British wit to the fore

The sun was up, beaming its warm rays on the green lawns of 2, Rajaji Marg, the colonial bungalow of the new British High Commissioner James Bevan, gracious host to Delhi's press corps at his Christmas lunch. There was no hint of the mist of the previous days. The chill in the wintry air was just right to make the rounds of warmed and spiced wine quite welcome. “Lovely climate,” said a scribe, tasting the wine, as a refreshing breeze wafted through the sylvan surroundings. “We have specially ordered it for the media,” a British diplomat said, revelling in Wodehousian wit.

HUMOUR

The occasion was a special event in the annual calendar of the British High Commission. This year's fare, last Tuesday, was the first hosted by James, who has recently taken over from Sir Richard Stagg. In a breezy welcome address, he spoke of the complementary nature of the journalist-diplomat relationship. Describing the ‘fourth estate' in a rather impish fashion, he recalled the noted English writer G. K. Chesterton: “Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is dead' to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.” Wine spilled out of quite a few glasses with laughter. The comment seemed topical, as the morning newspapers carried the news of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. Many wondered how the common people would have heard of the leader from an extremely closed society. The celebrated British humour reigned supreme as the gathering recalled anecdotes down the past centuries, since the time of Chaucer and Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde, though Irish, to Wodehouse and others.

The High Commissioner mused from the pulpit that there were several similarities between the hard work of journalists and the hard work of diplomats. Sometimes misunderstood as a series of cocktail parties and dinners, the job of both professions was to seek to understand and to explain events and issues to others. He even quoted Karl Marx, taking care to add that the father of communism wasn't a regular reference point for British diplomats: “The philosophers have only interpreted it in various ways; the point, however, is to change it”.

PARTNERSHIP

As a British diplomat said, the event is one that the entire community in the British High Commission looks forward to greatly. It is a chance to bring together journalists and media commentators from a wide range of publications and TV channels for an informal interaction; to look at the year past and to look forward to the coming year. Apart from a large number of journalists from the Indian media, there was quite a sprinkling of foreign newsmen based in India. The Reuters man and the BBC man, both British, were prominent guests of the High Commission. James, who assumed office in November, said he and his wife had spent the best part of two months prior to taking up his position in travelling across the country. They had managed to visit 20 of the 29 states. He said he looked forward to working together with the Delhi press corps, a relationship that he expected to be “both friendly and at times challenging.”

James found India an aspiring land and an inspirational nation. He hoped to keep a busy travel schedule during his tenure in India, in order to take in as much as possible of what the country had to offer. He said he looked forward to working together with the Delhi press corps, a relationship that he expected to be both friendly and at times challenging, as was to be expected in any vibrant democracy.

No doubt, 2012 would be an exciting year for the UK-India partnership, more so as the spotlight would be on London in the run up to and during the Summer Olympic Games.

(The author is a New Delhi-based freelance journalist.)