Its London Baby - First new Friend

By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.
Samuel Johnson.


This is a travel series about my times in London. You can read the first part here.

Once outside London Heathrow, always opt for a non black cab. You can find local cab numbers on the net which are very reliable. My colleague had already booked one for us. The difference between the two is, while a local cab would cost you 25 pounds for a distance of 15 miles, a black cab would cost you 50-60 pounds. Although the company pays for the travel costs, there was no way a 50 pound taxi bill would be re embursed by HR.

For the first month, a guest house is provided in Wembley (north London) which is a 2 bedroom hall kitchen flat fully furnished and equipped flat for every associate. After a journey of 45 minutes we reached the guest house. Surprisingly I felt no jet lag, considering it was 1:30AM in India. I was just plain excited and upbeat.

Soham was my colleague, who I was too replace. He was a very skillful resource, and my client had high regards for him, so I knew I had very experienced shoes to fill. But I was looking forward to all the hard work, and Soham being my friend, I knew would help me a lot. He had come to receive me at the airport and took me safely to the guest house. He had even purchased a SIM card for me. Purchasing a SIM is very easy in London. You can simply go into any of the grocery stores and buy a prepaid SIM for the rates of 5,10,20 pounds. I always used a Lebara SIM, because India calling was very cheap. You can choose your SIM on the basis of the country you belong to.

Sudha: My first new friend in London

Sudha was the person with whom I was to share my guest. She was 4 years my senior and 2 designations higher, but one look at her, and you would feel she was just out of her college. Petite and extremely thin, she looked like a girl not too friendly, but she did greet me with a smile. Unlike most London roomies I have heard about, she didn't retreat to her room, but instead stayed with Soham and me, till the time he was there. Both of them had made arrangements for my dinner, which felt so good. It didn't feel lonely anymore.

Sudha, was there on a business visa, so she was leaving in a month's time. And although I had the luxury of 6-8 months to discover London, Sudha ensured I was only sight seeing and looking at places all over London on all four weekends that I shared the guest house with her.

The first month in London, with Sudha was fun, but more than fun, it was more of a learning experience. She taught me to cook chicken curry, using fried chicken from the Sam's takeaway(don't try it, very unhealthy place), and I really enjoyed the times spent with her while she cooked(which happened almost everyday, because I had this aversion to cooking then :-P). She was 28 and she was not married. And I judged her, but after I heard what she went through, I felt ashamed. Call me slick minded but I used to think that girls should get married at a certain age. At least I wanted too. But 4 weeks with her, changed my prehistoric notions. She had bought a house back in Pune, and was clear she was there only to replay the loan quicker and faster. Sudha is still my friend and we do meet sometimes. She is still not married and she still looks the same, but each time she meets me, she always think I am growing prettier :-)

More about the whirlwind 4 weeks and the places I visited in the next post. But for now leaving you with a decent pic of Sudha and me :-)

Sudha and me at the Slough station, waiting for the national express in the cold!