A day in Ilford

Ilford is a large town in London.  Apart from this all I know about Ilford is that it has lot of asian community, 2 temples, and lots of indian restaurants around (south indian to be precise).
 There are lots of B&B and Guest houses run by asians and the price is very competitive.  They are close to supesermarkets, banks, shopping centres, rail and other transport facilities.  When you have a desi feel in a videsh, what else would you ask for.  This was the first time I had been to Ilford, and I was totally in love with this place.  It's totally Indian!  People walking in salwars and sarees, speaking the most familiar languages/slangs.  I felt like home!


If ever I get a chance to go back to London again, I would simply go to Ilford.  Now you may wonder, why I am talking all praise about Ilford.  Let me tell you what it has, what it offers!


There are 2 temples that opens from morning 7.00 - 2.00pm and 5.00 till 9.00pm.  The priests perform all the puja, recite slokas and mantras.  They have all the top gods and goddesses statues inside!There are plenty of Indian stores in and around East Ham and Ilford - selling bindis, kitchenwares, sarees, salwars, gold jewels, vegetables et al.  They also have ICICI and Punjab National banks here.


And then there's Saravana Bhavan, Vasantha Bhavan, Dosa Corner (famous south indian restaurants) and couple other infamous restaurants there.  Now tell me doesn't  it sound like a known town in our country?  Who would feel home sick here!

That's the Murugan Temple entrance and the gopuram.  

This temple is located between Ilford and East ham.  It was a sunday morning, and all the Sannidhi's (Ganesh, Shiva and Murugan) were having abhishekam (offering god with milk, curd, rosewater,sandal paste etc) one after the other.  There's also navagraham, dakshinamoorthy, vishnu, hanuman, durga deities.  


By the time the abhishekams got over, the time was already 1.00pm.  We strolled our way to Saravana Bhavan in East Ham without knowing there's one in Ilford itself. We ordered unlimited meals for lunch.  The menu is not expensive.  We binged on the dhal, sambar, rasam, kootu, poriyal, appalam and payasam stuff until our stomachs were full.


We walked back to Ilford shopping centre, which was wonderfully decorated for Christmas and had all top  branded shops inside.  We strolled into these shops for sometime.  There's also a Cineworld complex in the Ilford centre, 10 minute walking distance from Ilford Railway Station.  We made our way to Cineworld.  Having the Ciniworld unlimited card is a boon, we can peep into the theatre anytime without having to pay anything and watch as many movies.


We settled down for Don 2.  The movie was gripping and action packed taking you tour to Zurich, Berlin and other exotic locations.   After this movie, we sat at the lounge looking for other movie options, and decided to watch Sherlock Holmes - Game of Shadows.  If you are Holmes fan, you should watch this movie.  It's totally gripping, fast moving, action packed!  Although there was more action (which is rather unusual in books) but are visually appealing.  The train scene and the climax were the best!  I did not like the portrayal of Prof.Montiery.  The sure show stealer is Holmes with his enigmatic looks, talks and the style.


After knowing from the localite that here's a saravana bhavan in Ilford, we hunted for this hotel and had our dinner here.  Soon we realised that this hotel is pretty close to where we stayed.  What a bliss to have hot idly and dosa for dinner.  And so our day ended happily.  I felt like being in India.