AMOL RAJAN: Why We Should Never Take the People We Love for Granted | GREAT MOMENTS
episodePreviously titled “Amol Rajan: Why We Should Never Take the People We Love for Granted | GREAT MOMENTS” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
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What personal experiences shaped Amol Rajan's views on love and loss?
Hello, everyone. I'm Jamie Lang, and this is Great Moments. Hey, guys. Welcome back. Yesterday was my first ever Father's Day, so congratulations to me and all the dads out there. And it got me thinking about my conversation with the brilliant Amal Rajan. Okay, I knew this was the perfect great moment to share with you today. Now, you know, Amal, as a journalist, a broadcaster, a podcaster, presenter of a university challenge, and also a friend of mine. And when Amal came on Great Company, we had one of the most honest and moving conversations I've ever had on the podcast, truthfully. In this great moment, he opens up about losing his dad and shares what he has learned from grief. So if you like what you hear, you can check out the full episode in the show notes below.
Just go and click on it. But here it is, our next episode of Great Moments with Amal Rajan. Your relationship with your dad is so thick for you, right? In so many incredible ways.
It's the story that I told myself about myself. And when that story goes, you've got to tell yourself a new story. And that's really hard when you're 38, as I was when he died. My dad... The thing about it that was so shocking is I didn't think he was going to die. He was 76, annoying, had that slightly kind of elder sort of tedious thing where he hated medicine and doctors, and he had type 2 diabetes. And out of nowhere, he got pneumonia. And he went in and he went into intensive care for five weeks. And it was the worst five weeks of my life. And at the end, it looked like he was getting a bit better. It was a time of Omicron, so he couldn't visit. And that was the thing that was so hard about it. And suddenly all of the crap for five weeks, the infections he was getting, the tubes, the pipes, his kidneys weren't working.
And it was all too much. He had a catastrophic heart attack. And if I'm honest, that was three years ago last week. It's still really, really raw, you know. And last Friday, I went to the place in Chiswick in West London where I first came in. I was born in India and lived in Chiswick from the age of three to seven. I went with my mum and we looked at his house and we talked about all the memories of being there. And it was incredible. And then I went back to Tooting, which is where my parents' house is in South London. And there's just a picture of my dad and he's smiling. And there's something about that, which I just, it kills me, man. it kills me. And, you know, my dad was, you know, I think we'd nowadays probably medicalize it and say he was depressed for years.
He was a downbeat guy, an introvert, but it's something about when someone is, um, your dad and they're a downbeat person and you have kind of private access to them smiling. There's something about when they smile at you. It's just so overwhelming. And yeah, I went to pieces. And if I'm honest, you know, it's a weird thing to know how blessed and how lucky you are. You know, I've won the lottery so many times in my life and all the big things. I'm paid really well.
How did Amol Rajan cope with the loss of his father?
I have a fantastic job. And yet to feel blessed in a bit of a funk and I was so unprepared for grief and I've been in such a pit of grief for such a long time. And one of the things that I really want to do by talking about it is to tell other people that this is coming. Your parents are going to die, man. And it's going to be, you think it's going to be bad. It's going to be a million times worse than you think it's going to be. And you have to get ready for it.
I don't think I'm prepared for that.
You can't prepare for it. But the one thing you can do, which I know you've talked about a bit, is you can make sure that you minimize the regret. What do you mean by that? Well, you say the things you need to say. A couple of years ago, before my dad died, I decided to go on a little walk with my dad. And I asked him some really basic questions. You know, dad, are you happy with how things have turned out? Do you feel like the sacrifices you and mum made in coming to this country? You know, he was 41, the age I am now, when he ripped himself away from kind of everything that was familiar and beloved.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What personal experiences shaped Amol Rajan's views on love and loss?
0:02–2:50
2
How did Amol Rajan cope with the loss of his father?
2:50–5:31
3
What lessons about grief does Amol Rajan share?
5:31–7:30
4
How can we minimize regrets in our relationships?
7:30–10:10
5
What important questions should you ask your parents?
10:10–13:43
6
How does grief manifest differently for everyone?
13:43–15:26
7
What role does time play in healing from loss?
15:26–17:13
8
Why is it vital to express feelings to loved ones before it's too late?
17:13–17:19
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Great Company with Jamie Laing
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