China and India - Two tales

 China and India are two veritable giants in the world. Long history, ancient civilisations. Not to forget they are neighbours who are into skirmishes off and on. They fought a war in 1962. Another one was recently in 2020. China banned the last Indian reporter from being in the country this week. There is always an undercurrent of hostility between these two nations.

Two incidents are amongst the most defining in their history.

The first one is a glorious, inspiring one. In the 7th century, under the Tang dynasty, China had postal systems, road networks and a flourishing open culture. Since that time, Xuanzang is one of the most respected figures in Chinese history. In 629 AD, he crossed the Himalayas into India to learn more about Buddhism. He spent seventeen years travelling to Peshwar, Patna, Kanchi, Bodh Gaya, Bengal, Malwa and Gujarat amongst other places. He spent two years in monasteries in Kashmir trying to understand Buddhist philosophies. He also spent two years studying at the University in Nalanda.  Sixteen years after he had left, in 645 AD, he went back to China laden with books, statues and other cultural artefacts. He was considered wise and evolved. When he went back, he was given a rapturous welcome by the people and the emperor asked him to be his Prime Minister. He decided to continue as a monk. His influence triggered a great intermingling of Indian, Buddhist and Chinese cultures with hundreds of monks travelling across these countries. China became a centre of Buddhism too with Indian influences and two great civilisations drew from each other.

Another significant interaction between India and China was around opium almost 1000 years later.  East India Company had established itself in India in 1757 and over time it started smuggling opium from Bengal into China. This had its own bad effects. Opium addiction had grown tremendously in the population. Estimates put the number of addicts at 12 million and the annual trade of opium at 30,000 chests of 170 pounds each. 

To curb this menace, the emperor appointed a commissioner Lin Zexu. In 1839, he set about his task vigorously, arresting traders, seizing almost 1 million kilograms of opium and destroying it. The British then decided to attack the Chinese forces with an army from India consisting mostly of Indian sepoys. Eventually, the Chinese lost, conceding several important concessions including rights to Hong Kong. This has been always a sore wound in the Chinese mind.

Thus Buddhism and opium, both from India, in fact from the Eastern part of India, played a significant role in Chinese history and the relationship between these giants. 

Old Delhi

Here are some interesting snapshots of Old Delhi on a grey, cold Sunday afternoon in winter. This is where the past exists both in its inspiring architecture and its way of life.

In Agra

Went to Agra on a holiday. The folks in Delhi smile indulgently when you tell them you went to Agra of all the places-it sounds quaint !

The beauty of Taj never fails to astonish me. Amongst the wonders of the world and the architectural masterpieces, it is the only one in the lists for its perfect beauty. The colosseum, the great wall of China or the pyramids are there for their size or other unique attributes. But the Taj exists possibly as the most beautiful monument in the world. It seems perfect in shape,symmetry,design and aesthetic appeal. It would have been even so much more wonderful when the marble would have been completely white and the inlay work was not damaged.

Contrast this with the city of Agra- filthy, chaotic and rough. The touts, the guides and the autowallahs treat fleecing the tourist as their divine right. I cannot even fathom how the poor foreigners would be getting taken for the ride of their lifetimes. The facilities outside the five stars are pathetic. The town boasts of only a Pizza Hut , a Dasaprakash and Zorba the Buddha restaurant where you could possibly eat. There are no coffee shops where tourists can spend their time. The result of all this is that many of them who could actually spend four days in Agra in seeing the Taj, the fort, Fatehpur Sikri and the other monuments prefer squeezing everything into a day. Fatehpur Sikri is actually worse than Agra in this - my car was stopped twice by local hoodlums to ask for money and the moment I reached the fort, I was surrounded by salesmen of all kinds.The government anyway is sleeping.

The stories about Taj are so intriguing. Shah Jahan's hair supposedly turned grey overnight after Mumtaz's death during childbirth. The hands of the builders were all chopped off so that they would not be able to repeat the construction anywhere. The bottom of the monument has tiny cells where apparently all the workers were kept after the Taj was built and they were not allowed to go outside. All of them died there.

Timbuktu and Mali

Today, Timbuktu means a place from nowhere. It seems to be beyond the end of the known world. It is actually a town in Mali in West Africa. Mali is a poorly governed, impoverished country today. Thomas Friedman in his book discovers that ,even in Mali individuals have started using open-source software and to him it is almost like the final acceptance of the concept of open-source software. Naseruddin Shah fantasises of sending his wife to Timbuktu on his 25th marriage anniversary in Omkara.

But it was not like this six hundred years ago. Mali was then a country of fabled wealth. It was said that gold grew on trees in Mali. It was for about twenty years ruled by Mansa Musa (part of the Mansa family) when it reached the zenith of its glory. Mansa Musa undertook the Haj and went through Egypt. He distributed immense amount of riches wherever he went. Apparently, he gave away so much gold in Egypt that it caused inflation and the price of gold crashed by twenty five per cent.

The world-traveller of those days Ibn Battuta heard so many stories about the Mansa regime that he went to visit the kingdom. This is after he had visited many other countries including India. But even he was astonished by the scale of opulence and grandeur in the palaces.

Around 1360 AD the descendants of Mansa Musa were pitted in a terrible conflict with the descendants of his brother Mansa Suleyman and this led to the ultimate annihilation of the dynasty and the end of the glory for Mali.
This is the ruthless cycle of history. It changes everything.

Dubai and Lagos-A Story of Contrasts

I have had the opportunity of spending some time in the last three months in Dubai and lagos. It is a fascinating contrast. Dubai and Lagos are stories of two divergent ways in the world and how good governance makes a difference. Lagos is the capital of Nigeria and Dubai a principal emirate of UAE.

Both are rich in oil but Nigeria more so. It has the world’s fourth largest oil reserves. But Nigeria quite surprisingly imports oil also.

Both are on the sea. Dubai has a very pleasant climate for four months in a year but for six months it is unbearably hot affecting life and work. Lagos temperatures fluctuate between a pleasant 18 to 35 degrees centigrade through out the year.

The common language of Nigeria is English and everybody speaks it. Some local citizens of Dubai are passably conversant with the language but many do not understand it.

UAE is principally a Muslim country but Nigeria has Muslims and Christians co-existing in relative harmony. In Nigeria, each religion has its own space and freedom.

Nigeria is located closer to the important markets of Europe and USA and has close cultural relations with Europe especially UK.Dubai’s cultural relationship in the true sense is with other gulf countries.

The people in Nigeria are open and friendly whereas in UAE they are more closed.

The land in Nigeria is fertile and there is rain throughout the year. Dubai is on a desert.

With so many natural advantages, one would think that Nigeria would be far more advanced than Dubai. But strange are the ways of the world.

Dubai has a per capita income of approximately 19000USD and Nigeria’s is around 300 USD. Dubai is rated as amongst the most modern cities in the world and is a tourist hub. Lagos is one of the most difficult cities to live in with inadequate basic amenities. Dubai is clean, modern and forward-looking. Lagos is filthy, poor and chaotic.

What makes Dubai so much better than Lagos despite its inherent handicaps? It is quite simply governance. The administration in Dubai has ensured implementation of forward-looking ideas whereas the military junta in Lagos simply occupied themselves in padding up their Swiss accounts. The result is poor law and administration, shabby infrastructure and bad image resulting in businesses and talent staying away from it. Dubai has overcome its natural odds in creating modern infrastructure and efficient law and the outcome is an international city.

The Book Capital of the World

Make no mistake about it. Delhi is the publishing and information capital of India too. Most publishers like Penguin, Oxford or Rupa are located here. The top news magazines like India Today and Outlook run from here. The daily fodder of the Indian news fiend NDTV operates from Delhi. The organisations, which decide what our children are going to read like NCERT, are based here. The weighty intellectuals who give us our daily spiel in newspapers and TV channels are mostly based in Delhi. But the Delhite has been known for his groping in DTC buses, chhole bhaturas and robust dancing but never for his books.

I had joined a company in Delhi and then was studiously concentrating on a problem in my cabin when I overheard some colleagues discussing about the new bloke. I was being described as nice, sincere blah blah and also quirkily as one who also reads books as if it was like having a cow in the flat. I was the odd man out in the office where they could not believe one could spend money on buying books rather than gold or a new large fridge. Not a surprising behaviour, considering that the reading habits of the charismatic head of the office were limited to ruffling through Debonair in railway platform Wheelers.

The place in South Delhi where I stay has possibly the lowest ratio of bookshops and magazine stalls to total shops for any city in the world. I am also sure that the percentage of expenditure on books to the total household income in Delhi must be 0.0000001%, again a world record low. Here in a three km radius from where I stay, I can get Hitachi plasma TVs in five shops, Rado watches in fifteen places and Lebanese food in seven joints but I have only three street side magazine stalls and two bookshops. Out of these two, one is good and all of forty sq feet and the other stocks books in only thirty five percent of its space.

But the times they are a-changin’.

The Delhite now has heard that knowledge is a critical ingredient to push ahead in the modern world. He also knows that it has become a status symbol. And nobody can hold a candle to Delhiwallahs as far as status symbols and pushing for success go.


The Delhiwallah has discovered books and is buying them! It is becoming a revered status symbol like a Skoda or a Rolex. I was talking to some guys from Time- Life publishing who sell educational books for children-very good and very expensive. The full set costs a whopping 1.25 lac rupees. They sell it on EMIs too. But the biggest market in the country by miles is Delhi where most sales happen on cash. In the other towns in India, most sales happen on EMIs. So what is the secret? Here, rich businessmen and contractors who proudly display it in their drawing rooms buy most sets. Imagine the status value when Mrs.Chopra tells her friend from Shalimar Bagh that her son reads about alligators from such big, expensive books and not from something published by Navneet.

A similar tale from my friend in Oxford University Press. They were confused for a long time when their leather bound books started flying off the shelves in Delhi. Several months and consumer studies later they discovered that the books were being bought as artefacts for drawing rooms.

So I was not surprised to see an article which said that now interior designers get mandates from their clients to select suitable books for display along with dining chairs and divans.

So there is now money in selling books and I heard that the sanitary ware shop across the street selling glass shower cubicles is now being demolished to turn into a bookshop.


To encash on this newfound craze for the status symbol, I suggest three ideas:

a) The travel agents start offering a complete set of works from an author where people go to - so travellers to South Africa will get a complete set of J.M.Coetzee or travellers to Prague get a set of Kundera.

b) In the busy marriage season the booksellers can pitch for sending the invitation along with leather bound classics.

c) For every five hundred and seventy mithai packs you give in Diwali, gift one book.

Soon Delhi will become the book capital of the world.

Calcutta Conundrum

There are many people who are trying to understand Calcutta and unravel the mystery behind the thinking of its people after the Saurav Ganguly episode.

Saurav was kept out of the team after perfectly justifiable reasons. In fact, the performance of the team in the last two series amply demonstrates the validity of the move. The team actually looks much more positive and hungrier. Its fielding is outstanding and it has in large patches looked like the Australians in attitude. Saurav brought an infusion of guts to the team but that does not mean eternal selection.

Most people I speak to are very happy with his exclusion but the Calcuttans would have none of it. They booed Dravid and the Indian team though out the Eden match. Assorted celebrities from the world of cinema and arts come on television and protest against his exclusion. The city, which paints its walls with pictures of Ronaldo and Ronaldino during a world cup, jeers its own team. It justifies the superiority of its emotions over loyalty to country or civility.

Calcutta though has never reconciled the loss of its status as the pre-eminent city of the sub-continent. It still seethes over the perceived injustice of shifting the capital to Delhi. It is sensitive to issues, real and imaginary .It does not accept anything, which does not follow its way of thinking and living. In reality, this precludes this from being a great city. Great cities are known for their tolerance and universality of spirit, their ability to accept diversity of thoughts. Bombay lost its claim to being a great city the day it had the riots.


But it is not so easy to explain Calcutta. It celebrates Christmas and Durga Puja with fervour. Every family in Calcutta tries to buy cakes for Christmas. It has the some of the lowest communal hatred amongst Indian cities. It has a large heart. But the city also is a bundle of contradictions. I remember the issue of the person who was getting hanged after having raped and murdered a thirteen-year-old girl. There were candlelight marches and processions in his support. The newspapers were full of front-page stories with sympathy about this man. And this in a place, where diseased and dying masses confront you at every stop. In my stay in Calcutta, I have not seen the average Calcuttan exhibiting this trait of compassion over the people he sees everyday. But when it comes to deaths supposedly over a principle (death penalty), he is all eager to hit the streets. They fill up concert halls to listen to classical music and book fairs to buy Kafka and Camus showing their proclivity for fine things in life but they do not mind living with filth on the roads outside their doors.


So the Saurav episode is also another page in the book of contradictions that is Calcutta. There is no point in trying to understand it because it can never be understood.