<B>By Satcam Boolell</B>

Of all capital cities in the world, London has a special attraction. Anyone who visits it for a few weeks falls in love with it. But hotel rooms and residential flats are most expensive. Any tower block under construction easily finds purchasers. Rich people from the Far East and Arab sheiks from petrol rich countries buy the best offers not only as an investment but to spend their holidays.

The cosmopolitanism of London offers a unique opportunity of being familiar with the variety of cultures on show almost every week. The West Indian carnival in Notting Hill is an event of such popular dimension that it is now accepted as part of British culture. The small area near and around Gerrard Street in Soho, known as Chinatown, transports the visitor to the Far East with its restaurants, grocery shops and vegetable stalls in a typical décor with geometrical designs reminiscent of Hong Kong. Every year during the Spring Festival, the dragon dance attracts a huge crowd. Chinatown is also the haunt of gourmets from around the world.

In the very heart of London, there is Soho proper, a world apart where Greeks and Italians dictate the rule. A walk in that part which also contains the murky side with porn shops and massage parlours gives you the feel of both old and new England. Carnaby Street, which at one time dictated youth fashion and revolutionized it, has lost its old glamour but is still very much part of the Soho scene. The English poet, William Blake was born in Soho. In Summer, when Londoners are on holiday and the city is taken over by foreign tourists, cultural life spills outdoors where Shakespeare plays are staged in the open air in Kensington Gardens or Regent?s Park.

June and July are also the season of prom concerts under the baton of world famous conductors at the Royal Albert Hall. Painting exhibitions, some of which are likely to scandalize, like the Unmade Bed at the Tate Gallery, are regularly held. But London is not famous for renowned scenery painters as Paris is. The climate does not lend itself to outdoor painting. London does not boast of a leading place in architecture apart from St Paul?s Cathedral. The other landmarks do not vie with those on the continent. The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge are some of the highlights. The churches are gothic in style. There are also a few buildings from Tudor times, which have special attraction.

But London?s buildings lack variety. The uniformity of the terraced houses is monotonous and tiring to the eyes. Culture is so vast that, once you enter, it is not easy to get out with a complete survey. It may take days and months and yet something is left out. London?s cultural life can only be enjoyed by selection. One cannot encompass the whole gamut without losing appreciation of everything. My official duties did not leave me enough time to visit certain galleries with the latest trend in painting. I hope one day, during a private visit to London to find time to go to the Tate Modern.

I liked visiting bookshops like Foyles and Waterstone?s. It is a fascinating world and London is one of the leaders in the quality and high literary standards of books produced. They are expensive when they come out in hard cover. I always waited for the paperback edition for my collection of travel books and ancient history. When I returned to Mauritius I was surprised at the large collection, which took several boxes to pack. But all the trouble has been worthwhile because I have plenty to read before I reach my final destination.

I cannot close this chapter without mentioning that the UK is perhaps one of the few countries of the free world where liberty of expression is taken to its extreme limit. It is the only country where even the clergy of the established church do not hesitate to criticize aspects of Christianity which do not stand the test of logic. They treat the creation of the world, as described in Genesis, as grandmother?s tales. In some Islamic countries, where the mullahs hold sway, any deviation from Koranic teachings entails death. Christianity is like Hinduism, open to critical interpretation without the concomitant of head chopping. Sex is no longer a taboo subject in literature. There is no fig leaf when sexual behaviour is described. The recent trend in cinema is open and explicit sex. Some people express their shock at the licence allowed to a piece of pornographic work interpreted as art. What was being done in the secrecy of the boudoir has now come out in the open.

London is a fascinating world, complete with a rich variety of opportunities to enrich one?s culture and liberate the mind from superstition and irrational prejudices. Even those with modest means can derive the highest profit from visiting museums and art galleries where admission is free. Even browsing through books at Foyles and Waterstone?s, where special facilities are provided, is a self-satisfying experience.

Regarding the press, I must caution against too much indulgence. The tabloids look for sensation and do not have the same educational merit as the traditional sheets. The Sunday papers like the Sunday Times, Independent, Observer and Telegraph are rich sources of the latest development in art, literature and music. They are a real treat to the mind and I cannot praise too much the beauty of the language and the wealth of the contents. The long winter evenings provide ideal time to peruse the titles to keep posted about the latest trends. Because of in-depth studies of the subject, be it art or science, English publications carry more weight and are more reliable than similar treatises elsewhere.

There is, however, the reverse side of the medal. The boundaries of free expression have been pushed back too far. A new culture has developed, which brings into conflict the conservative values of Hindu and Muslim immigrants. The rising figures of free relationships between man and woman cohabiting outside the sanctity of marriage has created the social problem of single parents. The effort by the Church and political leaders to go back to basic moral values has failed to turn the tide. Sex has become a commodity for enjoyment. It is freely practised out of wedlock and no longer condemned as sin.

Drug taking, which has invaded schoolyards, is now affecting the establishment as a plague. Even some of the younger royals have not escaped the lure of nirvana induced by noxious concoctions. Disco clubs, the den of drug addicts, are multiplying like mushrooms. Every Saturday night, young boys and girls flock to these haunts of vice and crime. Often girls coming out intoxicated are raped and strangled and dumped in a bush or a lake. Many such crimes go undetected. The immigrant population with their different set of values are worried about bringing up their children in such an environment of licentious behaviour. They are fighting a rear guard action to keep them from such harmful influence. But for how long? Even in their home country the moral safe haven for family sanctity, which they left behind, is fast changing. The urge to imitate the West as a sign of trendiness is too strong in the Asian and African countries to stop the cultural assault hyped by the media.