The real meaning of Christmas holiday

Londoners take their Christmas holiday seriously. It is rare to find even one restaurant open in the city's busiest districts on that day

It’s hard to tell if Uber, the American cab aggregator service that has changed the way people commute across the world, tests your patience more in India than abroad. It began well while on a holiday in London with cabs reaching the pick-up point exactly as the app promised. Unlike back home, there was no need to call a cab driver to give directions because he was there in any case. Also, there was so much peace Ubering in London as no driver ever called to ask what the destination was or even where to come to pick you up. The app did its job efficiently and in silence, making you feel on top of the world. Like other good things, this was not supposed to last.

Soon enough, the silence (of drivers) turned into a torture and all peace was lost. Cancellations (made by drivers) started at a rapid pace as their pick-up points didn’t match with mine whether it was at Trafalgar Square, Greenwich or Kingston. This is what happened: The app showed ‘’meet the driver now’’. But there was no cab around. Dialling the driver was mostly a pointless exercise as he never answered the calls. Within minutes, he cancelled the booking. This was not a one off, leaving one stranded rather frequently. Having sensed my anguish over not being able to communicate beyond the app, a driver from Pakistan gave his reason while on a ride. The Uber drivers don’t take calls because they would be fined heavily (several lakhs, he said, to drive home the point) for talking on the phone while driving. I wasn’t convinced that was the only reason, but left it at that. Even so, Uber in London could possibly get higher ratings than in India for their punctuality and much cleaner cabs. Also any disputed charge gets credited back into your account with zero fuss.

Comparisons come naturally when in another country. So, it’s not about Uber alone. The marketing build-up around the Boxing Day discounts on December 26 has been striking, tempting one to draw parallels with the buzz ahead of the Diwali Big Billion sales and the like back home. Of course, the scale and size of advertising for Boxing Day across TV channels, newspapers and deal pamphlets, is multiple times that of our own Diwali discount campaigns. And the Boxing Day sale, the day after Christmas when everyone shut shop in London, is an event like no other. December 26 is devoted to shopping, with eager discount hunters queueing up outside high street stores as well as malls since early morning. As The Guardian reported a day before the sale, bumper Boxing Day crowds are expected on UK’s ailing high streets. “Millions of Britons are expected to make their annual pilgrimage to the Boxing Day sales despite the event being hijacked by last month’s Black Friday spree,’’ the newspaper said. At the time of writing this column, the queues are getting longer anywhere from Oxford Street to Mayfair to Canary Wharf and trains are running packed with shoppers rushing to stores of their choice. 

It’s not a surprise that everyone here has so much time to shop. The London city is on holiday. While schools and colleges are shut for 14 days, businesses are also in shutter down mode for days at a stretch. On Christmas Day, it was a rare sight to see even a restaurant open in the busiest districts of the city. Even street musicians took a day off. Celebration for locals and visitors meant cycling along the bank of the Thames. Is there ever such a closed holiday back home, one wondered. Closed holidays in India are never so fully closed, especially for businesses. Back home, on no special day does one have to hunt for food walking miles together. In the bustling city of London, it’s not quite so. With public transport to restaurants to shops to entertainment hubs taking a complete break from work on Christmas, taking in the sights and sounds of the city on a long walk was the only way out.

As the hotel I am in only provides breakfast with no restaurant for lunch or dinner, the lounge area got quickly converted to a touristy dining place with guests opening their hard-earned meal packets from far-off places. That felt like back home, making one forget the Uber blues of London.