These Romans are crazy !

18-Feb 2007

Can anyone believe that my friend and colleague Bharat aka Borat had NOT GONE TO BATH even once, in the last 8 months or so that he had been here in UK ? Disgusting, isn’t it ? How could anybody do that…..( or rather not do that)? 1 or 2 days may have been fine ….even a week could have been pardoned ….. but 8 whole months ??? That’s simply untenable !

Ok, maybe I’m not the right person to say this ….After all, I was the one who had landed in Egypt back in September …..and a couple of days later, learnt that I wasn’t carrying any toothpaste, which technically meant that I hadn’t brushed my teeth in 2 days and didn’t even realize it! ……but atleast in my case, its just been 4 months here in Bristol without going to Bath !

Ok…..before you get wierd ideas about the levels of personal hygiene that I and my colleagues maintain here in UK, lemme just clarify that what we’re talking about here is not about ‘having a bath’, but about ‘going to Bath’ [ ... as in, beginning with a capital B - Bath ] …..which as a matter of fact, happens to be an ancient, historic, extremely gorgeous English City that lay about 20 miles away from Bristol !

So finally, in an attempt to catch up with the backlog, we decided to head towards Bath on Sunday – the 18th of Feb. There was me, Bharat, Santosh, Rakesh, Anil Curpad, Anil’s brother who had come down from London, Ganesh – my good friend and partner in crime, who again had come down from London and Raghu [Raghavendra Pai ] – our manager and BU head, who was here from Bangalore to attend some client meetings and had agreed to tag along !

So early on Sunday, the 8 of us caught a train from the Temple Meads station at Bristol and in about 40 minutes, disembarked at Bath.

Now, if you thought London was an old, historic city, then Bath is old enough to be its great-great-great-great-grandfather ! The historic remains found in this ancient, picturesque town pre-dates almost any other in Great Britain.

In the early part of this millenium, (the year 43 AD to be precise), the Romans had invaded Britain, or Brittania as they called it. They had lived and ruled here for a few centuries, until the Anglo-Saxons came and took over.

Our friends the Romans, as history [....and Asterix comics ] has it, were extremely hygienic people ! Whereever, they lived, they built these huge public bathing complexes, where they spent a better part of their days – scrubbing and preening themselves. Over the centuries, the Romans had constructed numerous roads, monuments and other structures in diffent parts of Britain, virtually leaving behind their imprints all over !

One of the best preserved of these imprints lay today at Bath – a huge, king-sized Roman Bathing complex [ No prizes for guessing where the city gets its name from !]

And that was where we headed first. From the railway station, the Roman Baths were barely 10 minutes walking distance away. Unfortunately they charged 10 pounds per head, so all together, we had to shell out a whopping 80 pounds, just to see the place where some old Caesar, may have scrubbed the dirt off his back some 2000 years ago!

But the ruins in fact, were extremely well-preserved [ Yeah, the Oxymoron is intended ! ] ! The complex in itself, may have been as good as any modern Spa, in its prime. There was a huge central bath, that was fed by a natural hot spring, plus there were numerous other smaller pools and complexes, serving varied different purposes. Some of the pools were meant for warm water, others for chilled or luke-warm. How the Romans managed to do it was to have the floor wooden, with hollow spaces underneath, which could be heated by burning logs !

It was a marvellous bit of engineering ! However, Ganesh and I had just one phrase ringing in our heads – “These Romans are crazy” – the phrase popularized by one of our favourite comic characters – Obelisk !

Next, we moved into another room which had a huge circular pool, filled with water abt 2-3 feet deep. But what lay there in the crystal clear waters of the pool literally startled us ……….. our jaws dropped almost to the ground, and our eyes nearly bulged out of its sockets ! We all stood there for a few moments in awe !

No, no……. it wasn’t Pamela Anderson – but the whole pool was glittering – for its entire floor was stacked with coins and currency notes !

Turns out these westereners are crazy too ! And pretty superstitious, contrary to public belief….Where ever they see a pond or a well, its customary for them to throw a coin and make a wish ! Here, I could spot almost every possible currency – pounds, euros, dollars etc….some idiot had even thrown a £20 note !!!

Ganesh and I looked around – unfortunately, there was a continious stream of tourists coming in…….had we got just about a 5 second respite, we’d have dived into the pool, collected some of the treasures and made good our escape!

We spent sometime in the souvenir shop, and I picked up my customary postcards and a few other memoroblia. By this time, we were all hungry, and decided to check-out the nearby Thai restaurant. It was the first time most of us were trying out Thai cuisine, but must admit, I didn’t quite fancy it.
While the veggies risked something conspicously named ‘Phak soup’ along with some rice + veg dish, Raghu, Ganesh and I settled for some chicken !

Next, it was time to head-off to the StoneHenge. We had booked ourselves on a guided tour to go there, and so we headed down to the centre and boarded the small van that was awaiting us. Our guide cum driver – a sweet lady named Sally welcomed us and drove us through the uneven terrain of Bath on the road towards Salisbury, all the while entertaining us with narrations about the sights and sounds of the places we passed by.

We started out driving through the ‘ghats’, and all around we could see beautiful country houses that stood at vantage points along the slopes. Over the centuries, Bath had been attracting the aristocracy and gentry from all over the country. Today it is home to many of the Rich and Famous, who choose to live quietly amidst the enchanting valleys and the green slopes of the town. Sally excitedly told us that Johnny Depp too has a house here.

Quite a while later, we were passing through a place called Wiltshire, having beautiful wide open meadows, stretching as far as the eyes could see. Sally explained that these were military-owned territories and that quite a bit of their training exercises happen here. As we passed by, she pointed out a very unusual board by the side of the road. Now, till date, I had assumed that the “Warning – Camels crossing” board I had seen somewhere in the United Arab Emirates, or the “Slow down – Wild Fowl Crossing” board that stands near my office here in Bristol; were the wierdest possible, but this one was clearly one huge step ahead……. It read “Warning – Tanks crossing” !!! (and had the caritaure of a battle-tank on it)

[......sadly I couldn't grab a picture of that signboard as were on the highway and travelling quite fast ! ]

Another very interesting fact about Wiltshire is that, though it seems amazingly serene and calm, having hardly any population; this place is quite active and happenning as far as the ‘Paranormal’ is concerned !!!

For one thing, huge number of UFO sightings are reported in this area of England ! Secondly, the place is famous for another very mysterious phenomena – Crop Circles ! [If you had seen Manoj.N.Shyamalan's 'Signs', you'd know what I am talking about ]

Basically, Crop Cirlces are these huge geometric patterns of considerable intricacy and dramatic effect, that suddenly appear in fields due to (unexlpained) flattening of plants in symettric manners. The mystery is that these patterns appear suddenly, within a span of a few hours perhaps, and no body knows how the plants can be so symmetrically flattenned to produce this effect.

The patterns generally are huge – spanning acres of land and yet so geometrically precise, that it does seem unlikely that they are manually created by some jobless prankster !

The thing about Wiltshire is that this is considered the Crop-circle capital of the world ! About 90% of the crop-cirlces reported in England are from within a 40-mile radius around the Stone Henge !

Unfortunately, we were not able to spot any Crop Cirlces enroute, but our guide showed us pictures of some that had formed around this area in the past years….. The most intriguing of them all was one that had appeared in 1996. It consisted of a series of Huge circles, right across the plains bordering the StoneHenge. Apparently, the patterns were formed within a span of just about half-an-hour and at that time, there were lots of tourists at the Stone Henge, but none of them had noticed anything peculiar being done or how the cirlces were formed !

Perhaps the military activities in the nearby areas have something to do with it all ? Hmmm, quite a case it could be for Agents Mulder and Scully !

Just as promised, exactly an hour later we pulled into the Stone Henge car park. Sally led us through the crowds and got us into the StoneHenge.

Everything about the StoneHenge was mysterious in itself. No one knew how it was built or for what purpose it was built. The huge stones that constitute the StoneHenge had actually been quarried in the mountains of Wales and transported hundreds of miles to this location where it had been standing for nearly 5000 years !

Our guide mentioned that the StoneHenge lies at the confluence of hypothetical energy zones or ‘ley lines’, and was supposed to be a source of positive energy !

Nevertheless, it was 365 degrees of sheer beauty…….lush green meadows stretched as far as the eyes could see !

Almost exactly 5 months ago, I was at another ancient, 5000 year old structure – the Pyramids ! ……and now the StoneHenge – equally old and about half as much mysterious, the only difference being that this is located in the middle of endless lush green fields, where as the former was in the middle of the endless yellow sands of the desert.
Then I had been nearly fried by the scorching sun , but now I was freezing !

[Striking a pose....... L to R - Ganesh, me, Anil, Borat, Rakesh, 'blonde girl' and Santosh ]

We circled the StoneHenge, taking pictures of the Stones from every angle and finally boarded Sally’s van. The return journey was rather uneventful, but Ganesh and I, made it otherwise, by striking up a conversation with the American school-teacher, who shared the back seat with us !

We got back to Bath by around 4 pm, and walked around exploring the exotic town.More photography sessions later, Raghu, Ganesh and I split from the group and dropped into a local pub. Sally had earlier explained to us that the secret behind the relaxed, laidback attitude of the ‘Bathers’ [ ...if the people of London are called the Londoners, why not the people of Bath as 'Bathers' ? ] was Cider – an alcoholic drink that tastes just like apple juice – simply because of the fact that it is made from apple juice ! Bath was home to the cider and she had adviced all of us to try it as it was the best way to blend in with the local lifestyle, and true to her words, we obeyed.

Though it was supposed to be a lil’ heavy on alcohol, 1 pint hadn’t got us anywhere …..but since we had a train to catch, we left and caught up with the rest of the gang at the train station and headed home to Bristol !

[The Bath gang - Standing (L to R) - Anil's bro, Anil, Santosh, Raghu, Ganesh. Kneeling (L to R) - Rakesh, me and Bharat! ]

Cardifffffffffffff !!!

3/2/2007

Barely 2 weeks after my first lone adventure to Newport, I returned to Wales yet again – this time to its capital city – Cardiff, and not alone – but with a gang of 8 other comrades !

A quick 40 minutes train journey from Bristol, and we arrived at Cardiff station…… Unlike the first time, now being more familiar with the Welsh language, I wasn’t in for a shock on seeing the signboards. Wasting no time, we followed the boards that read “Fford Allen” ( meaning “Way out”) , or ‘Fraud Allen’ as Bharat and I preferred to call it, and walked down to the taxi stands. Since most of us hadn’t had any breakfast, we decided to split up. Borat, Santosh, Ramappa, Reuben and Anand Ramakrishna stayed back and headed towards the adjacent mall to grab a bite, where as Rakesh, me, Akansha and Ram took a taxi towards the Cardiff Bay to enquire and book tickets for the Speed-Boat ride (that our mates had raved and ranted to us about) .

The first sight of the bay was itself absolutely captivating !!! The water was clear blue and placid, and a hazy mist was hanging over it in the horizon ! There was a promenade lined against the bay, and being quite early for a winter morning, we had almost the entire place to ourselves ! After strolling around a while and artistically experimenting with our cameras, we found the speed-boat office. Unfortunately, the official informed us that the rides were all booked for the day ………and that we need to book atleast 2 weeks in advance, if we fancy a place

Nevertheless, we quickly formulated a ‘plan B’. We decided to go for the less adventurous, but equally exciting ferry service across the bay to a place called Penarth – that constitutes of a series of panoramic hillocks and cliffs lined against the sea ! The boats were only at 12 noon and 1pm … having more than an hour in hand, we decided to have lunch first.

By then, the rest of the gang had joined us and we walked down to the nearby ‘Red Dragon’ mall – a real huge structure, but with a tiny doorway leading into it, that we literally had to circumvent the whole mall to actually find it !

First stop – the huge arcade and Entertainment centre, to play some bowling ! But thanks to our tremendous good fortune, we realized that all the lanes were booked too !!! Time for ‘Plan B’ again, or rather a Plan B within a plan B [ plan B.B ???] ! Off we went to the arcade section, hoping to play some video games………

And that was where we came across the roulette – a gambling device with some sort of an intrinsic magnetic power, that just pulls people in ! The funda was simple……you throw a 10p coin in, shoot it with a lever, if it falls on certain marked areas of a spinning disc, you win some coins back ! All of us took turns playing …….Some of us won, some of us lost miserably…..but one thing in common was that all of us got hooked ! Trust me – gambling may contain no caffeine, no nicotene, no morphine, but its one hell of an addictive activity ! Fortunately, this was not Las Vegas …..and the stakes were not too high – just 10 pence at a time……but that didn’t prevent people like Anand Ramakrishna in donating a huge part of his fortune to the roulettes. Thankfully, for me, it was a net profit. I had spent a little under 1 pound and won back about 1.5. Not bad at all!

An hour later, having tried our hands at many other games, and managing to drag Anand off the roulette, we were all prepared for our next challenge – the ‘Spicy Route’ restaurant. This place is known for its exquisite multi-cuisine menu – that among other things, includes almost every other Indian dish that you would fancy (….and had been missing since ages) – right from chats to sabji to masala dosas to biriyanis to butter chicken !

There was a board outside that said that you could treat yourself to an unlimited buffet for just about 6 pounds per head ! [ Honestly, what more could we have asked for ..... ]

WE WENT in, WE SAW, (…we folded our sleeves) and WE CONQUERED !!!

In 45 minutes flat, with hardly a word spoken in between, the job was neatly done ! [ I personally couldn't stop wondering why God had given me just 1 stomach, where as the cow that I regularly used to see sitting right in the middle of CMH Road back home, had got 4 !!!].

Truly, the restaurant managers had very badly under-estimated our collective might ! It was quite certain that the next time we go there, there’d be full-sized colour pictures of us on the board, with a small subscript reading ‘No entry to the these glutonous pigs !’

That done, we rushed to the docks and caught the ferry to Penarth. Costing just about 3 pounds for a return ticket, it was an awesome deal ! As the boat slowly glided across the sparkling blue waters of the bay, the operator gave us a running commentry describing the sights around us and the history associated with most of them. We really didn’t listen much to him, as we were indulging in our own sort of fun ! While the Brits were all primly seated in the neatly arranged rows of wooden benches, we travelled by the manner we were most accustomed to travelling – on the footboard ! Throughout the 40 minutes journey across the bay, we ran around the boat and took turns on the coveted spots on the footboards …….acrobatically leaning across and enjoying the open sky and the breeze, while our seats lay vacant !

Finally, before we could be thrown overboard, our boat reached Penarth,and we got down to have a look around the beautiful town and possibly visit the famed ‘Pebble beach’ there.

We quickly moved towards the giant ‘Locks’ that stood arrogantly at the mouth of the bay, standing as a wall against the fury of the sea beyond ! In Netherlands I guess they call these ‘dykes’…..but to me it looked no different from one of the dams back in South India – except for the fact that this one had the sea on one side and the bay on the other.

Next, we started trekking towards the Penarth beach, but this meant we had to scale the small hillocks and cut right through the extremely beautiful Penarth town, and descend again, onto the shores…..but just as we started out, we were frozen on our tracks….by a marvellous, curvaceous beauty who stood right there in our path in sheer aristocratic elegance ! We wondered what her name was ….it was Santosh who first gave us the answer – Aston Martin !!!

I just couldn’t believe my eyes ……Over the years I had touched a Rolls Royce, posed with a Maserati, sat inside a Porsche, leaned against a Lamborghini, visited a the showroom of Ferrari ……but never before in my life had I come so close to an Aston Martin – the original Bond car !

Boy, it was love at first sight ! We were all just so knocked-over by the car and went on to give it the sort of papparazzi treatment that not even Angelina Jolie could have possibly attracted ……as for the next 15-20 minutes, 4 cameras, 4 mobile phones clicked and shot the car from every possible angle, and with each of us taking turns posing with it !

[ Rakesh with the Aston ]
We had to ask our way down to the beach all along, and thanks to the courteous and hospitable nature of the locals , we got down there in about half an hour. Must admit – the Welsh are real nice people – extremely polite and helpful, always smiling if we approach them [....typically a lot different from the English ] ! The journey enroute was extremely beautiful …and presented some spectacular areal views of the bay and the city of Cardiff that lay across.

Finally we were at the Pebble beach – aptly named ‘cos the beach entirely constituted of pebbles, not sand !

There was a bridge that went that stretched into the sea …….we headed there first and shot some group photographs ! Some of us wanted to stay back on the bridge, while the rest of us took the stairs down to the beach ! Since it was low tide at that time, the waters were a neat 150-200 metres away, exposing the reef !

Waiting for nobody, I plunged ahead, and charged towards the waters in full fury …..the next thing I know, there was a loud SPLASH ! ……..and then another !!!
Before I could realize it, my Rs.3000 Reeboks were nearly sinking in thick, sticky, dirty mud !!! The impact had been heavy and the mud had splashed all over my jeans as well …..Only then did I realize that it was just the first 50 metres or so that constitutes the pebble beach, the rest of it better be called ‘Dirt beach’ or ‘Marsh beach’ ! It was sort of like quick sand …you put your foot at the wrong place and it sinks about half feet into the mud !

[The state of my Reeboks ]

Having seen me take the plunge, the others got wary…. Akansha and Ram were smart enough to remain where the pebbles were …Bharat, Santosh and Ramappa did brave ahead but by skilfully stepping on strategically located stones. As for me, I had nothing more to lose, so unhesitantly went ahead……

A while later, after getting calls from Rakesh and Anand who were still high up on the bridge, reminding us that we had a boat to catch, we headed back !

It was a mad rush ……to make it worse, we lost our way ! Reuben navigated us with the help of the map we had and somehow, just as we were speeding our way down the slopes, we could see the boat pulling into the docks…the timing couldn’t be better than this ! All panting and exhausted we barged into it.

Once on the mainland, the shopaholics took a shopping break in one of the boutiques, and quite a while later, we rushed to the Cardiff castle in two taxis but the place had already closed by the time we got there.

Having still some time in hand, we walked down the High Street into the main city centre shopping area of Cardiff. The city centre, needless to say was quite active and buzzing – with the usual weekend shoppers buzzing into the usual stores, and the usual street-side musicians grooving their tunes out loud and the usual bunch of teenagers dancing to them !

However, what was unusual was that there was a huge acrobatic ride that stood nearby..It was sort of like a giant wheel, but had only 2 carriages, that would hurl about in every possible direction whilst rotating – even upside-down !!!

Bharat, Santosh, Rakesh, Ramappa and Akansha were brave enough to try……where as the rest of us felt quite comfortable having our feet on the ground !

Having done that, we walked down to the train station and got back to Bristol.

[The Cardiff gang !!!]