The Hindu Business Line : London times

"We are the most watched nation," says a resident of London, of the security cameras that greet you at virtually every other bend on the street... There is no escaping it, with cameras even on the underground trains and stations.

It seemed straight out of a cloak-and dagger novel set in the times of the Cold War. A Russian spy poisoned in a sushi-bar at Piccadilly and Polonium 210, the poisoning element, becomes the subject of conversations, intense or light-hearted. The shadowy manner in which the Russian spy was poisoned, possibly over a cup of tea, was not lost on London's residents. And one British journalist, discussing the job-losses happening in the newspaper industry, quipped: "No one talks against the newspaper and if they do, they don't visit sushi-bars!"

But the spy-story unravelled itself closer home for a group of Indian journalists on a training programme in London as Litvinenko's hospital was just a stone's throw from Euston Square, the underground station they used. Litvinenko did not survive, but sushi-bars continue to thrive, with enticing aroma and tasty food, polonium or not.

Non-stop news

The poisoning story was followed by equally dramatic events like the serial-killing of prostitutes at Ipswich, a freak tornado in London and a protest by animal-rights groups against a new laboratory at Oxford. There was never a dull news moment and in some cases India took centre-stage. Tata Steel's bid for Corus and Vodafone picking up a stake in Hutch, were discussed at morning editorial meetings at London newspapers. While the newspapers fed on a steady diet of speculations on the prospects of Kate Middleton marrying into royalty and becoming a future queen, a shot of adrenalin came from the reality TV show Big Brother. Shilpa Shetty cried, laughed, cooked chicken curry and finally hugged Jade Goody, the so-called celebrity tormentor on the show.

But for us journos, waiting to get home after the three-month stint overseas, the proposed strike by the cabin crew of British Airways (BA) was petrifying news.

A jittery lot, we called the aviation correspondents at financial dailies for information, and made frantic trips to Heathrow airport to get advice from airline staff. The strike was called off in the nick of time, making two Indian reporters break out into a dance right on the University campus.

Security drill

"We are the most watched nation," says a resident of London, of the security cameras that greet you at virtually every other bend on the street. The security drill increased with the bomb blasts on the London underground a couple of years ago. There is no escaping it, with cameras even on the underground trains and stations. The footage from these security cameras aid police investigations into the bomb blasts and the Ipswich murders. But it also brought into the drawing room the chilling reality of having a possible suicide bomber on the train, as footage was released during the trial of the youth who made unsuccessful attempts to detonate bombs on the underground trains in 2005. It was similar surveillance equipment, albeit in a retail shop near Tottenham Court Road, that captured on-camera a young Asian man doing something illegal. Not only was he shoplifting, but he also hawked pirated CDs. A violent scuffle broke out between the young man trying to escape and the shop's security personnel. A group of unnerved Indian journalists witnessed this late-night drama, as they shopped for their weekly groceries, and their minds went back to the pirated CDs hawked in Delhi's Palika Bazaar or Mumbai's Colaba Causeway.

Wimbledon anyone?

A couple of Indian reporters who set out on a pilgrimage to the sacred Centre court conquered by the likes of John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Roger Federer met with a strange experience. Getting off at the South Wimbeldon underground station, they asked for directions to the Wimbledon stadium. Where dogs are raced or tennis is played, asked a resident on his evening walk! For the tennis venue they were directed to take bus number 493. But the bus never came and a connecting bus was taken to cover some distance. The bus driver, a woman, looked puzzled on mention of the tennis venue. Wimbledon? Centre Court? With some assistance from other onlookers on the bus, the group was finally taken to Centre Court. But joy turned to despair on finding Centre Court to be a sprawling shopping mall. Exasperated, the reporters sought help from two London policemen, who also suggested bus number 493, even as the evening ticked on towards closing time at Wimbledon. Finally the reporters arrived at Entrance 3 of the hallowed portals of Wimbledon, never mind that the famed Centre Court was under renovation.

Looking for some transportation for the return trip, they found deserted roads and one resident taking her child and dog on a walk; she suggested that the group take bus no 493. But the bus is not too frequent, she added as parting shot. Now we know!

Yoda pout

During the first few weeks in London, the journalist group met Yoda while walking down to Euston Square station. She was wrapped in her master's robes, as he sat at the street corner, asking passers-by for money or something to eat. A penny in his bowl, and the man allowed the reporter to take a picture of Yoda. She's pouting for you, he said genially, as the black-and-white dog looked curiously into the camera.

Homeless people seated with their dogs are a common sight in several streets in the heart of London. Whether it's Leicester square, where the night never ends, or Trafalgar Square — people living on the pavements are commonplace. It was disturbing to see a man, dressed in a torn suit, diving into a dustbin and eating the remnants of a burger thrown there. And except for the odd homeless man seen reading a book while begging, most other homeless people and their dogs get little attention from passers-by. The man who sat on the side of a road leading to Leicester Square, with his big dog sleeping on his lap like a baby, got no more than a look from late-night tipplers. As was the case with the lady with a little dog tied to a cloth leash who begged for money while walking in the rain through Soho. Sometimes one could spot such men and women with their dogs gathered together at night as one big family living on the streets.

Scala's ghosts

Journalist Shivani Bhatnagar had stayed here, said a journalist staying at Scala House, a 10-storey apartment in Central London. Shivani was later murdered in India. But inmates occupying the room she had formerly stayed in have claimed that they heard weeping sounds and doorknobs being turned at night. Ghost stories and London often go hand-in-hand, and it was no wonder that one Indian reporter jumped out of her skin when she saw an unusually short man staring at her from the window of a neighbouring building. After all she had just been told that Scala House, where her group of journalists were staying, was once a theatre that had burned down and that ghosts still wander the rooms and corridors. But the mystery of the staring face at the window was cracked after it was discovered that it belonged to a mannequin in the office next door.

There is word that the building, which has played home to several Indian journalists on short-stay visits to London, is likely to be pulled down to make way for a new building. For the journalists who stayed here, memories of their time at Scala would certainly haunt them for some time to come.