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ARCHITECT OF AMBITION, CHALLENGER OF MONOPOLIES

From arriving in Britain as a young immigrant and taking on factory jobs to becoming one of the country's most influential entrepreneurs, Surinder Arora's story is one of grit, ambition and relentless hard work.

YOGA BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

On International Yoga Day, yoga is often framed through familiar images: mats rolled out in parks at sunrise, curated Instagram sequences of asanas, wellness influencers speaking of “balance” over soft instrumental music. It is a compelling aesthetic, but also a narrowing one.

In our journey towards freedom, when we realise that nothing in the universe is permanent, our mind looks for liberation. Such a liberation from worldly possessions, emotional and physical, comes through a deeper understanding.

Last week marked London Tech Week - the annual celebration that showcases how technology is helping to shape and strengthen our city’s economy. 

Respected readers, most of you are aware that my entry into journalism didn’t come through a conventional journalistic background, but from the world of business as an ordinary shopkeeper. When the opportunity arose to take on this new responsibility, I felt it was important to pause and reflect. I spent several days at the Theosophical Lodge in quiet contemplation and later attended a week-long journalism training programme at the Thomson Foundation to better understand the profession I was about to embrace. I was also fortunate to have read, Life begins at forty, by Brigit Bardot, the french actress and After I was sixty by Lord Thomson of Fleet around the time. 

ONE YEAR LATER

When the call came from the police at 10pm, three days after Miten Patel’s mum Shobhanaben and dad Ashokbhai Vitthalbhai Patel’s bodies landed back in the UK after the fatal AI171 crash that killed 260 people, he thought it was just more paperwork. Instead, it was the beginning of a second nightmare. 

International politics has always had an uncomfortable truth at its heart: countries do not have friends. They have interests. The deaths of Indian sailors during recent American military action in the Persian Gulf are a tragic reminder of this reality. Coming just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Donald Trump at the G7, the incident highlights a question that many nations increasingly face in a multipolar world: how much can strategic partners truly rely on one another when national interests diverge?

Arora Family Shoot-13 (1)

Arora Family Shoot-13 (1)