Going Welsh
Doing business with the British is fun. Provided you get the hang of what the gentleman opposite is exactly telling you. It was more than clear at a recent interface between trade representatives of Britain and India under the umbrella of Indo-British Partnership (IBP) Initiative. The occasion was the visitof a IBP delegation from Britain under its co-chairman Sir David Jefferies to Ahmedabad. In his remarks, Leighton James, a member of the delegation representing the UK firm DSI Systems, humorously said it was often the incomprehensible accents that made or marred the otherwise excellent deals. In his Welsh accent, he told those present that negotiations between two different people could end up in remarks like: ``If I hear your presentation once again, then I may follow it and strike a deal with you.'' In the light of this revelation, no one should be surprised if one gets to hear of more and more Indian and Welsh trade tie-ups materialising for the simple reason, as Leighton put it, ``Indian and Welsh accents are closer'' than any other.

The Chui Mui Man
Ambitions can touch the sky or they can be sweetly humble. For indigenous pop artist Milind Ingle, who saw the peak of popularity with the Rajshree music video Chui Mui Si Tum Lagti Ho, the only musical album that even had Valentine's Daycards printed on its theme and characters, it is a case of the latter. ``The opportunity to do Chui Mui came to me after 10 years of struggle, and quite frankly I never expected it to become such a big hit,'' says the graduate from NM College, Mumbai, who left his Company Secretary course because ``that was not what I wanted to do''. Flying across the country for Sony Music's next release Rasiya, Ingle who has sampled success, says the biggest high in his life came when he was asked to be the chief guest at his own college's annual day function, almost a decade after he had left it. ``To be able to sit with the principal and trustee on the dais after being a student there was the proudest moment in my life,'' he says.

All Fumes
The Transport Commissioner's drive in Mumbai banning the sale of fuel unless a PUC certificate was produced, already has a handful of motorists contemplating a legal career. Soon after the drive began, petrol pump owners put up huge `No PUC, No Petrol' banners. Mumbai'smotorists who've honed their argumentative skills into a fine art after years of plea bargaining with traffic policemen, were nonplussed. Fine, said some motorists, give us diesel instead. That's when pump owners realised that in their hurry to put up the banners, they'd overlooked the little fact that the drive covered all fuel. Too late, there were at least a few motorists who'd chugged away in a cloud of grey smoke after tanking up on diesel.