London Through The Other Eye

An Insider’s Guide To Ditching The Usual Suspects

- Chinmai Gupta

A gripe I often have is when people say they have ‘done’ a place. This attitude, I suspect, has its sinister origins in the quest for attaining social media nirvana. Travel for me is experiencing things that I can’t read about on Wikipedia, adding anecdotes to my repertoire, the weird and wonderful tales of people I meet.

London is strange and splendid and eccentric and full of character. You discover new places each time you step out. With so many delightful sights to visit, I find the long queues of tourists, battling the temperamental London weather to get into Madame Tussauds, a bit batty. When Marie Tussaud opened the Baker Street museum in 1835, the life-like wax dolls would undoubtedly have been a marvel. Clicking selfies today with wax imitations of Johnny Depp or Audrey Hepburn frozen in action poses, however, seems rather preposterous. Considering that entry costs over ₹2,000, Madam Tussaud’s, with its claustrophobic alley-ways, is probably the most antiquated attraction that London hosts.