CHAPPIDI ABHIRATH REDDY
C/O COL GKS REDDY
Southall - London
Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated 10.7 miles (17.2 km) west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
Southall is located on the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) which first linked London with the rest of the growing canal system. It was one of the last canals to carry significant commercial traffic (through the 1950s) and is still open to traffic and is used by pleasure craft.
The town has one of the largest concentrations of South Asian people outside of the Indian sub-continent and is especially known for its concentration of Punjabis.
Southall as I Saw it
I happened to visit Southall on 29 Oct 2013, when I accompanied my daughter for her Diwali shopping. I heard a lot about the “ Mini India in the Heart of London, with its Muck, squalor and the Indiscipline that is generally seen in Cities and towns across India”. I was told by various friends and acquaintances who were supposed to have knowledge of Southall, that though the SE Asians and Indians in particular had gone so far away from the home to UK, they carried along all the habits associated with their home towns. After personally seeing Southall, I am not sure as to how many of my friends and acquaintances had actually seen Southall before passing the said comments. Here, I must confess that, I am one of the culprits, who had been spreading such adverse information about Southall, based purely on Hearsay, as I had not seen the place before 29 Oct 2013
As my daughter parked her car in Fairlawn Public Car Park, next to the High Street in Southall, I was greeted by spotlessly clean Parking bays and the entire car park itself. Since my daughter told me that, she would take approximately an hour for her purchases, I decided to utilise the time to explore the area. As the time available was limited and I was new to the area, I decided to restrict my exploration to the High Street and large number of by lanes around it.
I took a few snaps of the Parking and set off on the High street and the by lanes taking snaps at random. I was thoroughly impressed with the spotlessly clean Main Road, and the by lanes as far inside as I could go. I also took a few snaps of the shops, with their Indian and Punjabi names. The only thing about Southall that reminded me of India was the disruption of traffic by the pedestrians by crossing the busy main road at will, just by putting up their hands. And also some traffic violations by the motorists themselves.
A view of Fairlawn Public Parking near High Street, Southall
Another view of Fairlawn Car Parking
A view of High Street, Southall
The Foot Path Astride High Street
A view of Lady Margaret Road, near the Road Junction (With High Street)
A view of Green Avenue, a by lane of High Street
A view of Alexandra Road, another by lane
A view of Footpath astride Alexandra Avenue
A view of Beachcroft Avenue
A view of the Footpath astride Beachcroft Avenue
Some Snaps of the Shops in Southall
Jalebi Junction, one of the busiest shops in Southall, with people waiting in a queqe
Moti Mahal and Indian Food Fair
Sher - E - Punjab Market, The interior of the market was typically Indian, with lines of Small shops, with narrow corridors, mostly manned by Punjabi Sikhs.
Ambala Silk Emporium
Bank of Baroda and Bollywood Shoe shop
A closer view of Bank of Baroda
A closer view of Bollywood Designer Shoes
Note - Information about the places given in this blog is Courtesy Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
No comments:
Post a Comment