(This article was written more than two years ago and had been published in a youth daily, but I felt it should find its place in this blog, as it remains close to my heart.)
It was like a
dream come true, when I finally got my acceptance mail from the London School
of Economics for my summer school course in Intellectual Property Law and
Society. I was thrilled to bits and super-excited that I was going to London,
without the comfort and safe circle of parents, to study for a month in one the
most prestigious universities in the world! We were two girls, both law
students, out to live our life in a few weeks only.
Armed with
knowledge rendered to us by experienced elders along with baskets full of
wishes from friends and family, we set out on what became the most challenging
part of my life till now. We arrived at Heathrow Airport in the evening, with
two huge bags that felt like sacks of stone. Had a cousin of mine not been
there to receive us and drop us at the hostel, we would have probably ended up
in tears. It was a Sunday night, and most of London was closed. Taxis were
unnaturally few, restaurants were shut, the tap in the Hostel bathroom had a
stamp “Do Not Drink”, and tiny bottles of water were in a vending machine,
which only accepted one-pound coins. As ill luck would have it, the minimum
denomination we had was twenty pounds notes. Thankfully, a kind stranger lent
us two coins so that we could have some water and we could never even return
the money back.
We had learnt
our first lesson. Never take too many clothes on any journey, howsoever long it
might be! Map out your itinerary
carefully, right from the moment you step down at the airport. Keep smaller
denominations with you. Pack some food while you travel. And we also learnt
that London has nice people.
The London
School of Economics, however was an altogether enthralling experience. There
were students from Australia, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, China,
Latvia, Spain, Denmark, US, France, Brazil, Italy, Turkey, Bangladesh, Dubai,
Pakistan, Nepal, and this is only that I can recall at this point! Our class
had about thirty-five students and all of them were very interactive in class.
Incidentally, both our professors were from India, and they were the best
teachers I had ever come across. Though it makes me sad that such brilliant
minds are not being exploited by our own people, I am glad that I had my share
of it, however small it might be. We had to submit an essay at mid-term, and
give an exam at the end of the course. We had four hours of classes everyday,
and we had been provided with a lot of materials to help us in studies.
We learnt
another important thing, that however much we may boast of our gadgets, Indians
are technologically challenged! In the class-room, while we were busy taking
vigorous notes in pen and paper, our classmates were typing swiftly in their
MacBooks and iPads. While we are used to shouting at the “Xerox wale bhaiya” to
take print-outs and photocopies, it seemed quite a daunting task to recharge
our LSE ID card, photocopy materials by operating the machine ourselves, and
issuing library books by swiping cards. We met our match when we reached the
final stage of stapling our assignment. The stapler was a one-foot long machine
that has automatic sensor in it, to staple papers. Like I said, technologically
challenged we were!
We had our share
of fun when we went sightseeing. The St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London,
Tower Bridge, London Eye, Madam Tussaud’s, Big Ben, The Buckingham Palace were
as majestic as we had heard. But the part we are most proud about was that the
two of us planned out the tours, booked tickets online, mapped out our
transportation and route by ourselves! We even managed a three days tour of
Scottish Highlands and Edinburgh, weekend tours at Sheffield and Manchester and
altogether it was heavenly.
There were a
number of times that we got lost, moved about in circles, misread the maps, fell
ill, booked wrong dates for our journey, were careless enough to let my friend’s
camera get stolen, were clueless about traffic signals and narrowly escaped
accidents, slept hungry because we couldn’t eat cold food any more, couldn’t
board a taxi even though our feet were aching from walking as we were on a strict
budget, but we survived! It is completely different from going vacationing with
parents, where somebody else plans everything, worries about our food and
comfort. Like my friend said on our way back to India, “I feel a thousand times
wiser now!”
