MY TIME TRAVEL TO DICKENS LONDON

Tower Bridge London

Taking a walk down a road in London brought back to my mind long lost memories of the Dickens books that I had devoured in my youth. It brought to life all those scenes read eons ago. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Pickwick Papers, A Tale of Two Cities, all by Charles Dickens were read, re-read and revised by me as they were part of my English syllabus.  In those days I had to try and imagine the places mentioned in the books.  Now I was actually traversing those very roads, streets, and was looking at those inns and pubs and everything else that I had tried to imagine then. Pip, Fagin, Oliver Twist, Mr. Pickwick ....all those characters walked ahead of me!

I have visited London a number of times. I have driven past a lot of land marks of History. Yet, recently when I decided to simply walk instead of taking the public transport, which is very easily available and easy to get on, I was transported about 150 years back.

48, Doughty Road.House Of Dickens

I had gone to see Charles Dickens house, maintained as a museum. I felt delighted being in the rooms where lived and wrote such a great author. He died at the age of 58. I am amazed to see the immense body of work that he has created in this short time. He wrote about poverty, squalor, sad childhoods, small children working as apprentices and fending for themselves, and the miserable condition of the poor. He wrote about indebtedness, being sent to jail if you were in debt, and he described vividly the sad life of the general public of Victorian London. I had always wondered about the life of young boys trying to make a living in bad conditions, in London, until I saw a small film shown in the house of Dickens about his life. As a young boy of 12 he had to fend for himself, as his entire family except Charles was imprisoned and were lodged at the “Marshalsea debtor's prison”. Dickens had to work at a Blacking Warehouse. He had to paste labels on shoe polish. He worked for 10 hours a day and earned 6 shillings a week, in appalling conditions, with rats running around the place. Can you try and imagine those gloomy, dirty, sad, lonely days of despair of a 12 year old boy! I thought this was sufficient to psychologically damage any boy to be a pessimist with totally sad thoughts. But look at the genius of a man that Dickens turned out to be. The strenuous – and often cruel – work conditions obviously made a deep impression on Dickens, and he used all those experiences to write his novels. What fantastic novels were penned by him! Charles Dickens has said, "Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape." What profound wisdom! This is what greatness and genius is all about! 

After visiting the museum instead of going towards, Russell Square Tube Station, I decided to walk to St. Paul's Cathedral, which has recently been restored to its pristine glory. The Cathedral is 300 years old; its Foundation Stone was laid on 21st June 1711. The recent repairing, restoration and cleaning took 15 years and cost 40 million pounds! Walking on I passed the Gray's Inn. I had read that great stalwarts of India were members of this Inn. Dr. B R Ambedkar, M. K. Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, M. A Jinnah, had all passed through these portals, and walked down these roads. I was transported back to those times. The best part of London is that the buildings and roads remain unchanged. The facade is maintained as it was, road names are not changed, and therefore what existed about 150 years back was easy to see. It remains the same!

Staple Inn Holborn

Walking on, I reached Holborn.  Pip in “Great Expectations”, took up residence at Barnard's Inn which was located here. This area has been associated with the legal profession since the 13th century. In the 13th century, King Henry III decreed that no institutes of legal education could exist in the City of London, and the Pope also prohibited the Clergy from teaching Law. The lawyers therefore settled immediately outside the City, close to Westminster Hall, and stayed in Inns in Holborn. All the four Inns of law, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, Middle temple, Gray's Inn were located in Holborn.

These inns were lodgings where barristers traditionally lodged, trained and carried on their profession. There were also minor Inns of Chancery viz. Clement's Inn, Clifford's Inn, Lyon's Inn, Strand Inn, New Inn, Furnival's Inn,Thavie's Inn, Staple Inn, and Barnard's Inn. These Inns were all attached to any of the four Inns of law.  Interesting indeed! How and why Inns got to be actually Institutes of Law.

On my way over the Holborn Viaduct (bridge) I saw a statue of Sir Richard Whittington, who had been Lord Mayor of London 3 times. I was thrilled, as till now I had thought that this was simply a fable. "Turn around Dick Whittington, Thrice Mayor of London"...So the church bells were supposed to have been chiming. He was actually real, he existed! Then I reached The Old Bailey. It is the ‘Central Criminal Court’ now. A pretty building with the statue of Justice on top. Interestingly, this statue holds the scales, a sword, but is not blind folded. I was quite impressed. Indeed justice is not blind. Above the main entrance is inscribed the admonition, "Defend the Children of the Poor & Punish the Wrongdoer".  This was the site of the Old Bailey, close to the medieval Newgate Prisons. This was where Charles Darnay, a character of "A Tale of two Cities" was tried for treason.  

Cental Criminal Court with Statue of Justice

I walked on and reached St.Paul's Cathedral. By now it was 4 pm and the visitor's time was over. Just ahead I saw Ludgate Hill, which would lead me on to Fleet Street. What a fantastic name! It was the street where the newspapers’ offices were located. I used to think that Fleet Street was so called because of the fleet footed news reporters that worked there! In reality it was the name of the river which had since been covered and the street was located over the river. Fleet Street has the famous pub, “Ye Old Cheshire Cheese” which was frequented by Dr. Johnson, Mark Twain, Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and of course Charles Dickens.

At the end of Fleet Street I saw the imposing Royal Courts of Justice.

London School of Economics& Political Science

Walking on I saw London School of Economics and Political Science. I had to stop in my tracks because LSE was the place where our erstwhile President  K R Narayanan had studied from 1945 to 1948. At that time my father, was studying Engineering at Batteresea Polytechnic, London. They had become friends then.  Other famous alumni of this College were Bharat Ratna Dr. B R Ambedkar, J F Kennedy, and Harold Laski. Another Bharat Ratna Dr. Amartya Sen taught here.

Bharat Bhawan-High Commission of India

Just opposite LSE was Bharat Bhawan with my beautiful Tricolour and the Lion capital of Ashoka. After paying my respects to my High Commission, I walked on and reached Strand. Onwards I marched towards Trafalgar Square.  I took the route behind the Trafalgar Square and walked on Shaftesbury Avenue, with all its theatres, then walked on Charring Cross Road  which is where Dickens worked in the shoe polish factory.  In present day Charring Cross is the famous Foyle’s Book store founded in 1903 by two brothers who had failed their Civil Services examination. They wanted to sell their books and so was founded this huge book store. People who frequented this store were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G B Shaw and Walt Disney..

 I walked on towards Tottenham Court Road. This place is actually London's Bhagirath Place. All Dilliwallas know Bhagirath Place to be the market for electrical goods in Delhi. Of course ours is located in Chandni Chowk, right behind the beautiful historical State Bank of India building of Chandni Chowk. Tottenham Court Road, on the other hand is next to the posh Oxford Street. Having reached Tottenham Court Road, I perforce walked on towards the glamorous, full of tourists Oxford Street. 

OXFORD CIRCUS 

This place is always full of people, walking, walking, and walking. It is such a narrow road, with pedestrian crossings after every few feet. Oxford Street transported me to an altogether different world.

My trip to 18th century London ended in the 21st century London. It became a memorable day, with a lovely walk, and amazing time travel! Lots more to see and experience...some other day...some other era!!


If you want to experience the long walk - just click here to open the google maps for the same.