This article is written by Ravi Deshpande, who is the Creative Head of his own company, produces films and is an avid blogger. He is based in Mumbai
Sunday, 22nd July 2011
Halfway through the bath & the power goes off. The British lady across my window peeps, & embarrassedly asks whether I have any electricity.
The Bane of London
So its like any other indian city-power cuts, water cuts, trains run late, people smoke just about everywhere, traffic jams galore & they jump the signal all the time. the mayor of london is exasperated at the burglaries & the pre-teen pregnancies.
The good thing about London
What’s good is that londoners are a happy lot. they keep the city clean. the food is superb. & they have a panache for doing things right. the touristy areas such as oxford street, leicester square are as crowded as linking road-it’s the sale season & european tourists along with londoners throng the shops for discounts. i bought 3 pairs of shoes & am very happy-they will last me for a long long time.
One needs to walk here! shyam & naman to gether made me walk at least ten miles. my legs say i did 20.
Lovers abound at every nook & corner, hands & lips locked in love & lust at street corners, stations, stores, restaurants & cafes. there’s beer flowing from morning till the wee hours of the morning at the roadside cafes.
The Elderly
The aged have got habituated to loneliness-they travel to pubs & sit at tables with a pint or two for hours without a word to another sitting across from them.
Heritage
Londoners have great regard for their heritage. the structures are preserved & displayed with pride-londoners will make a museum out of just about anything.
Indian productions & British connexion
There are a lot of indian productions active here. boney has camped in london for the last one & half month, met aseem at pinewood-he resumed shooting yesterday for a british feature, manu & gang are at the fag-end of the second film, satish kaushik is acting with my friend tanishtha chatterjee in a major english film, sudhakar bokade is in manchester, & so on.
Meeting Shyam
Shyam Sunder. my friend of a decade & more. don’t find the time to meet him in mumbai… we spent hours yesterday, chatting in my 3 bed spread at king’s cross & walking the length & breadth of oxford street. he has been in the industry for over eight years now, & is itching to make his own film. the computer shop boy from shimoga has grown up to be a bright mature man with several score connexions in the film industry. whether in mumbai, chennai, or london, he is forever on the phone. his bill, he assures me has touched several lakhs sometimes.
Naman Ramachandran
butted in to naman & laxmi’s weekend. bought a doc martens. went through half a dozen lanes, took the tube to camden. his house has the most fabulous vibrations i have come across in months. i have this thing about placesthere & then, i decided & announced that i am staying the night. spoke to naman till it got dark. collapsed with fatigue before midnight. he took me to a temple of sorts-the apple store.
The Apple Store
The Regent Street Apple Store
The new Macbook Pro!!! For just a lakh twenty! wish i had the dough. the who-tommy song buzzed in my head-feel me, touch me, hear me! there is nothing in the computer hardware world which is as superior a design as a mac product.
Ravi Deshpande
25 July 2011
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