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ASSEMBLY POLL '98
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'If this missionary business is indeed shady, let us ban the activity altogether'
E-mail from readers the world over
Date:
Thu, 04 Feb 1999 11:34:18 -0600
Sad, but an excellent report!! Randhir
Date:
Fri, 05 Feb 1999 21:13:00 -0800
I read the article and the various letters to Rediff taking her to task for writing a piece that is -- horrors! -- personal and emotional. So what? While I don't agree with the article in its entirety, it is certainly a point of view that puts a human face to a tragic situation. For instance, her fear that her mother could be mistaken for a missionary and be victimised is a valid one and there is undeniably anguish that comes from that. Yes, I am painfully aware of the sufferings the Hindus have experienced at the hands of other religions, but burning missionaries and their children does not right those wrongs and neither is it justifiable. Period. If this missionary business is indeed shady, let us ban the activity altogether and get on with our lives. I don't dispute that many of the missionaries, perhaps most, have ulterior motives when they come to serve the downtrodden. However if we as Hindus are unable to provide the same services to our co-religionists, we have no business complaining. In closing, I would like to thank Rediff for putting up articles that represent differing points of view. Kris Chandrasekar
Date:
Fri, 5 Feb 1999 23:39:46 -0600
Ashok, You don't know what the Taliban is. So don't compare Shiv the Sena or Bajrang Dal to the Taliban. If any of the Hindu organisations could even be half as fanatic as the Taliban, there would have been no Agha Khan, no Mohammad Ali Jinnah, no Muslim League and hence no Pakistan. Some of you guys make the incident of Fire such a big thing that it looks to me as if screening the movie was a dire need for our society. Why don't you rent a video tape of this movie and watch it with your family? Don't forget to have your parents and your kids by your side when you do so. The knowledge of homosexuality is not a bare essential for any society. If a person thinks that s/he is a homosexual, there are lots of ways of finding more about it. We don't need a movie to be screened about this to let the rest of the society know what two women or men can do together in bed. All it does is create inquisitiveness in kids and adults who are straight, I mean, not homosexuals. There are a lot of XXX video stores in our country too. Those who want to enjoy watching homosexuals can do so by watching such XXX movies on their television. The other day the BBC had interviewed a couple of village women in India who said they were homosexuals and they did not even know about it. Oh! What a loss! The BBC newsreader Zena Padavi and BBC's news reporter from Delhi presented it on the air in such a way as if it was very essential for these women to know that they were homosexuals and that the Indian society was very conservative and did not accept such individuals. Taking an example of one or two illiterate women and portraying to the world that this is what happens in India is nothing but a bunch of BULLSHIT. The producer of Fire did not make the movie with the intention of helping homosexuals get any new idea. Most people who end up seeing the movie either in India or in the West will be men -- and you know, men love to watch women doing it. The producer of the movie knows this very well. The next thing you know will be that your kids are wondering about their sexual preferences. If this is what newswriters like you and Manjula Padmanabhan think we need for our society, your thinking is very wrong. If there are beliefs in our religion that are wrong, sure, people need to know about it and it is certainly worth debating on it. There are several books written and movies made criticising the Hindu religion and its rituals. For your information, one such critic is Kannada writer Sri U R Anantha Murthy. Samskara, Phaniyamma and Ghatashraddha are some of the movies made criticising Hindu rituals. Our government did not think about banning those books or movies although we Hindus constitute 85 pc of our population. On the other hand, Salman Rushdie brings out The Satanic Versus and our politicians start to worry about offending the Muslims in India. Writers like you and Manjula Padmanabhan don't have the guts to debate or write about lifting the ban on Rushdie's book or on issuing him Indian visa. Instead, you guys pick an insignificant topic like Fire and write nonsense. Thank you Rediff for presenting such articles in your news!
Date:
Sun, 07 Feb 1999 15:25:31 +0530
What a disgusting mindset! Interesting that it is shared by Bal Thackeray and the Shahi Imam, who both have expressed their opposition to the Rushdie visit. Only goes to prove that fundamentalists of all hues are basically the same: intolerant, barbaric, male chauvinist, racist fascists. Subhashini Ali
Date:
Wed, 03 Feb 1999 23:10:57 +0300
Yeah, I agree with u totally. She is one hell of a damn good actress. I love her teleserials... Adhikar & Hasratein. The best was Satya. She'll go places. Best of luck, Kiran
Date:
Thu, 4 Feb 1999 01:19:49 +0530
The film seems to be right out of one of his canvasses. The surrealism is all too evident and the film would boggle the average filmgoer's mind. Talk about confusion. A more mature audience (Unfortunately not found among the masses in India) would strive to comprehend it (given the multiplicity of roles per actor/actress), but it would be beyond most of this breed too, barring a few who would appreciate the surrealistic approach. In this context, I believe he has decided on the right choice (To release it to an international audience first). Another point. I fail to appreciate his jibe at Kamal Haasan's portrayal of a woman in Chachi 420. He fails to give another artist his due and bespeaks his arrogance and may be his ignorance (Of the fact that Chachi 420was a purely commercial film in which I am sure Kamal did not intend to portray the title character as the embodiment of Indian womanhood). Prashanth
Date:
Thu, 4 Feb 1999 18:39:30 EST
Unless we change our attitude of depending on one person, we cannot win any games. When there is a coach, physio etc, how can they ask the player to decide about his fitness? If the team depends on one player, what are the other 10 doing? This type of attitude has to change for our team to win. Presley
Date: Sunday, February 07, 1999 3:51 AM
I appreciate your effort in reporting about this newcomer. But the comment "The second son is not into cricket, having turned to the community's strongpoint: chess." makes the whole thing seems quite funny. Do you want to imply that it is only the brahmin community in TN/Madras that patronises chess or is it that the brahmins are endowed with some special analytical skills that makes chess a strongpoint of the community? Either way, what I'm concerned about is that such comments would rise the hackles of the people not belonging to the brahmin community and thereby vitiate the already caste ridden atmosphere further. I request you to refrain from bringing such things as caste and community into sports. It is only in sports that all barriers of race and religion are transgressed and idols are accepted regardless of their background. As a reporter for a popular game like cricket, you can do your bit for weakening the hold the caste system has over our society. Rajesh How Readers responded to Varsha Bhosle's recent columns
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