LONDON - LEICESTER

It was August 2015, and my elder brother Akshit had completed his bachelor's from the University of Greenwich, London. So, my mother and my nani went there to attend his convocation day. Also, my nana lives in London and he has been living there since 1972 but my nani never got a chance to go to England. Every year my nana used to come to India but he never used to bring her there. Imagine a married guy living a bachelor’s life for so many years! So this was the chance that in the name of Akshit’s convocation, we will also surprise Nana by presenting him his wife directly in front of his door. That is how it went, we didn’t tell him that Nani was also coming just us, me and my mother. The reaction we got from our nana the moment he saw his wife after opening the door was crazyyyyy. He couldn’t believe it but he was so happy.

London

The convocation ceremony took place is Rochester Cathedral, Rochester, Kent. It was such a magnificent place, the infrastructure was old but so classy. The stage was set inside the Church. Refreshments were provided after degree distribution.

Buckingham Palace, the residence of the monarchy of the United Kingdom. It also included the administrative headquarters of the UK. The palace is built so beautifully and the infrastructure is just mind-blowing. It is guarded by the royal soldiers 24 x 7. Trafalgar Square is just a 10 to 15-minute walk from Buckingham Palace. I must say it is a very happening place. There are many street artists showing their skills. The atmosphere out there is quite joyful, you can just look around yourself and get entertained.

Leicester Square is a place where there are a lot of restaurants, shopping stores, massive showrooms, and food chains. A place where you will feel like spending all your time you have. From here you can also visit Oxford Street which is known to be one of the most expensive markets in the world.

From Westminster Bridge, you can have a clear view of the Parliament and Big Ben. I must say the Parliament of the United Kingdom literally looks like a royal castle, absolutely amazing. The London Eye can also be seen from this bridge.

The world’s most famous wax museum is “Madame Tussauds” which has wax statues of famous personalities from around the world. Prominent personalities from Bollywood to Hollywood, from history to the present, from the music industry to the dance industry, etc, this museum has it all. There is also a wonderful Sea Life Aquarium. The aquarium consists of a lot of aquatic species and they are very well preserved.

Dreams do come true and when they do, nothing can match your happiness. I have been a Chelsea fan since the day I started watching football and obviously, I knew, it was the golden chance to visit “Stamford Bridge”, the home ground of Chelsea F.C. I remember there were no league matches during the month of August, but then I came to know that a friendly match will be played between Chelsea and Fiorentina. Akshit’s friend Ibrahim surprised me by booking the match tickets. I can’t even explain the level of happiness, I was so excited that my dream was going to come true. Although we lost that match 0-1 with no issues, the main thing was feeling the atmosphere of the stadium, the chanting for club legends, watching the players live, and living the moment.

Akshit took me to Ibrahim’s place for a weekend to catch up with his university friends. It was such a pleasure meeting them all, they were really friendly and they greeted me very well. I met people from different countries, we shared our experiences, we played FIFA all night like it was a proper party and overall it was a nice meet-up. Then we all decided to go to “Go Apes”, it is an adventure spot kind of a thing—a great escape from city life to a jungle.

Leicester

Leicester is a kind of countryside. There are big houses with a good distance between them and massive farms. My chacha (paternal uncle) and his family live in Leicester. I remember coming to Leicester when I was 10-11 yrs old. It was now we were coming back and since it was after a really long time, it was a family get-together. One day my uncle took us to his sports complex for some swimming sessions and we went to the “City Centre”, the most famous shopping area in Leicester.

We also visited Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire which belongs to the Curzon family. You must have heard about Lord Curzon who once was the Viceroy of India. Kedleston has been the residence of this family for ages. The mansion was so massive, there were like 100’s of rooms in there, large fields spreading all over, it was so beautiful. It is almost about 35 to 40 miles from Leicester.