A trip to the Fish Land ...
This one was listed in our checklist for a very VERY long time ... a visit to the famous Billingsgate market. Despite the fact that we both are avid seafood lovers and belong to two different coastal parts of India , the urge wasn't strong enough 'may be' to wake us up and get us going at morning 4. Yes! I am not kidding :) This largest fish market of the world opens at 4 am to trade off the best variety of fishes, lobsters and crabs one can think of.
However, we were so much in love with our precious early morning sleep that we had an excuse at our disposal everytime we planned to visit this place. Sometimes I didnt have my camera with me, sometime we had slept too late and its necessary for adults to complete atleast 6 hours of sleep, yes please! and at times my alarm chose to let me enjoy the much awaited weekend sleep and decided not to buzz ;). You name it and we used that excuse to keep us going until we reached a point when we realized that probably this is the last weekend we are spending at canary wharf. It was time and we knew it ! So, this Saturday when my alarm rang at 3:25 am , we both were awake and ready!
After walking for almost 20 minutes in the streets of the cold,foggy London, we reached the entrance of the Billingagate market. We were witnessing an ancient and iconic tradition of this country. I saw a couple going inside the building, sipping coffee in paper cups and my first thought was - 'Oh, so we are not the only crazy ones in the city ;)' ... And when we entered the building, I was inside a hundreds of years old fish market that has got a history of its own. I always hate to visit fish markets because of the staunch fish smell that compels you to stop breathing but this place was bursting with freshness. This must be probably the most cleanest fish market one can ever come across.
We both were there for 2 very different reasons. Abhay always love to visit such markets and explore the variety of sea food nature provides. He has immense knowledge about the variety, no doubt his 'Konkan' genes must be contributing to it. I, on the other hand, was there for 3 major reasons : A) To accompany Abhay B) To see this iconic tradition C) To take good pictures !! I realized I had lost Abhay moments after entering the market. It was hard to track him as he was pacing up through the lanes, inquisitively looking around at the variety of fishes and crabs.
I allowed him to have some good time with his first love i.e. food and I dragged my Canon 1000D out of my bag when I caught attention of all the fishmongers. Almost immediately I had a gentlemen posing for my camera but I tried to focus on the fishes instead ;) haha. I knew I had declared myself a 'Tourist' right then! I started visiting different stalls, framing and clicking when one old man came to me and asked me for a pound for the picture I just happened to clicked.
Keeping my best humour awake at that early hour of the day, I asked him if I can compensate by giving him a hug and it worked ;) :D When nothing works , a lady's charm is all it takes ;) The old man said that I am a smart gal as I could catch his weakness :D B-)
After clicking some 120 pictures and giving some strangers few hugs and smiles , I finally decided to see what Mr Kini was upto! Oh there he was, struggling to decide the lucky crab that he was planning to buy. There were so many variety of each species available that 'confusion' is inevitable. After 10 minutes of brain mulling, he finally got 11 pounds and 50 pence out of his pocket and asked for the biggest crab from a bunch. The fishmonger confidently picked up a live crab and put inside a blue polybag and handed over to Abhay! You must be joking! A live crab? I didn't know that !! 'We are not going home with a live crab' I insisted.After 5 minutes of debate, he convinced me as usual! Sigh! Later we also bought a bunch of prawns that I am supposed to use for preparing Oriya Prawns Curry (Mom! Please be ready for narrating the recipe).
After circling around some 7 odd times , we decided to head to the cafeteria to have a cup of coffee. The place reminded me of the old cafe houses of Mumbai. There was nothing fancy about that place and I loved it! Brought back memories of my school canteen rooms. Abhay and I chose to sit in the second table on the left handside corner and I happened to find out that the Mayor of London had sat at the exact same place where I did on his visit :D No big deal! Just sharing :) Btw , the cappuchino was one of the best I have had since a long time. Even if you a vegeterian , I would still recommend you to visit that place to taste that coffee. :P
Having coffee at 4:30 AM in a winter morning inside a fish market -This is possible probably only with Abhay :P Loved that half an hour we spent over there! One of the beautiful moments of my life. The silence of the morning mixed with the hustle and bustle of the fishmongers , there was this indescribable feeling ! You don't have to try too hard to feel the beauty of life.
Finally , we made our way to the exit . With a live crab , a kilo prawns, bunch of pictures, swollen eyes and tons of lovely memories :)
However, we were so much in love with our precious early morning sleep that we had an excuse at our disposal everytime we planned to visit this place. Sometimes I didnt have my camera with me, sometime we had slept too late and its necessary for adults to complete atleast 6 hours of sleep, yes please! and at times my alarm chose to let me enjoy the much awaited weekend sleep and decided not to buzz ;). You name it and we used that excuse to keep us going until we reached a point when we realized that probably this is the last weekend we are spending at canary wharf. It was time and we knew it ! So, this Saturday when my alarm rang at 3:25 am , we both were awake and ready!
After walking for almost 20 minutes in the streets of the cold,foggy London, we reached the entrance of the Billingagate market. We were witnessing an ancient and iconic tradition of this country. I saw a couple going inside the building, sipping coffee in paper cups and my first thought was - 'Oh, so we are not the only crazy ones in the city ;)' ... And when we entered the building, I was inside a hundreds of years old fish market that has got a history of its own. I always hate to visit fish markets because of the staunch fish smell that compels you to stop breathing but this place was bursting with freshness. This must be probably the most cleanest fish market one can ever come across.
We both were there for 2 very different reasons. Abhay always love to visit such markets and explore the variety of sea food nature provides. He has immense knowledge about the variety, no doubt his 'Konkan' genes must be contributing to it. I, on the other hand, was there for 3 major reasons : A) To accompany Abhay B) To see this iconic tradition C) To take good pictures !! I realized I had lost Abhay moments after entering the market. It was hard to track him as he was pacing up through the lanes, inquisitively looking around at the variety of fishes and crabs.
I allowed him to have some good time with his first love i.e. food and I dragged my Canon 1000D out of my bag when I caught attention of all the fishmongers. Almost immediately I had a gentlemen posing for my camera but I tried to focus on the fishes instead ;) haha. I knew I had declared myself a 'Tourist' right then! I started visiting different stalls, framing and clicking when one old man came to me and asked me for a pound for the picture I just happened to clicked.
Keeping my best humour awake at that early hour of the day, I asked him if I can compensate by giving him a hug and it worked ;) :D When nothing works , a lady's charm is all it takes ;) The old man said that I am a smart gal as I could catch his weakness :D B-)
After clicking some 120 pictures and giving some strangers few hugs and smiles , I finally decided to see what Mr Kini was upto! Oh there he was, struggling to decide the lucky crab that he was planning to buy. There were so many variety of each species available that 'confusion' is inevitable. After 10 minutes of brain mulling, he finally got 11 pounds and 50 pence out of his pocket and asked for the biggest crab from a bunch. The fishmonger confidently picked up a live crab and put inside a blue polybag and handed over to Abhay! You must be joking! A live crab? I didn't know that !! 'We are not going home with a live crab' I insisted.After 5 minutes of debate, he convinced me as usual! Sigh! Later we also bought a bunch of prawns that I am supposed to use for preparing Oriya Prawns Curry (Mom! Please be ready for narrating the recipe).
The crab that was going to bite me :P or atleast got a scream out of me :D
After circling around some 7 odd times , we decided to head to the cafeteria to have a cup of coffee. The place reminded me of the old cafe houses of Mumbai. There was nothing fancy about that place and I loved it! Brought back memories of my school canteen rooms. Abhay and I chose to sit in the second table on the left handside corner and I happened to find out that the Mayor of London had sat at the exact same place where I did on his visit :D No big deal! Just sharing :) Btw , the cappuchino was one of the best I have had since a long time. Even if you a vegeterian , I would still recommend you to visit that place to taste that coffee. :P
Abhay getting coffee for me :)
Having coffee at 4:30 AM in a winter morning inside a fish market -This is possible probably only with Abhay :P Loved that half an hour we spent over there! One of the beautiful moments of my life. The silence of the morning mixed with the hustle and bustle of the fishmongers , there was this indescribable feeling ! You don't have to try too hard to feel the beauty of life.
Finally , we made our way to the exit . With a live crab , a kilo prawns, bunch of pictures, swollen eyes and tons of lovely memories :)
posted by Unknown at 11:37 PM
2 Comments:
Nothin Like Fish...High Protein lesso fatto !! But i feel River Fish tastes better than Sea Fish...i would like to taste all the million varieties of aqatic animals from buoy level to mariana trench that populate any river sea and ocean...I do pray that atleast all the cousins of Moby Dick have their name de-registered out of endangered species....and the Great White Sharks dont end up being Great White Elephants tht once existed in Burma.....so i can still hope of my aquatic riot...!!
M
Nothin Like Fish...High Protein lesso fatto !! But i feel River Fish tastes better than Sea Fish...i would like to taste all the million varieties of aqatic animals from buoy level to mariana trench that populate any river sea and ocean...I do pray that atleast all the cousins of Moby Dick have their name de-registered out of endangered species....and the Great White Sharks dont end up being Great White Elephants tht once existed in Burma.....so i can still hope of my aquatic riot...!!
M
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