'Namaste Hindiston': Connecting Uzbekistan with India

Come November when Akhmadjon Kasimov's special radio programme on India 'Namaste Hindiston', broadcast from the Uzbekistan capital, will complete 15 years.
The 50-minute programme, broadcast twice a week on Yoshlar Radio, is a potpourri of information on Indian customs, films and current events.
"I also play five-six songs every episode, mostly new Bollywood songs. Listeners request me to play songs from new Bollywood releases. These days many are requesting for songs from (Prakash Jha's) 'Satyagraha'. They want to know details about Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan," Kasimov told PTI.
"People love to have every detail about India. They ask me about Indian festivals like Diwali, Holi and Karva Chauth. They ask me about Indian marriages, how ladoos are made, film news, current events like the Delhi Book Fair," he says.

On some strange requests from listeners, he says they ask him to help bring Shah Rukh Khan to Uzbekistan.
Kasimov, who learnt Hindi in school in Andijan, says he began working in the Hindi section of radio in the erstwhile Soviet Union from 1980.

In 1997, he hosted a programme on Uzbek TV called 'Namaste' but it did not go on for long. The next year he began 'Namaste Hindiston' from November 25.
Listeners over the years have increased a lot, he says.
"Letters come from listeners in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as well," he says.