Book review
India’s Westernized élite, cut off from local traditions, ‘want to write a full stop in a land where there are no full stops’. From that striking insight Mark Tully has woven a superb series of ‘stories’ which explore everything from communal conflict in Ahmedabad to communism in Calcutta, from the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (probably the biggest religious festival in the world) to the televising of a Hindu epic. Throughout, he combines analysis of major issues with a feel for the fine texture and human realities of Indian life. The result is a revelation.

‘Not since Kipling has one man’s love of India been so movingly revealed’
—Daily mail

‘In everything he writes, Tully’s sympathy for and knowledge of India shines through...He is, indeed, incomparable among foreign observers of that bewildering, maddening, utterly enchanting medley of peoples.’
—Geoffrey Moorhouse in the Guardian

India’s Westernized élite, cut off from local traditions, ‘want to write a full stop in a land where there are no full stops’. From that striking insight Mark Tully has woven a superb series of ‘stories’ which explore everything from communal conflict in Ahmedabad to communism in Calcutta, from the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (probably the biggest religious festival in the world) to the televising of a Hindu epic. Throughout, he combines analysis of major issues with a feel for the fine texture and human realities of Indian life. The result is a revelation.

‘An unsentimental tribute to India by its best-loved Englishman. A lifetime’s travels by the BBC’s India correspondent are crystallized into a series of essays that throw more light on this vast, tragi-comic country than anything since V.S. Naipaul’s Area of Darkness.’
—Paul Gogarty in the Sunday Telegraph

‘The ten essays, written with clarity, warmth of feeling and critical balance and understanding, provide as lively a view as one can hope from the panorama of India.’
—K. Natwar Singh in the Financial Times

‘Wonderful...whether describing a village wedding or a 15 million-strong religious festival, he’s a brilliant reporter...this book is essential reading for anyone interested in a civilization mainly punctuated by question marks.’
—Piers Brendon in the Mail on Sunday