Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Businesswoman who founded the Asian Women of Achievement Awards.
On the island
Eight records
It always reminded me of him [her father]… and I remember also the first time that I sat next to Dame Vera Lynn in London… I told her, 'Oh, I love your song, especially Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' And she kind of looked at me very benignly and said, 'I think you found that actually it was sung by Judy Garland.'
We used to like to go when the crooner was there… it was really quite a nice number to get up and dance to with someone.
This song is particularly a favourite of ours because it's very romantic and sad… every time I've played it, my sons who actually don't know any Hindi really love the melody, and it's really for them that I've chosen this number.
Simon and Garfunkel were a huge favourite of all of us when we were growing up… and um the graduate had also come out, so it was one of our favourite numbers.
La Vie en roseFavourite
I've chosen Édith Piaf because when I first came to England, I'd never heard of Édith Piaf. And my husband loved the number [Je ne] regrette rien… and he said he sang it when he divorced his wife… I became very interested in her and did a lot of research on her. And so I've chosen her number because I think she sings so beautifully.
My youngest son, Richard, it sings really well… he was actually chief chorister at his prep school and I still remember going to the concerts and there was this little Indian boy singing Ave Maria… I am a great fan of Pavarotti so I thought I would choose Pavarotti singing Ave Maria.
We didn't get movies very quickly when we lived in Calcutta, and so the old movies kept coming back, and um Casablanca was such a big favourite and As Time Goes By I think is so timeless, so I've chosen Dooley Wilson singing it.
It always reminds me of the time when we go to Las Vegas… we stay at the Bellagio, which has these wonderful musical fountains… it was the musical fountains would always play with this number, and so it brings back amazing memories.
In conversation
Presenter asks
4:12Over the past seventeen years [of the Asian Women of Achievement Awards], what changes have you seen in the type of professions that are represented in that gathering each year?
I think we've seen a huge amount of change. We've got women now in property and construction, in technology. In the beginning we just had women who were from the charity sector, very much lawyers maybe, or had their own small businesses. But there's been a huge shift for the kind of women we're getting now.
Presenter asks
4:55[The report by MPs said Muslim women are the most economically disadvantaged group]… Why do you think that is?
I think Muslim women are fairly insular in the sense that their parents are very protective. A lot of them don't really want them to go out and work… I think they don't have enough role models and I think that's so important because I think your aspirations change when you see someone that you want to be like. I think Muslim women are really held back by their families, by people who really don't want them to leave their culture and do something different.
Presenter asks
5:59Have you noticed a key common attribute [among successful women from different walks of life]? If you do, what is it?
The keepsakes
The book
Elif Shafak
I'm going to take The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafarque … it's a book on Rumi and Sufism … it's very timeless … it'll be a great book to think about.
So many of them are so collaborative. They really want to make a difference. They want to change the landscape. And I think for the women I meet, there's so much of kindness. I find that's been a huge factor in their success.
Presenter asks
27:26[You're on record as saying that] you don't believe in positive discrimination quotas for women at senior levels. Why is that?
I think, you know, people resent it if you're there because you're part of a quota. And I think, yeah, people are doing it, but there's so many people who should be there because they're good. So I don't really believe that you're helping the cause by having quotas.
Presenter asks
28:48What advice do you give these young women [under thirty-five] when they are starting out, full of energy and ambition?
For me it's about kindness. The [DNA] of all our programmes is about kindness and collaboration, because we can do nothing on our own. And all these people, they're so talented. They're supremely clever. But they have huge amount of energy. And I want them to collaborate, because that's where the real dance takes place… I actually think it's… a tool that really works.
“I cook from the heart. Actually, I do everything from the heart.”
“When you whenever I cook in a bad mood, my food never tastes good.”
“I think your aspirations change when you see someone that you want to be like.”
“They would tell me, 'Oh, you speak really good English, you know, but you've only been in England three weeks.' But I actually English was my first language. And the other questions I used to often be asked was that you walked three steps behind your husband, being a good Muslim woman. I actually say, 'No, I walk ten steps behind him, so he doesn't know what I'm getting up to.'”