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E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 14:56:52 -0500 This article smacks of pro-Congress sentiment. It looks as if it's been authored by a Congress party member; which needless to say takes away any credibility it might have had. Rajesh Kandadai
Date sent: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 18:03:39 +0530 On behalf of the Sikh community of Kanpur, we lodge a strong protest against the wordings of the Jain Commission Report, in which Sikhs have been mentioned as separatist. Right from the inception of Sikhism, the community has always been in the forefront to protect not only the Hindus but also to protect the honour, dignity and the sovereignty of the country. History has shown that the maximum number of people who died for the Independence of the country were from the Sikh community. Take-up those undergoing death sentence in Kala Paani -- Sikhs top the list. Take up those killed at Jallianwalla Bagh -- it was the Sikhs again who topped the list. The Partition of the country killed a large number of Sikhs. Apart from all this in recent years the wars fought against Pakistan and against the LTTE in Sri Lanka claimed the highest number of casualties from the Sikh community. Even now the Sikh community is ready to lay down its life for the sake of INDIA, and therefore dubbing of Sikhs is highly objectionable. Professor Jagjeet Singh
Date sent: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 09:52:03 -0600 Bribery distributes wealth as per Mr Nandy. A little bit of this redistribution got the driver of the bus (involved in the accident that killed thirty school children) the license to drive. Some more bakshish got the certificate of road worthiness for that bus. Some more redistribution prevented roads from getting repaired. Thirty innocent children lost their lives. There are endless examples. Mr Nandy, if you have any shame left, please stop preaching. Results of bribery are not immediate, and are not felt or seen, but it is like AIDS, kill it will by slowly weakening the defence. Reeta
Date sent: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 15:36:59 -0800 I do not agree with this article. Bribery certainly is not a necessary evil. In India it has become a way of life, and the situation should certainly change. Equating the gift of a flower to a friend or a tip to the waiter to a million dollar bribe handed over a dirty deal to a politician would be like equating a Diwali fireworks cracker to a nuclear bomb. Both are explosives, but with a huge degree of difference, which makes them of different altogether. It may never be possible to eradicate bribery and corruption at all levels, just as we cannot wipe out other social evils entirely. The least, we should not let bribery and corruption be a part of the accepted social norm. We should throw away complacency and fight against such social evils. There are other, healthier and more long-lasting ways of the redistribution of wealth.
Date sent: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 16:52:45 -0400 I would like to ask Mr Nandy this question: Where were you and your sense of righteousness when these criminal elements were given tickets by "secularist" parties of various colours? Where were you when these "criminal elements" were sitting in the assembly? How is that their criminality became an issue only after they helped the BJP to defeat the "secularist" in their own game? The BJP has not done anything unprecedented. It has been going on for a long time. Remember Taslimuddin? He had criminal cases pending against him, and he was made a minister at the Centre.
Date sent: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 20:03:59 PST This is in response to Mr Amberish's article. I just wanted to express my views on English. I feel that English shouldn't be the national language of India. Yet, it should remain as an important link between the north and the south until it is replaced by some other language. I think that other language should be Hindi. The only reason I say that is not because I want to impose it on southern states, but the fact that even the southern states have no common language. I feel that all southern states for example, Tamil Nadu should have Tamil as their first language and Hindi as their second language replacing English. That should be the most simple solution. Hindi should be an option in universities and so on. Hindi is spoken more widely. I wish the southern states didn't oppose Hindi just because it is spoken by 8 states in the north and the second language of another 3. But the sad part is even in the Hindi belt, Hindi is not respected. Let's take Delhi for example. All office work is done in English. If the Hindi belt doesn't respect Hindi, which seems to be the case at the moment, the rest of the country will obviously not. Akshay
Date sent: Tue, 09 Dec 1997 09:32:01 -0500 I do agree with Mr Indrajit Gupta that Vasco da Gama found a new route from Europe and did not discover India. I believe that India was far more civilised than the rest of the world and it was not waiting to be discovered. For that matter it was these so-called explorers who after landing here were waiting to exploit it. Discovery is an euphemism for stealing. When one discovers something one cherishes it and does not steal it. I am glad that there are Indians who are proud of their country and not of their so-called discoverers. I appreciate Rediff for bringing this to light. Sharan Alva
Date sent: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 13:42:47 +0800 Rediff has done a great service to the suffering humanity by bringing out this special feature. Being a Bengali myself, though living mostly outside the state, I would not think that such a deep scar or malice still prevails in the villages 20 years after the "revolution." They let the whole economy and urban settings decline and deteriorate, I was told they did something positive in the rural scene. Maybe they did something for land reform. The "Marxists" did not really reform society after all, what with all that mob lynching, burning, suspected kidnappers and petty thiefs being beaten to death in public. (However, they changed the political equation. To their credit or discredit, they have been able to provide their own brand of opium to the masses.) Keep the eye-opening features coming.
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 23:08:30 +0800 Good news for India!! This transhipment terminal should come up fast to get the existing traffic diverted to Cochin, which will be a great boom for our economy. Since the site is found to be the most suitable in the region it will be of great advantage to attract traffic to Cochin. Politics or regional considerations should not come in the way of development, whether it is the in north, south, east or west. National interests should be kept on top.
Date sent: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 12:31:59 -0500 Can't get enough of this wonderful man. Keep publishing more extracts!
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 13:16:55 PST
From: "Ankur Agarwal" I read the interview and to be very frank, I don't agree with most of his views. When he talks about 'intellectuals' does he mean the 'policy-makers' or the qualified 'junta' of the country? India has made tremendous progress in the last 50 years. At the time of Independence we were importing foodgrains and today, even when our population has grown by almost 65% we can still feed our teeming millions! According to CNN our space programme is unparalleled in the Third World, and we have the second largest pool of technical people. We are fighting terrorism from across the border and yet there's peace in the country. We speak more languages than Europe put together, we follow every religion on the face of this earth, and we have never been racist in our history of over 5,000 years. Look at Europe! They don't even have a single currency. Germany tried exterminating Jews and Britain and France are always fighting. But we are one. I have lived in India and I know that Indians regard themselves as Indians. BTW, hasn't some Westerner predicted that India is the 21st century's superpower along with China and US? My knowledge may be limited, and perhaps my English is not very good since it is not my mother tongue, but I guess that people who have been living away from India have no right to comment on our position or future. India is a phenomenon! And no other nation in the world can achieve what we have achieved -- UNITY IN DIVERSITY!
Date sent: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 09:12:37 +0530 Thanks Mahesh for calling a spade a spade! Kavi
Date sent: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 20:30:00 -0400 On the flip side of Kamala Das's troubles is the fact that more people can write these days. Then again she consorts with a society that has a disproportional high literacy rate. I, for one, will read a book by a dhobi. How many dhobis have written books? He must have an interesting story to tell. Unique if nothing else. If Visalakshi, the cook, writes, I would be glad to read that too. The temple vicinage of beautiful Thirpunithara can sustain some literary scrutiny. As far as God Of Small Things is concerned I have read more lines about the book than the book actually contains. So I will wait till I forget its many reviews, both read and heard! Something else. In your article 'The age of mediocrity,' you abruptly change topics from talking about language usage, to rape and marriage. Was that intentional or an editorial mix-up?
Date sent: Fri, 03 Oct 1997 10:53:45 -0700 Agree with most of the observations, but one pertinent point. The RSS/VHP/BJP, none of these have any vengeful attitude towards Muslims. We are only trying to get our temple restored which is sacred to most of the Hindus (barring few secularists and Communists). Don't you think any other religion in the world, would try to get back their place of worship had it been desecrated, not withstanding the time of such an event? Let's draw an analogy, a hypothesis. Imagine that the Kaaba in Mecca were to have been destroyed by Zionist forces, let's say some 300 years back. Don't you think the whole Muslim community, all over the world, would have tried to restore it? Contrary to your statement, I cannot by any stretch of imagination think that they would not have done that. And, would you have called such an act vengeful? Would you have seen such an act as sowing seeds of hatred? Do you call the creation of Israel a vengeful act? After all they were driven out of their homeland 2,000 years back. Why should they be fighting for their homeland after 20 centuries? My point is, you don't have to bend backwards every time, the point in case is Hindus/Ram Janambhoomi. Don't have to give a semblance of impartiality all the time. We will soon lose our identity. 'World will ask you who you are; if you don't know, they will tell you' -- Jung Sameer Kuppahalli
Date sent: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 16:24:03 -0500 I am glad I didn't miss this one.
Date sent: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 00:40:29 -0400 (EDT) This article by Mr Nandy serves injustice to the Muslims living in India. Even though I agree with most of the things he has to say, he should not have discussed the jihad. Also, I have seen Hindus eat beef too, and they are far far away from being aggressive (any vegetarian like me can beat them up). The Pakistanis are aggressive not because they eat beef, but because they hate us. By the way, we have meat (including beef) eating players in our cricket team too. I am a Hindu, but I suggest all of you should read this article from an Indian Muslim's point of view. I am sure some of you would find it outrageously offensive.
Date sent: Sun, 07 Dec 1997 01:06:06 +0500 There is nothing obscene in the passage. One has only to open a daily newspaper to read about wars and killings, and the use of religion for political vote-grabbing. These are the real obscene things which people should do something about, instead of dragging Arundhati Roy to court on charges that are ludicrous. Sujit Patwardhan Pune
Date sent: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 14:11:22 +0300 I'm a Goan living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and I love the Anti-View! Nothing like knocking 'em of their high horses, demolishing the icons, being politically incorrect (I love it!!) and telling them their Emperor wears no clothes huh?! Keep it flowing!
Date sent: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 17:38:59 -0400 I appreciate the reports on Maharashtra's cultural and political scene by Prasanna Zore. Prasanna Deshpande
Date sent: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 09:44:57 -0330 All the way from Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador. A friend of mine in Britain is a good friend of Mr Guest. I visited your site from that interest and my like of Indian food. I look forward to seeing Mr Guest's receipt site when he gets it up. We have a sizeable East Indian population in Newfoundland. Many are doctors and educators bought in to cover our shortage of qualified doctors. I work in the faculty of medicine at Memorial University and many of my associates and friends are from India Enjoyed your site and your review on the market stall of Mr Guest. Maybe I will visit it some time. Ed Evelly
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