On my ninth birthday, my parents got me a video cassette of Lion King (1994). It has since been one of my top five favourite movies of all time and certainly the best animated movie I’ve ever seen. But nothing could have prepared me for the absolute thrill of watching it – the musical – live, at Lyceum Theatre in London, more than a dozen years later.
But let’s rewind a bit. Remember how we left off on the point that I was becoming the gay magnet and resident LOTR fanboy of Sussex? Well, London was the final leg of that memorable trip.
If you are a true Delhiite or a Mumbaikar at heart, if you like your noise pollution, street food, traffic snarls, cheap thrills and chaos in life, London will make you feel right at home.
This isn’t to say, of course, that you won’t hear the odd British fella muttering under his breath – “go home, you brown bastards” – but overall you’ll be pretty happy. In fact, since there are tens of millions of us in England stealing every possible business from them – from a roti stand to big corporate – you can probably ignore that racial slur.
Notting Hill – The Blue Door
If you’ve read the previous two legs of this trip, you already know I’m a die-hard romantic (I was on a quest to win back love, for God’s sake). This effectively means there’s no way in hell I wouldn’t absolutely adore the Hugh Grant-starrer romantic comedy Notting Hill!
I coaxed and cajoled my cousin who works with British Tourism to get me my dream accommodation – a Bread and Breakfast right under the iconic ‘blue door’ that featured in Notting Hill as Hugh Grant’s home.
Not only was the experience absolutely magical, it also went a long way in aiding and abetting my ultimate aim – winning my ex-girlfriend back. She was thrilled to be able to live in a place that bore that great symbol of cinematic love – the iconic ‘blue door’.
Lion King – The Musical
Don’t visit the Tower of London or the London Eye – give Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussauds a miss too if you absolutely don’t have time – but do not, and I repeat, do not miss Lion King, the musical.
If you’re a fan of the animated film, the play will make you forget all about it. It’s just that good!
While the penny pinches as it leaves the pocket at a play in Delhi (a reasonable 500 at that), I had absolutely no hesitation in shelling out a handsome £50 (Rs 5,000) for a ticket at the Lyceum Theatre, near Covent Garden station. The show (very like the erstwhile DDLJ-playing Maratha Mandir), mind you, is full every night.
Of Ostrich Burgers and a Dickensian Pub
I love meat, especially beef steaks and this is where I lose my hardliner Hindu group fan base. But I can hardly help salivating when the city offers such plum, juicy possibilities (pun intended) of satiating such a craving. There are two markets in London – Camden and Borough – which offer you the juiciest of animal meat – some, rather unheard of.
Camden Market, in fact, was the first place I ever had an ostrich meat burger – so unusual that it was good. The meat is so succulent it will make you forget beef and pork.
Yet another place that you must visit? The Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, a 14th century pub that got burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666 and was rebuilt the next year. The place looks like a dungeon and also takes you back in time. It also incidentally serves the best blonde beer I have ever had.
Literary figures such as Oliver Goldsmith, Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton, PG Wodehouse and Dr Johnson (phew) are all said to have been ‘regulars’ at this pub.
Little history? The bar has even featured in Charles Dickens’ seminal book A Tale of Two Cities.
Parting Note
There’s a lot more I probably could have done in London – as I’m sure every seasoned traveller will point out. But to each nomad his own.
The high point of my trip though? Possibly the culmination of two weeks of love’s labour lost, when the girl I’d come for finally gave an inch back for ALL the yards I’d crossed. As I stood at Heathrow Airport, waiting to catch my flight back, the object of my affections told me she was glad I had come and that she had fallen irrevocably in love with me again.
Ah, for those fleeting moments of bliss, a lovelorn traveller will part oceans. London kya cheez hai?
(Shibaji Roychoudhury was named after someone who wanted to conquer and inspire. Unfortunately, he is far too ambitious for that. Based out of Delhi, he has travelled across the globe and has some pretty funny tales to tell. Watch out for his next one.)
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