Travel agent, 83, stamps his passport to retirement
BBCA former mayor is closing his travel agency and retiring after setting up his business 55 years ago.
Amar Nath, 83, who runs Highcare Travel in Pear Tree Road, Derby, with his wife Nirmal, 76, will be shutting up shop for the last time on Tuesday 31 March.
The couple came to Britain in 1968 from the city of Chandigarh, in northern India, and started the travel agency three years later.
Nath, who was city mayor between 2010-2011, said: "(Being a travel agent) was more about serving the community rather than running a business."
Nath started working at Celanese, an acetate factory in Spondon, Derby, when he first came to the country.
He has a master's degree in English and would often help fellow workers with paperwork problems.
He then used his language skills to set up the travel agency, focusing on trips to Asian countries.
The most challenging times, he said, were during natural disasters, such as the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, which claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people.
The Covid pandemic was also "very stressful", when he closed his shop - but he wrote his mobile phone number on the door so he could continue to help customers.
"I still feel that I am part of the community," Nath said. "To me, serving a fellow human being is absolutely my motivation."
Since announcing his retirement, he said: "I have been receiving messages from the USA, Australia and from New Zealand.
"People who were members of the community who migrated to these countries, and they remember it (the help he gave), and they are still saying 'we miss you'."
Their daughter, Suman Gupta, 57, said her parents were well known in the community and that many well‑wishers had sent messages ahead of next week
"I cannot express in words how proud I am of them," she added.
"I know that it is only because of their health that they are giving up this building (the travel agents)."
Gupta said her parents spoke the Asian languages Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi, and they helped customers, who were often elderly, who did not speak English.
"They are the ones who are going to struggle the most because of the language difficulties and technology difficulties, so there is still a large community - because we are all living longer - that still need support," she added.
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