Most Indians surely have not heard of Charlie Rose, but the New Yorker is a well-respected talk show host, whose programme airs weeknights in America on the Public Broadcasting Service or PBS channel.

Rose seems to have an affection for India, having interviewed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September 2004, Finance Minister Palanippan Chidambaram exactly a year later, and Amitabh Bachchan

last April.

In time for President George W Bush's passage to India next week, Rose will present interviews from India all week.

Among his guests are Prime Minister Singh, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Infosys Chief Executive Officer Nandan Nilekani, Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata, Biocon CEO Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Sterlite Chairman Anil Agarwal, actress Shabana Azmi, Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, The Hindu Deputy Editor Siddharth Varadarajan and columnist Gurcharan Das.