1. My friend Priya bubbled over with delight. She was looking forward to her upcoming marriage nuptials. 1111 guests (just another normal Indian wedding) would be attending, which would be solemnised on 11-11-11 at 11am. The venue was her father's palatial home in Surrey (every estate agents' wet dream come true!) A Grade I-listed 11th century manor house surrounded by acres of grass mowed by her father on what he refers to as his 'tractor' ie. the mower. It's just that it elicits the memory of his days of farming his land in the Punjab! Ha! Ha!
But I detract. Where once the stars would be consulted to fix an auspicious date and time in an Indian wedding, the opportunity to 'own' a memorable number now dictates weddings and births.
Around the world couples are getting ready to get hitched on this day including in Las Vegas where hotels are offering (hold your breath) 11.11.11 wedding packages (which, just to surprise you, cost $2011.11 not $1111.11 but which do include a bride's 11-rose hand-tied bouquet)
2. What with many parents to-be lining up to deliver their child on this date, including, as popular gossip would have it, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, daughter-in-law of the Big B (only the biggest Bollywood star in India, Amitabh Bachchan for the uninitiated)
3. As 2012 nears, the Mayan's foretell that the winter solstice of 21-12-2012 marks the end of the Mayan Long Count cycle. This occurs at 11:11 universal time.
5. 11-11-11 has, of course, been declared National Metal Day by VH1 Classic in the USA. The cable channel plans on showing a 24-hour marathon of metal programming topping off 11 Days of Metal Programming which began 1 November.
6. Me and many other Indians of the 70s grew up on a diet of Black which fuelled our rebellious streak, and so it is only in India that a possible Black Sabbath reunion on 11-11-11 has hit the headlines of the Times of India.
7. 11-11-11 is a 2011 film written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is a horror-thriller set on 11:11 on the 11th day of the 11th month of the year and concerns a entity from another world that enters earth through Heaven's 11th gate (?)
8. Then, just incase you cared, there is Project 11. An 11 minute, 11 second film that will launch online on 11/11/11 at 11.11am. "I was aware of the interesting date, so I centred the story on the date and worked backwards," says director Vikas Chandra. The movie is based on an underground videogame in which 11 gamers across the world are racing to cross the elusive level 11.
9. On the same day many Kundalini Yoga practitioners from around the world plan to come together on the banks of the Holy river Ganges in North India for a seven-day Kundalini Yoga festival. They say they have waited for this day for 13,000 years to usher in the Aquarian Age.
10. And take heart if, like the UFO-obsessed hero in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you are seeing the 11-11-11 prompt everywhere. Apparently you are only one of the millions around the world, especially after a power outage when digital clocks flash these numbers (I confess I normally see 00:00 though...)
11. Just as the #OWS phenomenon wonders where to go next, there is a 11.11.11 Occupy The Streets. Occupy The World movement building up. Check it out on Facebook.
Finally, just in case you didn't realise 11.11.11 is a Friday, which is the most significant fact for me. I for one can't wait!