In his own words, he’s a musician, a cab and truck driver, a globetrotter, an adventurer, lawyer, a diplomat, an ambassador, a state secretary, and now an author.
And his unique ability to listen, rather than preach, is perhaps best realised through his book, What the West Should Learn from India.
Walter J Lindner was the Ambassador of Germany to India from 2019 to 2022. On his arrival, he promptly endeared himself to most Indians by swapping his official limousine with a bright red Hindustan Ambassador, found amidst the embassy’s fleet.
During the pandemic that marked a large chunk of Lindner’s tenure, the car wore a blue bedsheet as a facemask. It also sported “dozens of balloons” during Christmas.
During that diplomatic stint, and during his travel to the country four decades earlier in the mid 70s, Lindner has been to places that even most Indians haven’t heard of, criss-crossing the country from Leh and Ladakh to Kanyakumari , the westernmost point of Gujarat to Meghalaya in the northeast. From the massive shipbreaking yard of Alang to illegal mica mines, and everything in between. Doing something most others, particularly from the West, usually don’t: He listened.
He’s travelled to at least 180 of the 195 countries of the world, but “India was always a special country for me,” he says in this edition of the Gist.
“And from the first moment I entered it, with all the difficulties, heat and dirt and crowds some 45 years ago, I always kept in mind that there is something much more, much deeper there. So, you never finished the travel through India because it’s a lifelong journey and maybe it takes two or even three lives.”
In this truly thought-provoking book which spans organised religion and spirituality, birth and rebirth, hard-nosed realpolitik and philosophy, the rise of the global south and the arrogance of the west, the double-edged legacy of colonialism and more, Ambassador Lindner makes a case for India, without trying to hide its warts. Without judgment, and with immense empathy and deep respect. It’s a book that makes us review and reconsider several notions about a country that defies description.
Which makes What the West Should Learn From India a must read for anybody who wants to understand India’s place in the world.
