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.