Ranjan Saujani

PM: What did you actually know about Britain before you came to this country?

RS: I think in school we'd always done British writers in our literature. We'd also done British adventurers and historians. So you had a vague idea of a race of people who were very adventurous, very...people who'd conquered the many countries of the world. And this was a small country where these people lived. And it also meant, from hearing through other people who'd visited Britain, that it was a very cold place to come to.

PM: And what about the people themselves? You say that they were adventurous. What else did you know about them through these books?

RS: Well, we'd done Shakespeare, to be honest, at school. We'd done Keats poems, things like that. And what it was, was, you also heard a lot on the BBC World Service. So you...in a way, you knew who you were talking about, or who you might expect to see when you came to this country.

PM: And how did it come about that...I mean, did you ever think that you would be coming to Britain, or did you know that that was just chance?

RS: Personally myself, I'd never dreamt of coming to Britain. Because my family had really close connections to India, and we'd always known if something did happen or whatever, then we would be going to India. We'd never thought of coming to England at all.

PM: So, tell me a little bit about how it came about that you would be going to England.

RS: Well, what happened, in 1972 when Idi Amin wanted to get all the Asians out of the country, what happened was, my family held British passports, mainly due to the security at that time, that if you were British nationality holders, then you would get a better chance. I don't know why but that was the general sort of feeling at the time. And although my parents wanted to go to India when Idi Amin was chucking everybody out, they weren't allowed to go to India, because at that time the Indian Government decided they will not take any British passport holders. So my parents had to come to this country.

RS: It was a mixed feeling of adventure, of excitement, but also feeling quite insecure in a way, because I didn't know what I was expecting to come to. You had heard about all these people, I...and you'd heard about the culture, but I also knew while I was...because when I was in Uganda, I'd had people who'd returned and talked to us about the country, and so I was really worried about the type of food that would be available, the type of weather, very cold, and so on. But I think the joy at the end of it was that I would be reuniting with my family. And I think that was the driving force at the time.

PM: Okay. So, you arrived in Britain. What do you remember of your arrival as the...you know, when you touched down and those first few minutes and your first impressions?

RS: I was really tired actually, after the plane journey. What...my first impression was, I couldn't understand anybody who was speaking to me in English, although I'd studied in English, I’d given my O-level exams with the Cambridge Board of Exams and passed with really flying colours. Although I could understand people who spoke on the World Service BBC, I couldn't understand anybody when I came to this country first. And the funny thing, which I laugh about now is, I just kept on saying yes, yes, yes to everybody. You know, whatever they were saying, I just kept on saying yes. That was my only way of, you know, communicating without understanding whatsoever what they were saying.

PM: And who were the first people that you saw at the airport? I mean, tell me if you could, describe the scene, you know, when you were...I mean, presumably you landed either Heathrow or Gatwick, or...

RS: Yes, it was at Heathrow. It seemed really massive. And we landed actually at about 9 o'clock at night. At that time when I came, there weren't many people around, so it seemed very bare, very cold. I didn't have warm clothes, because coming from a tropical country, obviously you don't have those sort of clothes. I felt very cold. And the immigration officers would check your passports and things. I just stared at them, I couldn't understand them. It was very weird. It took me ages to understand what they were trying to ask me for my passport and visas and whatever not. But it seemed really cold in terms of attitude, in terms of landing in a very, very strange place.

PM: So, the immigration people, how did they seem to you? I mean, you said that you didn't understand them and you were replying yes, yes to everything that they were saying. Did they seem really warm and friendly, trying to make you understand what they were saying or helpful?

RS: I think they got quite irritated with me because I didn't know what they were talking about. And I think in a way, which is really silly now, I didn't feel offended, because you'd always considered white people as the sahibs, the superior race, so you didn't argue with them. It was like as if they had a right to, which is really strange now, but that's how I felt at the time.

• 1972 Expulsion Order

• Ugandan Resettlement Board