What's great about UK and London ?

I visited London, UK, for the first time ever, last week...May 3rd week 2018. I fell in love with London! Only when one visits can one discover how England came to contribute to the civilization of the world. 

One is the availability of large open spaces in London where people can gather. Large spaces are vital for people to get together and discuss or debate important issues. Large space availability may appear 'not-really-important' for some people but I believe this is vital. For people to gather together and discuss may have contributed to the birth of important movements and ideas. I saw many such large open spaces in London.

The warmth, easy-going friendly responsive nature of the people here also is a great attraction. Tourists have to feel good if they are to enjoy a visit and one can feel good only of the locals are friendly. 

The lively atmosphere in all the places I visited, was a major attraction of London for me. People were ever willing to help us when we asked for directions and I loved their sweet,smiling-joking demeanor with complete strangers like me. 

The absence of racism and the absence of the leering, threatening behavior of men toward women which is seen in many eastern countries like India, is another major factor which makes the western countries and London attractive to women travelers. 

The respect for people, justice, the striving toward high ideals is visible in their ads. Here is one ad or instruction which impressed me, on a seat in a public transport vehicle.

 I loved the fact that one can dress as oddly and eccentrically as you want, look as weird as you want, but no one comments, stares or mocks you. There is this wonderful freedom which is lacking in many other countries or places. 

The cleanliness(in the tourist spots of London I visited), the huge number of cafes and restaurants and pubs are other major 

attractions for tourists. The availability of cheap food in grocery stores was another. I bought really cheap, fresh and great food for breakfast in grocery stores.

I really appreciated their honesty about their history, This honesty is sorely missing in India,  where the citizens and the government are both unwilling to publicly and openly acknowledge the wrongs and injustices which have occurred in India. Indians (and many other countries) have fragile egos and cannot bear to tolerate any criticism of their country and if a country finds it difficult to acknowledge it's mistakes, how can there ever be improvement or progress? Indian history text books never point out the stupidities and crimes committed by the Indian kings and ruling governments. Maharastrians went on rampage when something, perceived as "critical' was published about Shivaji in a book!   The only criticism of wrongdoing I have seen printed in Indian textbooks is about Aurangzeb, the Mughal ruler. 

 In London, I saw the past wrongs done by their kings and their governments, acknowledged openly in print in museums, in the Tower of London, etc.  This honesty can also be seen in the writings put up next to art or science works in museums. Here are a few examples.  

 Below is the acknowledgement of the poor treatment of soldiers. 

Below is the lucid details  of the inhuman punishments meted out to soldiers in those days. 

Below is the acknowledgement of plundering by British soldiers...will  India ever acknowledge the crimes by Indian kings and their armies? NO WAY! Everyone will raise their vice in protest! When will Indians ever become mature, honest  and humble enough to acknowledge wrongs? Until we develop this level of honesty, humility and maturity, until Indians stop being egoistic fools, we can never progress

I also appreciated the fact that the humble art work of young children was displayed in one of the biggest art galleries in London, the National Art Gallery in Trafalgar square. Below are the children's art works. 

Despite the continuation of monarchy in the UK, it is a true democracy when compared to India which is supposed to be the "biggest democracy in the world". 
The more I saw of London, the more depressed I became about India, being ruled by ruffian criminal politicians. Elections are going on in Karnataka my home state when I was in London(May 2018) and I was following up on the news. The difference between the behaviour of the politicians and people in general in UK when compared to Indians, especially the politicians is staggering, to say the least. The last I read in UN in a UK newspaper was about the anger of the UK citizens about their leaders not having the political will to keep out the corrupt Russain politicians and their money out of UK; the last I read about Indian elections in India when I was in the UK, was the hijacking of the MLAs after elections and before the swearing in!