Central London is to a Londoner, what South Mumbai is to a Mumbaite. It is hep, happening and out right hedonistic. Every street, lane, nook and cranny has something extraordinary to offer to your senses. You can’t help feeling all the seven sins coming alive in broad daylight.
The office where I was working for a while was placed in the most happening part of London, between Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden and Leicester Square to be precise. It is a Mecca of sorts- for connoisseurs of food, art, books, films, music, theatre and fashion.
On the left is China town where even the street signs are in Chinese. Here I had the most amazing dumplings for a pound. Since Chinese New year celebrations were on, there were bright red paper lanterns with golden tassels adorning the streets of China town. It looked a bit tacky but nevertheless inviting. I almost felt as though Jackie Chan would emerge skidding and hanging down a line of those bright red lanterns chasing the baddies. Here in Chinatown, you can buy anything Chinese you have on your mind. Specialist Chinese supermarkets sell everything one would require to make an authentic Chinese, Malay or Thai meal. The noodles varieties were so many, it was a bit puzzling. Ready-to-make sauces and curries starring a chubby-faced Chinese woman with a shot away chin were screaming for attention. It reminded me of an old Rajasthani dadaji, with a tie-n-dye (bandhani) feta (headgear) on the Indian MDH masala packs.

Nearby is Soho famous for its pubs and nightlife. If you want to go star-gazing, this is the ideal spot. You are sure to bump in to the rich and famous in the bars, clubs or generally hanging out in the book stores and designer shops.

Not very far away from here, is the popular Oxford street, the shopaholic's dream come true. Down south is the National Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Square and the towering Nelson’s column. Take a walk down Northumberland Avenue and there you are gaping at the famous city sights around Embankment like London eye, Big Ben, etc. On the whole, I think there is something very infectious about the air, just ideal to get your creative juices flowing. I feel so very consumed with life, it's almost like falling in love again...
Just across the street from our office is the right wall of St. Martin's theatre that claims in big shiny brass letters- "AGATHACHRISTIE'S THE MOUSE TRAP- THE WORLD'S LONGEST EVER RUN". Apparently, the show has never been cancelled since its first show some fifty sixyears ago! How inspiring (and theatrical) is that?!!
Next to our office is a fantastic pasta joint called Rossopomodorro,which, believe it or not, imports all its ingredients from Italy. I have seen the French turning peppery about the British but the Italians? Apparently, they are so fastidious about things that they even import the water for their coffee from Italy!

Yet another new phenomenon, thanks to working in Leicester (pronounced Lester) Square, is travelling in true London style- by tube. I think for a hardcore Mumbaite, nothing feels as energising as travelling each day at peak hour on buses and in tubes. I love it, the jumping on and off, the constant on-the-move feeling. It also gives you a lot of time to catch up on your reading. Besides, there is always a free newspaper on the tubes. So now Metro has become the quintessential morning read for me. It can nowhere come close to The Times or The Guardian, but the headlines are the same; incidentally, it is endorsed as a must-read by the residentof 10 Downing Street!

(Written in Feb 2009 when I worked as a freelancer with Woolley Pau, an ad agency)