HOT

Charan came to Glasgow from Punjab, aged nine and speaking little English. But he rejects the idea that that was a culture shock. 'I think adults experience culture shocks', he says. 'Kids are a bit more adventurous, courageous and naïve.'

Mid-1960's Glasgow made a striking contrast with Charan's former rural home. Formal education for this quietly urbane man with an honorary doctorate from the University of Paisley, finished at fifteen, and in 1969 he began working as a turner and fitter at Yarrow's shipyard on the Clyde.

Suggestions that this was tough work are politely but firmly denied. 'At thirteen I started picking potatoes during the school holidays. That was back breaking. I'm not saying the shipyard wasn't hard, but compared to picking spuds…'

Charan's father was pleased that his son had a trade, and he would stay at the shipyard until 1979, but five years before that he began what he describes as 'moonlighting' - working evenings and weekends in a friend's Indian restaurant. 'I had to think hard about that. Wearing a dicky bow and a frilly shirt wasn't the sort of thing shipyard workers did, and I lived in fear of someone from Yarrows seeing me, but with this job I learned the trade'.

Charan's time at the shipyard also immersed him in Glasgow's culture, and his feel for that is clearly a source of pride. 'Every city has its unique humour, views on religion, football. You