The Birmingham Weekend

Birmingham happened out of no where and we have to credit Clare Edwards for the most amazing time we had! It was a pleasure and we loved every minute of our stay there!

We landed up in Birmingham right after WOMAD and after an early morning adventure getting to the railway station, we managed to board the train at the most beautiful Kemble Railway Station near Swindon and headed to Birmingham.

It wasn’t long after that we landed at the Birmingham New Street Station where Clare’s husband Richard was there to pick us up and not knowing the extent of our agility, was shocked when all 6 of us with our bags and instruments fit into his VW SUV! It was the first time something like that was even attemped in that car

We headed straight to Handsworth Park where we were supposed to play at the first ever ‘Handsworth Park Family Day’ that Clare was organizing.

Now Handsworth park is the MOST beautiful park I have ever seen! and I know I haven’t probably seen many parks, but this place took our breath away! there is just so much there, the beautiful lawns, the trees, the lake, it was a perfect location for a family day event and it felt like we were there on a picnic

We opened the festival and there were people just trickling in when we started but it was nice to play in the park and then head out on the lawns, stretch our mats and catch a snooze! The weather was just brilliant, it was bright and sunny and naturally, we took all the credit for it :p

Clare had arranged for us to stay at her lovely house and we had the best time there with her and her family. She even prepared Pav Bhaji for us so we won’t miss home too much and it was quite excellent! she officially has the endorsement of the Raghu Dixit Project for her Pav Bhaji!

The next day started with a lazy morning and while Raghu went out to catch up with old friends from Mysore, the rest of us went out to see the Birmingham City Centre with all its canals and malls and weirdly interesting buildings! It was fun to sit by the canals and have traditional English puddings and desserts and some Orignial Ale!

The show in the evening was at the Hockley Bar and Kitchen which is a nice little venue in Birmingham and it was for the local Birmingham residents and a few people that we had specifically invited to watch us. We had friends of ours drive down from Coventry etc to catch the show and by the looks of it, they loved it! which is always a good sign

This was the most Indians we had played to on the entire tour and it was quite a fitting finale to a very memorable and hopefully successful tour! Raghu even had to succumb to pressure and play ‘Mahadeshwara’!

A huge thank you from the band to Clare for putting this leg of the tour together and for the lovely time we had in Birmingham! If you ever come down to India, look us up

Photos uploaded here – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=286389&id=522175007&l=2bbfea5a37