In Cambridgeshire

"There was a time in England when taxes were charged on the number of windows in a house" said Rob, our guide on the punt, explaining why a few windows on the cam-side houses were bricked-up. The people in those days were literally robbed of the daylight entering their houses. This is eventually how the term 'daylight robbery' came to be used. Rob is a student from one of the many colleges that form a part of the Cambridge University. He is also a punting guide who takes tourists along the cam river, to earn those always welcome extra pounds.

Every friday evening until that Sunday, I was propped up on my bed, with the Lonely planet - Britain open, wondering how on earth am I going to visit all those wonderful places in the UK in a span of 4 months. I would then remind myself of mainland Europe - Prague, Budapest, Stockholm, Salzburg, Spain... and my head would just spin dizzily. Three - four weekends of turning pages and sighing away went by and then one weekend, i realized the infamous british winter was just round the corner and I better get up and get going. A couple of calls and it was decided that Saju, Joseph and I will meet up in Cambridge and that they'd take me around the place. A wodehouse in hand, mp3 player plugged safely, I was on board the train to Stevenage. The first 15 minutes went by with me smiling and chuckling on Bertie Woosters one-liners and then I happened to look out of the window. The flats and crowded roads gave way suddenly to open meadows stretching across miles, with little woods in between. and soon the wodehouse was back in my bag.

The train reached the tiny station that is Stevenage and after breakfast Saju took me into Cambridge after another 30 min drive through peaceful meadow-country. Cathedrals, students, paved streets, the image in my head was right in front of me. It does have its own usual BHSes and M&Ses, but the first impression a visitor gets is definitely far from mod. The first place we went to was the St. Mary's chapel, quiet and awe-inspiring, a characteristic, which I soon came to realize is inherent in most of the cathedrals and chapels in England. There is a tiny circular stairway, a seemingly never-ending journey up to the top, but once you get there, the view is amazing, you can see the whole town/city that is cambridge, the mazes of streets. Once we got back down the tiny stairs, we decided to go punting. A friendly malay teenager sold us 3 tickets at student prices, mentioning on the receipt 'student pass checked'. (Wonder if he did that to every other person on the street..) and then, cider in hand, we were handed over to Rob, who took us on board his punt.

What followed was forty minutes of pure bliss, floating down the cam river listening to yarns about the colleges, about how some of them did not allow women even in the late the 20th century, how an out-of-place modern building was constructed out of the imagination of a student possibly high on weed, marvelling at the thought that Newton was longer just a part of your science books, but you have actually visited the place that he studied in. And ofcourse, not to forget the laughs we had at the groups who bravely decide to row by themselves and were trying their best to make their punt realize that forward, and not concentric circles, was the way they wanted to go. The ride got over like all good things.. Getting out of the punt, we walked aimlessly along the little streets for a while, then got into the nearest Nandos, where I had the most amazing chicken roast, before we all made our way back home. The person who got out of the train back at King's cross was a happy me, and my mind had written one more line into that big book of travel which is what my life would hopefully be.

Note: A punt is a narrow flat ended boat which is propelled forward by pushing against the river bed with a long pole( very similar to the traditional common vanchi in kerala). Punts are a major tourist attraction in the university towns of Cambridge and Oxford and a major source of pocket money for the students of the various colleges that form a part of these Universities.