TUESDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2007
Ravinshing with the Ravens @ Tower of London
Sometime ago I had been to the Tower of London. This was no ‘Touristy’ trip.
It was an 'away' day organized by the dept at LSE.
It was an 'away' day organized by the dept at LSE.
Tower of London,, like many other heritage sites is now renting out its venue for corporate workshops and things like that. This one was being sponsored by British American Tobacco for LSE students. Ironically ‘BAT’ were talking about ‘Employer Branding’.
Among other group exercises and lectures there were breaks. Long breaks. The food was good (ah the pasta in the pesto sauce and of course the dessert).
After such heavy food, one deserves a bit of a bigger break. One such Long break, I utilized in visiting the Crown jewels. The crown jewels is a dazzling display of all the jewellery and the rest of the paraphrenialia of the royal family since 1500s .. or maybe even before. Like all Indians who flock there, my interest lay in the Kohinoor diamond. The Kohinoor is indeed safe and shining on the queen’s imperial Crown.
It was a bit of an anti-climax for me though. I had imagined Kohinoor as a big, grand dazzling stand alone diamond that was so preciously stolen or rather the politically correct word would be conquered.
The famous Kohinoor is actually a medium sized diamond on top of the queen’s crown. I could be prevcious, but amidst other diamonds, it fades in its grandeur compared to some other dazzling display of jewellery.
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Among other group exercises and lectures there were breaks. Long breaks. The food was good (ah the pasta in the pesto sauce and of course the dessert).
After such heavy food, one deserves a bit of a bigger break. One such Long break, I utilized in visiting the Crown jewels. The crown jewels is a dazzling display of all the jewellery and the rest of the paraphrenialia of the royal family since 1500s .. or maybe even before. Like all Indians who flock there, my interest lay in the Kohinoor diamond. The Kohinoor is indeed safe and shining on the queen’s imperial Crown.
It was a bit of an anti-climax for me though. I had imagined Kohinoor as a big, grand dazzling stand alone diamond that was so preciously stolen or rather the politically correct word would be conquered.
The famous Kohinoor is actually a medium sized diamond on top of the queen’s crown. I could be prevcious, but amidst other diamonds, it fades in its grandeur compared to some other dazzling display of jewellery.
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Legend has it that if the Ravens at the Tower of London flew away, the Monarchy would fall and Britain would be conquered.
There have always been Ravens at the Tower of London since time immemorial.
Since time immemorial the have been breeding and feeding the Ravens at the Tower. (These ones are quite plump). And to keep them from flying away, they clip their wings. This makes them hop around the place and disables them from flying. They are probably on disability benefits sponsored by the tax payer for the sake of british monarchy.
David Cooper, has an interesting job. He is the HR director for the Tower of London.
He gets to eat good lunch, when he joins the corporate bigigies who come to tower of London for their ‘away’ day. The challenge in his job, is to keep his staff motivated. Well, it can be quite a demotiating task to be quadring the crown jewels in a beefeaters uniform when it is warm and sunny outside over the thames. But that is not all. There are seven Ravens whom he needs to keep motivated, for the good of the Monarchy and the Britain at large.
Before animal rights acivists get a whiff of the hopping ravens and their clipped wings, let me tell you what I have been told. They don’t actually clip their wings. They get them from the bird sanctuaries and choose the ones who are already wounded and cannot quite fly.
The Raven keeper at the tower of London, goes to the nearby smithkline market everyday and buys fresh meat for the Ravens and they feast on it. Not a bad life at all , being a Raven at the tower of London. Lucky ones, they do not have to feel guilty about putting on weight. Poor things, they cannot fly and they have to eat to survive and thrive for the sake of the British Monarchy. Long live the Ravens.
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