The Buchman Adventure – India
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The Buchman Adventure – India In September 2014, Imad Karam, John Parker Rees and Kelly Burks went to India, Japan and South Korea to film for a documentary about the life and legacy of Dr. Frank Buchman, the Founder of Initiatives of Change. This was a follow-up to filming in the United Kingdom, Europe, South America and the United States. In the second of four features about their journey, Kelly Burks describes their visit to India. ‘You are needed in India. You can create an organism here which would decide the future of the world.’ - Frank Buchman, 1952 – John and Kelly filming in Old Delhi As our overnight flight bored into Lonely, one-track roads crept with our bags tied to the roof of our the night sky, we each attempted to between distant sleeping villages taxi to meet Urmila, our assistant find some way to fall asleep. John, across an olive coloured expanse. in India, at the India International our Director of Photography, was I could see a few trucks here and Centre. We drove through heavy fretting about his lighter, which there trundling along the roads and traffic, past road works where they had taken away at security; ‘I the occasional weedy slip of smoke bare-chested men laboured in the can’t believe they took my lighter! from a dwelling making its way heat and exhaust fumes and tall They never have done that before! ponderously into the atmosphere. women in beautiful saris carried It’s ridiculous, what do they think India has 1.25 billion people: where away the rubble in large bowls on I’m going to do with a lighter!?’. I were they all? top of their heads. We passed by managed to lose track of my wallet makeshift hovels alongside the and passport which turned up Soon we were descending over road and under the flyovers, with under someone else’s seat two rows Delhi’s miles of apartment the odd person heating something back. Eventually, we all managed to buildings. As we picked up our over a small fire outside. drift off. luggage, John disappeared. ‘John went to get a lighter,’ said Imad After lunch with Urmila, we In the pre-sunrise light next with a raised eyebrow. ‘I see!’… all headed out with our driver, morning, I looked out through Hansraj, to get some shots of my small porthole window. India! We set off through the dense heat life in the streets of Delhi. As we RD and his family welcomed us warmly. It was a hot, humid day and as RD is 88, we were worried how he would cope with the high temperatures under the lights – particularly as we had had to close all the doors and windows and turn off the fans, to exclude noise from the recording. The interview turned out to be the longest we recorded for the film. I had quite a number of questions and RD took around 15 minutes to answer each one! He spoke so knowledgeably and authoritatively Indian woman by the road works about the history, the impact and the meaning of MRA. Of his first travelled up KG Marg, we could through each other and everyone meeting with Frank Buchman, he see an enormous Indian flag in the honking all the time! said: distance, in Connaught Circus. It was so big its movement seemed Suddenly, like the parting of the ‘I found him a great human. I found to be in slow motion. ‘Imad, we sea for Moses, the tangle parted his heart overflowing with care for have to film the flag!’ I exclaimed. and the most beautiful white, holy some stranger like me. He wanted We parked, and Urmila stayed cow wandered through. to understand me and know me, close to John as he filmed the and he couldn’t be bothered about crowds passing by, spice sellers, It seemed a miracle that we never anything else. He was preoccupied small markets, a little girl playing saw one accident. But the people with me during that cup of tea, amongst the passers-by, her toy a walking through the melee had a and those things left a very great plastic bottle almost as big as her, long, calm gait and an expression impression on me of a man who (and the flag!). of joy in their eyes – very looks so simple, so ordinary, and yet different from the expressions and so deep.’ Our Director, Imad, oversaw the behaviour of the Londoners with filming and walked the pavement whom I share my normal rush Of MRA’s impact in India, he said: looking for interesting material. hour journey! ‘So, even though we, in India, have I jumped about with my camera taking stills. As the afternoon light lingered we drove down to India Gate, Edwin Lutyens’ glorious monument to Indian soldiers killed in World War I. Early the next morning we set off through appalling traffic to meet RD Mathur: a mishmash of cars, rusted out busses, bicycles, little green and yellow three-wheeled taxis, ornately painted trucks with ‘please honk’ on the tailgate, motorcycles driven by helmeted men with beautiful women sitting serenely on the back, thousands of people on foot – all weaving RD interview in Delhi Next we drove to Gandhi Smitri where Gandhi was assassinated. In spite of Urmila’s tenacity, we were not allowed to film inside (or, earlier, in the gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan) so John picked up shots from the front. Our last stop was Jaipur House, former home of the Maharaja of Jaipur, and now the National Gallery of Modern Art. In 1952, it had lain empty for years, but Prime Minister Nehru ordered Rashtrapati Bhavan - The Presidential Palace that it be made available as a base of operations for the MRA not solved everything, I have no President Prasad in 1952; the visiting team. Hansraj let us out at hesitation in admitting that at that Sansad Bhavan (House of a busy corner just as the monsoons time through the stage of history Parliament), where Buchman unleashed another downpour and that India was passing through, addressed both sides of the Indian we had to run for cover under a tree Indian democracy got a very needed Parliament; and the Regal Cinema with our equipment and umbrellas. and important injection of hope where RD saw his first MRA play When it had cleared Imad led us and direction for the future of our in 1952. on foot through heavy, dangerous c o u n t r y.’ traffic (a Palestinian talent) to the We headed on to Raj Ghat where entrance where John and Urmila With a break for lunch, our total Ghandi was cremated and his picked up some footage. interview lasted six hours. John, memorial stands. Accompanied Imad and I were melting, but by an international team of 200, That evening Viral Mazumdar RD just seemed to get stronger Buchman laid a wreath there in brought us some documents and as we went along. This was such 1952, carrying the words: ‘To an pictures RD had agreed to lend us a testament to the degree of unselfish hero, Gandhiji, who for filming back in London. Over commitment of Frank Buchman’s lives in India and throughout the dinner he told us about the work contemporaries, the passion of world, from Frank ND Buchman he does in colleges around India, their beliefs and actions. We also and Moral Re-Armament from 25 training 17–25-year-olds in the had the bonus of an unplanned countries.’ four standards, quiet time and the interview with RD’s wife, Prabha. Imad received news of his appointment as Executive Director of IofC International while we were with RD. It seemed symbolic that he received this news while we were with a man so close to the heart of Buchman. RD offered some warm words of support to Imad, who had gone a shade paler than usual when he read the email. Next day we set out at 6am to film locations relevant to Frank Buchman – Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace, where Buchman and an MRA team met to turn off their machines at 2pm for two hours and the following morning from 10am to 2pm. To my astonishment, these delightful gentlemen agreed immediately, smiling and shaking hands with us. The noise stopped completely – before and beyond the hours we had requested! Our first interview was Sarosh Ghandy. He worked for years at a senior level in India’s largest company, TATA, guided by the principles of MRA. Now retired, he is Regional Director for the Caux importance of ethical values. He into an enormous construction site Initiatives for Business at Asia said that there is a strong interest with mud and muck, metal cables Plateau, Panchgani. He told me, in spiritual values and integrity everywhere and men dragging ‘Every decision we make or action amongst the young people of India barrels through pools of brown we take is motivated by one of two (they train between 300 and 500 water. A vast hole the size of a primary emotions – love or fear.’ young people in each college!). city block had four or five large treaded vehicles with pile-drivers Our next interview, with Brijmohan Mumbai hammering away at the bedrock. Thapar aged 92 was cancelled The noise was travelling through because he wasn’t feeling well. He The soldiers in airport security the rock into the foundations of had met Frank Buchman 62 years at Delhi scrutinized our camera our building. ‘How can we possibly ago and we all felt saddened that equipment in minute detail, get them to stop?’ I wondered.