I have read this book twice over the last few years..
I found it first in my cousin’s bookshelf many years ago and upon reading it I was quite amazed. Mark Tully’s perspective is surprisingly fresh as he wrote about the still nascent India in its 80’s. He wrote about topics that we all know about, have discussed them to death and topics that we just didn’t even think were worthy of any discussion anymore. Reading the book made me wonder how come I never thought like this. The India that Tully speaks about in this book is the true warrior that has survived carcass creating caste systems, regressive political riots, terrorism and television melodrama like no other country has. These are the same stories that we may have experienced before while living in this country or may have heard from our parents or grandparents as their interpretation of matters that roused public interest but absolutely devoid of any biases that taint our opinions.
Mark Tully was born into a wealthy English family in Calcutta and went on to work for 30 years in BBC. During his career he traveled throughout the country as a journalist and as a person who soaked in every incredible wisp of life that made India the unusual yet extraordinary country that it is. With the spirit of the country in his veins, he wrote 10 chapters about most major issues that gripped the pre-satellite TV era of our land. Some of those chapters include insights about the educated elite class of Indians edging away from the local traditions, about the Kumbh mela in Allahabad, the Operation Blue Star in Amritsar and even Ramayana, the epic TV series that took over the whole country.
These chapters bring out the true essence of India that the travel brochures or coffee table books about India fail to highlight. It is not a caricature of who we are as Indians and neither does it include any razzmatazz about Bollywood that is so synonymous with our lifestyle today. It is about who we are, what made us who we are and where is it that we’re heading as a young country without inhibitions or full stops in India.
I will surely read this book yet again as I have realized that it adds on to my perspective as I grow and understand yet some more from the vast pool of comprehension that this book provides of the social composition of my ever so dynamic country.
Read this book if there is a desi in your heart and even more so if you are a skeptic..
