Padma Bhushan Sir Mark Tully has ‘been there and done it’. He knows more about India than do most Indians. He has seen more of India than have most Indians. He has mixed freely with Indians without designations and those with the fanciest designations. As a reporter, he converted BBC Radio into Gospel. If the BBC reported it, then the Indian people accepted it as the truth. That’s an enviable, but inimitable, performance. Tully was in India at the right time, and doing a job that was just right for him. That’s destiny. He did the task with diligence and humility. That’s an aspect of free will. Lord Krishna would thump Tully on the back and say, “You got the Gita right, man! You’re cool!”

Tully is now in another stage of ‘right time, right task’. He had two choices. First, he could be a boring old man discoursing endlessly on the ‘good old days’ in clubs and socialite gatherings. Second, he could pass on the lessons he has learned about himself and about India. Tully chose the second path, thank God. The ‘good old days’ types are as deadly boring as religious, ideological and secular fundamentalists.

To dispel the suspicions that Christians in the West might have that Tully has been brainwashed by Indians and converted to Hinduism, he repeatedly states that he remains a Christian. “However,” he says, “I do believe that we should all listen to each other and learn from each other; and that includes those who do not adhere to any religion. In my opinion, no single religion has a monopoly on the truth, or is without blemish, nor can any religious tradition survive if it remains static.” And, “One of the lessons I have learned from India is to value humility. Others are to avoid thinking in black and white, to be suspicious of certainty, to search for the middle road and, in particular, to acknowledge that there are many ways to God.”

Tully narrates tales about India in terms of politics, economics, religion and sex. These are the four essentials which determine the course of an individual’s life in any country. The lesson of Tully’s book is that the four essentials must be balanced. If one dominates, then the other three suffer. For instance, the single-minded pursuit of economic prosperity leads to loss of interest in politics and religion and dysfunction in bed. This is what globalisation has done to most of the world, especially the West and westernised segments of India. Earnings are rising along with political unrest, religious scepticism, and divorces.

Tully contrasts the Indian stories with a chapter on Ireland where people are losing faith. Irish humour, piety and relaxed lifestyle have been slaughtered by market forces. Ireland has become another version of the rest of Europe and, therefore, no more a tourist attraction for Christians from elsewhere who used to come to see and envy Irish society. It is a chapter that serves as a warning about the excesses of globalisation.

The advantage of India over the West, as Tully shows in various ways, is that it has many cultures, many languages, many forms of music and arts, many religions and millions of gods in Heavens that can accommodate many more. There is a sharing among Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, Jews, atheists, agnostics, and others. If there is communal violence in one part of the country, it has repercussions in other parts. So, everyone makes efforts to cool down hotheads in their communities. A balance is maintained.

MARK TULLY was bureau chief of BBC Radio in Delhi for 22 years and is the author of several books on India, among these No Full Stops in India and India in Slow Motion. He was knighted in 2005 and received the Padma Bhushan in 2005.

India is a fantasy land to those in the West who live in ‘one culture, one language, one religion’ conditions. Christian priests, politicians, economists and other proselytisers have what Indians call ‘frog in the well’ mentality; to them nothing exists outside their well. So, more and more people are being disillusioned. Churches are emptying, but people are forming communities and the growing Third Sector of NGOs. Many of the disillusioned goras are migrating to ashrams in India.

Tully’s next assignment should be as an Indian missionary who wants to reconvert the West to Christianity. He will be India’s Christian Swami Vivekananda. Then he could import Indian Christian priests to serve in churches. Because of their experience of diversity and pluralism, the sermons of these migrant priests will be far more interesting than those of local ‘frog in the well’ priests. They will attract crowds and fill up the churches again.

Tully now gets frequent invitations to give lectures. In fact, this book is an outcome of a series of lectures he gave in England. He has obviously developed oratorical skills. So, I have renamed Sir Mark Tully as Swami Marcus Tullius in memory of the famous orator of ancient Rome, Marcus Tullius Cicero. I hope he takes up a missionary task in the West. Else, he will keep writing more books about India’s unending journey and repeat himself.

I am reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It tells us how the training of the mind can lead to perfect snap judgement.
The book is a mixture of different concepts and theories. In some chapters, we learn of the brilliance of relying on blink, while in other chapters, we realise how deadly this could be. Blink is interesting and full of practical observations. I read inspirational literature most of the time.

I buy books based on recommendation from friends and family, but mostly by browsing a bookstore.

Browse through any newspapers and you are most likely to find at least one farmer suicide story. But the chances are you will skip it because it’s commonplace. Perhaps this is the reason why Neelima, artist and former journalist, has weaved a story around the issue. Arihant is a journalist who writes about development in rural areas. His friend, Kapil Rao, who is on a hunger strike, is killed in a clash between the police and the demonstrators. ‘Ari’ takes up the cause on the spot and continues the strike. The villagers come out in thousands to support him. There is, however, Ari’s past to be dealt with. A good yarn that keeps you engrossed.

These are giving times. Almost anyone who is a somebody is giving to charities, specially in America. Those who made their pile by aggressive and, sometimes, restrictive business practices have set up eponymous trusts with sums that eclipse the GDP of small nations. Currency speculators have undergone a change of heart — and ideology — and are propping up socialist economies with huge doles. The biggest investor of all times has added his pile to the mega riches of a digital age entrepreneur’s trust. No one, perhaps, is giving till it hurts but the donations have added up to an awesome $295 billion-plus in the US last year.

Britain does not have seriously rich people like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, and the donations that the well-heeled make hardly grab attention. That’s because the Brit is somewhat parsimonious when it comes to charity. The wealthy give away just 1.2 per cent of their riches, while the figure for the Americans is as high 13 per cent. Of course, there is the odd Lord David Sainsbury who has set up a trust with his inheritance and hopes to become the first Briton to donate £1 billion to charity during his lifetime.

But there is now, says Charles Handy, a new enthusiasm for giving that has led to the rise of venture philanthropy in the UK. This means that donors provide hands-on support to charities of their choice along with funds. In The New Philanthropists, Handy outlines the stories of 23 who fit this label: men and women who have made lots of money in their business or careers and have chosen to create something useful for society with their skills and money.

Handy’s short profiles cover a motley crew ranging from English football hero Tony Adams and Celtel International boss Mohamed Ibrahim to Gordon Roddick, co-founder of Body Shop. But the narrative does not match the excitement of these individual stories. Handy, good management expert that he is (remember Understanding Organisations And The Future of Work?) makes no concession to style or variety as he piles on the information in a steady monotone.

So, whether it is property developer Niall Mellon who charters a plane and flies several hundred Irish volunteers to a township outside South Africa’s Cape Town to build homes for shanty dwellers, or Sydney restaurateur Jeff Gambin who helps to cook meals for homeless people every night, the profiles sound similarly flat. Wife Elizabeth Handy’s photographs are even less engaging despite the excellent paper and printing. And the worst bits are the soppy, still-life pictures that embellish each chapter.

Nevertheless, the book ought to be obligatory reading for businessmen and entrepreneurs in India. Most of them do not know the first thing about giving.