UK gets Indian monsoons

Letter from London...

An Indian summer in UK has become quite common with temperatures soaring well into the high-30s C, but this year Britain has got an Indian monsoon too.

Much of June has been a wash out with torrential rains, so much so that parts of Britain have been suffering from flash floods. And the clouds are not ready yet to move on.

Weathermen are predicting severe weather with 10 cm of rain in the next 24 hours, which is double the average rain the UK normally gets in the whole of June. Flood warnings are being heard in many a town and people have been evacuated from their homes and businesses as streets turn into canals.

The tiny island, which is known for its round-the-year showers, simply cannot cope with the torrential downpour. Roads are in chaos and schools have been forced to shut down. The authorities are doing their best but are severely tested to keep people safe. London has so far been lucky enough to escape flooding, but the weathermen do not know how long that will last.

If it is June and its rain, then it must be Wimbledon! The world-famous tennis tournament does suffer from the odd rainy day each year, but this year if you were hoping to cheer on Sania Mirza as she plays her first round match against Russian Y Shedova you will be very lucky if it is not washed out. A raincoat and wellingtons are must accessories if you want to visit Wimbledon this year with rain predicted for the rest of the week.

If you are unlucky enough to have paid good money for tickets to Wimbledon and the matches are rained off you could always while away your time indulging yourself in the other Wimbledon pass time of eating strawberries and cream. Wimbledon is the largest annual sporting catering operation in Europe and caterers FMC sell more than two tons of strawberries daily during the fortnight with 7,000 litres of fresh cream.

Talking of food, the stick-thin star of Bend it like Beckham Keira Knightly is currently gorging herself on Indian food. The English beauty has been told by the director of her new film The Edge of Love to fatten up and my moles tell me that the star is eating calorie-rich curries for lunch and dinner to pile those kilos on as quickly as possible.

If you can’t go to the world-renowned Oxford University to study business, don’t worry because it will soon be coming to you. The Confederation of Indian Industry and the Said Business School will be signing a MOU to set up the University of Oxford’s India Business Centre. The two bodies will collaborate to establish the Business Centres in India and in Oxford.

Sunil Mittal, President of CII and Professor John Hood, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford will sign the MOU in Central London on Tuesday morning.