Mahendra Kaul

Mahendra Kaul OBE (28 July 1922 - 11 July 2018) was a presenter of television programmes for the BBC Asian Unit.

He was born in Srinagar. He was a presenter for Radio Kashmir from 1948 and then All India Radio. He became a presenter for Voice of America in Washington DC, and also wrote speeches for Richard Nixon. He moved to the UK in 1961 to work for the BBC. He presented the programme Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye ("Make Yourself At Home") and then Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan ("New Life, in Urdu and Hindi") whicih ran for 14 years from 1968 to 1982. Many immigrants to the UK of South Asian heritage primarily spoke other languages, such as Punjabi, Gujarati, or Bengali, but the programmes were presented in a mix of simple Hindi and simple Urdu, dubbed Hindustani, which it was hoped would be widely understood. He was awarded the OBE in 1975.

He ran Indian restaurants in London, and opened an early tandoori restaurant, Gaylords in Mortimer Street.

He died a few weeks before his 96th birthday. He was survived by his wife Rajini and daughter the barrister and judge Kalyani Kaul QC.