paper with rough sketches in my mind. It is here, in the British Museum that I can put a face to those civilisations and see things as they were at that time. I could see silver  vessels from  Medieval Civilisations, clothes from Iranian civilisation, the tiles from Mesopotamia civilisation, Egyptian mummies, Egyptian coffins and even Tipu's sword, Vishnu sculpture.I was very much attracted by the ladies gowns from 18th cen and many of these styles can be seen around the world even today. The beauty of the Museum is that they have trained volunteers who explain some of the artifacts, let you touch them and feel them. I do not remember this being done earlier. However, I still remember that I had tears in my eyes as I saw Indian historical objects which  rightly belong to us and which  many Indians will never be able to see though they  are very  much a part of our heritage and culture. But today, may be I am mature and getting old and I could marvel and agree with an old friend Kameshwari who was in charge of the Salarjung Museum many decades earlier and when in the 1990's I told her how upset I was when I saw the British Museum and the Indian objects, she remarked, Rekha you should feel happy that at least these objects are saved for posterity. Do you think we have the means and resources to save them the way it has been done in London. At that time, I could not agree with her but today I felt happy that they are preserved with the required cooling, temperatures, maintenance and preservation and the huge amount that has been spent on it. However, the question that remains upper most in my mind is, how did these people manage to bring in so many artifacts from across the world in that period. They felt it was their right to bring back to the mother country the history of the countries that they had occupied.

En Route London

leaving for London on 28th May, 2019 and will be at Birkbeck Institute, University of London for the next month. The temperature is 10 degrees celcius and luckily, I carried a pull over in my handbag which came very  handy. In Hyderabad in this weather at 42 to  44 degree celcius, one does not even want to see a cardigan or pullover. This time our flight was via Jeddah and saw a new airport. I could hardly see any trees here. Unlike Dubai or Doha there was no greenery at the airport.