Authentic Georgian Cuisine at Restaurant Tamada

Thanks to our Georgian classmate in the Hansard Programme at LSE, Keti, we have had a delicious dinner at Restaurant Tamada, Boundary Road, London. The food we took included: badrijani (stuffed aubergines with onions, herbs and walnuts), sacivi (chicken in a traditional Georgian walnut sauce), soko (slowly cooked mushrooms with onions and herbs), lobio (stewed red beans with herbs and garlic), lobiani (stewed red beans griddle baked flat bread), khachapuri (cheese filled griddle baked flat bread) and some other small courses. All six of us were completely full after taking starters and main courses and had to end the dinner before moving on to desserts. The lady in charge came to us to know if we liked the foods since our classmate had worked hard to impress us. We expressed our appreciation. In the last three months this is the third time we've taken dinner in a group; the previous two were at Egyptian and Bangladeshi restaurants.

I took my classmates to the Bengal Cuisine at the Brick Lane station last week. Some of them were a bit familiar with the pre-dominance of the Bangladeshis in restaurant business in UK thanks to 'Brick Lane' by Monica Ali. My classmates were highly appreciative of the Bangladeshi food and the top quality service of the Bangladeshi waiters. Some of the American students said they would visit Bengal cuisine a few more times before leaving London.

LSE days

Today (19th July 2010) was our last class at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The topic of the last class was Corporate Social Responsibility. I recollect while I was working at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dhaka, as a Research Associate I was the rapporteur in a CPD dialogue on 'Corporate Social Responsibility: Where do we stand?'[Click for the dialogue report: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan018959.pdf]

The topics covered in the last three months under the Hansard Scholars Programme at LSE were wide ranging: Democracy and Public Policy, Government and Opposition, Parliament and Representation, Constitution and Rights, European Union. The field trips to the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Political Study visit to Oxford University were particularly interesting. In one of my academic journals I mentioned that it would probably be a great step if we could constitute an office like BIS in Bangladesh. I am particularly thankful to Prof Peter Catterall for devoting one session to Security Issues in South Asia to which my Hansard dissertation has a strong relevance.

Aside from the twice a week classes at LSE, I have been working as an Intern at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) at Whitehall, London. RUSI director Dr. Jonathan Eyal entrusted me to contribute to the RUSI newsbrief and Head of the Asia Programme Alex Neil involved me in the 15 July event on Water Security and Hydropolitics in South Asia. I found my time at RUSI quite interesting. It employs a very talented bunch of researchers who are well versed in contemporary defence and security issues. I am grateful to them that despite lacking any prior experience in defence matters they allowed me as an intern. I had a sweet-sour experience of Tuesday mornings as I had to rush to the Tube station for attending the staff meetings.

Last weekend (16-18 July 2010) I was fortunate to meet Pauline and Louis (my friends from Boston who also attended my wedding to Dhaka) in Paris. Thanks to them I had a fascinating time in Paris. I regret that more than one occasions in my life I wasted the opportunity of learning French which now appears to be extremely melodious! I am not sure when in future I would have one more chance!

At Paris, I loved the visits to museum, the palaces, Victor Hugo home, Eiffel Tower and last but not the least the extremely delicious French foods. I had a sense of why people refer to the French in any discussion on art and culture. The entire city of Paris looks like a big museum. I want visit Paris soon with my wife Swarna and daughter Ushashi. It was a pity that during my maiden trip to the land of culture they were not with me.

Hansard Society took us to Edinburgh which Sir Walter Scott called as 'my own romantic town'. As a matter of fact, the lustrous plain-lands, mountains and castles would make anybody nostalgic in Scotland. My visit to the Scottish Parliament was the fourth occasion that I happened to visit a Parliament after Dhaka, Calcutta and Berlin.

My visit to Dublin (2-3 July 2010) is another notable moment in the last three months. I suddenly met with an American group of young visitors with which I had a lot of sightseeing in Dublin. We watched world cup football game together, bought groceries, cooked and ate together. I passed only two days at the Camden Place Hostel in Dublin as it was a very short weekend.