Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'I don't think so. You can blame most things on the Raj but not
that one. The most serious thing in India now is the lack of job
opportunities for the so-called educated - I say 'so-called' because a
degree is of a pretty lowly standard. You have Calcutta University
turning out twenty thousand graduates a year, and there are jobs for
two or three thousand of them.'
'Like Mother Teresa, you seem to do more work with the poor
than most Indians. Why is there a lack of interest by Indians?'
'True, true, true. There are enormous charitable trusts here but
they're largely tax dodges. The charity extends to trusts for temples
and hospitals, of course, run by the families in question. But when
it comes to helping people in need, these trusts are unable to help in
any way. I think it doesn't hurt Indians to look at poverty the way it
does us. When they see children living on the streets, who haven't
got a place to kick a ball around, a place to
have
a childhood - it
simply doesn't move them. Once they've been to their morning
temple, said a prayer to the god, touched a cow before they've got to
their office, they've achieved their goal for the day. The fact that
they've made someone happier doesn't really interest them.'
'As I felt with Mother Teresa, is this then more a religious business
than a charitable one?'
'I think it is, yes. There's little actual interest in poverty per se.'
'When the British shifted the capital to Delhi, they must have
known they were sounding the death knell for Calcutta?'
'The Bengali never forgave them. When the news came, it was
taken very personally. But right up into the fifties, Calcutta was still
the commercial and financial capital; and the Bengalis only have
themselves to blame for the loss of that. The Naxalites in the late
sixties made it impossible for business to remain here. Everything
moved away. But, for example, the headquarters of Tata Steel is still
in Calcutta. That's why they built the Taj Bengal hotel - it was a
very kind gesture.'
'Will Calcutta ever be restored like, say, Venice?'
'Imagine the
size
of the project. The Victoria Memorial alone
cost the Tercentenary Commission an absolute fortune - with all
the paintings inside - and the task hasn't been completed. There's
no money at all. It's a very worthy project, but who could take it on?
