SIR MARK TULLY: India’s Unending Journey
Under the auspices of the Chandigarh Heritage Festival, this evening the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi organized a talk by Sir Mark Tully, KBE.
Mark Tully's contribution and achievements have been recognized in both India and the UK. In 1985, he was made the officer of the Order of the British Empire, and the British Queen knighted him in 2002. In India, he was conferred the Padma Shree in 1992, and the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 2005. But more importantly, in addition to the Awards, Tully Sahib has earned the love, trust, and respect of all Indians.
The title of the talk this evening was “India: The Road Ahead” and he referred to his book India's Unending Journey published by Random House.
Tully’s subject was the development of India: Why should India not follow the path of today's developed countries or aim for their lifestyles? Their way has been environmentally, socially, and spiritually damaging and India with its vast population and environment already under strain would suffer particularly grievously if it followed their example. There is an alternative way to develop and India has the human, traditional, and spiritual resources to follow that way.
Sir Mark Tully talked at length about the urgent need for an environmentally friendly world. Toying with the various ideas that can lead to such a goal, he suggested vegetarianism which could greatly help conserve our resources. The perils of deforestation and pollution need to be taken care of if we wish to avoid nature's backlash as has been witnessed in recent times.
Referring to the increasing consumerism of today's world, he suggested that man's greed for more and more should be curbed, desires should be reined in, and the effort should be to adopt a middle path where we can focus on the essential and not on the superfluous. Quoting liberally from the Gita, from well-known names like UR Anantamurthy and KBS Iyengar, Tully invoked the traditional Indian spirit which has suffered at the altar of insatiable human greed.
Tully's love for the railways of India emerged several times in his talk. if train services are improved, rather than roadways, it would help ease traffic congestion and improve the quality of life. under the garb of development we have lost a lot of our old ways of living that kept us connected to the spiritual side of life. Talking about the bureaucracy, he put forward the idea that they need to realize that their job is to serve and not rule. Doing so, they will realize that greater happiness and satisfaction may be derived from the service of others.
Mark Tully came across as a man who loves India and cares enough to point out her flaws in the hope that something is done about them. His talk went down extremely well with the audience who did not wish to leave him alone even after the talk was over. He was engaged for almost an hour, fielding questions about his views on India, his experiences at the BBC, and his ideas on what would be a help to the nation.
In a nutshell, it was a very thought-provoking, scintillating evening and CSA may justifiably be proud of its achievement in hosting yet another event of a very high standard.
Manju Jaidka
Chairperson, CSA
