Delhi poisoning itself, says ex-scribe on return to city

NEW DELHI: Former BBC journalist Sam

Miller

said he had returned to Delhi after a few years just 10 days ago and was shocked by how much it had changed -terrible air pollution, large queues at ATMs and banks, and then, the day he landed, even an earthquake. “Delhi is poisoning itself,“ he said.

Miller was speaking at a session at the

Times Lit Fest

on Sunday dedicated to writings on India. He said he was appalled by the treatment meted out to the poor at the bank he visited, which was crowded after the demoneti sation announcement.

Joining Miller was Stephen Alter, whose recent book is a fictionalised account of conservationist

Jim Corbett

's life. “There were biographies of

Corbett

already, but whether conservationist, schoolboy or someone with a hangover of the Raj, everyone has an image of Corbett,“ he said, explaining why he felt a need for another retelling of the Corbett story. He explained that Corbett's sex life was a matter of some interest - he never married and he was never known to have had any relationship at all. Also, he left for Kenya at Independence in 1947 -perhaps because he had no home in the UK, and was seeking out another colony of the British, where he could feel at home.

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