27
Column
Instagram.com/easterneyenews/ • www.easterneye.biz • July 4, 2025
Amit Roy
Amit Roy
WHAT does the word “Paki
stan” conjure up?
I ask because just outside
the Royal Academy in Picca
dilly last week, I spotted a
green taxi with the slogan:
“Think Tech. Think Paki
stan.” Below was the mes
sage: “Connect with one of
the world’s fastest-growing
tech destinations.”
In the public conscious
ness in the UK, “Pakistan” is
not linked with “tech”.
But perhaps this is an ar
ea with potential for collab
oration between Pakistan
and India.
Amol Rajan confronts
loss along the Ganges
ONE reason I watched the BBC documen
tary Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges with
particular interest was because I have been
wondering what to do with the ashes of my
uncle, who died in August last year. His fu
neral, like that of his wife, was half Christian
and half Hindu, as he had wished. But he left
no instructions about his ashes.
Sooner or later, this is a question that every
Hindu family in the UK will have to face, since
it has been more than half a century since the
first generation of Indian immigrants began
arriving in this country. Amol admits he found
it difficult to cope with the loss of his father,
who died aged 76 three years ago. His ashes
were scattered in the Thames.
Amol, who is 41, was born in Calcutta and
was brought to Britain when he was three.
“My dad was my hero, totally and utterly,”
he declares.
He recalls: “Very suddenly, three years ago,
he got pneumonia, went into hospital, spent
five dreadful weeks in intensive care, and died.
This was really shocking to me because it was
the first time I’d ever lost someone I loved.”
Watching the grand final of University
Challenge, in which Christ’s College, Cam
bridge, beat Warwick 175–170 in an exciting
finish, we saw Amol’s intellectual and secular
side as a BBC TV presenter.
He says he is an atheist, but nevertheless
undertook a pilgrimage to the Ganges to see if
he could emancipate his father from the
eternal cycle of birth, death and re
birth and help him gain moksha.
He couldn’t get to the conflu
ence of the Ganges and the
Yamuna at the Kumbh Mela
because of a stampede in
which 30 people were tram
pled to death and hundreds
injured. But he participated
in pind daan and took a dip
in the Ganges.
He says: “I think that one
of the things that I wanted to
go to the Kumbh Mela to do,
was to confront my grief, recon
nect with my dad, but also to try
and work out what the next 38 or
40 years of my life would have
to do with the first half.”
Expressing grief on camera, as Amol does,
is a little odd, but he explains: “I think there
are three things I want people to take away
from this documentary. One is about grief, the
other is about faith, and the final one is about
family. Every grief is different, and everyone
grieves for somebody they’ve lost in a
very unique way, but I do think
there are certain rules about
grief. I do think it does get
easier over time, and I do
think that sharing grief by
talking about it, by connect
ing with other people that
are aggrieved, is a really
valuable
thing.
This
documentary is a way of
trying to grieve in pub
lic, not for vain reasons,
but because I think
there’s something that
people could learn
from that.”
Views in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper
A tech future for Pakistan?
Nadiya’s gratitude soliloquy
PRESENTER TRAVELS TO KUMBH FOR FATHER’S RITES
AS SURE as night fol
lows day, the Iranian
regime will wait for re
gime change in Wash
ington and then make
the nuclear bomb. It
has the scientific kno
whow. Also, the Islamic
government, now that
it has survived, will ex
ecute countless spies,
real and imagined.
Reckoning
in Tehran
PILGRIMAGE: Amol
Rajan at Prayagraj, and
(left) where he offered the
pind daan in honour of
his father and ancestors
THE appointment of Canadian
Denis Villeneuve to direct Bond
film number 26 has been wel
comed by Ajay Chowdhury,
spokesperson for the James Bond
International Fan Club and co-
author of the forthcoming book
Darker Than the Sun: An Atlas of
James Bond Movie Locations.
“His Bond picture will shape
the future of the franchise in tone,
production value and, of course,
in the casting of the most coveted
role on Earth: that of Ian Flem
ing’s James Bond 007,” says Ajay.
He adds: “When the new 007
debuts, he will have to be young
enough to believably sustain the
franchise into the next decade.
Taking over the mantle from Dan
iel Craig will be no easy feat.
However, the next James Bond
will not be totally unknown. They
will have done a range of work on
stage, TV and film in the UK and
US, at both independent and stu
dio level.”
From my point of view, the real
Bond movies are those adapted
from Ian Fleming novels, such as
Dr No, From Russia with Love,
Goldfinger and Thunderball.
Images © BBC/Wildstar Films
Why 007 needs Villeneuve
FAN VOICE:
Ajay Chowdhury
REBRANDING: A London
taxi promotes Pakistan as
a tech destination
EVERY time Eastern Eye
asked Nadiya Hussain for
an interview, she found it
difficult to say yes. No expla
nation was given. Perhaps
psychiatrist Raj Persaud
would suggest that success
went to her head after she
won The Great British Bake
Off in 2015.
Nadiya is now very upset
that after 10 years and many
programmes – Nadiya
Bakes, Nadiya’s Fast Fla
vours, Nadiya’s Simple Spic
es, Nadiya’s Everyday Bak
ing, Nadiya’s Cook Once Eat
Twice, as well as the docu
mentary Nadiya: Anxiety
and Me – the BBC has decid
ed not to renew her contract.
The BBC explained its de
cision in a statement: “After
several wonderful series we
have made the difficult deci
sion not to commission an
other cookery show with
Nadiya Hussain at the mo
ment. Nadiya remains a
much-valued part of the
BBC family, and we look
forward to working together
on future projects.”
A BCC report said that
“broadcasters make deci
sions on which shows to
commission based on a
number of factors, including
viewing figures and value for
money, while some shows
are rested to make way for
new talent”.
In a new post on Insta
gram, Nadiya said: “As a
Muslim woman, I work in
an industry that doesn’t al
ways support people like me
or recognise my talent or
full potential. There’s a lot of
gaslighting, making me feel
like what’s actually happen
ing isn’t happening.”
She said she had received
“tons of messages” telling
her to be “grateful for the
opportunity and be thankful
for how far I’ve come”.
In response, Nadiya
launched into a soliloquy on
the notion of gratitude: “My
whole life, as a child in an
immigrant household, I
used to think I had to be
grateful all the time be
cause I watched my family,
always grateful.
“Grateful for being let in,
grateful for having work,
even if underpaid, grateful
for safety, even if it meant
silence. Always grateful,
even when I feel tired, lone
ly or disrespected.”
She continued: “So, no, I
won’t always be grateful,
and that doesn’t make me
ungrateful; it makes me hu
man. I got here because I’m
good at what I do. Just
something to think about.”
Maybe another thing to
think about is why she never
quite found time to give
Eastern Eye an interview de
spite repeated requests over
the past 10 years. The paper
would have been ever so
grateful to her. The are also
a few Asian politicians who
choose not to engage with
Eastern Eye because they do
not wish to be “tarred with
the ethnic brush”. They have
mostly lost their seats and
are bitter they have not been
elevated to the House of
Lords. Nadiya is only 40, so
the pertinent question for
her to ask is why Mary Berry
carries on at the age of 90.
PERSPECTIVE:
Nadiya Hussain
© BBC/Wall to Wall/Tom Kirkman