London was at its glorious best as we touched down at Heathrow in an April afternoon by Air India’s AI-111 from Delhi.  Our gang of four comprising Rakesh, the honcho from Indian Oil with a mischievous smile, Rintu, the lady with lyrical giggles from IIT-Kharagpur, my colleague, Naveen and myself proceeded for the immigration.

We all came for the seemingly noble purpose of participating in an international workshop organized by the Royal Society of UK! I kept all the papers handy: Royal Society’s invitation letter with a promise to provide the local hospitality, workshop programme, approval from my employer for my participation etc. just in case they were needed to establish the purpose & authenticity of my visit. But the lady at the immigration counter had a totally different idea; she was more interested in the great Indian wedding of the decade : the marriage of Bachchan Jr. with stunningly beautiful Ms. Rai! She was curious to know whether anyone of us actually attended the all too famous wedding. As we informed that we are ordinary mortals working as scientists and had no such exclusive privileges, she gleefully stamped our passports.

Rakesh took out the Royal Society guidelines, which were very clear on how to reach the designated hotel with clearer instructions on how much travel expenses would be reimbursed by them! As we stood at the queue for buying tickets of Heathrow Express, I watched the counter clerk donning the role of a knowledgeable yet very friendly tourist guide. He advised us to get a group fare for four of us and that saved a cool £7.50 per person. On thanking him profusely, we rushed to catch the next train leaving in five minutes. Within half an hour the train brought us to London Paddington, the station built by Brunel in 1854, now serving as the main terminal of First Great Western Railway. Paddington is also an interchange of four different lines of London Underground. We took a cab at Paddington and headed to the Strand Palace Hotel on the Strand.

Strand Palace hotel scores very high for its location at the cultural heart of London…Covent Garden and Leicester Square are minutes away. The touristy Trafalgar Square is quite close to the hotel and one needs to walk for just about 10 minutes for reaching the famed Piccadilly Circus. Unlike India, where we are mostly used to double-bedded hotel rooms even for single occupancy, Strand Palace allotted us the single bed accommodation. It was a little too cramped; there was hardly any space to move about in the room after dumping our bags on the floor. Probably that acted as an incentive for all of us to spend most of the time outdoors. Strand Palace did have an elaborate fare for the breakfast though the menu remained almost identical for all the five days we stayed at the hotel.

We had reached London on a bright & balmy Sunday afternoon in late April and the workshop at the Royal Society would begin only on the next day. We did not waste any time and rushed out to explore city. Our first stopover was Trafalgar Square, the place truly served as the central plaza for the city with myriads of people soaking in the sun and frolicking all over.

After the usual photo sessions at Trafalgar Square, as we proceeded towards the Westminster Abbey, the crowds surged and swelled. The whole street was closed to traffic and the people were chilling out on the street with mugs of beer. We soon discovered the reason for such a huge crowd: 26^th. London Marathon was underway; the route was along the Thames river. Thousands of supporters, cheerleaders, friends & family members of the participants thronged the streets. The entrance of St. James Park was choc-o-block with people; everyone trying to get himself or herself photographed standing next to two royal guards atop handsome & healthy horses. In the melee, we simply lost Rintu & Naveen. After all our efforts to spot them turned futile, Rakesh & myself deserted the idea and headed to the Big Ben.

We reached near the marathon route and instantly joined the hullabaloo. The serious marathoners had completed their laps long ago; we got to watch the ones taking part for fun! Imaginative ones dressed up as Greek gladiators, Superman, clowns from the circus, animals et al – it was more of a fancy dress competition with ideas running wild! We thoroughly enjoyed the great jamboree and headed back to the hotel.

The Royal Society housed in Carlton House Terrace in central London right next to St. James Park was very Gothic in appearance.  As the logo reads, ‘the Royal Society …for excellence in science’, it was set up in 1660 as a college for promoting physico-mathematical and experimental learning. In its early years, the Society received a lot of patronage from King Charles II, who by a Royal Charter in 1663 decreed the formal establishment of the Royal Society for improving natural knowledge. The Philosophical Transactions, first published by the Royal Society in 1665, is the oldest scientific journal that is being published continuously. For nearly two centuries of its existence, the Royal Society had no specific criteria for electing its fellows and as such many fellows were not even scientists by profession. In around middle of the nineteenth century, it was decided that fellowship of the Royal Society should be granted purely on scientific merit. King Charles II gifted an ornately carved Royal mace made of silver to the Society; while convening any official meeting, the mace is placed at the table of the Royal Society’s President. The Royal mace is nicely displayed at the main lobby of the entrance.

On the landing of the staircase leading to the first floor library, hangs a huge board listing the names of the past Presidents. Sir Isaac Newton was President of the Royal Society for 24 long years during 1703-1727 having been elected a fellow of the Society in 1672. Newton’s bust adorns the lobby along with portraits of Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle and others. The Royal Society had received a whole lot of portraits & sculptures of the nobilities and fellows as gifts from their family members – these were quite tastefully displayed in the alleys and walkways.

I would carefully avoid the pedagogical discourses of the workshop that lasted for two days. But I must mention the delectable dishes served by the Royal Society at the workshop lunches. I savoured the baked salmon, scallops and scampi, which came as the non-vegetarian options. The ubiquitous mashed potato could not be missed though.

On one evening after the workshop, we rushed to see the famous London Tower Bridge built in 1894. While the City of London Corporation had decided way back in 1876 to build the bridge in its current location, the bridge design submitted by Horace Jones, City Architect was selected out of 50 possible options in 1884 and the construction began only in 1886. It took over 11,000 tons of steel & 70,000 tons of concrete to build the structures & framework for the towers on two sides. Tower Bridge happens to be the longest (800 ft. long) and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever built in the world; it involved a complex hydraulic system driven by steam power lifting the bascules to 86 degrees in one minute. In 1976, the prime mover was changed from steam to electrical power. Considering its vintage, the bridge is architecturally appealing almost defining the city’s skyline. As we crossed the bridge on foot and walked down the promenade, a big boat approached the bridge. My camera shutter got busy capturing the sight of the bridge opening up from the centre to allow the boat to cross over!

The Royal Society workshop did include a couple of field trips to British research agencies near London. On the third day morning, all the international participants left by a coach to Rothamsted Research at Herpenden in Hertfordshire County. After crossing Camden & London suburbia, we hit the expressway - M1. As we drove off the city outskirts, the English countryside enchanted us with the visual treats. The brilliant yellow hues of rapeseed fields reminded me of the mustard cultivation in India.

Rothamsted Research is perhaps the oldest research initiative in modern agricultural concepts in the world. Its history dates back to 1843, when John Bennet Lawes, an agriculturist collaborated with Joseph Henry Gilbert, a chemist to launch a series of experiments over the next 57 years to study the effect of inorganic & organic fertilizers on crop yields. Lawes & Gilbert pooled together a vast reservoir of human knowledge, which has shaped today’s laboratory engaged in research in various facets of agricultural sciences.

The jewel in the crown for Rothamsted Research is the Rothamsted Manor, where we had the lunch. The Manor evolved from a modest dwelling, which existed at its site since early 13^th. century. Sir John Lawes lived in the Manor during 1814-1900. The Manor today has picturesque garden all around and houses international scientists & visitors to Rothamsted Research. The Manor entrance with carved oak doors leads to a large reception area followed by three main rooms: the huge drawing room to host large buffet or banquet gathering, Piano Lounge for TV viewing etc. and the Spanish Leather room for an exclusive intimate dining experience! The Manor also boasts of excellent catering facilities with a well-stocked cellar. The Manor facilities can be hired by outsiders on charge basis for Company Board meetings, banquets and similar purposes.

Next day we visited Taunton, the capital Somerset County in the south-west England. Taunton was at a good two-hour distance from Paddington with one or two stops in between. As the train sped through the English countryside, the vistas unfolded verdant green meadows and meandering brooks. The greenery of landscapes was broken by the sporadic rushes of bright yellow rapeseed fields. The cows with brown & white patches grazing over the hillocks made it picture perfect!

We had interesting presentations on Somerset County’s initiatives in substituting motor spirit by ethanol in the committee room of Somerset County Cricket Club at Taunton cricket stadium. The small stadium has a modest seating capacity of 6500 with its prime gallery named after the great English all-rounder, Ian Botham. Watching the small but impeccably maintained cricket ground, I remembered the blistering knock of 183 runs by Sourav Ganguly against Sri Lanka in 1993 cricket World Cup at this ground.

Outside Taunton, we also saw miscanthus cultivation. Miscanthus, a type of tall grass, is being touted as an energy crop in UK with its promise of providing renewable but clean energy resources as well as additional revenues for the farmers. The British thermal power plants have started using coal mixed with 5% miscanthus as fuel and thus greatly spurred its demand. We went to a facility engaged in collection & storage of rhizomes of miscanthus for its propagation in the future. 

This was my second visit to London after a gap of sixteen long years. I strongly felt that there was a perceptible change in the British attitude. There has been a great departure from the typical laconic behaviour. On the macro level, the society as such has become much more inclusive with signs of care & concern for folks coming from not so developed parts of the world. The taxi drivers went out of their way to chat up with a bunch of Indians visiting London. The elderly one, who drove all of us in a big station wagon from the hotel back to Heathrow, voluntarily took up the role of a friendly tourist guide trying to explain all the important buildings & sights on the way! London is changing for the better; the world is thawing up, may be some favourable sidekicks of global warming!