No Full Stops in India

Rating:
Summary: India under Change
Review: "No Full Stops in India" is a series of essays on India by the BBC's former South Asia correspondent, Mark Tully. In the essays, Tully examines how India is being changed by global forces - cultural and economic - which Tully sees as a new kind of imperialism. India seems to have moved from being subjected to "old-style" imperialism under the British to the new style with little if anything in between, as India's elite was and is very Westernised and out of tune with the needs of the vast majority of India's population.

Tully examines various aspects of Indian life to test out his thesis, ranging from a short biography of his servant Ram Chander, to the Kumbh Mela, the television version of the Ramayana, and (most disturbing and compelling) a sati in Rajasthan. All the pieces are well written. Tully takes time to relate small details of his travels and encounters which bring the book alive - the journey into rural India with Jangarh Singh Shyam in an old taxi for example.

These essays were written in the early 1990s, and I suppose that time has moved on since then. Clearly Tully is deeply in love with India: much of his distress and anger at how India is changing and losing its traditional values in the face of globalisation is due to a feeling of a loss of what was once unique and culturally stimulating. Part of me agrees - you only have to travel anywhere in the world to see how things are becoming very standardised and uninspiring as a result. Tully points out that English has spread to only a very small part of the Indian population and in many ways serves to further distance the elite from the rest.

There are, I suppose, different ways of looking at this. Part of me was in sympathy with Tully's point of view, part of me was thinking that he was fighting a losing battle: global forces are so strong that every society, not just India's, is being affected. In that sense India is not unique. Tully's analysis at times seems confused (for example, blaming the British for undermining the caste system then accusing them of reinforcing it). Of much more interest is whether Indian society as a whole will benefit from rapid economic growth or whether social strains will be increased as the rich get very much richer. Equally, will there be further extreme nationalistic and religious reactions to a perceived cultural threat from what is essentially an atheistic and utterly materialistic West, reactions which often include intolerance to Indians of differing faiths - I know this concerns my Indian friends deeply.

In all though, a fascinating set of essays and of relevance outside of India.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: Objective, Interesting and Somewhat Informative.
Review: A collection of 10 essays by Tully, this book presents some of the facets of Indian life in a very objective manner. Certainly, the content reflects the fact that Tully understands India as well as any Indian. He covered mostly politics and religion only. The books includes a few pictures too.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book - a great panoramic view of the Indian collag
Review: Mark Tully blends his reporting objectivity and opinions in the essays he has written about different places and events that I could relate to in my time in India. Provides a very refreshing commentary on the different perspectives and at the same time finding enough room to provide his judgements.
The accounts of the Roop Kanwar episode and Operation Black Thunder have a historian's touch to them. DEfinitely a must read.

Rating:
Summary: Rewarding book!
Review: Mark Tully writes with great sympathy for India and this book of impressions is full of surprising insights. I recommend it strongly!

Rating:
Summary: Tully describes India
Review: This book gives a far more in depth picture of India than one is able to get by traveling around the country as a Westerner not familiar with the many languages of India. Tully has a great love for the country, but bares the many contradictions and conflicts that exist in the vast Indian society beyond the small English speaking elite.