London
Having woken up by 6.00 am and
launched straight into my work, I did not wish to break off at 8.00 am to
attend Mass. I, therefore, continued to stay at my computer until almost 9.00
am—which was three solid hours of work—before I went downstairs to join Cynthia
for breakfast. I enjoyed her delicious porridge with tea and then it was time
for me to start my packing particularly since I wished to see how I am doing
with weight restrictions. About an hour later, having sorted my possessions and
decided how best to divide them between my single bag and my hand baggage, I
got ready to leave. There were a few places I wished to go to and a few places
I wished to see before the day was through.
Church-Crawling:
I
did the equivalent of a pub crawl this morning in that I did a church crawl.
Having found the Wren and Hawksmore churches closed yesterday, I made one more
attempt to enter them today. My first stop was the Church of St. Stephen Walbrook where I had the chance to take in
Sir Christopher Wren’s prototype for St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is true that
going by the plain exterior of the church with its single spire, one would
never imagine that the interior could be quite so gorgeous. And it was superb.
The inside of the dome is embellished with fine plaster tracery work. There is
a grand altar reredos and a pulpit in dark carved wood and the altar, designed
by none other than Henry Moore is a solid marble slab which some describe as a
lump of cheese. Large powerful Greek pillars hold up the structure whose
Neo-Classical principles of design and decoration are simply splendid.
This church is also famous for the
fact that its former Vicar, one Chad Varah, initiated the institution of the
Samaritans, an organization that provides assistance to people in despair. They
are taught to simply ring the number that used to be “Mansion 9000” when it was
founded. The number took the caller straight to a live person on the other end
who would then talk the caller out of the desire to commit a desperate act. The
Samaritans still do their incredible work today and have saved several lives in
the process. But it all began in this church which used to be the official
church of the Lord Mayor of London (as Mansion House, the Mayor’s official
residence is next door). The original telephone used to initiate this mission
of mercy is kept in a glass case in the church.
With
this mission accomplished, I crossed the street and entered the church of St. Mary Woolnoth which was designed
by Wren’s pupil, Nicholas Hawksmoor. It was also open and I had a chance to
take in its interior which sported the main features of the typical Anglican
church. But clearly, in this case, it is the exterior design that is striking.
Careening Around Canary Wharf:
I
had never been to Canary Wharf other than to pass it on the DLR train when
headed to Greenwich. Having heard so much about this part of London, I decided
to take the Tube to get there and to wander around and explore a bit. For the uninitiated,
Canary Wharf became the center of London’s banking industry, a few years ago,
when they moved from the overcrowded City to this bend on the Thames. The
largest banking enterprises are here—they were swiftly followed by the
journalism industry that abandoned Fleet Street (apparently, the 18th
and 19th century buildings were no longer able to sustain the vast
amount of wiring and cable laying that digital technology demanded). Hence, the
move to new state-of-the-art premises.
Well, as might be expected, Canary
Wharf is like the Nariman Point of Bombay or Hoboken in New Jersey—areas that
have sprouted like mushrooms in recent years to accommodate the thrust of
commerce and industry ever upwards. It is a maze of sky scrapers—all glass and
chrome, but not at all a concrete jungle because clever landscaping prevents it
from such terrible degradation. Instead, there is a vast artificial lake, well
spaced out promenades, wide open patios for enjoying good weather and an
excellent network of transport channels that make it very easily accessible. I
browsed among its many restaurants because folks who work here (generally
having deep pockets) need to eat—hence Carluccios,
the Slug and Lettuce, One Bar, etc. are all located in this space. I could
easily have spent longer lingering among its many malls, but I had to get on
with my day, so I bought some caponata and a lemon tart from Carluccios for my lunch and hopped back
on the Tube to get back home.
Off to NYU and SOAS for Meetings:
Back home, I picked up another lot
of papers, books, files and photocopied material that I needed to mail back
home to the States and got on the bus to drop them off at NYU. I did not have
much time to linger, as I had a meeting with an anthropologist at the School of
Oriental and African Studies at the University of London to talk about drafting
a proposal to the British publishers for my book. The meeting took place in the
Staff Common Room on the first floor of the building in which I have often
attended meetings and performances in the basement auditorium in the years gone
by.
When the meeting ended, I returned
to NYU and spent the next couple of hours working steadily as well as preparing
my box for mailing with the help of the porters Mo and Mark who are always so
accommodating to me.
In the Footsteps of Carthusian
Monks:
My next port of call was what is
known as Charterhouse near
Smithfield Market. I had forgotten how exactly to reach it, but by hopping on a
55 bus, I remembered that I ought to get off at St. John’s Lane (one of my
former haunts when I had lived at Cowcross Lane near Farringdon Tube station).
I walked through the ancient St. John’s Doorway that had once seen knights ride
through it on their way to the Holy Land and then I was at Smithfield Market
and entering the vast property of Charterhouse.
The name Charter-house comes from
Chartres in France from where the first Carthusian monks originated. By the
1100s, they had reached this location and set up a monastery complete with
priory church and cloisters—monks cloistered themselves from the world and once
they entered the monastery had no more contact with the secular world.
Through my friend Bishop Michael, I
was able to join a tour group that was led by a Brother known as Douglas
Ellison. He was introducing himself to a group of about 20 visitors who had
arrived from various venues. A brief history of the Carthusiasns brought us to
the founder, a knight named John de Many of the Middle Ages who is still well
remembered and honored in these premises. The history then swung to the Tudor
period when the original medieval buildings were pulled down and a fancy Tudor
mansion was built complete with Great Hall (used then for dining and still used
for the same purpose) and a chapel—both of which we visited on the tour. The
interior of the chapel is filled with commemorative tombs, etc. to one Thomas
Sutton who founded the Charterhouse School for Boys with which some very
prominent names are associated—such as John Wesley, founder of the Methodists;
Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts and William Makepeace Thackeray,
the novelist, all of whom were students at this school. The coat of arms of the
Sutton Family which includes a species of dog similar to a grey hound, are to
be found everywhere.
There
were also references to the four Carthusian monks who were horribly treated
during the Reformation for defying Henry VIII’s edicts. They were led away from
the monastery (after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538) to Tyburn
where they were hung, drawn and quartered—a really horrific way to die. Each
year, on the anniversary of their martyrdom, they are remembered at an
ecumenical service that includes the Catholic clergy, in the premises. I was
told that a red rose is laid on the ground to represent each of the martyrs who
died that awful day. Needless to say, they were only four of the several
thousands of monks and priors who refused to accept Henry VIII’s new laws and
perished. Sir Thomas More, perhaps the most famous of the lot that defied
Henry, was also briefly a student at this school and indeed when one tours the
Tudor buildings, one very much expects to see him turn a corner.
We were taken into the Grand Hall
both upstairs and down. The buildings also suffered severe bomb damage during
the War and were effectively restored and refurbished, so that many different
architectural styles are evident as well as layers of stone work that are
different with every passing age. It is a vast space with many different
courtyards (the Master’s Court, the Wash House Court, etc). Part of the ancient
Norman cloister still remains, but it is in a very unfinished state. There are
41 brothers living on the premises today under the leadership of a Master and
in the presence of a Preacher (one Hugh Williams, a friend of Michael’s, who
came out to say hello and greet me which was very sweet of him indeed). The
tour was very enlightening and told me a lot about the place and the manner in
which it has evolved over the centuries. The boy’s school eventually moved to
Godalming in Surrey (where it currently exists as a very exclusive fee-paying
private school) leaving the space free for the contemporary brothers. Since the
place does not receive any government funding and depends entirely on grants,
it is trying hard to link with the Museum of London to publicize the place
(which is used for the shooting of many period films) and to attract private
tour groups to take in its many interior and exterior charms. I have to say
that though I enjoyed every minute of the tour, it was tiring as it went on for
almost 2 hours.
Dinner at Maze by Gordon Ramsay:
I got back home to Amen Court by bus
and took a short rest before getting ready for my evening’s plans. I was taking
my host friends Michael and Cynthia and Rosemary (Roz) to dinner to thank them
for being so generous with their hospitality towards me while I was a guest at
their home. It was indeed a small gesture but the only way by which I could
show my appreciation to them. We had 6. 45 pm reservations at Maze, the upscale restaurant by Gordon
Ramsay where I had taken other friends only a few days ago. We took the Tube to
Bond Street and then walked five minutes to Grosvenor Square where we were
seated and awaited Roz who arrived about ten minutes later.
Well, the food was fantastic and my
guests enjoyed it enormously. We each chose a total of four courses—savory and
sweet--and with the conversation flowing around the table, we made friends with
our waiter Naveen who turned out to be a Catholic from Mangalore. The food was
really excellent and the presentation and service simply superb. We thoroughly
enjoyed it and before we could quite grasp the fact, it was almost 10. 00 pm.
A Bus Ride Through the London
Night:
We ended our evening with a bus ride
on a double decker No. 11 bus that allowed us to enjoy the City by night with
all the lights illuminating the many monuments of the capital. Roz gave us a
ride in her car to Victoria Road where we were able to hop into a bus going
home. Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial were beautifully lit as were
Westminster Abbey and Big Ben Tower. The renovation of the Cenotaph on Whitehall
has been completed and the monument glows in a golden light. Trafalgar Square’s
fountains are no longer blue for the new heir to the throne—they spout water in
different colors. The Strand was vibrant with throngs just emerging form the
theaters opposite the Savoy Hotel or from the restaurants of Covent Garden.
Sitting upstairs we had box-side views of the proceedings down below and it was
great seeing the city from this perspective at night when electric light added
magic and mystique to this most architecturally stunning of urban landscapes.
We were home by 11.00 pm and ready
to call it a day.
Until
tomorrow, cheerio!
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