Catching up with friends in London

July 12, 2016: The weekend was full of big ticket sporting events in UK. Wimbledon men's and women's tennis finals. Those who could not make it to the Wimbledon took to the pubs or the couches in front of televisions in their homes. Besides Wimbledon, there was also the Formula One car race and soccer to choose from.

I was trying to get a ticket for the play Deep Blue Sea running at the National Theatre in South Bank. Forget a good seat, I wasn't getting one at all and the first availability was sometime in the second week of September.

Based on Terrance Rattigan's masterpiece set in the 1950s it contains one of the greatest female roles in contemporary drama in the character of Hester Collyer. The Deep Blue Sea unites actress Helen McCrory and director Carrie Cracknell since Madea – their last venture together in 2014.

I was hoping that the sports fever during the weekend would perhaps increase the chances of getting A seat at the theatre but there was no show on Sunday while Saturday and Monday were houseful.

I met a number of friends over the weekend at the Courtyard restaurant of St James Court hotel. On Sunday evening I had press interviews.

Today I went for lunch at House of Lords again with Lord Meghnad Desai and Shazia Ilmi. While having lunch I got two news updates. First, Arvind Panagariya is going to become the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor and that the decks are clear for Theresa May to become the PM of UK after her final rival Andrea Leadson withdrew from the race on Monday morning, citing overwhelming support for May among Conservative MPs.

The popular feeling is that Thresa May may not have to wait till September to take charge and could take charge of office in a week or two. In the evening I went to the Mint Green restaurant near Piccadilly Circus for a dinner party hosted by Raj Bhatt, the vice-chairman and Chief Executive Officer, of Elara Capitals.

I met up with quite a few familiar faces of London including Shazia Ilmi. Between lunch and dinner I also had a meeting with Lord Swraj Paul at his Baker Street office and a meeting at the India House as well.

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