At London's India

17 June, 2014: On Sunday June 15 evening I gave Women India Association's Summer Ball a miss. I came back from lunch at about 4:30 pm and was in no mood to go again for yet another big formal affair.

However, later I regretted it when I came to know that it was a very well organized glittering evening at the Grosvenor House Hotel. The Women India Association was set up by Vijay Laxmi Pandit in 1960 which undertakes and supports quite a number of charitable activities.

But on Sunday evening I did drop by at Taj's St James Courtyard where the Art of India week reception and award presentation to Paresh Maity was on. The Art of India week developed with Mayfair Times and Curzun Prand, partnered by private bankers J P Morgan and The Taj Hotels, has been a roaring success. The preparation for another event in 2015 is currently on.

I met up with some of the art lovers of London and also Suhel Seth who came in a little late as he had gone to the Women India Association ball.

Paresh himself was not present at the event due to some issues related to delay in Visa as informed by the organizers.

Yesterday I went to Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon which is the birth place of Shakespeare (pic). 

With bust of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at a small English town called Stratford-upon-Avon- the birth place of Shakespeare

I was happy to see a bust of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in the compound.

Today I went to the House of Commons to meet Priti Patel, Member of Parliament, who has been given the charge of Indian diaspora affairs by the Prime Minister of UK. Uganda born Priti, who represents Witham constituency, is a popular MP who champions the cause of India and Indians and has been in news in recent times for criticising BBC's portrayal of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also for calling off EU ban on Indian mangoes.

Priti was in Kolkata few years back with Prime Minister David Cameron and had visited the Howrah Bridge. She is planning a big Indian event in London this September.

In the evening, I was there at the beautiful tea terrace of the House of Lords overlooking the Thames river, thanks to Lord Meghnad Desai and his wife Kishwar who invited me for tea. Lord Desai also accepted to deliver the next lecture at the Prabha Khaitan Memorial Lecture series scheduled tentatively end of July or early August.

Tomorrow I have a number of meetings lined up. London, like Kolkata and Jaipur, always keeps me very busy.

I also met Sangeeta Bahadur, director of Nehru Centre in London over lunch today.

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