London Diary: Kohinoor dreams

In the past there used to be a worry that Indians abroad never tend to get together, and that as a community, pravasis generally look out for their own select groups and rarely help the larger cause. But now all those things rapidly changing as India is finding out its soft power. After the mega show of strength during Modi’s visit to the US, Indians in the UK are coming together to express their solidarity.

Thus the organisers of the recently concluded, very successful two-day regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in London could take pride in their efforts. It was a well attended event, inaugurated by our foreign minister Sushma Swaraj who won great cheers when she said that while the Indians were a success in UK, they retained their Indian roots. She similarly drew applause when she spoke about the Mahatma Gandhi statue which is going to be installed at Westminster Square early next year.

There was also a glittering reception at the Foreign and Common-wealth Office with hundreds present. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, and Ms Swaraj spoke on the occasion. All the sessions were packed. This was, apparently, the only Pravasi Bharatiya Divas where an estimated £180,000 had been raised to pay for it. Well... well... well… so Indians can no longer be called crabs. Rather, we are busy building the image of India all over the world! United we stand, as they say…

Meanwhile, how can we forget the newly married — George Clooney and his young bride? Never! Not even pravasi gatherings could make us take our eyes off the busy couple. It was interesting to see that as soon as the wedding was over, that Mrs Clooney, aka Amal Alamuddin, was dashing off to Greece to try to rescue the Elgin marbles. Fascinating stuff. Of course, let us remember that these marbles are neither easy to lose nor to repatriate. The Greeks are naturally annoyed because these sculptural works were taken away (is there any politer way to put it) by the 7th Earl of Elgin around 200 years ago from the famed Parthenon on the Athens Acropolis. They are presently in the British Museum, where I plan to see them and before Ms Alamuddin whisks them away to what many believe is their rightful abode!

For Indians, this is a case to watch very carefully. Perhaps we can hire Mrs Clooney to ask for the repatriation of all those Indian rarities which crowd the museums in the UK. Now that we are raising a storm with our soft power all over the world, the time has come to harness it for cultural and historical purposes, too. So if anyone wants to speed-dial Ms Alamuddin, and talk about the Kohinoor, strike while the iron is hot!

Pity the women who work in the testosterone-driven IT segment in Silicon family! Everything seems to be a bit fraught for them, and their numbers are far fewer than we would imagine. After a peculiar endorsement of “leaving it to karma” for their pay rises from the Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, comes the grand pronouncement that women can “freeze” their eggs, at company expense. Apple and Facebook have made the latter offering.

Feminists are not impressed. Firstly, women should be given an equal opportunity to join in greater numbers, and given a larger role in decision making. If they choose to have children early, they should not be discriminated against. Perhaps the $20,000 that the companies are offering as “freezing” costs can go towards better child care. Also, what is not being discussed is the discomfort of harvesting eggs. Sperms are easier to “harvest”, and so this policy could only have been dreamt up by a male. What could Sheryl Sandberg be possibly thinking? But then, more than 70 per cent of FB employees are male. So are we surprised?

But among the cheeriest news that came in this year is that crash diets do actually work. After struggling with the very popular “fast diet” in the UK, where you fast for two and feast for five days, I am relieved to simply starve the pounds away as Diwali is just round the corner, and we pravasis face an uphill struggle with ALL diets. Especially given the new bonhomie!

Kishwar Desai is an award-winning author