My first impressions of London and my experiences being away from home for the first time.

“MY FIRST WEEK IN LONDON”






It was around 3 O’ clock in the afternoon London time. The sky looked grey and the air was misty. From my taxi window I could see soft drizzle wavering down. It was my first ever experience travelling to a foreign country apart from India where I had done my higher studies. I was all very excited, nervous and at the same time very curious about the whole affair. I had so many ideas about London in my head. The things I saw in photos, on videos and all of what I was hearing from people had already formed a picturesque scene in my mind. As people say ‘seeing is believing’, I was pretty anxious to see it with my own eyes.
Leaving behind my lovely family, friends and the place where I so much belonged was not at all easy. I come from Pokhara, a beautiful town in the mid-western part of Nepal.Though I was born in a small village called Tatopani, which is further north of Pokhara, where I spent part of my childhood, I grew up in Pokhara. So, I possess a deeper love for this place. Whether it was going for a swim or fishing, or a walk in the woods spotting wild birds, foxes and wild cats prowling stealthly in the bushes. Whether it was chasing a candy selling man to steal his sweets, or climbing the neighbours’ guava trees making an outrageous mess. I had so much fun growing up in Pokhara. Pokhara with all sincerity and love remains embossed beautifully in my soul. Fox fm was on in the taxi as I looked around thinking of home. The taxi driver dropped me at one of the North London Hostels,where my college had booked accommodation for me. It was a shared room with two other people. We introduced ourselves. Alex from Kenya, happened to be studying in the same college as I was going to. The other man was from Spain.Jesus was his name and he was in London for few months to work and learn English.I was tired from jetlag.I rested for an hour or two and when I got up it was already time for dinner.I washed my face,put on my shoes and followed Alex and Jesus to the dining hall where dinner was being served.The food looked like a slice of meat with thick sauce which was brown and tasted quiet weird. A mix of vegetables was on the side to go with it.And a sweet pudding looking all yellow for dessert. For a man who only ate rice,dal and curry all his life,I found it hard to compromise and acknowledge the new found taste.Having said this travelling to new places,seeing new things,meeting new people is also about learning and experiencing things which are new to life.After dinner I went to the common room and started chatting with Alex,Jesus and some other residents.One man from the gathering asked me my name and which country I came from. ”You Japanese,Chinese?” he added. “No I am not.My name is Roshan and I am from Nepal” proudly I replied. “Wow!” he uttered with a surprised tone in his voice and asked what had brought me to England. “To get some education my friend!” I told him. His name was Robert an Englishman from Portsmouth and was in London for some work.Though he had heard a lot about Nepal, he had never been there once. I would love to go there one day he said with a certain amusement that came slightly from the bottle of beer he was drinking. Robert like many other people have misconceptions about Nepal.His friends have seen it through the screens of digital cameras.They have seen it with their bags loaded on a porter’s back whose bare feet steps on the prints of their Gore Tex boots, while they stop to electoplast their blisters.They have seen it sipping a chilled beer in a lounge of a luxury hotel flipping the pages of a fat Lonely Planet.There are many things behind the magnificent views of the snow capped mountains and the historical monuments of religious enchantments.There are many ethnic tribes, languages, cultures and faiths blending peacefully as if sewn together like a Tibetan Prayer flag.There are fears, pains, joy, tears and happiness of its people. Many number of people are still struggling with just bare necessities of life.Political instability has brought frustrations in people’s perspectives about their future.After a chat and some glimpses of a football match on the T.V,I excused myself to go to sleep.I was looking forward to a new day and a whole week ahead.Many thoughts came scurrying like the rabbits in a field of burrows.And before even realizing it,I was fast asleep.The next day I took myself out to see the city with my friend Alex and Kiran a friend from Mouritious.I hoped they knew London fairly well because they have been in the country already for about two months.They took me to the nearest tube station where we bought our one day travel pass.I was amazed about how a small square of paper opened the gates and let people in and out.We have not got trains in Nepal,forget about the trains that passed through under the ground at such speed.I felt like a kid who just received an interesting toy from his parents.I felt like staying on the train and go from one end to the other end of the city.My friends nodded their head and told me it was time to get off.The station we got off at was Oxford street. I was totally blown away by the elevators,the big shop windows that glistened like shiny magnets.People were rushing around in both directions, their faces heavy and purposeful.Most of them seemed to be carrying briefcases in their hand.There were lot of beautiful cars passing by in the street.I was enjoying the stroll on Oxford street while my friend Kiran kept telling me about the attractions of Leicester Square. We passed Piccadilly Circus and reached Leicester Square. There were street performers in the square where people in groups including children gathered with smiles on their faces. After a few hours of seeing around the main city we returned to our hostel.It was a great feeling to walk around the city looking at the admireable marvels of human achievement.I was awe-struck when I first saw double-decker buses .The long red buses whose doors opened and closed on its own with a wooosh sound really freaked me out. Coming from a small and poor part of the world to this great city of abundance and prosperity was a very big event in my life.Those vending machines I encountered was way beyond my grasp of imagination.Those big supermarkets shook me. Everything under one roof,very very impressive. I was appalled to see chickens their legs tied to their bums and so neatly packed on the shelves. I had only seen few killed chickens at the butchers’ in my town and some I used to see them pecking around my house. But not at all in this way like rows of convicts on supermarket shelves. Afew days had already passed and I was beginning to miss my home. Maybe it was because I had never been too far away from home or maybe I was missing my mum’s food. I felt sad. I talked with my room-mates and new people, which helped me a lot to cope with my home sickness.On the Friday night of that week my friends at the hostel had made plans for a night out.They invited me and I happily agreed to join them.We all ended up at a lively club in Piccadilly Circus.The club was smoky with beams of colourful lights flashing around to the beat of a loud dance music.I saw people immersed in their moves dancing ecstatically like needles of a sewing machine.Girls in skimpy dresses moving around in erotic gestures blinking those lustful eyes. It appeared to me that this was the collective soul of the spirits coming together to step into the new frontiers of a modern society. A city like London, the city that never sleeps. We were all pissed and with silly laughters and farty jokes we got back to our hostel.The next day I went to the Hyde park and Green park with some friends from the hostel.The parks invoked a sense of freedom and balance in my restless eyes trying to synthesize chaos outside.After an hour we all went to a nearby café.


Copyright 2007 Roshan Tulachan