Stories from two ends

I just finally managed to finish reading two books — both first-person accounts but from two very different ends. One, a gripping tale of how India’s central bank changed over two-and-a-half decades and the other about how a country imploded in 10 days.

Both written by masters in their chosen art who separately witnessed history in making. The books are peppered with fascinating stories ,of people who made a difference — in one case a slow but positive change and in another a quick shift back to a past left behind two decades ago!

A Fly on the RBI Wall — An Insider’s View of the Central Bank by @Alpana Killawala, who was a colleague at Business India in the previous century, and The Fall of Kabul -- Despatches from Chaos by @Nayanima Basu, who’s perspective on issues around foreign policy always make for a fascinating read, are personal accounts written from the heart. And while the volumes do not run into hundreds of pages, they tell the story of our times -- central bankers who made things happen in India’s financial world and the common folks in Kabul and beyond who witnessed Afghanistan’s capitulation to a resurgent Taliban as the US troops left the war-torn country.

I am writing about the two books together because for some strange unknown reason I found myself reading them simultaneously. Both Alpana and Nayanima told me that it won’t take too long to finish them. However, they did as I read them mostly on short domestic flights.

Alpana’s life with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), “a large, traditional and conservative institution” as she calls it, wasn’t planned. It happened because she, then a banking correspondent, couldn’t get an appointment with the then Governor S. Venkitaramanan. As she relates in the opening pages, she bumped into him at a public function and complained, which led the governor to internally suggest the need for somebody to handle media for the RBI. This was 1992 and India was grappling with the aftermath of the balance-of-payment crisis and the then the biggest stock market scandal triggered by a man called Harshad Mehta. Those were the years when the India we know today began to happen.

By the time she left after working with seven central bank governors, she had witnessed global and regional financial crises, demonetisation and wide-ranging economic reforms and growth. I wouldn’t want to say more, but apart from insights into central bank policies and the evolution of her role in the bank, Alpana’s book also provides insights into the leadership styles of the various governors -- how each one them functioned and what they brought to the table that made them effective.

It is a must read for anybody who wants to unravel the mysteries of the RBI, an institution generally out of reach of most, how it manages the economy of a large and fast-growing country like India. As somebody who sat on the same table as the governors, Alpana provides an amazing view into the working and thought process resting in a tall building overlooking Mumbai’s financial district.

There is a book coming up...

Nayanima’s book is a result of her looking for news on a Sunday morning over a lazy cup of coffee. It was August 8, 2021 and India had just “temporarily” shut down its consulate in Kandahar. Afghanistan was in the middle of a brewing crisis as the US troops were leaving the country after 20 years and the Taliban were preparing to take over once again.

There is a book coming up, she had whispered softly over breakfast at a Delhi hotel one morning, months after returning from her harrowing journey into Afghanistan from where she reported on the fall of Kabul — the only woman journalist travelling in a country filled with unseen and unexpected dangers. I ordered a copy as soon as it appeared for sale online.

It a gripping story of what was unfolding in Afghanistan in those 10 days as tens of thousands of Afghans — fearful of Taliban’s return — tried to leave the country, many stuffed like sardines in military aircraft, some hanging on their wings; families torn apart, people shot in the streets, women bringing out their burqas and young men shooting at will and dying in their effort to stave off the Taliban. Her despatches kept people hooked to events in a country that was fast shutting down to the rest of the world.

Reporting a conflict (and I have been there in the past) is one of most difficult jobs for a journalist. It tests there resilience, patience, experience, confidence, network and fear. All at the same time. People covering a war put their lives at stake as bullets and bombs fly around. A flak jacket and a helmet do provide protection, but then there is always this one bullet that could be meant for you… and there is always no time to duck!

When I was a journalist we had to undergo strict hostile environment training to understand and appreciate what we were getting into. It is partly about an adrenaline rush but mostly about common sense – a lot of which can be seen in Nayanima’s journey through the Badlands of Afghanistan.

The book is a fascinating thesis on national and regional security and India’s interest in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s play in that country. Read it with interest for a perspective on how nations play the great game. Do get a copy!