Sunday, July 24, 2005

Asians with Backpacks

After the London bomb blasts, I was advised not to go to London as I am an Indian (and i look like asians......which i think is a euphoric word for people from the islamic world) and specially because i carry a backpack with me. Now the Police suspect every asian with a backpack(the bombers carried one) to be a potential terrorist. But i have made my decision to go see London . I may be harassed by security but the lure of going to one of the most known and famous cities is irresistible.

Monday, July 18, 2005

angrej 'sorry' chor gaye

One thing that i am really pissed off by is people saying sorry for no reason. Here (IN UK) they have a tradition of opening doors for others. If by chance they can not do that for some reason then they apologize and say sorry n number of times. Sometimes it happens that u are walking in a corridor in the office and somebody is holding doors for you .It happened with me , though it was another matter that i was still 20 yards from the door and i had to run to make the person holding the door leave it.
And the real overkill of apologizing is when they say sorry for even walking past you , within a short ditance. May be because they think they are invading your personnal space...

Saturday, July 16, 2005

A changed city

I have been living in Bradford for some time now. Ofcourse , being the first visit outside india i was excited to see the 'vilayat' land. But bradford is a different kind of place. Out of 100 people u see , 90 are not the native british. Due to large scale immigration from asia (mainly from pakistan and pakistan occupied kashmir) the locals have left the city and have settled in the country side. Infact bradford is now, one of the most disadvantaged places in the UK. The british are selling their houses in Bradford and moving outside.

The british are one of the most accomodating people i feel. Most of the UK is now a multicultural society and from my experiences , the natives are very courteous and accomodating. However the recent bomb blasts in london seem to have changed that. Every where there are talks of Muslims and The others. The muslims seem to be an isolated community now. Even the common muslim youth does not trust the government. After the bomb blasts , i witnessed several meetings and gatherings outside mosques which i guess were to discuss how the handle the tense situation.
Howver i kind of sympathize with the British. They feel threatened by the sudden change in the social fabric which is fair enough.