‘Gandhi, Churchill were made up’

Letter from London...

More than a quarter of the British population think that Mahatma Gandhi never existed, but was actually a legendary character created for celluloid. He is in good company because just as many Britons believe the same of Winston Churchill, Sir Walter Raleigh, Cleopatra and Charles Dickens.

A poll carried out by a UK TV channel to test the nation’s general knowledge found these shocking results where historical figures were mistaken for legends and fictional characters like Robinson Crusoe, Sherlock Holmes and King Arther were thought to have lived.

The under 20-s were found to be the most lacking in basic historical knowledge. The results show both the lacunae in the school curriculum and the obsessive interest in celebrity and popular culture. A TV advertisement selling insurance uses a lugubrious talking bulldog called Churchill, and many youngsters believed that was Winston Churchill and had never heard of the Briton’s famous war time prime minister.

Many of the respondents to the survey believed that Gandhi was a character created by Sir Richard Attenborough for his award-winning film and had no idea that he had actually led the movement for Indian independence or inspired others to take up his ideology of non-violence.

Mumbai-born actress Ayesha Dharkar has landed the lead role in the BBC’s daily radio soap Silver Street. She plays Ambika, the wife of Suresh Dattani who is the golden boy of the Dattani family and the lynchpin of the show aired daily on BBC’s Asian Network. Dharkar, who played the lead in the international award-winning film The Terrorist has for long made London her home and was part of the West End musical Bombay Dreams.

She also acted in both of Meera Syal’s British Asian films Anita and Me and Life isn’t all Ha Ha Hee Hee. Dharkar’s impressive CV also has the Hollywood cult hit Star Wars. She can be heard on the radio from the beginning of this month.

The Taj owned restaurant Quilon in London was finally awarded with the coveted Michelin star putting it in the exclusive club of eating houses. Quilon, well known to most visiting Indians who stay at the St James’s Court Hotel, is a short walk from Buckingham Palace. Named after the Kerala town of Quilon, famous for its pepper, cardamom and other spices, the restaurant specialises in Indian coastal cuisine.

The accolade puts Quilon in the company of some of the other top Indian restaurants in London including Tamarind, Rasoi, Amaya and Banares run by chef Atul Kochhar who reached the finals for the competition to cook for the Queen’s 80th birthday banquet. While all the food at Quilon is authentic and highly recommended, my personal favourites are the grilled prawns and the mango kadi - the best I have had anywhere.