In India, people cannot digest their food if they do not gossip (Psst... Heard this One?, Jul 6). It is the lifeline for our politicians, their very means for survival. Slinging mud on others is a national pastime. K. Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
You do yourself great injustice, Mr Mehta: you mention assorted celebrities as India’s Best Gossips but keep your own name out of it. Let not false modesty prevent you from taking credit where it is due. Sumedh Shah, on e-mail
It was interesting reading about Suhel Seth’s gossip salon. He is certainly a man of many parts, from businessman to television personality to page 3 celebrity. And on top of that, he also has an uncanny resemblance to movie actor Philip Seymour Hoffman! Kamal Basu, on e-mail
It is said that great minds talk ideas, average minds talk events and small minds talk people. Since gossip always involves ‘talking people’, is it any surprise that our politicians are among the biggest purveyors of gossip? G. Natrajan, Hyderabad
Our politicians have no other work apart from gossiping. And why just them, our media is as obsessed with page three people. British author Aldous Huxley confirmed as much in an essay. "The media also loves to have tittle-tattle with the page three people," he wrote. Britain’s high-brow magazine, Granta, which devoted an entire issue to the celebrity creature, also noted perspicaciously, "Celebrities are seen as fictions, the argument being that they are media inventions, with amplified, distorted or invented parts of their lives assembled for our benefit and familiar to us through the media." Mithun Dey, Bongaigaon, Assam
Gossip these days is employed to feed the ego and serve the vanity. It has traversed a long course from adding some clean humour and wit to our daily lives to become an indulgence for furthering one’s personal and professional prospects. Most of it is salacious and is intended solely to puncture the reputation of an individual. Sunil Kumar, Delhi
In the neo-feudal sycophantic culture that is prevalent these days, factoids about the personal whims, vulnerabilities and foibles of the people in power have become critical inputs for political advancement and bureaucratic ascent. But this gossip-mongering is no harmless pastime. It can cause real damage to the system, by reducing governance to a reckless game of playing favourites and ensuring the quick rise of the chaff in the system at the expense of the competent. M.H. Rao, Hyderabad
The ‘subsidy’ for Haj travel is a sham (Pilgrim’s Regress, Jul 6). The government should allow Haj pilgrims, through some honest mechanism, to select airlines of their choice. I’m sure airlines will fall over each other for such a chance. In the past, airlines such as Aeroflot have ferried Haj pilgrims for private operators at about half the price Air India charged. It’s a sad truth: the involvement of government agencies at any level in any project usually ends up in corruption and mismanagement. Haj committees should be manned and run by professionals (many of whom would be willing to serve voluntarily) and not by political appointees, who lack the necessary managerial skills, and in most cases have vested interests. Suhel Khan, Gurgaon
The government should take serious note of the article Outlook has published. I have personally experienced each of the things mentioned in it. Faizan Haider Naqvi, Delhi
It is good that Outlook has highlighted the plight of Indian Haj pilgrims. For years, they have been suffering at the hands of the Indian mission in Jeddah or the Haj committee in India. Their ordeal starts with applying for Haj. They have to run from pillar to post to complete the formalities. They are treated like beggars. People allege that money is demanded for everything. It is a general practice that they are given tickets and other documents only the night before the flight and very late. It is also commonly believed that buildings rejected by all countries are hired by the Indian mission/Haj committee. Dr M.A. Haque, Delhi
This is a scam for which Mohammed Owais and the Haj committee are answerable to the nation. In the past, riyals were bought after banks submitted a tender to supply those. No one knows why that system was ditched to buy riyals from the open market. If, on an average, 1,00,000 Hajis come from India (the number is actually more), then 25 crore Saudi riyals are bought every year for disbursement. If a rupee is made on every riyal, we have a ballpark figure of Rs 25 crore. It is shameful that money collected from pilgrims (who have saved all their lives for this) is siphoned off by office-bearers put in place to oversee their welfare. Rafiuddin Fazalbhoy, Jeddah
Mohammed Owais plays politics and the consulate’s attitude of passing the buck is no better. I also wonder why a Haj delegation is sent when it is not even met by Saudi officials and money for pilgrims is used for their upkeep. A.G. Danish, Jeddah
Year after year, the Haj committee has been looting pilgrims. Never mind that people save from their meagre earnings to make this journey of a lifetime. Mohamed Suhail, Mysore
It’s interesting that the Indian intelligentsia and media have taken the western view of events in Iran (The Revolution, the Hush, Jul 6). Ahmadinejad is being described as a "hardliner", his victory as "fraudulent", and the western criticism of the US not coming down harsh enough is being retrofitted to explain India’s silence. But the "hardline" tag for Ahmadinejad is baffling, for when did Iran really have a liberal at its helm of affairs? Post-revolution, he is the first leader without a turban. And how come a prime minister under Khomeini is now being touted as reformist? The protest in Iran is all about rejecting an election result just because it’s not in line with what the media in general and the western one in particular expected. Nafay Kumail, New Delhi
K.C. Singh’s piece (Gambit for the Vizier, Jul 6) is interesting. Historically, it was Shi’ites who fused religion and politics by insisting that leaders be blood relatives of Prophet Mohammed. Later, however, it shunned politics, a la the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani in Najaf, the most prestigious place for Shias before Saddam Hussein’s murderous regime exiled it to Qom. The Sunnis, however, separated religion from politics, with the not necessarily religious position of Caliph. Augustus, on e-mail
The power of the Supreme Leader has been shaken. It’s a matter of time before the ayatollahs are sent packing to Qom. The guidance council should adopt an advisory rather than a supervisory role. Anwaar, Dallas, US
I agree with K.C. Singh that the unrest in Iran is because of an internal power struggle: the antagonists are Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Hashmi Rafsanjani, who is firing his shots from Moussavi’s shoulder. India, of course, must be measured in its response, lest the Iranians deem it interference in their internal affairs. As for the Americans, they reap what they sow. In the ’60s and ’70s, they supported the Shah and his secret police, leading to their complete alienation post-revolution. Now, since their actions against Ahmadinejad from Afghan and Iraqi soil have not worked, they are using the opposition. Santosh Joseph, Ottapalam
R.K. Raghavan’s suggestions (House of No Exit, Jul 6) should be taken seriously. This is a distinguished, dedicated officer speaking. Remember his unique role in "holding the fort" in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Vinod Tuli, Noida
For all our lofty claims of our growing stature in the international community, we seem to be racing to head the corruption index. Raghavan ably brings out the cost of corruption to the poor, who have to wage an endless battle to eke out a livelihood. H.N. Ramakrishna, on e-mail
Other than the government, it is civil society that can act against corruption. And the weapon of choice can be the mobile phone camera. What is needed, however, is a forum to post and broadcast such evidence in order to shame the culprits. Will someone oblige? Ritesh Toshniwal, on e-mail
Raghavan touches upon just pecuniary corruption, which may never be eliminated. There’s a case to be made against civil servants, judges and the like accepting post-retirement positions and the benefits they bring. To give but one example, T.N. Seshan, incorruptible in his entire career, first trying to dabble in politics and later M.S. Gill, one of his successors, accepting a cabinet berth with the party that appointed him to the EC, the Congress. S. Suriyanarayanan, Surat
India has little reason to deny visas to a US commission on religion (Access Denied, Jul 6), but America itself has too many worms in its lawns to worry about religious freedom in a nation like India. Vikram Chandra, Visakhapatnam
If the US is truly an unbiased observer/guarantor of religious freedom, then it must probe the activities of Christian missionaries the world over, particularly in Central and South America. That said, if missionaries stop their activities in India, the vhp and Bajrang Dal would be out of work. Both parties should stop meddling in tribal affairs, respect their own culture and leave them to theirs. Vijay Shankar, Bangalore
Maybe the commission should visit Occupied Iraq and Afghanistan and investigate the cases of Marines handing out Bibles! The rest of the world should form a giant commission and haul these jokers in front of a ‘war crimes’ tribunal...like Nuremberg. K. Reddy, Bangalore
India does not need western organisations to ‘monitor’ our social churning. Who monitors these self-righteous monitors? S. Kocherla, Visakhapatnam
This is politicisation of religion at worst, or intellectual tourism at best. The US commission would get much-needed insight if it went through the country’s history to understand how freedom of religion is practised and how religious conversion is still continuing in a covert, unethical manner. Mihir Maitra, New Delhi
Now that the CPI(M) has lost the civic elections, Buddha should quit and seek a fresh mandate (The People, The Enemy, Jul 6). But Bengal no longer has people with a conscience. Its present society is built on refugee mentality: beg, borrow, steal to survive. Surya Sharma, Calcutta
The recent events summarise the trajectory ‘Waste Bengal’ has chosen to follow—from Naxalism to Socialism to Anti-Socialism to Pseudo-Socialism to (now) Reverse-Capitalism. Bengal’s approach to human evolution is very simple. First, they ignore it; then they ridicule it; then oppose it; and if even that doesn’t work, they simply export the opportunity to lesser mortals sitting in nondescript places like Gujarat, Orissa, Karnataka and occasionally, even China. S. Bengani, Calcutta
This is what happens when you ‘empower’ Naxals. Deepak Pant, on e-mail
I was an ssc student myself and I still think 90 per cent reservation for Maharashtra’s ssc students is absolutely ridiculous (Is This Class War?, Jul 6). A better idea would be a proportional reservation scheme comparing the ratio of graduating ssc students to those of other boards; with seats reserved accordingly. If, say, a total of 100 students graduate from all school boards, and 70 of them are ssc students, then a 70 per cent reservation for ssc students would make sense. Chetan Ahuja, Salt Lake City
