I Wonder Why

I want to write about my travels through Germany, but between travelling, classes and other reading, there is no time to spare :(

Followed Tata Steel's proposed takeover of Corus Steel with some delight. My favourite company is now on the threshold of becoming an MNC! Natsteel and Millennium Steel were starters, both costing under $ 500 mn each. Corus will cost $8 bn and propel Tata Steel into the league of the world's top 10 steel producers. Tata Steel has choosen an interesting route to finance this acquisition, funnelling in a large part of the funds through its UK subsidiary rather than borrowing them itself. This will impose a greater interest burden on Tata, but will keep the parent's balance sheet clean and allow it to perhaps make more acquisitions! What a spectacle that will be!

I continue to wonder how things might have been had India liberalised in the 1960s - TISCO's annual production capacity would have surely grown faster than the 2 MT to 3 MT that it did from 1960 to 1990. I'm sure Indira Gandhi read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations in her college days. It's all laid so clearly there - how the "invisible hand" of the market-mechanism can create the most wealth for a society, how tariffs hurt domestic consumers, how state control of firms leads to inefficiency...all so painfully clear :(

No use crying over spilt milk though. Since 1990, the Jamshedpur plant's capacity has already expanded to 5 MT. Including Corus and the other acquisitions of the last two-three years, Tata Steel will be producing over 20 MT of steel every year.

Everywhere I look, corporate India is booming. Growth in FY07 will exceed 8% - the fourth year in a row that GDP will grow by over 7.5%. Indian outward investment will exceed inward FDI this year. A Forbes survey recently put 23 Indian companies in the list of the best 200 small Asian companies - 4th highest, and not too far from the leader (Taiwan, 31).

The Indian Century might just have begun.

So why am I looking for a job abroad? I don't know :)

Old favourites

I sometimes cannot believe that I used to watch TV for 6-8 hours everyday during my engineering days. Pretty much since my first day in WIMWI, my television viewing has declined to almost nothingness. Even here in Deutschland, where I have a TV in my room, I hardly watch any, preferring reading or surfing the Net.

Yesterday, I did see some TV and came across across "Gilmore Girls" (dubbed in German). It was amongst my favourite series during my last year in college. The witty dialogue and rapid speech that characterise the show made me a fan ever since I saw the first episode. Unfortunately, Zee English only played season 1 till the time I left for Ahmedabad. Watching Luke, Lolerai and Rory yesterday (I did not understand much of the dialogue, of course) brought back memories of lying on my bed and watching TV for hours on end, switching between news programmes and sitcoms.

I finished my season 5 DVD set of Buffy last week. Each episode is such a gem! Had seen "The Body" just before leaving for Europe. It's an episode that I always hesitate to watch, since it is so painful. Josh Whedon is simply a genius - he has written and directed unforgettable episodes ranging from those with little dialogue ("Hush", Season 4) to a musical ("Once More, With Feeling", Season 6). Stunning visuals, haunting soundtracks, hilarious one-liners, mindblowing scripts and intense emotion all come together with the deep attachment that I have for the characters to make a Whedon-written Buffy episode a treat I dare not give myself too often - for fear of consuming too much of a good thing.

I will now begin with season 3 (which I bought in London). It's the only season of Buffy I have not seen properly. Seasons 1-3 were playing on Star TV when I was in school and a fan of the show, but a fan who could not understand all the dialogue and who often had tutions to go to in the evening. Seasons 1 and 2 I later saw on a South African channel that played on my cable durng my 2nd or 3rd year in college. Hence, I am really looking forward to this season and hope to finish it before leaving Europe. Faith, the Mayor, Graduation Day, and the bazooka await, as does an episode I recall as being brilliant - "The Wish".

Wanderlust

I realised last night that when I sleep tonight, it will be for the first time since August 26 that I would have slept in the same city for 7 successive nights! If I can help it, such a situation will not happen again till January 2007. To imagine that before 2005, I often spent 12-15 months continously living in Bombay (without leaving the city for even one night). Travelling is delightful :)

The UK trip - Scotland

Towards Edinburgh

Edinburgh is another two and a half hours by train from Windermere. These train journeys were becoming increasing scenic as I travelled northwards, passing through pastures with scores of grazing sheep, and the occasional horse or two. I arrived in Edinburgh at around 5 pm that day, October 4. But faced a problem then. Was constrained to reaching London by the evening of the 6th, since I had a ticket for Titus Andronicus for the 7:30 pm show that day. But I also wanted to do a much renowned train trip from Inverness to the Kyle of Lochalsh through the Scottish Highlands. The trian schedule did not seem to permit me to do all three however - reach London on time, see Edinburgh and do the Inverness-Lochalsh trip. I had a brainwave then and decided to go to Inverness the same night.

Reached Inverness, over 3 hours away, at around 11 that night. And when I went to the hostel there, I found out that there was no place! Inverness at night was the coldest place I had encountered in my UK trip, and will be about the northernmost place I go to in this European holiday. Still decided to not hunt for more places, and just sleep at the station. Walked back to the station, and it was closed too!

Inverness station past midnight

Hence, I walked back to the hostel (20-30 minutes) and convinced the receptionist to let me stay the night in the hostel's lobby.

Duly went to and fro Kyle of Lochalsh the next morning, a two and a quarter hour trip each way. The tribulations of the previous night were totally worth it. Really lovely views of little and big lakes, hills and mountains, the green pastures and woods and the occasional cottage.

Lovely wilderness

View from the Kyle of Lochalsh Station

Reached Inverness in the afternoon and saw Loch Ness for a short while. Did not see much else in town, since I had a train to Edinburgh to catch.

Serene, sehr serene - Loch Ness

Reached Edinburgh that night, and checked into a hostel that was the worst I stayed in during my two weeks in the UK. Had decent facilities, but important things like plug-points in rooms and working Internet facilities were missing. They are going to close the place down next month and open a new hostel closer to Edinburgh's city centre. Happy about that!

Had only a few hours to see Edinburgh next morning, since London is about 5 hours away by train. Could not really see the city at all - should have spent two days there. Only saw the Edinburgh Castle, and not all of it. The location of Edinburgh is superb - from the Castle, I could see the sea towards the norh of the city and Fife in Scotland beyond. Spectacular!

View from Edinburgh Castle

Boarded the train to London that afternoon. Reached the city in the evening, bought a Eurostar ticket to Lille in France (from where I could continue onward using my Eurail pass) and saw Titus Andronicus in The Globe. The next morning, I was aboard the Eurostar at 6, and about to commence my journey to the country about which I was crazy till 4-5 years ago - GERMANY!

The UK trip - Stratford and the Lake District

Stratford Home

Stratford is another quiet English town. Obviously, the only reason I was there is becuase it is Shakespeare's birthplace. There are some 15 or so persons about whom I would love to learn as much as I can throughout my life. From the UK, the list includes Shakespeare and Newton. I could not unfortunately visit any Newton-related sites in the UK :( Missed seeing his tomb in Westminster Abbey, for example. And would have loved to go to Cambridge where he taught and studied, had the logistics worked out.

Upon-the-Avon, Stratford-upon-Avon

But did satisfy a small part of my curiosity about Shakespeare. Saw his birthplace and grave and learnt more about his life and family in various exhibits in Stratford. Also saw "The Comedy of Errors" and "Titus Andronicus" in London. Saw "The Tempest" in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford - the play was really well enacted, and though I was a little tired since I had a 'standing-only' ticket, I enjoyed it very much.

I called up the hostel at Windermere, a small town in the very scenic Lake District beforehand to check if they had vacant dorms. They didn't! Hence I went to Ambleside which is just 5 km from Windermere. Windermere is a four hour journey from Stratford, involving two train changes.

I really wanted to hire a cycle in Ambleside. However the store manager asked me for a 250 pound cash deposit or 50 pounds and a credit card as security for the bike. I did not have either. Even though I requested him to accept my passport as security, he would not budge. Walking along the lakes was good too, but cycling would have been amazing. I walked for about 4-5 hours in total that morning (Oct 4), including a 3-hour, 10-15 km walk around the Rydal (to the right) and Grasmere lakes. It was also a rather sunny day, which made the walk even better.

Grasmere

Took the train to Edinburgh that afternoon.

The UK trip - Bath and Oxford

I just love trains. They are one of those things that I am absolutely enamoured of without any rhyme or reason. It's not that I know much about the technical and engineering aspects of trains or the running of different train networks around the world. I do not know much about the history of trains. And don't really feel too enthused to put in too much of an effort to learn more either. But always feel happy about travelling by rail. And whenever I hear any positive news about railways, especially Indian railways, I am thrilled. And of course, go over the moon, whenever I hear something good about the local trains in Bombay :)

Hence I really looked forward to this trip by train through Europe. I like trains so much that I rarely used buses in London. When I got into Köln (Cologne), I took the U-bahn (a tram system which feels very much like a metro) to my house. And of course, rode on various trains during my trip to the UK outside London.

Train on the Kyle of Lochalsh station platform, Scotland

Which brings me to my main topic for today. Alas, I have become very lazy since coming to Köln, and have not kept up with updating this blog. And now it's too late to give a very detailed description :( Hence a short account follows. Don't plan on doing anything outside home today. Will try to upload some photos into this blog soon. And splitting this entry into three for easier reading.

On Sunday, October 1, I left for Bath from London's Paddington Station.This is a picturesque little town an hour and a quarter from London by train. There are some nice buildings and views of the surrounding hills there. It was raining intermittently all that day, and my appreciation of the town's beauty was proportional to the intensity of the sunshine. But the highlight of my visit, and the main tourist attraction of the place, is the Roman Bath site. Two thousand years ago the Romans had bulit a temple complex and bath here, on the site of a natural hot spring. There is now a nice exhibit displaying the site and explaining its significance to the Romans. The Brits have really developed their tourist sites well. The museums and monuments are excellently configured and the audio guides, guided tours and information leaflets are really informative. Of course, they charge a hefty sum for those excellent facilities :)

Roman Bath


Pulteney Weir, Bath

Was in Bath only for a few hours, and went ot Oxford in the evening. This was to be the pattern of my journey - go to a place in the evening/at night, sleep over in a hostel, see the place the next day and go off to the next destination that evening.

Went to two colleges in Oxford - Christchurch and Merton. Christchurch is the largest of the Oxford colleges and has educated more future British PMs than the rest of the OxBridge colleges combined. The college has beautiful, large grounds, a cathedral and a dining hall (Great Hall) which is used as Hogwart's dining hall in the movies. The college was also home to Lewis Caroll, and some of the artefacts connected with him and Alice in Wonderland are placed in the Great Hall too. Nice place :)

Rugby Field in Christchurch College

Also went to Merton college - where Tolkien taught and lived for many years while writing The Lord of the Rings. Not much to see there though - much of the college is closed to visitors.

Punting on the Isis

The best part of my Oxford trip, and possibly that of the UK trip, was punting on the river Isis. The Thames is called Isis in Oxford. I have not skills in poling a punt, of course, but gave a try anyway. And really enjoyed struggling with the pole. After about 45 minutes, had to call the service operator to ask him to send someone to 'rescue' me, as I was too tired to be able to pole the boat against the river current.

Then, it was off to Stratford, another hour and a bit away.

Day 9: From London to Bath to Oxford to Stratford

Haven't written for three days, but that's not for lack of content! Just that connectivity to the Net is too expensive outside London...will write fuller entries once I am in Cologne. That will be on the 7th hopefully :)