A Brit was complaining yesterday and telling me that they were hard words to pronounce. I think I lost a sale because all I could say is “get over it”. In fact, his starting point pins down the exact reason why many Brits need to wake up and book onto a Venture fast before we disappear into irrelevance (whilst muttering gently in English!).

The occasion has me thinking about what is emerging for leaders in India – and Hinglish leaps to mind.

It’s the language of the future I am told – a combination of English and Hindi.

I even met one man in India who told me that English was no longer “yours but ours” because “we are the biggest population in the world speaking it” and it will be increasingly Hinglish.

At a course day a group of participants started explaining Hinglish to me. They showed me how they could switch their phones to HING.

And me, who is so famously haphazard about my use of English, got all offended. So this reminded me that leaders need pushing just a bit sometimes.

I spoke to the participants again and they pretty well told me that I needed to get real. English was their language now and soon most English in the world will be spoken in India. And its Hinglish. The British could get all purist about it, but if they did, they would be left behind.

Bear in mind that I was educated French and am very conscious of failing a language by being too purist.

I heard it spoken and understood two thirds. Some highlights were…

• “Hungry kya? (Are you hungry?)
• “What your bahana is?” (What’s your excuse?)
• “Prepone” (i.e.  dinner plans – if you can postpone them, you can prepone them.)
• “Yeh Dil Maange More.” (The heart wants more.)
• “Life ho to aisi.” (This is what life should be.)

Then a few weeks later I got an official letter from an Indian accountancy firm on and remember reading it and instinctively wondering how poorly educated the author was. Then I realised that it was in Hinglish.

I was watching my sons play and one of the kids had the role of an owner of a corner shop, and he had chosen to put on an Indian accent. As I watched it I thought the boy was playing a pretty cheap caricature, little did he know we was actually speaking the English of the future.

Our UK course participants have discovered that Hinglish is a language that they will need to learn, and not the pigeon English that they currently associate with corner shops. They can see that they better start to understand it.

“I knew I was a leader at work but not for a minute had I thought of myself as a leader of Bangalore”

This says it all. What Common Purpose is about. What has happened to democracy – even a young democracy – that young leaders don’t know that it’s not just about voting but about standing up too. And most of all it says what democracy is. He got it, was up for it and knew he could lead.

India and the UK have much in common. One may be an old democracy and the other quite young, but they have much in common. Leaders have a deep sense of responsibility and possibility in both countries that it does not take much to awaken. They understand the deep cultural implications of one person – one vote, accountability, commitment to transparency and a sense of justice. And they understand frustrations, short-termism and the discouragement of difficult decisions.

That’s why there is such a special relationship between the UK and India that will benefit both. That’s why Common Purpose will continue to grow in India and connect with Common Purpose in the UK.

It’s “yes” means “maybe” and “maybe” means “no”.

It has never got in my way since I left school. In fact it probably makes me a better speaker. But it has got the better of me now that Common Purpose is expanding in India. One million Rupees makes 10 lakhs. And 100 lakhs make a crore.

So you have to get your head around the noughts, the many noughts. In groups of three. I just can’t do it. A sea of noughts.

Guess its important to know where you’re strengths are.

(By the way, it’s Xtraordinary Week 2010, a week that raises awareness of the strengths and talents of dyslexic children and adults everywhere)

The last few days have been about deciding the business plan with the board and my colleagues in India. We have been working through which of the multitude of opportunities here we are going to do first. And there are almost infinite opportunities now that we have shown what can be achieved in Bangalore and Chennai. India, growing at such breakneck speed is demanding so much of its leaders – and particularly that they work together – that Common Purpose is spot on, the right idea at the right time. So we have had to be controlled and serious and determined so that our discussions prioritise cleverly.

And then we get on this plane and my colleagues suddenly start squealing, jumping up and down, flapping their arms. Giggling like little girls. He’s coming, I saw him on the stairs, he’s coming, its him, I can’t believe it, its him. He is the Big B (Amitabh Bachchan…I hear the name!). I shall always be amazed by the unbelievable power of celebrity. Reducing leaders – in moments – to drooling squealing groupies!

And now they are trying to explain to me just what a mega star he is.

I have spoken to him now – we went up into first class through the curtains – he has huge physical presence and says nothing. He blanks questions no doubt in the fear of being quoted. But he is for real, he is a star, and a business man, and a politician and a survivor because he has had huge ups and down in all three worlds.

So our start up in Mumbai will be wonderful now, we have been touched!