London will always be my second home, the place I am nostalgic about, the city where I lived for 6 years. I first went to London in my early twenties, the first time I was away from home and family for any significant period of time. I returned a year later and took up a permanent job in the city. I fell in love with the place. I walked as much as I could around central London, recognizing landmarks that found mentions in the books of my childhood. I laughed loud when I walked on London Bridge; the London bridge of my childhood nursery rhyme was a plain old bridge. Close by is The Monument, a tall stone column of 200 ft. erected in the memory of the fire that consumed much of London in the 1600s.
4 years after leaving London and those wonderful memories; I was stunned to see burning pictures of it on my TV. It does not surprise me in the least to see pictures of young men and women, in their hooded attires, sweatshirts and track pants. I have seen enough of them during my time in London. I have seen their aggressive nature, their crude banter, their loud music, their drinking ways, their drug dealings at street corners, their fights; fists and knifes. I have even walked past a crime scene cordoned off by the police, soiled in blood that involved gang shootouts.
Call it bias if you will but I always crossed the road if I saw a bunch of hooded young kids. It always felt better to be safe than sorry. You never know what thrills them the most. Happy slapping after all was an English fad. I have been offered items on sale either fenced or cheap imitations as well as smuggled European cigarettes by them. In India people are more likely to ask you for a match if they see you smoking. My experience with these guys is that they ask for the cigarettes. I have always politely declined and on some of those occasions received choice expletives in return. I have seen them taunt policemen from a distance, hollering PIGS and making a dash for it.
Peckham was one of the first places I visited in London and quite possibly one of the worst. I had been in the country for a week and knew not a single soul. Someone suggested the Loot to find cheap accommodation and one of my inquiries led me there. The streets were littered and the walls were full of graffiti. Perhaps I was there at the wrong time, but I did not see a single person that I could judge respectable based on clothing or outward behavior. That remains to this day my only visit to Peckham.
I visited Bethnal Green a number of times, once to visit the famous Petticoat lane Sunday market, on other occasions on my way to Brick Lane to visit the local Bangadeshi mosque on Fridays. I have been to White Hart Lane visiting friends and thinking how enthralled I should be if I was a visiting football fan.
I have visited homes of people living in council estates and heard first hand accounts of how much young unruly gangs disturb peace in the neighborhood. I understood finally why majority of the people at my workplace lived outside London and preferred to commute.
I do not know what makes them so angry. I do not know why they don't like to work and make a better life for themselves. I do know that nothing justifies burning down buildings, looting, intimidating the general public and causing injury to others. Lastly, why is it not surprising that most popular looting is for alcohol, gadgets and shoes.
4 years after leaving London and those wonderful memories; I was stunned to see burning pictures of it on my TV. It does not surprise me in the least to see pictures of young men and women, in their hooded attires, sweatshirts and track pants. I have seen enough of them during my time in London. I have seen their aggressive nature, their crude banter, their loud music, their drinking ways, their drug dealings at street corners, their fights; fists and knifes. I have even walked past a crime scene cordoned off by the police, soiled in blood that involved gang shootouts.
Call it bias if you will but I always crossed the road if I saw a bunch of hooded young kids. It always felt better to be safe than sorry. You never know what thrills them the most. Happy slapping after all was an English fad. I have been offered items on sale either fenced or cheap imitations as well as smuggled European cigarettes by them. In India people are more likely to ask you for a match if they see you smoking. My experience with these guys is that they ask for the cigarettes. I have always politely declined and on some of those occasions received choice expletives in return. I have seen them taunt policemen from a distance, hollering PIGS and making a dash for it.
Peckham was one of the first places I visited in London and quite possibly one of the worst. I had been in the country for a week and knew not a single soul. Someone suggested the Loot to find cheap accommodation and one of my inquiries led me there. The streets were littered and the walls were full of graffiti. Perhaps I was there at the wrong time, but I did not see a single person that I could judge respectable based on clothing or outward behavior. That remains to this day my only visit to Peckham.
I visited Bethnal Green a number of times, once to visit the famous Petticoat lane Sunday market, on other occasions on my way to Brick Lane to visit the local Bangadeshi mosque on Fridays. I have been to White Hart Lane visiting friends and thinking how enthralled I should be if I was a visiting football fan.
I have visited homes of people living in council estates and heard first hand accounts of how much young unruly gangs disturb peace in the neighborhood. I understood finally why majority of the people at my workplace lived outside London and preferred to commute.
I do not know what makes them so angry. I do not know why they don't like to work and make a better life for themselves. I do know that nothing justifies burning down buildings, looting, intimidating the general public and causing injury to others. Lastly, why is it not surprising that most popular looting is for alcohol, gadgets and shoes.
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