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.

To Carluccio’s in Canary Wharf for a late lunch with an old friend who I haven’t properly caught up with in a few years. She’s planning to revitalise the Asian Network at KPMG and is currently organising their next big event. It was pleasing to hear that she hopes to bring some aspects of eastern philosophy into the proceedings.

On that topic it seems that the Bhagavad Gita has this decade outshone Sun Tzu’s Art of War (which took centre stage during the eighties) as the preeminent ancient eastern management text. Whilst an argument could be made for the current governance in India and China being a reflection of those books respectively, I think more interestingly the shift from one to the other perhaps echoes a general global change in attitudes. With the increasing emphasis placed on such matters as human rights and the environment, we have seen a movement in management theory towards more holistic stakeholder based agendas which have most obviously manifested themselves in business as CSR. However, I don’t really see this as having taken away from the importance of maximising shareholder value, rather I hope that it encourages managers to take a longer term view. After all, in an increasingly interconnected and media influenced world, consumers are more and more likely to vote against unethical corporations with their wallets.

To the London West End offices of Vantis for the City Hindus Network mentoring workshop as mentioned in my post of 7 May 2008. It was a great privilege and honour for your blogger as the youngest person in the room to chair a meeting attended by some of the most senior professionals from his community and the positive feedback received on the event was much appreciated by the organisers. One attendee even mentioned the workshop in his own blog (trackback).

To Great Portland Street for dinner at Lotus Thai and drinks at Loom bar to celebrate my friend C securing a place on the MBA program at Harvard Business School. She has just handed in her notice at KMPG but hasn’t yet been able to make any plans for travelling before she starts as her passport is being kept by the US Embassy for review before they issue her visa.

Blogging of handing in notices, N who was in C’s class at my university which was a couple of years ahead of myself and his sister P, is planning to leave his job as well. He told us that he will soon be joining his family business, a construction firm headquartered in Mumbai, to oversee the establishment of operations in the Middle East. This will no doubt be quite a change from his existing role on a front office desk at Citigroup’s investment bank, but I can hardly pass comment having undergone a similar career revolution myself. In fact, the route from City firms to family businesses seems to be becoming almost ubiquitous amongst the sons and daughters of successful Asian business owners with any links to London. Having had a long chat with P at the party as well, I would be surprised if she didn’t leave her own prestigious City job to follow the same path soon.

Then to the Tent at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace for a City Inter-Faith Forum Steering Group meeting. It was a small and very informative session and it was interesting to learn of the new approaches that the Forum will be taking – due to the unique nature of the City – in its work.

To the offices of Praefinium in Mayfair for a meeting with hedge fund manager, best selling author and leading figure in Indo-British relations, Alpesh Patel. Ostensibly it was an initial contact meeting between TiE (where Alpesh is on the board) and the City Hindus Network but the main aim was to consider what can be done to encourage a younger generation of people to get involved with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan; a noble cause indeed. We also had a much broader ranging discussion particularly around British and Indian politics.

To Liverpool Street Station for an alfresco meeting to finalise details of the City Hindus Network mentoring scheme particularly the mentoring workshop we are running for potential mentors on 19 May 2008. In addition to your blogger, committee members present were Aekta Mahajan who set up the Asian Mentoring Scheme at Accenture and Mamta Bhatia (blog) who is the Leadership Development Coach at Tesco.

Back to the House of Commons for an informative discussion on the business case for compliance with disability legislation as a guest of The Citizens Trust hosted by Tom Clarke CBE JP MP. I was representing my family business and attended with my sister who has just finished the final exams of her intercalated BSc at Tanaka Business School. The only other parliamentarian in attendance was Tom's fellow disability campaigner Lord Alf Morris who chairs The Citizens Trust’s parent charity The Disability Times Trust.

To the House of Commons for the Ramanavami Festival there as a guest of Minister of State Tony McNulty and Abhay Lakhani Parliamentary Advisor on Community Issues. Unfortunately Tony got called away to give a speech in the debating chamber and only joined us for the last few minutes of the event but the same Steve Pound MP from yesterday took his place as compere and host for the event along with Abhay. The event was focussed primarily on religious and cultural themes with a Ram pooja as well as Indian classical dance and music performances. These were interspersed with short addresses by various MPs and community leaders. General Secretary of Hindu Council UK Anil Bhanot made what I perceive as the biggest political contribution with a direct request to Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt who was in attendance to press the importance of preserving the Ram Setu bridge at the next Indo-UK Round Table that she will be attending in Delhi. The issues around this are quite interesting, it being a very real example of the intersection between Religion, Economics and the Environment. Overall the event was well executed and very informing packing much content into a short timeframe and bringing many aspects and sections of the British Hindu community together in a true masala.

To the Washington Hotel Mayfair – which incidentally is owned by a British Indian – for the Labour Friends of India (LFI) Annual Luncheon as a guest of Saffron Chase. The compere for the event was current LFI chair Steve Pound MP. Our Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the chief guest of honour with current Mayor of London Ken Livingstone following him. Both gave speeches of some interest on the subject of Indo-British relations. Gordon received a particularly large round of applause when he said ‘I believe the (UN) Security Council without India cannot be a Security Council reflecting the reality of the day’. In general, I have found that the Labour party follows a more proactive line in dealing with India relations when compared to their opposition. Ken highlighted his recent opening of offices in India during his own speech but his Conservative criticisers have tended to scoff at these efforts charging him with wasting money. However I think that – as an emerging superpower and one of the fastest growing economies in the world – British policy makers cannot afford to ignore India and should be doing all they can to maintain our country’s historically close relationship. At the event the Fenner Brockway medal was presented by the PM to a predecessor as Labour Party Leader Lord Neil Kinnock who currently chairs the British Council. I took the opportunity to introduce myself to him after the speeches and lunch were over and found him to be quite engaging. I also met International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander along with the PM’s Special Envoy for Forestry Barry Gardener MP. Other distinguished attendees included His Excellency Mr Asoke Mukerji the acting Indian High Commissioner, Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw, Minister for Olympics Tessa Jowell and British Ambassador for Overseas Business industrialist Lord Swraj Paul. It was great to see so many of in our government supporting the importance of good relations with India and it was a very well put together and enjoyable event. Happily I bumped into a few old friends and acquaintances as well and I shared a particularly entertaining walk and tube ride back to the office with a Partner at a boutique securities trading firm which does a lot of work on Indian products.

To Corney & Barrow Paternoster Square for Karamsad Samaj UK Youth’s Networking Night. It was an opportunity to finally meet the chair of their committee who I’ve been in correspondence with previously on an unrelated issue around the Shri Vallabh Nidhi (UK) Trust. I bumped into a couple of old contacts and a relation there as well so it turned out to be a quite an enjoyable night, although it did seem to be arranged along the lines of a nightclub with the result that there wasn’t much opportunity for any real networking.

To my club for dinner with an old acquaintance. He recently left GLG Partners (where a survey by Alpha magazine has revealed that the co-founders each took home $350m last year) to join a small British Indian owned Fund of Hedge Funds focusing on emerging markets. It’s always good to get some insight from industry professionals; perhaps I will invite him to the next Information Arbitrage meeting.

To Waterloo, then to Twickenham, and on to Hounslow for an extended meeting with the editor of e-magazine Hindu Voice UK (blog) – which at the time of posting has a substantial circulation of around 30,000 – and a couple of his contacts to discuss a project we are working on.

To Rex Bar and Cinema for the engagement party of probably the most golden couple from my university years, A and K. I recently holidayed with A and a few of our mutual friends at his villa in Murcia. With the memories of that break fresh in our minds it was a jolly good night out and great to catch up with some other old friends.

To Lambeth Palace as a guest of the Archbishop of Canterbury to attend the Lambeth Inter Faith Lecture given this year by Professor Anantanand Rambachan on the subject Hindus and Christians: Celebrating Friendship and Facing Challenges with Hope. An interesting talk which was – as usual with these things – followed by some challenging discussions with the speaker as well as Rt Revd Dr Rowan Williams who didn’t seem to have any problems with taking the floor when certain audience members decided to direct their questions at him rather than the lecturer.

To the Radisson Edwardian Hotel Heathrow for the Lohana Community North London Business & Professional Seminar dinner as a guest of HELM Asset Management. It’s organised annually by a cousin of the Lornamead brothers whose son is very well known in the British Asian nightclub scene. Unfortunately he wasn’t there, but I did bump into my uncle who is a Director at Bank of Scotland Corporate and on his table was one of the Director/brother’s at Sigma Pharmaceuticals (a big supplier to my family business) whose son I met last year at a friend’s sister’s wedding. Guest Speaker for the night was Sanjeev Shah who has just taken over from star manager Anthony Bolton at Fidelity on their Special Situations Fund. No real insight from him on the global economy as he held he takes a bottom up approach but he was of the opinion that there is some value now available in the financial services and banking sector. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event though and quite surprising to see so many people there from outside of the Lohana community.