LESSONS FROM LONDON
N.NANDHIVARMAN
The British people who once claimed that sun
never sets in their kingdom have seen that their glory never faces dusk. The
way followed by those who ruled India once must awaken our spirits to preserve
our past as they do. London founded by Romans in 43 A.D had been the home of
monarchs and governments since 1066. Of many places of tourist interest in
London the Westminster Abbey is where for nearly 900 years every King or Queen
of England had been crowned and many monarchs are buried there.
Britain for centuries was a sea power and in
Greenwich, which is 8 kilometers downstream from London Bridge, there is a
National Maritime Museum wherein history and relics of the 500-year maritime
history is kept preserved. Indians were early sea- farers and centuries before
others they navigated around the globe. Yet in India we never preserve our
maritime records and history. In fact at 12 major ports at least our country
must have maritime museums. Greenwich is famous for being the time-keeper of
the globe. The prime meridian of zero longitude, the imaginary line which links
the north and south poles was fixed at Greenwich in 1844 and is marked by a
plate on the path. A visitor can claim to be straddling the two halves of the
globe by placing a foot on either side of the line. We know laksman reka but we
are not aware of Greenwich reka.
The White Tower of London built by William the
Conqueror (1066-1087) has served as royal palace, fortress, prison and place of
execution. It also houses the world famous British crown jewels. The Imperial
State Crown made for the coronation of George VI in 1937 was altered for Queen
Elizabeth II in 1953. It is set with 2868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds,
5 rubies and 273 pearls. The famous Koh-i-noor diamond from India adorns the
British crown.
The tower bridge is a miracle of hydraulic
engineering. Sir Horace Jones designed it along with Sir John Wolfe Barry. The
1000 tonne drawbridges are raised to allow tall ships to pass between its twin
gothic style towers. The construction started in 1886 and completed in 1894 at
a cost of 800,000 pounds. The towers are connected by a 142 feet walkway. Such
landmarks are necessary to make any Indian town or city as exciting as London.
The River Thames of London stands in contrast with River Coovum of Chennai as
extreme poles, the former with its scenic beauty and latter with its stinking
nasty.
The name London itself was derived from a
Celtic word Llyn-din which means river place. In India we call rivers holy yet
we fail to keep them clean. Civilizations grew in riverbanks all over the
world. We have our Indus valley civilization with sanitation and planned cities
2000 years ago. Yet now if we look at our cities and its garbage mountains, we
have to think to stem the rot before it is too late. The lessons from a London
walk are many.
Michael M.Antony near wax statues
The 18 th century Prime
Minister William Pitt described the capitals parks as lungs of London. Saint
James Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, Regents Park, Battersea Park, Greenwich Park
are some of the lungs that purify the air of London but also remain everlasting
attraction to tourists. With much fanfare about tourism promotion except in
Delhi and Bangalore we cannot boast of Parks and Chennai remains pathetic in
this regard. The amusement parks at east coast road may have tried to attract
tourists, but what about corporation parks and spaces left for parks for
various colonies, one must ponder over. The exciting London visit must educate
our planners to make our cities as excitable, otherwise we will not become one
among the developed world.
Courtesy: The New Indian
Express weekend 5.02.2005
