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Mark his words
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By adopting a positive and open attitude towards India, Sir Mark Tully presents a whole new perspective of the country, writes USHA RAMAN
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IT'S BEEN a hectic afternoon for this much-feted Padma Shri awardee and recently knighted radio journalist.
A meeting at the British Library, another at the Taj Krishna, and a couple of interviews sandwiched in between.
As he walks into the lobby of the hotel, he smiles, "I feel guilty," he says, referring to the rescheduling of this particular interview.
But you're not really looking for an apology from Sir Mark Tully -- what you want is a sense of the person, some notion of what keeps him going, what keeps him interested, and inspired.
Mark Tully certainly hasn't taken life in slow motion (unlike the title of his most recent book co-authored with Gillian Wright, India in Slow Motion). The "Voice of India" for BBC listeners for the better part of three decades, Sir Mark, now in his late sixties, continues to work as a radio journalist and writer, based in New Delhi.
His observations of India have been keen, his reportage humane, and his view that of someone who is very much an insider but is sharply aware of the public perception of his "foreignness".
India in Slow Motion takes on the subject of poor governance as the main impediment to the country's development.
Essays that travel from Ayodhya to Cyberabad examine this great experiment in democracy, its potentials and pitfalls, through wide ranging interviews with bureaucrats, politicians, and ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) people from all walks of life. Sir Mark decries the chalne do attitude that is so much a part of the Indian psyche.
And what about Hyderabad, which is so famous for its lackadaisical chalta hai attitude? "It's neither more nor less in Hyderabad than anywhere else," he says.
"In general, Indians have very low expectations of their own country." He talks about an interaction at the Varanasi Railway Station.
"I was waiting to board a train that started from this station, and when it pulled in I noticed the carriages were very dirty. When I asked the ticket collector why the train was already so dirty at its point of origin, he simply said, in explanation, `yeh to Hindustan hai, saab!' It's a colonial hangover that is only now slowly lifting."
In this change, he sees hope for the country. "But putting the brakes on this change is the neta-babu raj, which slows everything down." He is appreciative of the reforms initiated by Chandrababu Naidu, though he is not blind to the faults of his government.
"The problem is, when someone does something, we're always looking to see what's wrong with it. The media are particularly guilty of this."
He does not agree completely with the oft-heard criticism that Naidu's success has been limited to selling Brand AP to the World Bank.
"There has been a start made in the rural areas too, with programmes like the micro-credit to women and Janmabhoomi," says his partner and co-author Gillian Wright.
"And," adds Tully, "at least he has been talking about good governance for longer than most others in politics."
"One of the main problems in Hyderabad, as in the rest of India, is that the middle class is not yet demanding change. Yes, they are saying they want simpler and faster ways of getting their cars registered, or better roads, but they are not coming right out and demanding that they want a better government," says Tully.
Despite this, he feels very positive about some of the changes happening in Andhra Pradesh and in some other parts of the country.
"It's about time India moved to a more federal form of government, then states like Andhra Pradesh can move forward more quickly on their strengths."
"India has an important role to play in the global arena," he says. This role, he feels, is not limited to its economic or material potential, but stems from its capacity to absorb, learn, and grow from so many different influences, cultural and spiritual, over the centuries.
"It's one of the few countries where you can see pluralism in practice." The lessons from India represent, in his view, perhaps the only force that can counteract the fast-spreading, seductive materialism and dogmatic rationalism spawned by the West and so quickly adopted by the modern "secularists" who debunk everything spiritual and religious.
As he continues to talk about what he's seen in India in his 40 years or so as a reporter, and as someone who considers this home, it's easy to see what keeps him going.
It's this ability to see the positive, to look deep into the "heart of India" and glimpse its greatness.
As he says to a gathering of scholars later in the evening, "The great thing about India is its openness. The fact that I am here today is proof of that openness. I, a foreigner, have the temerity to stand here and talk to you about India. And you all have the openness to come here and listen to me."
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