The wet summer months this year may have upset many of us living here, but it has not prevented our friends in India heading off for the UK on a holiday. As usual, each year, the number of Indian tourists coming here increases. Sunny or not, high streets are flooded with our friends. And one has to pinch oneself to believe that you are in London, when you walk down Oxford Street or Regent Street.
Hindi sounds as common as English, in fact, hearing people speak English is becoming rarer in London. Spanish, Italian, Hindi and all other world languages appear to drown the sounds on the streets of London, more so during this tourist season.
The damp weather has not been able to dampen the spirits of all those guests who attended Mr LN Mittal and Usha Mittal's daughter's wedding in Paris. Almost a month on and it is still a subject of discussion at social gatherings. Yet, while the entire wedding did not make into the British media which had splashed the weddings of the sons of Sahara boss Subroto Roy in Lucknow, once again Mr Mittal is attracting attention.
This time it's again got to do with his new £70 million home in Kensington Palace Gardens, the richest housing row in the world. It's a weird story. A property expert Adina Kohn, who had, way back in 1997, shown Mr Mittal the property, when no deal was done on the house, is now claiming half per cent of the purchase price which amounts to around £350,000 plus VAT. She has apparently even consulted her lawyers and will be issuing a High Court writ next week. Her complaint is that when she first took the Mittals to see the property, they instructed her to make an offer of £45 million, but this was refused by David Khalili, the multi-millionaire Iranian art collector who owned the property before motor racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone. The deal had fallen through in 1997 because Khalili wanted £100 million.
Once again in March last year, the Mittals showed an interest in the house, but the price was then raised to £115 million. Adina says this time she was not instructed to make an offer. Now, she says she is shocked that Mr Mittal had actually bought the house from Ecclestone. She cannot understand why Mr Mittal has not paid her fee. The Mittals, however, do not believe this claim can be substantiated in court because they say 18/19 Kensington Gardens was not one of the properties recently shown by her. One has to believe money impresses, and money talks, but it also creates problems!
{{/usCountry}}Once again in March last year, the Mittals showed an interest in the house, but the price was then raised to £115 million. Adina says this time she was not instructed to make an offer. Now, she says she is shocked that Mr Mittal had actually bought the house from Ecclestone. She cannot understand why Mr Mittal has not paid her fee. The Mittals, however, do not believe this claim can be substantiated in court because they say 18/19 Kensington Gardens was not one of the properties recently shown by her. One has to believe money impresses, and money talks, but it also creates problems!
{{/usCountry}}Summer in Britain, these days, is not complete without a splash of Bollywood and Bangra. The Huddersfield Mela last week attracted 25,000 visitors, with organisers claiming its one of the biggest of its kind. Forget Bollywood, now even a baraat band, the ones we have all seen on the streets of Indian cities, is hip. The mela commenced with a rider on a white horse accompanied by wedding band Bombay Baja. Not only did the mela provide enough entertainment desi-style, including drummers Desi Vibes, there were Indian food stalls, henna tattooists, clothes and even jewellery stalls. Such an ever growing thirst for India, has, apart from generating interest in India among the Brits, done a lot of good to some of the second, third generation Indians of the Southall variety, who, a few years ago believed India was a desperate country not worth being associated with.
I am not the only one who has experienced it, but many others like me, proud to come from India, were sneered at by these youngsters. You almost got a look of disbelief mixed with pity that we dared to be Indian. But now, thanks to the invasion of Bollywood and India's rise as a global player, its become chic to be Indian! Basere se dur, it's a big relief!