My Sixtieth Birthday - Gretna Green - Memories # 1

(It would be nice to read this post as a sequel my Chapters 1 to 4 of the series "Episode" - clicking here would take you the first chapter)

Although it has been over 6 years that I celebrated the day when I completed 60 years of age, I still remember it as if it was yesterday.

It was December 2005 that we decided to spend the Christmas and New Year with our children and grand-children in London. Chaitali & Raja had two young children, Anurag & Jharna had yet to start their family. The children had planned a 3-4 day holiday in UK, starting from London and going north to Scotland and staying over at St. Andrews - the home of golf, where the game has nurtured for over 600 years. Anurag and Raja were both golf buffs - so that was the destination organized for my birthday bash and ringing in the New Year.

(Click here if you wish to know more about St Andrews)

Being a group of 6 adults and 2 growing up children and the thought of being cramped in Chaitali's Honda CRV for 5 days in travel was not very attractive - and it was decided to hire a bigger vehicle, even a 7-seater would be cramped, so Raja and I set out to get a bigger vehicle and we ended up hiring a 9-seater SUV for the trip. The route and halts were planned. On the 29th - we were driving through Gretna Green, that is a small village on the border of Scotland and England (click here for location map - zoom in or out), just within the Scottish side. Historically - it had been a village of blacksmiths; but its vantage position made it ideally suited for runaway marriages of the youngsters from the conservative English society.

Gretna's famous "runaway marriages" began in 1753 when Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act was passed in England; it stated that if both parties to a marriage were not at least 21 years old, then parents had to consent to the marriage. The Act did not apply in Scotland, where it was possible for boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12 years old with or without parental consent (see Marriage in Scotland). Many elopers fled England, and the first Scottish village they encountered was Gretna Green. The Old Blacksmith's Shop, built around 1712, and Gretna Hall Blacksmith's Shop (1710) became, in popular folklore at least, the focal tourist points for the marriage trade. The Old Blacksmith's opened to the public as a visitor attraction as early as 1887. (courtesy Wikipedia).

In South India - there is custom where the couple performs a marriage ceremony when the man reaches 60 years of age. So that clinched it - we decided to get married (once again). What a perfect and romantic choice of the venue - Gretna Green. and the historic Blacksmith Shop with the historic anvil which had witnessed millions of marriages performed by the blacksmith priests.

The "priest" put my hand on the anvil, the asked my wife Varsha to put hers on top of mine. He picked up the sledge-hammer, looked at Varsha and said, "It will just hurt a wee-bit ..." - literally draining the color from our faces. Then he gently tapped the anvil with the sledge-hammer making a resounding sound and said, "May the bond of this marriage be as strong as this steel." And thus the ceremony was over. We got a certificate of our marriage duly signed by the priest and witnessed by a couple that had come visiting from the U.S.A. He told to click the photos and it was over. Short and sweet.

After the marriage ceremony, we drove on - lunching and snacking on the way. We had a halt at a beautiful way side hotel along the highway. We checked into our respective rooms and then Raja dropped in, "Lets go for a drink."- he chirped. It was a most agreeable suggestion and we headed for the bar. I was expecting our whole gang to be there but we were the only ones from the group. They will be just joining, he said - must be freshening up after the drive. Anyway, we settled down with our beers and peanuts. It must have been another hour so so - and none of the others showed up. We went up to our room and what do we see - all the others were there. The room was decorated with balloons and a happy birthday sign. The bed was strewn with many gifts - all for me. Some tiny and interesting knick-knacks, some odd gadgets, chocolates etc etc., and in the middle was a laptop - an IBM Thinkpad. It had always been my desire to own a laptop. How well the family knows you, you cannot just fathom. I was overwhelmed and my eyes became moist. This was the best birthday I had had in my entire life. This was not the end of the party - we moved on next day.

Our next halt was at St. Andrews Bay - a hotel and a 5-star resort. St Andrews is also known worldwide as the "home of golf". This is in part because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, exercises legislative authority over the game worldwide (except in the United States and Mexico), and also because the famous links is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's four major championships. Visitors travel to St Andrews in great numbers for several courses ranked amongst the finest in the world, as well as for the sandy beaches. Raja and Anurag are both great golf buffs - so this destination was a dream come true for both of them.

The resort was decorated beautifully for Christmas and the New Year with an indoor X'mas tree that must have been over 40 feet high. The dining area was impeccable, the service was beyond compare. Kunaal and Aaliya were yet to see their 5th and 2nd birthdays respectively - and they were treated like royalty by the staff of the resort. Had some of the best dishes and wines over here. In the evening there was a show which was again just out of the world. We retired to our rooms quite late in the early hours of the morning, next morning was bright and sunny although the temperature was below freezing.

After a sumptuous and a lazy breakfast - we set out to see the historic golf course and the local sights of St Andrews. The golf course was fully covered with at least 5"-6" of snow - yet we went on to the course to click the photographs near the flag of the 1st hole. There were few other areas of interest - including a golf museum. We spent some time there. There was a small practice golf course for toddlers and kids there and we ended up buying a whole lot of mementos from the museum shop.

We then drove on to our next stop which was Edinburgh. An Scottish couple - the Aldyth and Theo's house - were our destination and we had the evening tea at their place. Lovely people and with a zest for life and knowledge. they were both retired and well past their prime and yet so full of energy. It was always a pleasure to meet them. Click here to know them better.

We halted overnight at their place, and we enjoyed a bit of sight-seeing of Edinburgh the next day. Visited the castle, the local market and the high grounds from where we could get an the birds' eye view of the town. In the evening we left for London. Chatali also bought 2 electronic SUDOKU puzzles for Varsha and me from a cafe joint at an exit on the motorway. We reached my daughter's house well past midnight and were asleep after the long and hectic journey.

It was the best celebrated and the most memorable birthday of my life.

The Terrorists Have Succeeded - Random Thoughts # 13

It was past 8 pm, I wanted to see a movie with my wife at one of the malls in Saket - which is less than a couple of kilometers from the gate of our colony.

First I encountered a road block as soon as I got out of the colony gate in my car. There were armed cops at the road block and the traffic had to trickle through because of the bottle neck created by them. One vehicle at a time - the tail of the traffic must have been about a kilometer long. The cops had detained a couple of motorbikes on the side and were apparently checking their papers, and maybe pocketing some small denomination currency notes.

After considerable delay we reached the approach road behind the malls. Right in the middle of the road, there was a structure like a pill box, apparently made of sand bags and covered with a green sheet of  camouflage fabric. Propped up in the 'pill box' I could see a cop or or an army jawan who had his automatic rifle trained towards the traffic. Two more khaki uniformed men were checking the vehicles - getting the boot and the bonnet opened. Am not sure what they hoped to find.

Finally reached the entrance of the mall's underground parking. I had to open the bonnet and the boot again. One guard with a flashlight asked my wife to open the glove compartment, he shone his flashlight in that. He also scanned the rest of the car interior with his flashlight. Then we were asked to move on.

After getting off the car we had to enter the mall by an elevator - before entering the elevator we were made to pass through a metal sensor doorway, we were scanned by a metal detector (body scan). That too did not seem enough. We were frisked bodily by the private security agents at this point. My wife was asked to open her handbag and the female security guard peeped in rummaged the contents with her bare hands.

We went to the 2nd floor which had the ticket counter to the movie theater, got our tickets and we were once again frisked by metal detectors and body search by frisking. The security guard could feel a container in my coat pocket - which was the case for my spectacles. He asked me to take it out and show it him.

This is the life of a citizen in this free country in its capital city. You can imagine what it might be for a less privileged citizen.

The extremists/terrorists have succeeded in holding the entire country to ransom - just think about it. 


Note: This was a normal day - no high alerts. If a guard does notice a bomb or a gun and does face an actual terrorist. What will be his reaction? He either gets some greenbacks OR a bullet through him....