In London after Brexit

July 6, 2016: London is my favourite city and so is the Taj St. James Court property. The good thing about this property is its quality and standard of service. It keeps getting better and better, year after year. This is reflected in the room service that is equipped to serve you chapatis, paranthas and dal tadka even at 2:30 am.

No wonder this hotel has become the London address for many Indians who visit the country. 
By chance, I met my friend Shailesh Lodha, the actor-writer-comedian of Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chasmah sitcom fame. We spent a late evening at the St. James Court hotel's famous Hamptons Bar over bar bites and light meals.

Yesterday evening I went to the Danish Ambassador Mr Claus Grube's residence on 55 Sloane Street to attend a reception hosted by him to mark the farewell of Sir Jeremy Quentin Greenstock, Chairman of United Nations Association (UNA), UK.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock is quite a famous diplomat who served as the Permanent Representative of UK to the United Nations. He was also the Chairman of the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee. He was also UK's special representative to Iraq.

With Lord Wood, Chairperson, UNA UK

The get-together has many barons, Lords and senior diplomats. I chatted up with Lord Wood who has took charge as the new Chairperson of UNA, UK.

From the Danish embassy I went to have dinner at Bombay Brasserie - the Indian restaurant managed by the Taj Group - with Baroness Sandip Verma and her husband Ashok. The food, as expected, was fantastic. Chef Sriram Aylur is still holding fort at St. James Court as well as Bombay Brasserie. However, the service does need to improve for sure.

With Lady Mohini Kent Noon

Today (July 6) I spent the whole afternoon and the evening at Richoux at 41 South Audley Street. I met up with quite a few people including Lady Mohini Noon and Gautam Lewis.

Lady Mohini Kent Noon has just released her book Black Taj in London and she accepted my invitation to attend the event in India. 
Gautam, who runs Freedom In the Air (FITA) flying school for the disabled in UK, is among the few and first disabled commercial pilots of the world. He has also been an Unesco ambassador for the Global Polio Eradication initiative. Gautam would be holding a photo exhibition in Kolkata and also screen his documentary on Mother Teresa in August 2016.

With Gautam Lewis

On Saturday evening I attended a private dinner at the Swiss Cottage area and also met up with few friends. In the morning I did meet some Commonwealth Parliamentary Affairs (CPA) officials.

I notice that Brexit after many days continues to be the most talked about subject in public discussions and discourses.

ess bee