The country which made us what we are

It was Saturday, the 26th of May 2007. British Airways Boeing 777-200 was encircling in the Bovindgon stack, ready for touchdown at London Heathrow. As I looked through the window, I had my first glimpse of a nation so steeped in every facet, a nation that I have heard and studied about so much,that I really began to feel the history of this place...


After flying low over Windsor castle, the plane landed at Heathrow,and within 2 hours I was on the M25 expressway, heading down south towards Sussex. As I passed through the lovely Surrey lanes, all that I had heard and seen about the UK in books and movies began to flash across in my mind...Sherlock Holmes, Queen Victoria, East India Company, Greenwich, Big Ben, Wimbledon, Dartmoor, Manchester, Yorkshire, Lord's and the list continues...


Here I was, in a country that is, in many ways , great. No wonder it is still called Great Britain.Leading the world in the industrial revolution, it has ruled more territory than any other, and has left a unique charm and impact all across all of the Commonwealth.


The tiles on my old home back in India were British, the old iron grate my granny used was made in England, the Cabdury chocolates we loved were English, and in so many ways unknown to us, we have been living and breathing Britain.


The very sight of high tech trains pulling into old Victorian stations is quite a testimony to the wonderful blend of history, culture and technology that is the UK of today. Formally dressed gentlemen well-versed in Shakespearan literature may not be what you see today, but somewhere, somehow, the Britain of yore is still very much alive. The daffodils, the old castles, the charming villages, the strawberries, the red double-decker buses, county cricket, and last but not the least the celebrated city of London itself, all that I had heard so much about, now unfold....as I venture out to see Britain after 25 years of study.



Though we may have been ruled by them for more than 2 centuries, we need to attribute a lot of our assets to them, be it our railways, our postal system, and why, the usage of the English language itself. However, we quite never learnt from their sincerity, dedication and social sense.


Britain, after all, is truly great.