Sunday, November 27, 2016

TRAVEL SPECIAL ...... London's coolest quarter

London's coolest quarter

Derived from `Sewer's ditch', Shoreditch in London's East End still remains the hang-out of bohemians, artists and the `cool' kids. Here's a look at how this neighbourhood has evolved

Can you read that?', asks my tour guide Kevin Caruth of Urban Gentry, while point ing to a street sign. I can just about make out the language -Bengali -and am surprised to find this vernacular signboard in London's East End. I search for the English version that reads, `Brick Lane.' With that begins my tour of some of the most historic and hippest parts of the city. As we crossed the sign, it was like walking into an alternative space. This is two places at once -London and Bengal (East and West i.e the modern state of Bangladesh, and India put together); it's also where migrants hold on to age-old tradition, while hipsters wear the non-conformist tag.
Walk down the alley and restaurants lure you in with roshogulla and malai chom chom; where familiar words like `khup bhalo' take on a British accent. It was recognisable yet completely alien to this non-diaspora desi. The Bengalispeaking community here carries a curious past: Brick lane earned its name from the fact that brick earth deposits were used on the roads in this area that connected this eastern part of the city with the north. By the 19th century, the neighbourhood had seen some development and attracted the Jewish community who faced religious and political persecution in other parts of Europe.Many of the Jews had landed in London to make their way to America. But having found employment as cloth traders in nearby Spitalfields Market, they stayed back. Soon this part of the East End became a Jewish hub. In the 1970s, Banglas were added to the mix.
The political turmoil in Pakistan, and formation of Bangladesh in 1971 led many to seek out other shores and they too narrowed in on Brick Lane thanks to reasonable rents. Predictably, they brought along bags full of fragrant spices and some finger-licking-good recipes. The result was that a large number of Bangladeshi restaurants popped up, and the lane was nicknamed the `curry lane'. In the late 90s, Brick lane was officially re-christened Banglatown by the local authorities.
Around the same time, Banglatown and the district it lies in, Shoreditch, donned another avatar; a trendy one thanks to the first wave of gentrification that touched the neighbourhood. The textile industry had long declined, yet the remnants stood as abandoned warehouses. The council decided against tearing down the heritage structures, instead converting them to lofts. Cheap and big, they made for perfect studios and attracted artists. As the creative made Shoreditch their new home, they added a dash of colour: murals with political messages on street corners; trippy graffiti on once drab walls. The neighbourhood was transformed.
More recently, Shoreditch has seen a second wave of gentrification with capitalism added to the creative mix. As I walk down the street, I find that not far from the ethnic restaurants are some of the quirkiest eateries in London.There's Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium. This is a place with about a dozen resident felines that roam free, brush up against you, or turn away from you, while you enjoy a treat of high tea and scones.
Kevin also leads me to plenty of peculiar stores: Boxpark, a pop-up shopping mall fashioned out of shipping containers; the irreverently named `Son of a stag' that specialises in denim and stocks up on designers from across the globe; `Barber Barber' that advertises `clean cuts' and `close shaves' on its storefront and is one of the few hair salons with its very own bar; Rokit, a vintage-clothing store, where the 60s and 70s live on, and where a tutu doubles up as a lampshade.
All along the streets are alfresco bars where 20-somethings sip on colourful cocktails in jam jars. The spunky graffiti on the walls sums up Shoreditch best when it says, `Don't be like the rest of them, darling.' Ironically, there is homogeneity in the crowds walking the street: trimmed beards, rolled up jeans, scarves and vintage sunnies.
In the midst of the coolth, Kevin mentions that `Shoreditch' may have been derived from `Sewer's Ditch.' Historians assert that the name came about as a result of the many drains in this former boggy area. To add a bit of drama, there's Jack the Ripper.The notorious and hitherto unidentified serial killer of the last century worked these streets.Today, visitors need not fear him as they go on tours of the many sites where his victims' mangled bodies -he liked to rip apart their intestines -were found.
Shoreditch's reinvention has attracted business-men and their investments, shoppers and their credit cards, and curious tourists who want a taste of gentrification. But there's a down-side: a real estate boom and a surge in rents, which could result in the `home of the persecuted' becoming inaccessible to the working class. I walk into a hole-in-thewall art gallery, and strike up a conversation with the attendant, Salim. On learning that I am from India, he says he is too: `a British-Indian from Dhaka'. I gather that his grandparents migrated to the UK in the 1960's.I don't correct him, for borders are fluid, particularly in Shoreditch. The crowds that call this area home, have together created a cultural patchwork.

BEFORE YOU PACK

GETTING THERE
Fly Virgin Atlantic (code-sharing Jet Airways), from Mumbai to London. Special student deals are available till the end of 2016.

OTHER QUIRKY ATTRACTIONS IN LONDON:
DRINK SHOP DO, KING'S CROSS:
It's a cafe, restaurant and activity centre, all at once. Drop in for a jewellery making session, or just to sip a cup of tea. What's more, everything is on sale; from the chair you're sitting on, to the china you're being served in.
PRET A PORTEA, BERKELEY HOTEL, LONDON:
Drop into this uber-chic tea room to enjoy sweettreats shaped like the latest goodies off the ramps of London: edible Jimmy Choo shoes; pastries shaped like a Fendi bag.
Kiran Mehta


MM 6NOV16

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