Something to unlearn from China

WE returned from our China trip just a few days ago and I am still trying to process all the sights and experiences that are stuffed in my head. However, I can offer a few quick observations about the country and its people. Virtually the first problem one encounters is language: apart from a couple of words of greeting and gratitude, my knowledge of Chinese is non-existent. Accustomed as we are to English as the lingua franca of the international world, imagine a tourist’s frustration at not being able to read the menu or haggle (Chinese goods must be bargained for). In the more popular tourist spots (The Great Wall, for instance) there is a smattering of English signs but, by and large, the waiters and shop-keepers are as ignorant of English as we are of Chinese.

Yet even more frustrating is the absence of Google and Gmail. Wired as most of us are to Bhagwan Google’s internet world, this absence hits one hard. Without the familiar crutches of readily available information (where to go, what to see and buy), we were at the mercy of our English-speaking tourist guide. A word here about intonations and accents must be added as a caution if you ever plan to hire one: ours were University post-graduates in English but their degrees were about as worthless as any of our own mofussil university degrees. However, they made up for their inability to pronounce ‘r’ and ‘l’ in the correct place by being most polite and helpful. 

Sadly, somewhere along the route to present times, their sense of humour seems to have vanished. I rarely saw a laughing face (except on the delightful Laughing Buddha) in my travels. Everywhere you go there are earnest, dedicated and hard-working people going about their business with the determined look of an army of ants. 

What must be acknowledged China’s singular achievement is the massive shift from a peasant and rural economy to a modern one. The cleanliness that one encounters takes one’s breath away: there is not even a matchstick to be seen as litter. An army of safai karmcharis, armed with brooms and dustpans, sweep even the leaves as soon as they fall on the pavement. Swachch Bharat could learn some important lessons from what they have done to clean their cities. The infrastructure (roads, railways, water and sanitation) is breath-taking with its beautifully landscaped roads and expressways, public gardens and parks. We were there through the famed Spring and I swear I have not seen such blossoms and flowers in my life. I had never seen hydrangeas grow on a small tree and yet, there they were! Huge bunches of them so large and healthy that I thought they were plastic or silk flowers that had been attached to branches. 

Despite these admirable achievements, what I missed most is a sense of the ‘real’ China, one that had been portrayed by writers like Pearl Buck. The old villages have been flattened to make space for the townships that dot the landscape of modern China. Block upon block of cement towers now accommodate all those who once lived in rural communities. And with the loss of that life is also a family that was reduced to one child by a state decree. Religious practice of any kind is discouraged (we could learn from that) but with that went the sense of cultural and civilizational memory. As in Pakistan, history is a distorted state-sponsored subject. It is almost as if in this new China, the world began in 1921.

Let us then pause before we rush to ape the China success story. What will we lose if we follow their script? The argumentative Indian will become a fossil for sure and so will all the quirks and eccentricities of our land that give a personality to our cities and a lilt to our language. We may also forget to laugh (to not offend national pride) and sing and dance. Our cities may become free of the homeless and destitute but the richness of diversity will surely be affected. So my advice to our urban planners and those who recently razed the Hall of Nations in Pragati Maidan to make way for a new expressway (or something) is pause before you call in the bulldozers.

Finally, a heartfelt homage to Mrs BK Nehru who passed away recently in Kasauli. She was a national treasure not just because she was the repository of a gracious and beautiful age but because she joyfully adopted every change and gave it her special touch of grace. Born a Hungarian, she became an Indian after she married the Nehru family and I know of few women who could carry a sari with the elegance that she did. She could speak fluently in Hindustani and worked alongside her husband after Partition to bring help and succour to families torn apart in Punjab. She was at home in the grand diplomatic receptions she hosted as the wife of the Ambassador in Washington. As the wife of the Governor in J&K, Assam and in Gujarat, her interest and promotion of crafts and textiles will long be remembered. She was among the band of pioneering women who set up the Central Cottage Industries Emporium. A rare woman by any standards, her warmth and interest in people is a fragrance that will never fade away. RIP, Aunty Fori.