'Bhoomi' says Namastey London

London has its own charm and for first-time travellers to this capital of both United Kingdom and England, Bhoomi, it was enough to leave a lasting impact.
Sadly, their first UK tour was so tight that it didn’t leave room for much sightseeing, but the band members were more than happy soaking in the English weather. Having spent a night in London, the band headed to Liverpool.“The Tower Bridge is all that we could manage to see,” rues frontman Soumitra. The journey through the mustard fields was pleasantly invigorating and so was the train ride (at the speed of 120 miles/hour). “It was truly far from the madding crowd and made me wonder how the English countryside has time and again inspired authors to bring out their creative best,” says the vocalist.
While Liverpool was bitterly cold, the band members thought it best to dig into a sizzling hot English breakfast to keep themselves warm. Having spent two nights in Liverpool, where they had a primary show, it was time for Soumitra to take a car route to Glasgow, Scotland. “Here we parted, as I had my nephew driving me down to Scotland, while the rest of the band took a train,” explains Soumitra. On the way, they visited Lake District National Park and had a sumptuous English roast meal at Brother’s Water Inn. Another major tourist attraction at Lake District was Windermere. “It’s so much like good ol’ Darjeeling,” says Soumitra nostalgically, who has spent his growing years in the town.
Having performed in Glasgow, Bhoomi moved to Edinburgh. The beauty of the place was enough to take their breath away. “It looked like a 4D Harry Potter film. The narrow winding alleys, the castles seemed straight out of a fairytale. At some point in time, I thought some character of Harry Potter would just emerge with a wand in hand,” he says.
The band members made it to the Edinburgh castle and The Palace Holyroodhouse, official residence in Scotland of Her Majesty The Queen. Best known as the home of Mary, Queen of Scots, the palace was the setting for many dramatic episodes in her short and turbulent reign. “In fact, when some curious passers-by realised that we are from India, they complimented us saying how they’ve heard about Indian tradition and Indian weather. We were quick to say, ‘you love our weather and we love yours, if only we could exchange...’”
And then when the royal guard of The Palace Holyroodhouse, threw the gates open for the musicians to enter, in exchange for a thank you, he did say, ‘No, no my son’ in a royal baritone. “Everything about Edinburgh is majestic,” Soumitra adds. The trip to Edinburgh was organised by show hosts Allan and Headher and Soumitra recalls how one of them mistook Abhijit Ghosh’s surname for Ghost! “They rented out their apartment to us. It’s a typical English house with wooden structures. But there was a strong feeling of déjà vu. We felt as if we were living in the house for very long,” he says.
Their trip ending in the blink of an eye, it was time to return and when the band reached Heathrow, they couldn’t stop strumming country tunes on their newly picked up guitars.
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