[Argyll]

Just a few words of introduction about myself and to say hello -

I am an Associate Research Fellow with a large transport & technology museum in Glasgow, Scotland and I'm currently on a research project investigating the rise and fall of the Argyll Motor Co in the early 1900's. I knew there were agents for the car in India and one of my plans was to watch out for references to them or even perhaps see one at your classic car shows (which in the end up never happened as I just didn't have enough time).

My wife and I have spent all our lives working with or having friends who are Indian or Pakistani, all of whom said we both must visit your sub-continent to experience the real Asia ...... and we did just that last November, booking a trip over. We arrived at Delhi for three days, then on to Shimla using the narrow-gauge railway, then back to Delhi going on to Jaipur by coach, to return to Delhi and having only 14 days to take it all in.

We fell in love with the people, loved the food, amazed at your rich history and scared ourselves witless with your driving!

I was an officer in the Fire Department for 25 years before I moved to museums, so sad man that I am I spent a fair amount of time visiting fire stations - and of course museums when we could. The Delhi Railway Museum was a real eye-opener as there were so many types of locomotives from all over the world and a few from Scotland as well.

Well, that's about it - I'm really looking forward to be spending time on the site and perhaps getting to know some of you all in the process.

Regards, Argyll.

[shankar.balan]

So very nice to have you on board.

Welcome!

Glad you liked the Railway Museum in Delhi - I love it too.
I wish you had visited Calcutta when you were here because that is another city which is rich in history.

I ve visited a few of the museums in your part of the world - notably the York Railway Museum, Beaulieu, the car museum again in York or Coventry I can't remember which, RAF Hendon for the WW2 Aircraft and so on.

Next time I should come up to Glasgow again - though I must tell you that the last time I did come there in 2007 we found it rather dull - no offence to you or any other Glaswegian.

However, we both (wife and I) love Scotland - especially the highlands.

Cheers and look forward to seeing more insights and posts from you over time!

Originally Posted by Argyll

Just a few words of introduction about myself and to say hello -

I am an Associate Research Fellow with a large transport & technology museum in Glasgow, Scotland and I'm currently on a research project investigating the rise and fall of the Argyll Motor Co in the early 1900's. I knew there were agents for the car in India and one of my plans was to watch out for references to them or even perhaps see one at your classic car shows (which in the end up never happened as I just didn't have enough time).

My wife and I have spent all our lives working with or having friends who are Indian or Pakistani, all of whom said we both must visit your sub-continent to experience the real Asia ...... and we did just that last November, booking a trip over. We arrived at Delhi for three days, then on to Shimla using the narrow-gauge railway, then back to Delhi going on to Jaipur by coach, to return to Delhi and having only 14 days to take it all in.

We fell in love with the people, loved the food, amazed at your rich history and scared ourselves witless with your driving!

I was an officer in the Fire Department for 25 years before I moved to museums, so sad man that I am I spent a fair amount of time visiting fire stations - and of course museums when we could. The Delhi Railway Museum was a real eye-opener as there were so many types of locomotives from all over the world and a few from Scotland as well.

Well, that's about it - I'm really looking forward to be spending time on the site and perhaps getting to know some of you all in the process.

Regards, Argyll.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by Argyll

We fell in love with the people, loved the food, amazed at your rich history and scared ourselves witless with your driving!

Welcome, Argyll! Its great to have you on board.

Driving/being driven around in India is truly a one-of-a-kind experience. Back in 2008, an Irishman who was a colleague and a friend of mine lived in Bangalore. He was scared stiff when I took him for a short drive in my car to a local pub downtown two days after he'd landed.

Cheers,
gpa

[Argyll]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Next time I should come up to Glasgow again - though I must tell you that the last time I did come there in 2007 we found it rather dull - no offence to you or any other Glaswegian.

None taken whatsoever.

Glasgow isn't like Edinburgh for example, Glasgow was an industrial city, being called at one point 'The Second City of the Empire' and because of that our social history had a long history of slums, poor health and depredation. Following the Second World War our city fathers understandably demolished the bomb damaged slums as and when they could, where often what limited historical buildings we did have had to go as well, so we don't have the cultural heritage we saw in the tiny part of India we explored. The secret is and its no secret really is finding someone who knows the place you're visiting, them finding out what interests you and taking you to what we have in those areas of interest.

Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and were gearing up for that; the museum I am associated with is just a year old now having cost £74 million to build and display the objects. This and many other major capitol projects are going up around the city and it has become much more a cosmopolitan place to visit. Glasgow has been voted second best shopping city in the UK (London being first) - so if you're a shopper, then we're the place to come to, providing you can handle our accents! LOL!

Bottom line - some things are the same, some things have changed a lot.

[shankar.balan]

For me, James Herriot came from Glasgow and thats good enough really as an endorsement! I absolutely loved all his books and the Tele-serial too.

I will certainly visit again soon and will get in touch.
Same goes for Edinburgh - where there is another BHP Member. I rather liked Edinburgh - pretty town. Nice places to play golf around there too.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by Argyll

None taken whatsoever.

Glasgow isn't like Edinburgh for example, Glasgow was an industrial city, being called at one point 'The Second City of the Empire' and because of that our social history had a long history of slums, poor health and depredation. Following the Second World War our city fathers understandably demolished the bomb damaged slums as and when they could, where often what limited historical buildings we did have had to go as well, so we don't have the cultural heritage we saw in the tiny part of India we explored. The secret is and its no secret really is finding someone who knows the place you're visiting, them finding out what interests you and taking you to what we have in those areas of interest.

Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and were gearing up for that; the museum I am associated with is just a year old now having cost £74 million to build and display the objects. This and many other major capitol projects are going up around the city and it has become much more a cosmopolitan place to visit. Glasgow has been voted second best shopping city in the UK (London being first) - so if you're a shopper, then we're the place to come to, providing you can handle our accents! LOL!

Bottom line - some things are the same, some things have changed a lot.