India in Slow Motion

That is the name of the book I recently picked up. It is one of Mark Tully's highly rated books on India, the other one being No Full Stops in India. I just reading it a couple of days ago, it has been good going so far.

For those unfamiliar with the name, until a decade ago BBC World Service and its South Asia correspondent, Mark Tully were synonymous. Such was his credibility and aura that whenever a sensational news broke out people preferred to listen to the BBC than to All India Radio. He is now a journalist in New Delhi and works with his colleague and partner Gillian Wright. I have seen him often on NDTV too in the weekly program Foreign Correspondent. His knowledge of India is vast - ranging from Kashmir crisis to kebab joints in Lucknow and paan shops in Delhi. He also does a weekly programme on BBC Radio called Something Understood.

The book is more on bad governance that has put brakes on progress in India. The authors say the administrative system has not been properly reformed or finely tuned since the British left. It has been drifting along with no serious thought given to governance. And more often than not, it sadly seems like the government is the problem, not the solution.

More on the book as I make progress. I thought I will read quite a bit over the weekend, but it has been a very hectic one. I was at work on Saturday helping recruit/interview candidates. For most part of Sunday, there were regular power cuts, and Bangalore this week has been as hot as a frying pan. I was dead tired from some running practise I have been trying to get (yes, I plan to run the Bangalore Marathon next weekend, or to be more precise, as much as I can) so I was just lying down and playing dead in the hot afternoon and managed to get a series of cat naps. Thankfully electricity just seems to have been restored now (it is 9 PM Sun night), so hopefully we will be able to get some sleep at least.

Seriously, the common Indian man is a long suffering lot!