Remembrance Day: Tribute to the heroes of World War I

It is Remembrance day - November the 11th, a day when we celebrate the sacrifice of the heroes of World War I. I had no idea that its celebrated in parts of India as well, since we also contributed to World War I, until the person I was meeting today read it out to me from the internet. A week close to Remembrance Day one can see people wearing the red poppy* to work, school etc in the UK. I thought it was a really nice gesture to say Thank You to the participants of World War I and their families without creating much noise.

So I had a meeting today around Trafalgar square and the person I was meeting was the one who pointed out that it's Remembrance Day and that explained the crowd and procession that I had seen on my way to the meeting. I thought it was a lovely gesture for the city to celebrate the day and for people to come together to contribute. On my way back, I saw there were still some people hanging out - musicians, artists, primary school students etc. and I thought I will stop by for 10 minutes and check out what's happening. 

My favourite bit about London are these serendipitous moments where you end up celebrating events you did not know about or meet people from a completely different part of the world who end up being the people you call everytime you are heading to a pub. Families who had lost near and dear ones during the war floated garlands that were stitched out of red poppies in the water body at Trafalgar Square. Musicians played songs and artists drew stuff relevant to the occasion on the road between Trafalgar Square and National Gallery. There was a particular artist who drew flags of all the countries, explaining how the war affected everyone.

Close to him, I saw this note on the road which caught my attention - You have been looking for a sign.. you have just found it. I did not know what to expect, and I saw a man, who was sitting on the road, writing poems on a huge part of the road with a chalk as a tribute to the soldiers. He had managed to get a large crowd engaged in the poems he wrote because they were genuinely good and befitting to the occasion. On the top, he also had a message, which said - A book of poetry for Little Angels @ Amazon.co.uk. 

Just when you thought that you have exhausted all means of taking your product or service to the customer - think again, may be there is a path that you haven't explored yet? 

Happy Remembrance Day. 

(*The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower that has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war, Source - Wikipedia)