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'India may not be so lucky next time'
Date:
Sat, 31 Jul 1999 08:42:15 -0700 (PDT)
The IAF obviously did a good job in Kargil as pointed out by Ved Shenag in his article. However, the Kargil operation brought to light a number of weaknesses. It is mentioned that the helicopter gunships available with the IAF are not suitable for operating in high altitudes. How is it that the IAF failed to acquire suitable helicopter gunships as India has long mountainous borders? Even after 50 years of Independence, India has to purchase almost all weapons systems from other countries. Why is this? Dependence on foreign sources for weapons is extremely bad for a country that aspires to be a superpower in the 21st century. Also, the country has almost no intelligence gathering capability as was so dramatically brought out by this conflict. If this situation is not remedied soon, India may not be so lucky next time. Krishna
Date:
Sat, 31 Jul 1999 19:00:44 -0400
A splendid article. Great reading. Invokes a fresh pride in me about my country and our forces. Sreenivasan
Date:
Sat, 31 Jul 1999 10:30:40 -0700
A friend in the airline business once revealed that the worst service was on the sectors to and from India. The reason? Indians never complain. They accept standards far below what is acceptable to citizens of other countries that pay the same fares. The first statement is true. On most airlines that we have travelled, the sector to and from India is the worst -- Singapore Airlines (where on landing at Calcutta, they spray some kind of a spray to purify the plane before they let the passengers off -- I have not seen that for any other airport in India), Thai airways, United... The reason offered might be incorrect. The Indians do not behave properly on the plane (read Savera Someshwar's recent article, 'I want my beer, NOW'). The toilets are almost always in very poor condition, even on a short hop from Singapore to Calcutta. Most people travelling for the first time see this as a golden opportunity to indulge in excesses -- whether it be Coke or hard liquor, or deliberately harassing the service personnel. Then on top of that is the Indian bureaucracy and politicians. Have you seen the harassment a foreign national can undergo if there is the slightest discrepancy in their papers? Once in Calcutta, on Singapore Airlines, our luggage took 1 hour to come out of the plane. The harassed SIA woman explained to me that there was a go-slow by the baggage handlers, and 2 planes had arrived at the same time, so the remaining few were handling both loads alternately. She lamented that the SIA had offered to hire their own baggage handlers at Calcutta, only the CPI-M govt refused permission. One should take all factors before offering a simplistic reason behind why the sectors to and from India are the worst served by any airline.
Date:
Sat, 31 Jul 1999 19:48:36 -0500
Absolutely!! No doubt in that!! The principal architects of this will be:
Brajesh Mishra
To be honest, Mr Jaswant Singh is just getting too carried away by his own acts of diplomacy. India is already playing into others' hands, thanks to Brajesh Mishra and Jaswant Singh. While Jaswant Singh should be commended for the current success, there is an imperative need to be cautious against all major powers, not just related to security issues, but also about other issues like trade, intellectual property rights, human rights etc. Narayanan
Date:
Sun, 01 Aug 1999 18:36:49 +0530
Amazing! What about the Muslim soldiers (like Hanifuddin) who may also say Allah-o-Akbar and then go on to die for India??? And what about Mr Mahesh himself -- contributing at least some dollars to the US economy which in turn supported and created the Mujahideen to do their dirty work in Afghanistan and now refuse to go away??? I mean, come on!
Subhashini Ali
Date:
Sat, 31 Jul 1999 10:09:59 -1000
A great article!!!! Would have been even better if you had posted pictures of the pillar. Also, I am very interested in legends associated with ancient megalithic sites. If you have any articles on ancient architecture I would be interested in reading them. John Rickey
Date:
Sat, 31 Jul 1999 15:49:25 -0500
Are there any humanitarian organisations that help people such as Palathody Rasheed to fulfil their dreams? Is there any way to help this individual and his family overcome the brutalities of fundamentalism? Jay Patel
Date:
Sat, 31 Jul 1999 12:28:12 -0700
Something needs to be done to help Rasheed and his family. If people do not support him now, then this will lead to more division between Hindus & Muslims. The fundamentalists have to be punished and made to see logic. I wonder what the communist Kerala govt is doing about it. Indian
Date:
Wed, 14 Jul 1999 12:06:52 -0600
I would like to bring to your notice that the tune of Chaha hai tujko in Mann is a straight lift from a Tamil song. This does not speak well about these young music directors. They should first learn to be creative and original no matter what the movie director insists. Junaid Ahmed
Date:
Wed, 14 Jul 1999 13:54:02 -0400
I think Anu Malik is the Modest(est) Person to have ever descended on Mother Earth. I hope Rediff constitutes an award, Modest Person Of The Year, and give it to him. He has such humility that I was literally crying by the end of the interview. It is his modesty that has got him so far. I want to advise him that he should at least give us a chance to praise him. May God bless him with a little bit of pompousness so that he gets a chance to educate people about himself. Deepak Kapoor
Date:
Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:56:44 -0400
Excellent feature on my most favourite singer. A perfect gentleman and a great artist. I agree with you that he has not received the recognition he deserved. Even during his concert tour in this country with Lata Mangeshkar in the 1980s, he was in her shadow and was shabbily treated by her entourage. I interviewed him and his wife for my radio show in Atlanta, GA many years ago and have always wanted to get in touch with him. Could you let me have his address or e-mail? Is there any other way to contact him? I will sure appreciate your help in this regard. Raj Chawla Entertainment Correspondent Sharmila Taliculam promises to be in touch with you shortly.
Date:
Mon, 21 Jun 1999 11:43:51 -0500
The senseless and unconditional 'love' of cricket and marketing propaganda has, no doubt, blurred the vision of us Indians. Your article should be sent to every Indian living in India or abroad so that they may open their eyes to reality.
Date:
Wed, 23 Jun 1999 00:09:46 -0700
You are writing as if there was no Pakistani role in the whole Kargil crisis or as if someone sitting in Delhi has a video camera that beams what's going on the border. If anything, this crisis has been brought about by our national trait of trusting others too much. Nehru did this twice, first by allowing Paki intruders to come into India and then in a most sissy fashion running to the UN and basically gifting away large part of J&K. Again our great Congress icon Nehru trusted China and they invaded us and we again lost land. At least this nationalist govt has taken courage to use air-strikes for the first time in Independent India's history to solve an internal problem quickly. We have to realise that Islamic fundamentalism is the most dangerous force and we should put our energy to crush it whether it is in Bombay or in Kargil. We can learn from China in this respect. They have sent Chinese in Tibet in such large numbers that today Tibet has hardly 30 per cent Tibetans. If other patriotic Indians like you and me go and settle there, no one can claim that because it is a Muslim majority, it has the right to get the hell out of India.
Jay Nitturkar
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