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Ethics served for lunch

Media man Tarun Tejpal shares his life's mantra over a succulent meal

A "family neurosis", or more precisely, wife's disdain, prevents Tarun Tejpal from visiting five-star hotels for dining out. His inclination for a "stand-alone eatery" leads him to China Garden in Greater Kailash area of New Delhi. He dislikes "entering into the whole opulence game (of hotels)" and prefers "cosier, more intimate" venues, he explains. Tejpal finds the ambience of China Garden a tad "kitty-partyish" but wholeheartedly approves of the food. Neither a cook nor a "foodie", but an "ice-cream fiend", he takes pure delight in the loo phai kut and fish with black olive carefully picked from the menu. His first request at the restaurant is but a glass of cold drink filled with ice.

His book, Alchemy of Desire has been doing well, especially in Europe. He has only recently returned from Rome where the book was launched in Italian, he shares. Tejpal has compliments to shower on Italian men, who his daughters have found"garma garam". He says he loved the ice creams there and was awed by the Colosseum. Tejpal, we all know, has seen a long spell of turbulent times.

A pioneer of sting journalism, both admired and reviled for his means, he says, "ethics is not a static game." He agrees to be ethical is to be self-reflective but to him ethics in journalism is, "fairly complex and has to be squared off against legal, bureaucratic and social conduct." In the six years since he introduced sting journalism to India through the portal tehelka.com and now through his weekly, Tehelka, he feels that his experiences have made him reflect on what should and should not be done. In India, he finds that most sting-journalism is "mock-ups".

"The situations are simulated and because of this the possibility of misuse is very great." The flak he received from certain media and political quarters, after Operation West End, has cautioned him. He warns of the use of money in sting operations. Today, Tehelka tries to conduct all its stings without money. Tejpal says he and his editorial team decide on "how much deception is to be used on a story-to-story basis."

Allowing an occasional glimpse of a greying ponytail, he asserts, "The heart of journalism has to be public interest". Sting operations, he believes, serve public interest but they can, however, be easily misused for voyeuristic and titillating reasons. A commitment to public interest should create a "Mediasaur, a creature with teeth big enough to bite and with legs large enough to stand". Media must be editorially free and commercially independent. Media can discharge its duties rightfully only when it is regulated by its readers and not by a Regulatory Board.

When the food arrives, Tejpal descends from the soapbox to join the dining table. He says in the 80s, journalism was not about "glamour or money", as it is today. His colleagues would say, "One day we will earn Rs.5,000, what will we do with that?"

Disappointed that there is no mango ice cream, he asks for a single scoop of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Relishing the food and dessert, he says he is a "literary animal by self-training", and describes writing Alchemy of Desire. In 2002 when life was hardship, "the tone of the book came with great clarity" and after that, he says, "the book sang in my head." He says the tone, "allowed me to tell an intimate story without forgetting the bigger issues." He wanted to, "capture the teeming quality of India and to capture that without caricaturing it." "The only test of a book is time". He hopes his book will pass the test.

As the stir-fry vegetables and succulent chops rapidly vanish, he talks of his dear Malayali friend O.V. Vijayan. He admires Vijayan not just for his drinking capacity but for his belief, "books refine us."

NANDINI NAIR

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