28th September 2012
Weekends in Mumbai, once the monsoon has passed, can involve a variety of activities: walks along the 5km Marine Drive past the art deco buildings and the landmark Oberoi hotel, brunch in one of the expanding range of cafes and restaurants around the town, a round of golf on what must count as one of […]
16th August 2012
Although for millions of Indians visiting London is not even a remote possibility, everyone here with access to a television, radio or newspaper will have been aware, however vaguely, of the 2012 Olympic Games going on in a city far away. It may have been difficult for many to comprehend the exhilaration of the 16 days’ […]
10th August 2012
Goa could hardly be a bigger contrast with its neighbouring State of Maharashtra. Unlike Maharashtra’s huge population there are less than 1.5M in Goa’s attractive State, and its capital Panjim has around 115,000 inhabitants at the most. Most visitors to India associate Goa primarily with its fine beaches, exotic tropical terrain and Portuguese ancestry. But […]
Read more on Small state, big opportunities – Goa entices UK visitors | Reply (9)
22nd June 2012
I had the opportunity recently to call separately on the Chief Ministers of two Western Indian States, Maharashtra and Goa. In most respects these states could not be more different but they are both important, in a variety of ways, to the UK. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, underlined one difference to the […]
7th May 2012
Not surprisingly, given the Tata Group’s major interests in the UK, I spend a good deal of time meeting representatives from the company. Most weeks I see someone from the one of the Group’s many divisions, and April has been no exception. Shortly after Easter we welcomed to Mumbai the First Minister of Wales, the […]
Read more on From Port Talbot to Pune, via Coventry – Tata Spanning The UK- India Relationship | Reply (2)
3rd April 2012
The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai is one of the prime landmarks of the city, overlooking the colossal Gateway to India, built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay prior to the historic Delhi Durbar held in December 1911. Built by the founder of the Tata group over 100 […]
Read more on The Taj – Reminders of Empire, re-making the British links | Reply (2)
28th February 2012
At the Asia Task Force (ATF) seminars around the UK earlier in February, business speakers, my colleagues and I tried to give some steers to companies new to doing business in India. Inevitably, in a country of 1.2 billion people, and with a business audience covering everything from capital equipment to smoked salmon and spa […]
Read more on Riding with entrepreneurs – business the Indian way | Reply
23rd December 2011
I was fortunate recently to attend my first ever Parsi wedding. Two of the 40 or so Parsi staff in the Deputy High Commission in Mumbai, Nazneen (our press officer) and Burzin ( a member of the UKBA team), were getting married, and they had been kind enough to invite my wife and me to […]
Read more on From wedding feast to global business – never under-estimate the Parsi influence for good in Mumbai | Reply (11)
22nd November 2011
Mumbai is the centre of India’s film industry, where hundreds of “Bollywood” movies are produced every year. Shortly before the major Indian festival of Diwali one of the most expensive and extravagant films produced here, “Ra One”, hit the screens both in India and London. Reportedly costing over $30M the film is produced by, and […]
Read more on “Land.Gold.Women” – not your usual Bollywood drama: an honour killing in leafy English suburbia | Reply (1)
10th October 2011
Most Indians know that 2 October marks the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. That fact is less well known among UK staff in the Deputy High Commission, but they were aware enough when they joined about 700 others in a 10K walk or run at 7am to mark the date, and raise money […]
Read more on Footsteps4good – walking on Gandhi’s birthday for a Mumbai cause | Reply