Soaked in sweat, Justin Rowlatt walks through the gate of Accord Metropolitan: an anti-climax for a small group of journalists, who expected the BBC presenter to make a striking appearance, switching gears in a 1996 Ambassador with a hand-shift. Instead, a Hindi-speaking driver, looking as drained and pallid as Justin, guides the old Amby — noticeably weather-beaten and rusty — to the parking bay. While stepping out, he mutters something about a major mechanical snag.
After reaching Chennai — the last stop on a drive across the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent for a BBC programme “India On Wheels” — the car had broken down under the weight of an unreasonable workload. How did Justin and his team make the mistake of choosing this old banger?
Two considerations
There was no mistake, explains Justin. The choice of car was dictated by two considerations. The Amby is an iconic Indian machine, loved both by bureaucrats and common people. This 15-year-old model — which lacks power steering and air-conditioning — was preferred to the latest Amby that has these modern comforts and more, because the older car is a symbol of life in most parts of India. There are places in this country, where people lack basic comforts.
Interestingly, “India On Wheels” also explores modern India with its billionaires and Bollywood stars through a parallel journey undertaken by presenter Anita Rani in a Bolero Stinger. While Anita felt the pulse of vibrant modern metros, Justin surveyed life in tradition-bound cities and towns, and in sleepy villages.
Just outside Varanasi, Justin spent a couple of days with a large family that subsists on a daily earning of Rs.200 to Rs.300 through farming. During such visits, he was drawn to studying the engrossing interplay between tradition and modernity. He noticed that the joint family system — taken for granted in villages — is losing its appeal.
During his rambling journey, Justin could not suppress the investigative journalist in him. In Agra, he noticed that dense vehicular traffic is causing air pollution that could — in time — deface the Taj Mahal. “Though polluting industrial units moved out of the area long ago, it's the vehicles that are aggravating the problem now.” While in Orissa, he spent a considerable amount of time studying the mores of the proto-Australoid Dongria Kondh tribe. These people, renowned for fruit farming, feel threatened by an aluminium plant that has come up right where they live.
Famous for “The Chinese Are Coming”, a recent BBC programme that takes viewers to places as diverse as Angola and Hacienda Heights (California) to track the “unstoppable rise of the Chinese in global business”, Justin does not pause to think before answering a question about how the Indian economy compares with the Chinese. While the Chinese economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for thirty years now, Justin feels the Indian economy has grown sporadically. He believes a huge section of the population — primarily those in agriculture — has not been empowered to participate in or contribute to the economy's expansion.
Justin, however, points out India can't be painted with just one brush. It is a land of mind-boggling diversity and contrasts. Aware of the need for multiple points of reference to understand India, he prepared for the assignment by reading acclaimed books, including “India: A Portrait” by Patrick French and “Maximum City: Bombay Lost And Found” by Suketu Mehta. In spite of this, Justin found himself unprepared for the India that met him on the way to an enterprising road adventure.
(‘India On Wheels' — with two one-hour segments — is expected to be telecast on BBC World Service this September).
