Tutu146;s thoughts

Last week in Bangalore I was whisked off by Rohini and Nandan Nilekani to the home of Devaki and L.C Jain to meet Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa. It was an unlooked-for felicity, as welcome as it was sudden. Tutu and his wife Leah had been quietly vacationing in Bangalore, eating thayir-saadam curd rice with the Jains and taking long walks in the the green lanes around Sankey Tank. 8220;And you journalists never even knew!8221; chortled the Archbishop, who said he was in India 8220;Because I promised Leah a real vacation8221;. I asked about that marvelous quote attributed to him: 8220;When the white people came to our country, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 8216;Let us pray8217;. When we opened our eyes, we had the Bible and they had the land8221;. 8220;Actually, it8217;s not mine8221;, grinned the Nobel Peace Prize winner. 8220;I don8217;t know who said it, but I liked it and borrowed it. And everybody said it was I8221;. He disdained even this small, forgivable lie. It was so moving how everyone8217;s eyes lit up when they gazed at him, the real respect with which they took his hand in both of theirs, Asian-fashion, when introduced or taking leave. Tutu exuded a real aura of peace and strength, he was the embodiment of a healing presence, wearing the sorrows of his people with lightness and grace despite all the terrible things he8217;d seen and experienced.

With Eid-ul-Fitr, the festival of peace and forgiveness, falling this week, one can8217;t help thinking how much we in India could do with healing presences in our public and private lives. Tutu8217;s book No Future Without Forgiveness Rider 1999 has some very Indian resonances. Visiting other parts of the world 8220;where people are seeking to come to terms with their history of conflict and disagreement8221;, he told the Dubliners in 8217;98 about South Africa: 8220;At one moment we would experience the most wonderful joy, euphoria even, at some new and crucial initiative: we would see the promised land of peace and justice round the corner. Then, just when we thought we had entered the last lap, something ghastly would happen 8212; a massacre, a deadlock, brinkmanship of some kind, a walkout by one delegation or another 8212; and we would be scraping the rock bottom of despair and

despondency. I told them this was normal. The prize at the end is so wonderful that they should not let go of their dream8230;they would realise they had wasted many years and many lives when in fact goodness and peace and tolerance were wonderful and ultimately uncomplicated8221;.

Well, we could begin right away in our talk at home and in our behaviour to each other, couldn8217;t we? We all know perfectly well how uncomplicated it would be if we let it.