Tully - Indias Unending Journey: Finding balance in a time of change

FINDING BALANCE
IN A TIME OF CHANGE

Mark Tully

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First published in 2007 by Rider, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
This edition published by Rider in 2008

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Copyright Mark Tully 2007

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The author would like to thank the following for permission to use copyright material: Bloodaxe Books for permission to quote Freedom in Poems by Michael Siadhail (Bloodaxe Books, 1999); William Clowes & Sons Ltd for lines from Summoned by Bells by John Betjeman (John Murray, 1976). Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the author and publisher will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.

The quintessential foreign correspondent, informed, even-handed and practically a native.

A labour of love, written by a man who has witnessed the worst of India and yet can still find hope and optimism, someone who sees beyond the disunity in diversity and finds a unique balance.

A warm and engaging guide.

No Full Stops in India

India in Slow Motion (with Gillian Wright)

The Heart of India

Amritsar: Mrs Gandhis Last Battle (with Satish Jacob)

From Raj to Rajiv (with Zareer Masani)

Lives of Jesus

Sir Mark Tully is one of the worlds leading writers and broadcasters on India, and the presenter of the much loved radio programme Something Understood. In this remarkable and timely work, he reveals the profound changes happening in India today, and brings the country alive in a way only he can do.

Through interviews and anecdotes, he journeys from the skyscrapers of Gurgaon to the religious riots in Ayodhya, from the calm of a university campus to farmers deep in the countryside. And he brings us all the colour, flavour and balance of this fascinating nation that is having such an impact on our world.

THIS BOOK IS about living with the uncertainty of certainty, about accepting the limits to what we can know, and being willing to question our beliefs. This uncertainty doesnt just apply to religious beliefs or, indeed, beliefs hostile to religion. In the book I also suggest we need to be much more open to questioning our economics, our business practices, the way we educate our children, how we live as members of communities and citizens of nation states, and how we live our individual lives. But the book started from my belief that the Hindu tradition of acknowledging there can be many ways to God could help Christians to question those of their beliefs which have led them to deny the validity of other faiths, and all too often the validity of other Christian traditions than their own. I had never considered putting the thoughts that were buzzing around my head down on paper until the organisers of the Teape Lectures asked me to give those lectures in 1999. The lectures, to be given that year in the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol, had to relate to the Upanishads and the Catholic Church. Previous lecturers had all been outstanding theologians, including my former tutor Robert Runcie, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. I am no scholar so I was very reluctant to accept this invitation. But finally I decided to face up to the challenge. So my first debt of gratitude goes to the organisers of the Teape Lectures, not only for taking the risk of breaking a scholarly tradition, but also for the generous reception they gave to my lectures, which encouraged me to go on reading and writing abut the ideas I had expressed.

My second debt of gratitude goes to my editor, Judith Kendra. There would be no book if she hadnt asked me to consider writing it. I did not leap at the opportunity because I was far from certain that my ideas could stretch to a book, but I gave her a copy of the Teape Lectures to give her a clearer picture of what would be in it if it ever materialised. She came back after reading the lectures with an encouraging reply and at all stages in writing the book she has continued to encourage me, reading different drafts and making invaluable suggestions for improvements. I am also very grateful to Judiths colleague Sue Lascelles, who took over the editing at the last stage.

This book covers many different subjects, in none of which can I claim to be an expert. I am therefore particularly grateful to those people who are experts in their fields and who have allowed me to test my ideas on them. In particular I am grateful to my old friend Chaturvedi Badrinath, who was the first person to awaken my interest in the uncertainty of certainty and who has helped me to build on that start. The scholar of Eastern philosophy Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad read the first draft of the chapters on Hinduism and made many invaluable suggestions. Madhu Khanna with her knowledge of Sanskrit and her deep understanding of the Tantric Hindu tradition, the art historian Shobita Punja with her knowledge of Hindu mythology, and the Jungian psychologist Rashna Imhasly-Gandy all helped me find a way through the mine-field of the chapter on sexual mores. Alvaro Enterria, a publisher and long time resident of Varanasi, read the chapter on that city and made valuable suggestions.

My knowledge of the modern developments in Christianity has been enriched by the many theologians and other Christians I have interviewed during the eleven years I have been presenting the BBC Radio 4 Programme Something Understood. I am grateful to the BBC for giving me this opportunity and particularly grateful to my producer Eley McAinsh, a wise Christian herself. I have for many years now been a regular reader of the Irish Dominican journal, Doctrine and Life, and it has opened my eyes to the breadth of Christian, particularly Roman Catholic, theology today. The editor of the journal, Bernard Treacey, organised the whole of my visit to Ireland. While not hiding the concerns he had about the Irish Church he did his best to ensure that I presented a balanced picture of it. I hope he succeeded.