In a programme called ‘History talking with Saeed Jaffrey’, the actor was interviewed by former BBC radio editor and the founder of historytalking.com, Vijay Rana at the Bhavan Centre.

Saeed Jaffrey traveled down memory lane in an interview before an invited audience where he talked about his life and work. He spoke of his first dramatic role as an eight-year-old kid, when he played Dara Shikoh in an Aligarh School.

"Perhaps that’s how I acquired my liberal instincts," joked Jaffrey.

Jaffrey spoke of his days as a young All India Radio reporter, when he managed a brief interview with India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was on his way to America. Many years later, Nehru was surprised to see him at a theatre in Broadway, New York, where he was playing Professor Godbole in ‘A Passage to India’.

The Web site, which aims to address socially relevant themes about the rising influence of the Indian and South Asian diasporas, has managed to unearth some stories about the evolution of the Indian community in the UK.

"In this age of world wide web, you don’t need to read history, you can even listen to it," said Vijay Rana.

The Web site features stories of the Indian community in the UK like the origin of modern Bhangra and how Gujaratis had come to Britain.

Historytalking.com also features stories of courage and determination like that of Raksha Tandon in the UK, who during the sixties was sacked from her lucrative managerial job because of her refusal to abandon her sari in favour of the English dress.

The site aims to create a valuable online educational resource of oral history. It invites people to volunteer information, eyewitness accounts and life experiences about socially and educationally relevant events, social trends and cultural themes.

"Most of our contributors are senior citizens narrating their life experiences. While a large number of our visitors belong to the web-savvy younger generation. By bringing them together, we hope to build bridges between the two generations," said Rana.

The initiative to launch the website is supported by the Experience Corps, a Government-funded national organisation promoting voluntary work among the senior citizens. Experience Corps has appointed Saeed Jaffrey as the cultural ambassador for the Asian community.