Political Diary

New Delhi, 28 June 2008

Namaste London

IT’S BALLE BALLE FOR INDIANS

By Poonam I Kaushish

The Empire strikes back. A second week into London and India continues to be the flavour of the season. With high profile visits, India-Pakistan summits, cultural pot pourie et al. If at one end there is the ICCR President and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Karan Singh lecturing on remembering Nehru and MPs and intellectuals pontificating on India-Pakistan walking the peace road, on the other there are Bollywood stars and directors razzmatazzing the Indians on Oxford Street.

The Indian High Commission continues to be the nerve centre of Indo-UK relations and the Nehru Centre, the cultural interface between the UK and India, has quietly but steadily found its own mark and made inroads into the way Brits look at India. It reaches out to the Indian community and the UK intelligentsia in equal measure. Set up in 1992, it showcases the best of India’s diverse culture, the many facets of performing arts---- dance, music, poetry, paintings,  plays, talks and  inter-faith festivals.

The institution has been lucky to have since its inception an inspired intellectual leadership. Just as Girish Karnad built upon the foundations laid by Gopal Gandhi as its founder Director, the first-ever woman Director of the Centre, Monika Mohta has studiously built upon the multi-faceted personality of the Centre.

Whether you walk into the parlours of haute couture or into addas of British intelligentsia mixing their seekh kababs and chicken tikkas with Cobra beer, India is omnipresent in cultural London. On a given evening, I had the choice of attending a recital of sarod maestro Amjad Ali in the City of London Festival, attending a gala dinner at the Lords for the victorious World Cup India cricket team of 1983, rubbing shoulders with Indian financial elite at the Duetsche Bank party or listening to Bollywood director Karan Johar in conversation. Monika tells me this is a predicament she faces every alternate evening. The soft power of Indian diplomacy has bloomed and is here to stay.

Monika asserts: “There are many commonalities between the British and Indian ways of life, from a taste for good Darjeeling tea to a passion for 20/20 cricket. The spectrum also includes new and emerging areas like contemporary Indian art, Sufi music, cinema and architecture. There are new dimensions unfolding everyday crying out for attention and support. Within its limitations, the Nehru Centre seeks to support each in whatever measure it can. What is heartening is that not only the financial and intellectual elite of India travel to London to support the Centre’s efforts the local Indian community too has warmed up to help the Centre in expanding its reach. Nothing you do is enough!”  Further, the Centre, under its dynamic Director has a strategic partnership with the Royal Academy of Performing Arts, British Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Call it sweet irony or double revenge, but as the sun set on the British Empire in India it led to the sunrise of the ‘Indian Empire’ in UK. True, the British left many an imprint on India – we follow its parliamentary form of democracy, our Parliament is based on the Westminster model, our bureaucracy, our legal framework, police system, Criminal Procedure Code etc follow the British model. But, in spite of all this, the British failed to leave a mark of nobility. Worse, they treated India as a colony unlike other invaders like the Mughals, who made the country their home.

In sharp contrast, the Indians in Britain are making their mark of brilliance, dedication, loyalty and integrity. They have virtually taken over the remnants of what was once the Great Empire. Rich Indians are swarming all over. There are over 25 Indian Lords and Baroness’ in the House of Lords. The Chairman of the Liberal Democrats is an Indian, Lord Dholakia, and Lord Bagri heads the London Metal Exchange. Beer magnate Karan Billimoria, an Indian heads the Indo-UK Round Table and Baroness Sterite Vadera is a Minister in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet. Succinctly asserts Lord Bagri: “If the UK is my karma bhoomi then, India is my punia bhoomi.”

The British love Indian food, music and clothes. No wonder that the desi curry and the bhangra rap is the joy de verve of London. Most Indian restaurants enjoy top ranking as bhangra blares out of top night clubs, which charge over £ 100 as entry fee. What to speak of the British queuing up to see the latest Bollywood offer. Hindi movies now are simultaneously released in London and Delhi.

That apart, London is abuzz. Post Tata takeover of Corus and Jaguar, the Indians are revered as ‘top guns’. Not surprisingly, all the major private sector multi-national institutions are headed by Indians. Top Scottish liquor brands are now Indian, owned by Vijay Mallya. The most sought after invites are to parties, which have a mix of Indian and British movers and shakers.

And yet, what endures Indians to Britons and vice versa is a shared belief in Parliamentary democracy being an effective system of governance. It is not for nothing that it will take a long time for Raisina Hill to hold a candle to Westminster. Architecturally, both Houses of Parliaments maybe formidable institutions, and inspire the multitudes, but the distinction between what happens inside is not difficult to notice. The Parliamentary discourse in Westminster is in tune with what is happening across the country and indeed the world on a daily basis. And its quality compels the Government to try and stay on the right side of public opinion.

Nothing needs to be written or said about what happens in our Parliament. Except that sitting in London, I wish that little cries for help from disadvantaged children in Orissa or Assam, farmers suicides in Vidarbha and Karnataka, religious riots in J&K, or water-logging in Delhi could inspire a meaningful discourse, capable of compelling the Government into action beyond cyclostyling and photocopying of ‘unstarred questions’ to be doled out as Press releases to journalists and motivated propaganda machines.

When I think of Westminster, some famous understatements come to mind. Over a century ago, when Warren Hastings was being tried in the fabled Westminster Hall for the plunder of Bengal, his defence was both audacious and simple. He told the Lord Chancellor that, “if only Your Lordship had the occasion to personally see the wealth of Bengal, you would have realised that whatever little I took away was extreme moderation.” Or when Churchill, the little master of monumental insults, who was pulled up by the Speaker of the Commons for describing, “half the House being full of fools.” Suitably reprimanded, he rose to apologise. “Lord Speaker,” confessed he, “half the House is not full of fools!”  On the other hand, not a day passes in our Lok Sabha without below the belt abuses, smirks et al.

As my heart seeks to soak in as much of the British and Indian flavour in London, a strange yearning seeps deep in my veins for home and Delhi’s monsoon. At the foot of the fountain in Trafalgar Square, I spot scores of Sikhs breaking into bhangra towards the fag end of a concert organised by Cherie Blair in aid of Indian widows. Since the policies of the UPA Government continue to contribute to farmers’ suicide, I am sure there will be more occasions for the Punjabi and Gujarati communities in London to organise charity concerts for these widows. Clearly, Britain’s heart beats for India! ----- INFA

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