But the most important thing, Tom said, was to raise as much money as possible for the children. Lederman could of course just give the money to these kids. But, Tom explained with remarkable patience, the idea was to make more people in our society give. If we organized events with comedians, then not just Lederman, but employees, other bankers, customers, contractors, well-wishers and all kinds of people would happily donate.

I interjected by saying that in a sense this was like a compound interest model strategy powering a social change engine with deep goodwill multiplier effects.

You will not believe what happened next Diary …

Tom looked at me, smiled, and said: ‘Exactly.’

If this was business school I would have immediately got at least an A grade for class participation.

I would have preferred to open my innings at LLTLF with a sharp joke. But I guess this shrewd observation will do for now at this very early stage.

At least a few volunteers looked at me jealously. Emily stopped writing, glanced at me, and then went back to taking notes. (I noticed this without looking straight at her, but from the corner of one eye.)

After this Tom asked everyone if we were all ‘on board’. Every one nodded. After that he said that Emily would take over the meeting and quickly left.

And then she started speaking.

Diary you know how my ‘public’ favourite movie actress of all time is Sophia Loren? But in reality my ‘secret’ favourite actress is Raveena Tandon?

I don’t know if I have told you this, but whenever I hear Raveena speak in a film, or on YouTube or in some TV interview, sometimes my heart stops because of the intensity of the feeling. That smooth husky silk that comes from her mouth … so illegally sexy it is.

Last month I asked Gouri one day, as if playfully, if she could speak like Raveena Tandon. She tried for two minutes. But it came out sounding exactly like Gouri when she gets bronchitis attacks. I told her that it was even sexier if she kept quiet.

(That also made her upset. But that is another problem.)

Emily’s voice, Diary, is almost exactly like that. When she began to explain the foundation’s broad plans for the next three months, my eyes began to water with emotion. She sounds EXACTLY like Raveena. Different language and accent, of course. Also Emily is slightly taller but also maybe 10 or 12% thinner than Raveena.

But the voice is a photocopy of Raveena’s voice.