To the Globe Theatre

I knew one thing for sure, I  couldn't possibly leave the UK without having seen at least one Shakespearean play , and that too in Shakespeare's own Globe Theater. It's the least I could do being a graduate in English Literature, lest my Professors feel ashamed of me !

Shakespeare's Birthplace

On an earlier occasion, we did drive down to the bard's birthplace, Stratford Upon Avon along with our daughter who enjoyed most playing with the animals in the barn in Shakespeare's mother, Mary Ardens family home. 

At Mary Arden's Farm

As we walked through, history unfolded in every nook and corner of the cottage where Shakespeare lived with his lovely wife Anne Hathway once upon a time during the medival era and wrote many an acclaimed play which was either staged there in Stratford or in the distant Globe at London where probably existed more connoisseurs of the stage.

Anne Hathway's Cottage

The small little town breathed so much of Shakespeare,  triggering a rare joyfulness  when reels of long forgotten poetry seemed to unleash in me from a bygone era.......spelling the end to a long drawn famine in my heart, once I had abandoned the classrooms and corridors of my college days. 

Shakespeare's Theater at Stratford Upon Avon

Before I wander too much and get lost in my own world and musings, let me come back to my original purpose of presenting the translation. This translation is a continuation of M's travelogue and visit to Greenwich which was followed by a visit to Shakespeare's Globe by the Thames later in the evening when I too joined M after work to watch 'As you like it' along with a dear colleague.

As I write now, vivid images, expressions and music of the closing pageant grips me, all the actors on stage together in a marvelous song and dance spectacle.............  If and only if I had another chance !

Inside the Globe Theater

To read the translation, you may click here,
http://sometravelogues.blogspot.com/2010/08/to-globe-theatre.html

In search of an imaginary line

Though I had visited the Greenwich Meridian at least a year prior to M, somehow it did not occur to me to write a travelogue.

But I can’t now help but recall my own enjoyable experience when the three musketeers from Peterborough -Deepthi, Sanchita and I set out in search of the imaginary line ourselves.

Ours was a rather ambitious plan which was to include Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Canary Wharf, Greenwich and the London Bridge, all in a day either by walk or using only the Tube to commute. Besides, we also wanted to have a full Kerala fish curry meal at Deepthi's favourite Kerala House – and yes, this was indeed a priority considering that we were a group of 2 Keralites and 1 Bengali, all fish eaters who can challenge the British at their own game in their own land of ‘fish and chips’!

Believe it or not, we did complete justice to our planned itinerary though many times to stay on the right track we had to resort to mobile consulting with our friends (read Raja, Souvik, Nikhil etc) who had chosen to stay back at Peterborough.

I remember while we were standing by the Thames succumbing to the romance of the night, the cool breeze caressing us, lost in the stunning sight of the beautifully illuminated London Bridge, we were still not sure whether to call it a day. Close to midnight, our aching feet and tired bodies finally gave in and we boarded the tube back to Kings Cross for catching the last train back to Peterborough.

It was a year later that M got a chance to visit Greenwich on his final visit to me in the UK. True to his passion, he came back and wrote a travelogue. Here is a translation of his original travelogue which first appeared in Malayalam on his site which I have now translated in my effort to make amends for not having written one myself !

Click here to read the translation

http://sometravelogues.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-search-of-imaginary-line.html

The Ramassery Idli

This is one of the earlier travelogues written in Malayalam by M on his travel blog . You may click here to read the English translation

http://sometravelogues.blogspot.com/2010/07/ramassery-idli.html


Memories of the Ramassery Idlis do bring back a craving in me to retrace another journey to that part of the world...

If Mullaperiyar collapses

While the thoughts, expressions and creative energies may not match those of the original writer, nevertheless this too is a labour of love.....

Under the label My Translations, I have posted some of the translations I attempted for my best half. Due to the limitations of adding posts on 'My Translations' as a separate page on blogger, I am now moving it to the home page 'My Strokes' itself.

My maiden translation was sometime towards end of 2009 when the 'Rebuild Mullaperiyar, Save Kerala' campaign was launched on blogosphere. It initially appeared on a Malayalam online website started by a group of literary and socially conscious bloggers.

Click here to read the English translation and here for the original Malayalam version.