A titan of a journalist, the BBC’s Voice of India, prolific author, and my dear friend and mentor, Sir William Mark Tully is no more. He passed away on January 25, aged 90 in Delhi, the city he called home for over 50 years.If there is one word I would use to describe Mark Tully, it is fearless. He was a staunch proponent for standing up for what he believed was right, whether from outside the system, or for affecting change from within. Despite the fact that he was the BBC’s Delhi bureau chief for over two decades, he did not hesitate to voice his displeasure at the state of affairs in 1993. His scathing remarks about director-general John Birt, lambasting the “culture of fear” and the broadcaster’s transformation into “secretive monolith” with demoralised staff, led to his resignation in July 1994. His defiance showed that he placed journalistic ethics above all else, and was not scared of walking the talk, one of his many admirable qualities.I came to know of Mark Tully through his dispatches on the BBC Hindi and Urdu services at the onset of the Emergency. My father, late Capt. Abbas Ali Khan, was jailed under MISA and DIR for nineteen long months at the time, and I found some common ground between him and Mark Tully, who was also critical of the ruling Indira Gandhi government. He was asked to leave, and returned only when the Emergency had been lifted in 1977.He was once again asked to leave when Operation Blue Star unfolded in Amritsar in 1984. But in typical Mark Tully fashion, he ensured that the coverage was fair, accurate and unbiased as per the highest journalistic standards which he adhered to, teaming up with Satish Jacob, who was on the ground, while he co-ordinated from New Delhi, and I reported to him.The incident that I will always associate with Mark Tully, however, is of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. When we arrived at Ayodhya on the fateful day, it was crowded with kar sevaks who began storming the Babri Masjid at 10 am. As the BBC’s South Asia Chief, Mark Tully traveled to Faizabad to file a report on the situation, which was rapidly developing into one of Indian history’s most infamous days. At the time, the only way to contact the BBC office in London was through the Central Telegraph Office in Faizabad.After filing the first report at noon, the team tried to return to Ayodhya. By 1 pm, the first dome of the mosque had fallen, and the others were being destroyed. Crowds blocked the main roads, so the team tried to follow the RAF and CRPF paramilitary forces. However, these forces were stopped at a railway crossing, preventing them from entering the town.With the help of journalist Vinod Shukla, the team eventually reached the site, but the mosque had already been demolished. Upon arrival, a violent group of local kar sevaks armed with tridents and lathis attacked the car. They recognised Mark Tully and were angry about his previous BBC coverage. Instead of attacking them further, the mob decided to lock the five team members in a nearby room to avoid disrupting the demolition, planning to deal with them later.After two hours of captivity, the Mahant of Bada Sthan arrived to help. He gave Mark Tully a shawl to hide his identity and told the group to wear “kar sevak” bandanas as a disguise. They were placed in a Uttar Pradesh Police truck and driven to the Hotel Shan-e-Awadh, arriving around 8 p.m.Be it the 1989 general elections, the formation and subsequent fall of V.P. Singh’s National Front government, or the formation of Chandra Shekhar’s government in 1990, I was lucky to be on the frontlines with Mark Tully on many occasions. May Tully Sahib rest in peace.Qurban Ali is a trilingual journalist who has covered some of modern India’s major political, social and economic developments. He has a keen interest in India’s freedom struggle and is now documenting the history of the socialist movement in the country.