Nothing New in Bharat?

Instead of a book that focuses on the “constant and prolonged state of social and economic ferment in India”, as Lak promises in the introduction (although to be fair, he says it will be in a “meandering and anecdotal way”), Mantras of Change revisits some of the BBC assignments he undertook.

Thus, there is a chapter on the Gujarat earthquake, another on the sexual prudery of the Indian middle classes (with a very amusing, but obligatory, prelude in Khajurao), another deals with India’s imbalanced sex ratios (principally drawn from an interview with Ashis Bose), and another on the difficulties of being a lesbian in India.

None of these topics are uninteresting or in the least bit invalid, and doubtless they came across well on the medium for which they were commissioned. Lak also writes about each with a cheerfulness and a refreshing sense that he does not have the answers or know more than what his interviewees tell him. There are also chapters on Infosys and how cosmopolitan Bangalore has become, on Andhra Pradesh and Chandrababu Naidu and on Kashmir.

But the sum of these themes, and the pleasant, chatty way in which Lak deals with them, do not amount to a book which looks at India differently. Nor do the themes transcend the restrictions often placed on foreign correspondents in which India is simply a kaleidoscope of exotica, disaster and the occasional IT story.

I also had difficulties with the title, Mantras of Change, which is both strictly meaningless and sounds a bit like one of those cliches Lak wants to avoid. In the concluding chapter, in which Lak looks at India’s future, he deals with India’s economic outlook. It would have been better if he had not.

“When the big thinkers of Indian economics decree a fully convertible rupee, it could provoke a period of instability such as the finances of this vast country have never seen,” he writes. “The requisite fierce debate, fuelled by half-informed talking heads on television, will be furious…” In short, the rupee would probably collapse and petrol prices would soar. And, since: “Tata trucks bearing vegetables to vegetarians use diesel, not faith, to get to the market… It’ll be a trying time.”

The writing is not good. But the economics is plain bad. There is no causal link between moving to full convertibility and a currency’s collapse. Indeed, as the RBI has gradually eased capital controls in the last few years, the pressure on the rupee has been appreciatory. Many of Lak’s other conclusions, are also curiously rendered. Thus: “If Indian couples took enthusiastically to the snap of latex on penis before sex”, population growth would fall.

This is a pity, since Lak is clearly a balanced, experienced journalist, with a well-deserved reputation for integrity. But it would be dishonest, simply because Lak is a colleague — or indeed because I am also writing a book on India that will doubtless be reviewed by other colleagues — to avoid calling a spade a spade. Lak is a fine broadcaster. And I have no doubt, given sufficient time and space, he would write a very good book on India. This is not it.

Edward Luce was till recently Delhi bureau chief of ‘The Financial Times’