Smooth As Silk

It was our first first-hand experience of the Olympics. Badminton it was to be which breaks my Olympic virginity. The stadium was packed, the crowds were bustling and busy, and the support staff right from the Tube (London's Metro) station to inside the playing arena helpful and pleasant. London has worked out of its skin to deliver "the friendly Games".

A 10 minute walk from the station goes right onto a huge ramp wrapped around part of football's most famous Wembley Stadium. Then we descend myriad steps to the badminton arena, Wembley Arena. My Daughter, Rati, and Niece, Divya, are chattering excitedly as we walk along but I am lost in my thoughts.....Zubin Dubash, may his tribe increase, and I are walking excitedly along the same path to reach the same Wembley Arena, except that it is 23 March 1980 and we are racing to watch Prakash Padukone play the singles final of the All England Badminton Championship against Indonesia's feared hitter, Liam Siew King. Prakash annihilates King to become King. Zubin and I shout ourselves hoarse and celebrate with Prakash, the All England trophy, champagne and all. But that was 32 years ago.....

Us spectators are lead in a most orderly, so very British way, to the security kiosks. So much has been said, and even more written, about the traffic chaos London would get into, the security ringers us spectators would be put through and the consequent delays before we sat oursevles down in our seats. None of this. So many X-ray machines, so many personnel to so nicely request you to take your belt off, keep the keys in the tray, and usher one through the process. International airport security thoroughness we were warned. Expect delays we were assured. None of this. Smooth As Silk we were through the whole caboodle. A mere 15 minutes it took us. If only the immigration and security procedures in airports around the world could learn from London 2012! If only.

The logistics and security checks at the Wembley Arena are superbly organised...Smooth As Silk!

Wembley Arena is a picture. Once inside the Arena our seats are easy to reach, comfortable and afford terrific views from our bay S7 vantage point. Three hours and more of top class badminton, perhaps the best English fish and chips I have ever eaten (thanks Rati for breaking off from the viewing to get it for me), and an increasingly warm stadium later it was time to go.

Badminton breaks my Olympic virginity. Inside Wembley Arena.....

Day one of the Games is done and dusted. 15 more days of Olympic action and 18 more events for us to go to. It's over to the Lords Cricket Ground tomorrow..... for archery! 

Business As Abnormal

Yesterday begins at the Heathrow Airport with a live piano recital of the evergreen Olympics theme from the movie, The Chariots of Fire. The piano playing lady is pretty and well dressed, and seems to belong better at the Royal Albert Hall. London is trying her very best!

The promised Games Lanes update - motorists ranted and they raved during yesterday morning's commute but traffic hell was far from breaking loose. It's difficult on the roads but impossible by no means. In a manner of speaking, it is Business As Abnormal.

Next to the Tower of London - the Queen's jewel's seem to be safe as also the two vehicles using the Olympics Lanes. The one traffic lane, extreme right, for non-Olympics mortals does have a tail back! 

In what turned out to be an Indian summer's day - 30 deg C and hot sunshine - I leave late evening, camera bag in tow, for the Tower Bridge. The resolve is to see the huge Olympic rings suspended across the top of the bridge. But see the rings I certainly don't when I get right down below the tower Bridge. The bridge itself looks magnificant but the rings are tucked into the roof, almost too shy to show themselves.

"Whatz 'appened to them rings?" asks one old Cockney lady of the other. "They're savin' 'em, Luv," is the sardonic response of her equally old buddy. Saving them or not this did not help any. I waited and I waited even asking a professional Olympics photographer from Tokyo for any lowering the rings information salvation. He was as non-plussed as I was.

Patience is a virtue. I waited some more. And more. More than 3 hours and still "them rings" are being "saved". At 9 pm I get ousted from the grounds of the Tower of London which offer great viewing positions of the Tower Bridge. Leave the grounds but continue to hang on further down the river bank, more in hope than expectation. 

"It's being lowered," I shout out. It's well past 9 pm and even the mighty come down. The wait is more than worth it. Darkness had set in and the Tower, rings and all in full view, look splendid. A day well spent  after all!

Last night - the Tower Bridge in it's Olympic splendor.

 

The Opening of the Games....in the Home Stretch!

I arrived in London on 19 July and have been gradually assimilating the Olympics ambience in this 'er berg!

The Games must be about to begin. The sure sign is the much planned and furiously debated Games Lanes will be operational tomorrow morning even before the larks wake up, at 6.00 am. The proof of these imaginatively designed new fangled lanes exclusively for the use of vehicles connected with the Games, competitor coaches for example, is in the accomplishment of the lofty objective of keeping every competitor's transport time to his/her competition venue throughout the entire duration of the Olympics to within a mere 20 minutes. The proof of this pudding is in the competitor commute times and I'll be reporting on this as soon as stats begin to trickle.

I went down this evening to London's Oxford Street, the shopping pivot of the City, to get a first hand feel for the Olympics fervor on the eve of London 2012. Although the Opening Ceremony is on 27 July, action where it really counts, on the sports field, begins tomorrow at 4 pm in Cardiff with Great Britian's women footballers literally kicking off the Games.

Emerging from the depths of the Oxford Circus tube station (London's metro calls itself the "tube") I look left into Regent's Street and here's what I am greeted with.....  

The Indian flag looking regent on London's prestigious Regent Street

The flags of the world's nations are flying with India's proudly esconsced in the middle of them all. My thoughts immediately go to the sudden desire to hear our anthem playing after a medals ceremony, our flag in the middle of three and a glittering gold medal on the chest of an Indian. One of our first chances to make this an actual occurance is on Sunday evening when Deepika Kumari and the archery ladies team will be vying for top honours on the hallowed cricket turf at Lords. How lovely it would be to have the Indian anthem playing right across Lords at the same place Kapil Dev lifted the Prudential World Cup in 1983. I was personally there 29 years back (and have the ticket to prove it!) and I will be there, this time with Rati, this Sunday too. Will Rati and I watch Indian sporting history again being made at Lords? Let's see.....

Sauntering back to Oxford Street presented me with another Games sight.....

John Lewis on Oxford Street, the department store which is "never unknowingly undersold", is all decked up for the Games

This is a tacit reminder to me that the Olympics are set to begin.....with a British blast. Couldn't help but notice that I was not the only bloke clicking. Mobile phones are out doing duty as cameras. Chotta cameras are also having their shutters exercised in the hot summer evening air. A gentleman comes up to me and enquires about the "strange" camera lens I am using. "Pardon my asking but your lens is different and bulges out like a frog's eyes," he emerges out of thin air and queries. "Oh, that's a Fish Eye lens," I proceed to explain, immediately adopting the airs of an "expert" photographer (which, of course, I am far from!). "The fish eye gives me nearly 170 deg of an angle and photograph. Really captures a whole length and breadth more than other camera lenses." He walks off suitable impressed with my photographic credentials and those of my fish eye.

Hunger soon sets in and John Lewis provides both sustenance in terms of food and a desire to shop in the Olympics shop spread across most of the fifth floor. Lots of goodies there were too of the Olympics kind to potter around and purchase.....

.....and lots of goodies too I hope there will be for me to post in the coming Olympics days. See you all very soon. Tata for now.

London Olympics Ahoy!!!

The excitement is reaching fever pitch. Rati and I have tickets for 19 events on all 16 days of the London Olympics spanning across tennis (Wimbledon Centre Court for the finals of the Men's Doubles and Ladies Singles), hockey, boxing, badminton (Saina Nehwal), archery (India's gallant ladies team), wrestling (Sushil Kumar), volleyball, basketball, track and field, football, gymnastics....

Three different sized India flags have been bought from the Khadi Bhandar in Bangalore to cheer our stars, hopefully, to more than a few medals. Will keep the flag flying in the stands I promise.

Getting to London on the 19th, well in time for the start of the Games. Staying at my own place in Hampstead, London, adds a personal touch which I will cherish. Never been to the Olympics before and here I am doing the whole hog right from my own place.

Figuring out the best way to travel to the various stadia across London is a chore. Predictions of a chaotic London travel scene is not something I'll write home about but a matter which needs to be taken in its stride. The many years I have lived in the City of London should prepare me for this but let's see if it really gets as horrendous as some are saying.

The weather, especially for the outdoor hockey should present another London special. What's the City without rain and traffic!

I will next write soon after getting to London. Can't wait. Meanwhile, the excitement boileth over.....