Southall

5th May 2008
This is the place desis would definitely want to go if they are missing desi atmosphere in UK. The Southall train station greets us with a board written in Punjabi!! Check that out!
Walking down the street, we watched with amazement as every single shopkeeper was conversing in hindi! Typical indian-style garment shops, bangle shops, kurta, chudidar..etc. Where else in UK can we find a marriage bureau or horoscope shops?? :)
As we shoved our way on the pavement through loads of ppl bustling around, the scene reminded me of Avenue road in Bangalore. Also, we could hardly spot British people anywhere!

Seems the first group of South Asians arrived in Southall in 1950 and settled here due to the closeness of Heathrow Airport, and has since been increasing with many South Asians. We had lunch in a Pakistani restaurant - samosas, veg biryani, chicken tikka, mango lassi..yum. Then continued roaming around the streets after eating 'cup corn' to our heart's content.
Southall is also the location of the "Glassy Junction", which serves several Indian draught beers and was the first pub in the UK to accept payment in Indian rupees :)). Also the film Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal starring John Abraham and Bipasha Basu was filmed in Glassy junction

Check out this bus decorated fully in typical Punjabi style :)
You can also see a shop named after the famous Palika Bazaar of Delhi
We came across McDonald's and noticed that it has changed certain food items on the menu to halal and certified halal!!

Later, we visited the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, which is the largest Sikh temple outside of India. It has beautiful interiors and prayer area. There is a large golden coloured dome on the temple which captures our attention even from a long distance.
Stuffing our bags with loads of Indian/Asian stuff, we returned back to home sweet home -Reading.