NEW CHAPTER: Deepika Tandon (above); Nirmal Kumar Tewari

Honey, I outsourced the kids

There is a wonderful symmetry in the following: The headmaster of a public school in England has been in India, urging parents to send their children to his school in the UK.

Meanwhile, the headmaster of a public school in India has been advising Indian parents in England to send their British-born sons to his establishment.

The first is Peter Armstrong, headmaster of Worth School in West Sussex, who has toured Bangalore and Calcutta with his cricket team and found time to meet prospective parents.

The second is Nirmal Kumar Tewari, headmaster of the Scindia School in Gwalior, who already has two British Asian boys ? and would like many more among his flock of 600, aged 11 to 18.

Perhaps the time has come for some British Indian parents to consider “outsourcing” their children to the top public schools in India which are run very much on the pattern of Eton or Harrow. It is an option worth considering seriously if the choice is between a poorly performing state school in Britain ? and some inner city comprehensives do struggle badly ? and a high achieving public school in India.

Back in Britain, sending a child to most well known boarding schools would cost, at least, ?20,000 a year.

“It’s much cheaper here,” says Tewari, whose school, founded in 1897 by the Scindia royal family, seemed to me to be as good as most schools in England.

While boys from India pay Rs 200,000 a year, the fees for Indians from the UK doubled two years ago to Rs 400,000 a year. “That’s still only about ?5,000 a year.”

I dropped in one morning last week while the boys were participating in a cricket championship with five visiting public schools for a trophy established in memory of the late Madhavrao Scindia (I had heard about the school from Andrew Robinson, a history teacher at Eton, who had enjoyed a brief teaching session at Scindia).

Tewari wants British Asian parents to visit the school if they are interested in sending their sons to Scindia, even if it is for a couple of years. “If you send them here, we can guarantee a good education.”

Parting with children does involve an emotional sacrifice for parents. But I was impressed with the pastoral care provided, say, by Deepika Tandon, the only woman to be a “house mistress” in an all boys’ school. I also liked the yoga built into the daily school timetable. That is something worth introducing in Britain.

BRICK BY BRICK: Rupesh Rai

Message to Mala

The author Mala Sen, almost my neighbour in London, is still angry that five years after the death of Phoolan Devi, her killers have not yet been brought to justice.

It is on the basis of Mala’s book, Bandit Queen, and her screenplay that Shekhar Kapur’s powerful film is based.

Mala would welcome any move that prevents Phoolan from being forgotten, including the plans to set up a “Chambal Bar and Restaurant” at the Usha Kiran Palace Hotel in Gwalior.

For years, Phoolan had roamed the Chambal, a vast network of deep ravines in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where for centuries dacoits had wandered free. Mala got to know Phoolan when she was imprisoned in Tihar Jail. Phoolan went on to become an MP and was later gunned down by unknown assailants.

“Don’t stay after dark and don’t go too deep into the Chambal,” warned Rupesh Rai, a young executive at the Usha Kiran.

Rupesh has this imaginative idea of turning a derelict property within the palace complex into an evocative “Chambal bar cum restaurant”, with gun-toting waiters dressed as dacoits. On the walls he hopes to put up yellowing newspaper clippings on the bloody history of the Chambal ravines.

The sun was setting when I got to the Chambals. In the distance over the Chambal River was the bridge which Phoolan had apparently crossed as a little girl. In my mind, myth and movie were merging for Bandit Queen was partly shot around these parts.

On an impulse, I sent a message to Mala. Phoolan isn’t Jessica Lal but so long as Mala is around, the Bandit Queen won’t be completely forgotten.

Light weight

Two low cost and immensely successful carriers, Easyjet and Ryanair, obviously seem to be the models behind Air Deccan in India.

“If you have any suggestions, write to Warwick Brady, the COO,” said the air stewardess on my Calcutta-Mumbai flight.

“Warwick Brady used to be with Ryanair,” she added.

While I sympathise with Air Deccan’s laudable aim of bringing air travel within the reach of the “common man”, my initial reaction to the airline has been, alas, far from positive. This might have something to do with the abrupt cancellation of my Delhi-Calcutta flight (I was forced to buy a Delhi-Calcutta flight on Kingfisher, which looks like giving Jet a run for its money).

Air Deccan’s Calcutta-Mumbai flight was fine, except the check-in girl demanded payment for nine kilos of excess baggage (which ultimately her manager very kindly waived). I wasn’t aware the baggage allowance is only 15 kg, five kg less than the norm on international economy flights.

What are passengers to do if they have come off a London-Mumbai flight and transfer to Air Deccan for an internal connection?

The whole concept of no-frills flying began in 1977 with the British entrepreneur, Freddie Laker, who died this year. He was the one who introduced cheap trans-Atlantic flights but he was ahead of his time and went bust. It took Easyjet and then Ryanair to fulfill his dream.

If Air Deccan is not to meet the fate of Laker Airways, it will have to ensure not only that its flights aren’t late but that they do take off.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Vikram Seth

Shop talk

Probably the biggest book shop in Britain is Waterstone’s in Piccadilly which is a great place to meet friends, have a drink on the sixth floor bar and possibly buy the odd book. But despite being so big, the bookshop does not commit the errors so apparent at the Crossword branch in Calcutta.

S. Sriram, CEO and MD, recommends Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man: “The best novel about the Partition I’ve read.”

He does not want others to read the novel which is out of stock. So is Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca although there is a guide to the book. Khushwant Singh’s works do not include Train to Pakistan except in an omnibus edition with other stories.

But Crossword does share a characteristic with Waterstone’s. It, too, has included Vikram Seth in the category of Indian writing in English. It is as though Seth is not good enough to be listed with other authors such as Marquez.

Incidentally, Seth’s best known novel, A Suitable Boy, is not considered worthy of inclusion.

Tittle tattle

The visit by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, to India has done her image some good. According to the latest opinion poll, a fifth of the population wants her to become Queen when Prince Charles becomes King.

This is a distinct improvement. There was a time when almost no one wanted her to become Queen.