ART OF WINNING FRIENDS & INFORMING PEOPLE

FOR a generation of Indians like me who grew up listening to his BBC dispatches from the subcontinent, Mark Tully’s voice was synonymous with the gold standard of journalism—unbiased and speaking truth to power as a card-carrying member of the Fourth Estate.

- QURBAN ALI Senior journalist who worked for more than 14 years at BBC World Service

This Englishman went on to be known as the “voice of India” and decided to make the country his home for over half a century. At times, I envied him for his Indianness and wondered how he could love my motherland more than I did.

While people knew him as an ace broadcaster and a prolific writer, a few of us who worked with him witnessed his down-to-earth nature, humility and mastery of the art of making friends. I also had the honour of living close to him in the Nizamuddin area of Delhi for 20-odd years and catching an occasional glimpse of him and his beloved labradors in the hard-to-miss, bright-red two-seater he would drive around.

Two years ago, an essay of mine on Indira Gandhi’s communal politics caught Mark’s eye and prompted him to drop off a handwritten note at my place through his driver. The note read: “Needs discussion. I don’t have your number. The computer is down. Why not ring to fix a time to meet?” I was thrilled to receive the invitation and promptly scheduled a meeting at his place. Our long, winding discussion covered Hindutva, secularism and the Ne-hruvian model of secularism—which Mark was not completely convinced by and opposed my endorsement of.