Leicester changing with the times

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Large parts of Leicester, the town in England where I live, came to a standstill recently as thousands took part in parades which flooded the streets with music and colour. The sun shone down as the city celebrated Vaisakhi and the annual St George’s parade.
Welcome to Leicester, one of the UK’s most multicultural and multi-ethnic cities.

Reports say around 25 per cent of the city’s people originally came from south Asia. Thousands of Indians, mainly Gujaratis, arrived in Leicester after they were driven out of Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. The original residents were not at all pleased by these developments and the city council allegedly took out advertisements in the Ugandan press in an attempt to deter the dispossessed Asians from settling in Leicester.

Much water has flowed under the bridge since then. Today, Belgrave Road is the high street of Indian Leicester and it is widely predicted that the white community in the city will be a minority in a couple of years. In fact, to understand Indian wealth in the city, one only has to walk down Belgrave Road or the ‘Golden Mile’ – thus known because of the large number of jewellery shops that dot the road on both sides. You would not be mistaken if, while strolling down Belgrave Road or the adjacent Melton Road, you thought you were in Ahmedabad or Baroda. There’s a veritable basement bazaar (Cash and Carry) selling everything from incense, idols, Indian music CDs and stainless steel vessels. ‘Jai Shri Krishna’ is the commonly heard greeting in these parts. You could step into Mirch Masala for a Jain bhel (no onions or garlic) or try out a trendy salwar kameez at Indi-kal.

Leicester’s Diwali celebrations are the largest in the UK outside of London. Around 40,000 people reportedly gathered on Belgrave Road last year to fitness the festivities. And, going by the sales in the jewellery shops, it seemed as if the traditional exchange of gold hadn’t been affected by the credit crunch at all. Leicester is also home to a significant number of Poles, Somalis, Bangladeshis, Iraqis, Iranians and Turks, among others. In fact, there are Polish supermarkets, pubs and restaurants close to my home. I read recently in a report that the Mongolian population is one of the fastest growing new communities here. No wonder then that I often get to hear about 20 languages being spoken in a school, college or a GP surgery. You can’t get more multicultural than that!