A royal invitation

This is a funny story. Times of India reports that Prince Charles has invited Shabana Azmi (along with Javed Akhtar and a number of other Indian luminaries) for a four-day stay at Buckingham Palace to discuss cooperation between the UK and India regarding charitable causes.

Shabana ji's fellow guests include industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Laxmi Mittal and Ratan Tata.

The tone of the TOI piece suggests that Shabana ji is rather bemused at the invitation. "I really don’t know how these opportunities come my way," she said. "They just seem to fall into my lap."