Vidhu Shekhar - CFA Institute's first India Country Head

CFA has opened an office in India for the first time in it's 50 something years - Vidhu has been appointed country head.  Lovely human being who you would enjoy; software engineer, IIM Graduate; wildly interested in everything.  He was here for lunch, and I grabbed a quick patio portrait; Ev as assistant. I changed the original to this one - befitting of smiling and full-of-humour person. 

Saturday morning - Mustangs (Aiden's team) vs Hong Kong Cricket Club.

Could not have been a more perfect Saturday morning - bright, cool, pleasant breeze.  Aiden with my old bat - my tenth birthday present - sanded, new handle.  Makes me smile.

Aiden steaming in.  The opposition was not up to it; a very one-sided affair.  In case you are wondering about the massive no-ball - they bowl from a shortened bowling crease until under 13.  Now under 11, so it can be pretty lively for the batsmen.  No pads needed; the ball is a slightly squidgy shiny plastic with a pronounced seam - swings like mad - but delivers a stinger at worst.

Hyderabad Hotel Spaces

The Trident in Hyderabad - part of the new brutalist city; not India feeling, stark and clean; nice lines in the wrong place.

Subterranean reflections

Macy and Louisa on the Sunday before all the events kicked off on Monday; without going into it - lots of moving parts and risks and unknowns.  They could run a small country in their spare time it seems.  I slept intermittently the weeks before, thanks to them; would have been completely sleepless without.

Palpable relief; Macy and Vidhu on the train in the HK airport on the way home.  Well earned smiles.

Combat duck to water

So it turns out that Ev really liked his first rugby tournament.  For a dreamy kid, there was no holding back.  From the kick-off he chases really hard - way ahead of team mates - and just simply goes for the ball.  You can see old green shoes below calling out a warning, but grrr, too late, as the Evinator arrives... could not get a clear pic through all the traffic.

Each team got pretty much the same treatment; kick, chase, attack the ball. Literally.  Everyone sort of stands around a bit unsure of what to do.  What you cant really see from the pics below is that the group of red guys ends up traveling backwards - such is the ferocity of the terrible Evinator :-)

24 Hour Race - The Black Shripms back in action

The Nautilis

Evan gets into tackle

Ev played in his first proper rugby tournament on Sunday - and absolutely loved it.  He ran and passed nicely - though his ball attacking skills were definitely the stand out.  Look for a later post for some of those.  It is worth noting that by far the most impressive player in team was the (one and only) little girl, third from right in the picture above.  Maya.  Who I gather has a couple (if not a few) older brothers, one of whom had given her four stitches in the ear a couple of days before.  Nope, she was not missing this - hence the ear taped up with blue tape.  And man she gave it stick!  I think at the end I was seeing the perspective of the brother who did the damage to the ear.  Might well have been in self defense.