The London Jungle Book is a collection of art, memories, impressions and words. A lot of people come to London every year and all of them see it through their own culture because we love comparing the unknown with something close to our heart. Reading this book is like talking to a very curious observer. He starts his journey explaining how he was invited to do some work in a restaurant in London, then he talks step by step about applying for the visa and the travel itself. He doesn’t go through every minute detail. It’s more about how he felt at the time and not the technicalities.

Before we started reading the book, I asked the children if they ever travel to a country they absolutely have no knowledge about. They vaguely remember travelling abroad when they were toddlers and not knowing anything about the place. But a ten-year-old is already aware that countries look and sound different, they are curious about them and they have so many resources to explore beforehand. These days, if you want you can plan your trip to the finest detail. What was it like for people in the 90s? What was it like for people 200 years ago?

I am living in York, England. Is the way I see this city different from how an outsider sees it? York is home for me, I love it’s beauty and the vibe but because I am so familiar with the culture and the language, I don’t get surprised, shocked and feel out of my depth. I take a lot of things for granted as I am so used to it. I was talking to some foreign students and told them that we say Hiya dozens of times a day to everyone, even if we don’t know them. And I asked what would people think about them if they start saying Hi to everybody in their country. The idea sounds very odd to them. They refused to try. My point is, if they ever come to York, they will be more surprised than I could ever be.

What’s normal for one is not normal for another. For example, my husband went to Russia and he had to go to the post office. It was 7 years ago and he still remembers ‘how you don’t queue up’ there. He describes it as making a crowded mess instead of an orderly line. I don’t think that a lot of Russians ever dwell on their post office habits, but my husband can talk for an hour about his experience.

I was thinking about his journey to the post office and how we never really bother thinking about such small things inside our own culture. And then I read these lines in the book:

But it was only when we landed that I realized how different it was from India. The officials were friendly, everyone stood in neat lines and even though there were so many people around, it was quiet.

I did tell my husband he is not the only one who thinks about lines.

This is what I found amusing reading this book. It feels like talking to a friend about the first time something happened. It’s very fresh as it is for the writer. And another thing that I liked is that often, these days especially, people blog and share loads when travelling but it’s about the place. But this book is more about how he felt in it.