To Canary Wharf and then Broadgate for Candlelight Peace Vigil for victims of the Mumbai attacks. A spectacular turn out of around 700 people in total was secured by organisers SEWA Volunteers, which included many dignitaries and most major media channels. On to dinner with the main event coordinators at a local Indian restaurant.

To the Nehru Centre for the Launch of Atma Singh’s book, An Asian Century Manifesto. Atma is best known as one of the key sources used in the Channel 4 Dispatches program which accused Ken Livingstone of financial profligacy, cronyism and links to a Trotskyite faction conspiring to transform London into a "socialist city state" during his time as Mayor of London.

To the Palace Theatre to see the matinee showing of west end musical Spamalot where Sanjeev Bhaskar is playing King Arthur. It was quite hilarious, very much a laugh a minute. I went along with one of my Information Arbitrage chums and a few of his friends and we all had dinner together at a local Indonesian restaurant.

To Hummus Bros in Holborn for a London Geek Dinner organised in association with Open Finance Coffee Club and The Thalesians. The special guest speaker was James Gardener (blog), Head of Innovation and Research at Lloyds TSB. He had some interesting things to say about big companies loosing the source code to their core systems and the rise of PayPal as well as his pet Innovation Market project at Lloyds TSB. I understand he will be publishing a book soon.

To Stock Brook Country Club in Billericay for a breakfast presentation by Stephen Blackman, the Senior Economic Advisor at the Royal Bank of Scotland on the state of the economy. I have been following the economic situation very closely recently, and so perhaps there was very little new information that could have been transmitted in the short period of time available. But Stephen gave a good overview of the situation in an entertaining style.

To Lambeth Palace (last mentioned 10 April 2008) for the third module of the Faith in Leadership course (last mentioned 21 August 2008). Special guest speakers included Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, Samuel Klein, Director of the Co-existence Trust, pioneer of faith based provision in communities Harmander Singh, Track II diplomat Peter Everington, and leading PR specialist Ben Rich. There was also a presentation by young people from Yewlands School who were the focus of the second module of the course which I was unfortunately unable to attend. The day was rounded off with a formal meal attended by a range of leaders from interested backgrounds and professions. It was a great rounding off of the course but I am sure that the program will live on. It provided the participants with a wide ranging toolbox to help them take their lives forward and was an excellent opportunity for them to make new and exciting contacts.

To the Civil Service Club (last mentioned 8 April 2008) for a Seminar on Representation of British Indians in the Public Sector organised by Shaheed Nanak Singh Foundation. Speakers included chairman Dilip Joshi MBE (last mentioned 27 June 2008), patron Dr Rami Ranger MBE, Alok Mitra of the Ethnic Minority Business Group, Cllr Anjana Patel, Dr Kishna Sarda of the Ethnic Minority Foundation, Mark Laffan Director of headhunders Veredus, Mei Sim Lai Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, and Stephen Pound MP (last mentioned 23 April 2008). I also was invited to contribute a few words on young professionals' perceptions of working for the public sector which I transcribe here:

Through my role as chair of the City Hindus Network I have always maintained a focus on the issues that we have been discussing today.
Indeed during our launch event which was held in June 2006 I identified two damning statistics: (1) that only 3% of partners in the largest city law firms came from ethnic minorities, and (2) that there was only one non-white British born director in the FTSE100.
I doubt in the more than two years since then we have made much, if any, progress in these regards. However at the City Hindus Network we have begun to implement some initiatives to try and improve representation starting from the grass roots levels. For example we have recently piloted a mentoring scheme to help the development of young professionals from our community, and indeed some of the mentors are sitting with us today.
While the statistics show that our community makes a disproportionately large contribution to the economic, cultural and social life of this country, what I believe we really need is a future where minority communities in the UK have the opportunity to contribute to our great institutions as well, not only the boardrooms of our biggest companies, but also in the public sector, in our senior civil service from town hall to Whitehall, the officer classes of our armed forces, our police force, house of commons, judiciary, and so on.
So what are our young professionals’ perceptions of these public sector institutions in particular? Yes, they are seen as more bureaucratic than the private sector. But a bigger problem is that they are seen as less meritocratic. Whereas in the City, with the big bang, US institutions were able to bring a culture of ‘eat what you kill’, the impression is that it is far harder for minorities to get ahead in the public sector.
This must change, and it would certainly be helpful if the next generation of young people from our community had role models who they could identify with, and whose achievements in these areas they could look up to, follow and ultimately exceed.
But neither must we doubt their necessarily inherent ability to break the glass ceilings themselves. With the current crises that are raging it appears that the state will be playing a far bigger role in our economy going forward. We may even find that the new masters of the universe are the mandarins with their compensation which now often matches and sometimes even exceeds private sector pay, their greater job security, and their gold plated government backed final salary pensions.
In a curious cycle of action and reaction it is possible that the markets, the job market in particular – with more and more people from minorities forcing down the gates of a greatly attractive public sector – could provide the greatest impetus for movement on these issues of all.

To the offices of Mishcon de Reya (last mentioned 15 July 2008) for a fundraising event to mark a year in operation of Indian social entrepreneurship charity UnLtd India. The charity auction run by Alpesh Patel (last mentioned 17 June 2008) at the event was a great success and raised over £6,300. There were many other old friends and acquaintances in attendance as well – who I had an excellent time catching up with – and a few of us went for dinner together after the event finished.

To the Museum of London Docklands for the launch of the UK arm of the Indian sex trafficking prevention charity Odanadi which was timed to coincide with EU Anti Trafficking Day. Speakers at the event included ethical fashion designer Katharine Hamnett and Virendra Sharma MP a member of the Joint Committee for Human Rights. The event featured a photographic exhibition of trafficked women and children which the charity had rescued by fashion photographer Kristen Perers as well as music by classically trained Indian violinist Bhupinder Roopra.

To City Hall for the London Hindu community’s first official meeting with the new Conservative administration that has been installed following Boris Johnson’s victory in the Mayor of London elections. Community relations are being handled by Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes (last mentioned 8 April 2008) whose appointment was predicted in this blog. The main thrust of the meeting was to ensure that the promises made to our community prior to election – on which there has been negligible progress so far – are actioned. We hope that our next meeting at City Hall will be attended by the Mayor himself as well.

To Piya Piya for a party organised by Aekta Mahajan (last mentioned 7 May 2008) and some of her friends which raised over £3,000 for the Unique Home for girls orphanage in India. The very effective but subtle promotion strategy helped to create an unusually friendly atmosphere that I have not really come across at similar events. It was in all respects a great success.

To Fly One coffee bar to attend the Chinmaya Yuva Kendra (CHYK) study class there which the City Hindus Network (CHN) helped to promote when it was first set up. Then on to dinner at the local Pizza Express with the organisers as a follow up to their conference on 31 August 2008. I have a great confidence in CHYK UK and their rapid growth has been very impressive. I am sure CHN will be working with them on some other projects going forward.

To the new offices of the London Jewish Forum to attend their informal ‘house’ warming. It was good to catch up with their Chair and to meet their new CEO. The Hindu and Jewish communities not only share hard work, entrepreneurial spirit and emphasis on family life as common traits but also in the wider world both face threats from Islamic neighbours and attacks by Islamic terrorists in the nations of origin.

To St Gregory’s RC School in Kenton Harrow for SEWA International’s sponsored night walk which raised around £6,000 to £8,000 for the event’s two beneficiaries Middlesex Association for the Blind and the Mamta Welfare Trust (who provide funds to a special needs school for blind children in India). The 5km route was navigated in perfect weather and there was an excellent turnout of almost 700 participants. This great attendance must surely reflect an increasing unity in my community and is another demonstration of our continuing contribution to life in the UK.

To UCL’s Institute of Child Health for Lift Yourself (A Meeting of Enquiring Minds), a one day conference organised for students and young professionals to introduce them to some of the key ideas of Vedanta, as a guest of the organisers Chinmaya Yuva Kendra (CHYK) UK. The morning sessions consisted of lectures from Swami Swaroopandana, one of the spiritual leaders of the Chimaya Mission, and these were followed after lunch by discussion groups and question and answer sessions. I am always impressed by the attendance at CHYK UK events and this was no exception with an impressive turnout from a wide range of younger people. It was good to catch up with some of the organisers and as usual for this sort of event there were many other familiar faces in attendance as well.

Day three's sessions were run predominantly by David Megginson, founder of the European Coaching and Mentoring Council and Professor of Human Resource Development and Sheffield Hallam University, whose antics during yesterday’s games had already rather endeared him to the participants. The most insightful part of the day, I thought, was to watch him conduct a live and unrehearsed coaching session with a fellow participant.

The program finished at 5pm after a long thank you and goodbye. But this was not unwarranted as I think all participants must have come away from the course having made some sincere new connections and perhaps even having undergone a personal development experience themselves.

I also found it very positive that the largest faith representation of participants was from my own tradition. This is not something that would be expected in my experience from a multi faith based event. So it is particularly pleasing to deduce that there must be an extraordinarily talented and rather flourishing generation of leaders emerging from my community.

It was a thoroughly engaging three days and FiL is a programme I would not hesitate recommend to any emerging faith community leader.

Day two was similarly fully packed, indeed each day’s proceedings started at 7:30 with an opportunity for half an hour quiet time for meditation, reflection or prayer.

Lectures were by Dena Michelli a leading expert in personal transformation. In our groups we analysed our performances in yesterday’s group exercise though watching the videos that had been recorded. And Krish also led an interesting simulation on negotiation.

During dinner a gentleman by the name of Gerald Henderson who co-ordinates a project in Liverpool called Hope in the Cities joined my table. He had given a very humble speech at yesterday’s more formal dinner but speaking to him today I was humbled myself by a man who had travelled the world helping people far less fortunate than any of us and never once having taken a salary from the charities he worked for. It was his life’s mission and calling he said, but meeting people like that forces me to struggle with the materialism and attachment that permeates my own life.

The evenings activities included a series of fun and games created by the program participants but which all the program contributors took part in including the organisers, consultants, faculty and experts. These were an excellent way of interacting and getting to know other group members and as they tapered off participants naturally tended towards faith based discussions and it was inspiring to hear the level of detail into which some young people have studied their traditions.

To Liverpool Hope University – the only ecumenical college in Europe – for module one of the Faith in Leadership (FiL) course, a national leadership programme for emerging change-makers from the different faith traditions in Britain. The FiL project was put together and organised by the founders of Learn to Lead particularly their chief executive, Krish Raval, whose vision the programme realises.

There were around 30 participants on the programme who were split into four groups each facilitated by two consultants for small group activities. These were interspersed with lectures and larger group activities.

Small group activities on day one involved introductions, producing ground rules for the programme, and a videoed group exercise. Larger group activities included a conducting workshop given by Peter Hanke a leading contemporary choral music and chamber opera conductor who runs a sideline in executive leadership courses. His input was quite astonishing: he was able to ascertain subtle aspects of a person’s character from watching them conduct for only a minute or so and suggest improvements that would not only enhance their conducting skills but which could be applied to their leadership performance in wider life as well. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to conduct a chamber choir and its impact reminded me somewhat of the current BBC Series Maestro. Krish rounded up the development and learning for the day with a lecture introducing some of the salient themes in the academic study of leadership.

There was then a formal dinner in the evening during which the organisers and facilitators took on the role of waiting on the participants, supporters and special guests. This was not only a wonderful thought but was also a practical expression of the service philosophy conveyed by the charity funding the programme, Initiatives of Change, whose chair of trustees, Elisabeth Tooms, gave the keynote speech during the dinner.

To Starbucks next to Bank tube station underneath One Poultry to meet Bhavan Ramanathan who runs the Accenture Hindu Network. I have met him a few times before at various events but this was the first time we had sat down on a one-to-one basis. This is of course the best way to get to know people better and I think we are both looking forward to working together more closely going forward.

To the London offices of BDO Stoy Hayward (they have recently relocated to the old Marks & Spencer headquarters) to catch up with one of their newly made up partners. I first met him at an Indian-Jewish Association event titled ‘Giving back – philanthropy in the Indian and Jewish tradition’ hosted by the same firm at their old offices on 14 November 2007. I believe he is the first person from my community to be promoted to partner level at BDO so it was quite interesting to get his perspective on the various issues we discussed.

To London Academy in Edgware for day one of the Life Coaching Through Eastern Wisdom programme which was essentially a series of lectures given by Pujyashree Bhupendrabhai Pandya spiritual leader of the Samakti Seva Parivar. The event was organised by an old contact of mine who used to run Hindu Youth UK and it was interesting how she decided to market the event, with the extensive use of sponsors and the absence of any mention of Hinduism. This perhaps allowed it to appeal to a wider audience and it was very successful I think in attracting a range of people who would not normally attend this sort of event. The day finished off with a networking session designed to give attendees a chance to meet like minded individuals and I thought this worked well, appealing to particularly the younger professionals to whom the event was probably most targeted towards.

To Central Hall Westminster as a guest of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, for the launch of her department’s strategy and action plan ‘Face to Face and Side by Side: A framework for partnership in our multi faith society’. A vegetarian lunch was followed by a formal session of talks with Hazel opening followed by Dr Harriet Cabtree OBE, director of the Inter Faith Network for the UK, Revd Nims Obunge MBE chief executive of The Pace Alliance and finishing with Parmajit Dhandha, Minister for Community Cohesion. I found it difficult to identify any particular new change in direction – which is so much needed – from the talks, but the event was useful in that I managed to catch up with some of my community’s leaders who I haven’t seen in a while as well as a few other contacts.

To the offices of Mishcon de Reya for a seminar titled ‘After the Crunch? Considerations for Hedge Fund Managers’. There was a talk from Deutsche Bank and one from Grant Thornton as well as a two from Mischons. The first Mishcons presentation was around best practice in the industry particularly the statements provided produced by AIMA, HFSB and the US President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. But judging by the questions raised after the presentations and discussions with other attendees during the drinks and canapés that followed, I don’t have much confidence that anyone working in Hedge Funds is taking any of it very seriously. After all one of the USPs of hedge funds must be that they are lightly regulated and therefore better equipped to respond quickly to fast changing markets and environments, and their investors will no doubt be sophisticated enough to perform their own due diligence and make a call themselves on any issues that regulations might be expected to oversee. The second Mishcons talk was around litigation and focused on the financial services industry but there were a couple of points made that I think would be worthwhile repeating here as they might be useful to anyone who is or might be involved in any kind of action:

1. That litigation is all about settlement as 95% of cases settle
2. That legal privilege can be used to avoid document disclosure in potential future cases

Also mentioned was the emergence of litigation as an asset class and it will be interesting to see how this will develop. It was an engaging and educational event and having found both Mishcons partners that I know separately to be particularly amiable, it was no surprise to find that I was very well looked after by my host today.

Back to the Landmark Hotel Marylebone for day two of the investment forum. It was less well attended than day one when it seemed that far more people turned up than the organisers had been expecting, but it was all the same no less useful. Opening up India’s economy seemed to be the theme of the day with this as one of the major themes in the financial industry panel and the disparities between how Indian companies are treated abroad and how foreign companies are treated in India discussed in the subsequent panel. The somewhat surprising acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories by the Japanese pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo was covered in the pharmaceutical industry panel. The day finished with lunch during which S (who I first met at the lunch on 22 June 2008 and who also happened to be attending the conference) and I were joined at our table by a lady who described herself as a fund manager at HSBC. She was there with her daughter who said she was shadowing her mum for the week. When they got up to leave and the mother gave us her business card we discovered that she was in fact the Head of Global Equities at HSBC Asset Management.

Reflecting on that incident I am reminded of the significance that the passing of knowledge from parent to child can have in the child’s eventual success. Examples of this transfer and the great achievements that precede and result are abound in sports and the arts. But the subcontinent seems to have a virtual monopoly on this in business with its dynasties: the only two examples in the west that immediately come to mind are the Murdoch’s and Tom Hartley’s. And discussion of this, so prominent in the culture and fabric of India, seemed to be the only thing that was missing from the conference.

To the second Annual Euromoney India-Europe Investment Forum at the Landmark Hotel Marylebone. Opening speeches were by Uday Kotak, Founder and MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Anshu Jain, Head of Global Markets at Deutsche Bank. I was quite surprised to hear Anshu saying that he and fellow bankers including those at other firms could see the credit crunch coming but continued to take unusual risks because of the short-termist attitude that being a listed company encourages management to take. Perhaps that is why we have seen so much private wealth flow to family owned banks since the crisis hit. The speeches were followed by a panel on India’s Economy with Rajya Sabha members Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto and N K Singh featuring among others. This gave a distinctly political bias to the discussions but it is very hard to take a view on the economy of India without viewing the country through the prism of its political environment. In my opinion politics presents the greatest risk while also being the greatest asset – when compared to other emerging markets – to any potential investment in India. Given that most of the remaining panels emanated a generally downbeat attitude particularly with the recent falls in the Indian market, the Media and Entertainment panel, which included Ravindra Dhariwal, CEO of Bennett Coleman (owner of the world’s largest broadsheet English daily), and Kishore Lulla, Chairman and CEO of Eros International, was surprisingly positive. All the panellists sounded as if they expected their companies to continue to report record profits. They also took an unusually blasé and nonchalant attitude to piracy considering the attitudes of their western counterparts. The day finished off with a cocktail and canapés reception which was a good opportunity to get to know some of the other delegates under a more relaxed atmosphere. Interestingly, there seemed to be a collection of young British Indians in attendance who perhaps are not too much more than spectators right now, but could be putting together big deals soon. I already knew a couple of these people from other unrelated events but I have no doubt that I will come across most of them on the circuit again soon.

To Ethnic Minority Foundation’s Boardman House in Stratford to present a case study with Dilip Joshi MBE of Hindu Council UK explaining to students from Goucher College, Baltimore, Maryland about the community work that we do and the issues that our community faces. It gave me the opportunity to express some of the conclusions that have resulted from my recent email discussions with Mamta (last mentioned 7 May 2008) about the relative achievements between Indian diaspora in the UK and the USA. Both Dilip and I mentioned Arun Sarin in our presentations as he is perhaps the most interesting case in point having been born and brought up in India but now coordinating a career at the highest levels spanning both sides of the Atlantic.

To Fox @ Stratford for lunch and drinks with V, the chap I met for dinner on 17 April 2008, and a few of his friends.
Quoting chapter 2 of journalist Thomas Friedman’s seminal work The Lexus and the Olive Tree (1999):

‘Maybe that explains why I gradually found that some of my best intellectual sources these days were neither professors of international relations nor… diplomats, but rather… hedge fund managers. [They tend] to be extremely well informed about global affairs and [have] a natural ability and willingness to arbitrage and interpolate information from all six dimensions [politics, culture, security, markets, technology and the environment] before drawing their conclusions.’

Using this definition we really were arbitraging information. There was a particularly interesting discussion around biofuels including the next generations of technologies: jatropha and algae. An excellent bunch of people and I’m sure our paths will cross again soon.

To Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Kensington with a good friend of mine – Deepti Patel who while having a day job as a trainee lawyer has managed to maintain a very strong interest in the area of arts and culture – for a meeting with their executive director and one of their trustees. This was a follow up to my meeting with Alpesh Patel on 15 May 2008 and the discussion on how to get a younger generation of people involved with the running of the Bhavan was continued. We will be forwarding some proposals to them around this shortly. The enthusiasm and genuine friendliness of people dedicated to charity and community work never fails to impress me but the two people I met today were particularly likeable. I do really hope that we can help them in at least some small way.

To the PwC offices at Embankment for the Vaishnava Professionals Network’s (VPN) event The Pursuit of Happiness hosted by the PwC Hindu Network. It was an interactive workshop covering introductory topics on parts of the Bhagavad Gita. The speaker was a young professional himself, previously having completed in the Teach First scheme and currently working as a financial trainer. His background and experience in training and teaching meant that he was perfectly suited to running the workshop and presenting the material. The event provided a helpful introduction to the themes and it will be interesting to see how ISKCON will use the VPN as a conduit going forward. They already have a good track record of establishing powerful organisations including Pandava Sena and more recently I-Foundation which will be opening the first UK based Hindu state school in September.

To the Sofitel Hotel St James for the International Network for Asian Businesses (INAB) Strategies for Success event organised by Orcha Group. The evening started with a great set of seminars including a particularly interesting talk from the International Director of Asian Art at Christies on Art as an alternative investment strategy. Some of the returns highlighted were quite astonishing although he didn’t say anything to dispel the perception that it is a closed and difficult market to access. These were followed by a panel discussion around the question ‘Are Asian businesses recession proof?’ One of the panellists was the CEO of a supplier to my family business and in light of the bad feelings amongst many of his firm’s customers and members about their recent treatment I could not help but ask him a slightly naughty off topic question to raise these issues. The final part of the event was a networking session over drinks and an excellent finger buffet during which I took the opportunity to meet a range of new people and also caught up with some old contacts and acquaintances. It was a very well organised event and a thoroughly entertaining evening.