In Praise Of Celebration

If Nehru’s India was a better place than India today, as Gopal Gandhi seems to think in his piece, While it Still Rains Rose Petals..., thank the British. When they left, India was the most promising colony of the British empire. We can only be grateful to Nehru for not ruining the good work the British had done. But the likes of Nehru and Rajaji, men of integrity though they were, failed to put in place a system that could ensure that successive generations of Indian politicians didn’t become the scum that they are today.
G. Natrajan, Hyderabad

It’s easy to blame Nehru for having failed to build national defences, but that would belie and undermine the contributions he made in other fields. We are still a nation, but our leadership has been unable to reinforce our nationhood.
Vikram Chandra, Visakhapatnam

The Congress was duty-bound to magnify the Nehru-Gandhi myth beyond reasonable proportion. Rather than continue to be emotional about them, it’s time we evaluated their contributions objectively.
Jitendra, Melbourne

Which other country doggedly refuses to hold a caste census to collect reliable data for implementation of reservations under the Constitution, but decides to have a unique identity number for every citizen?
M. Kapoor, Delhi

We have had several politicians govern us since Independence, but no governance really. It’s time democracy went for a makeover and young, professional politicians took over.
Ramachandran Nair, Oman

A typical Pakistani, Ali Sethi’s biases peep out of apparently human stories (He Who Has Seen Lahore). Given the joy such Pakistanis get out of seeing burqa-clad women and hearing phrases like ‘Masha Allah’ and ‘Insha Allah’, it seems they think all Indian Muslims have lost the faith. They fail to notice that in 21st century India, even Hindus use these expressions in everyday conversations. As for an Indian doctor attending to his toes in the middle of the night, it proves nothing. I’m sure that if an Indian writer was stuck in a Pakistani five-star hotel, their staff would’ve done the same.
Ausaf Ahmad, on e-mail

‘Half-Indian, half-Muslim’... Is this the mindset of Muslims in India? The one half trying to control the other....
A. Basavaraj, Bangalore

Silly, maudlin piece. All these phoney emotions bore me.
Ravi Gupta, Chicago

A tad romantic perhaps, but Sethi’s sentiments seem genuine. Many do not know the trauma the hiving off brought about, but for those who do, even today it’s real.
Ajit Dongre, San Jose

Like a breath of fresh air.
Ashok Lal, Mumbai

Good article.
Srinivasan, Glasgow

Sethi’s words are like painkillers that give temporary relief but cannot exterminate the ‘cancerous growth’ of ‘radicalism’ in Islam, and to a minor extent among Hindus.
Mukesh Dhariwal,Ahmedabad

Shuddhabrata Sengupta’s piece Freedom on a String made depressing reading. Those who abhor state rituals due to their intrinsic aversion to the very notions of ‘nation’ and ‘nationhood’ conveniently ignore the fact that the opposite of a state can only be ‘chaos’ and ‘anarchy’. Commemorating national days is a means to reinvest faith in freedom and democracy—the only panaceas against deprivation and hunger.
Lalit Ambardar, New Delhi

Why heap your pessimism on others, Shuddhabrata babu?
Vikash Rakhecha, Calcutta

The article This is All India Radio brought back strong memories. Sen & Co brought to us the news of the Chinese invasion, the passing away of Nehru, the wars with Pakistan, the creation of Bangladesh, the joys of cricket victories...and losses. And much more in that beautifully calm, reassuring voice, come good news or bad.
Srinath Sudunagunta, Borehamwood, UK

Surajit Sen was a powerful signature for English news while we were in school as Devki Nandan Pandey was for the Hindi bulletin.
Dilbag Rai, Chandigarh

In my childhood, the 8.45 pm news bulletin (in Hindi) was sacrosanct, non-negotiable with the elders in the house. It meant we’d miss the crucial last 15 minutes of Binaca Geet Mala on Wednesdays. The grown-ups would also listen to the news in English and discuss or comment on the issues of the day. We would be advised to read editorials of national dailies to enrich our vocabulary and grammar; air would be the place to improve diction.
N.A. Raju, Jaipur

I was working in the engineering section of air, New Delhi, from 1950 to 1954. Surajit Sen was just another newsreader that time. The man of the moment was Melville De Mellow. With a lovely, steady voice, he could hold all 15 minutes of the bulletin. I cannot recollect any occasion when Melville faulted, even when he came across difficult names. Naturally, he was the first choice for outside broadcasts, especially for national events. Not just that, he was also the head of the Western music section.
L.K. Balasubramanian, Avenel, New Jersey

Sonia Faleiro’s piece Our Daily Bread read fine till she reached 26/11. Only neophytes would think such incidents could change our deeply entrenched culture of corruption. The columnist seems to be really wet behind the ears on how ‘real India’ works. It’s only the jet-setting crowd that was shaken by 26/11. For the rest of us, the show is always on.
Rohit C.J., Kochi

“Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:7). Just when you think your little bit won’t matter, it does. There’s a lot of corruption and a lot of need, and you come face to face with only some of it. When you do, respond.
P. Choudhry, on e-mail

It’s almost like India has no laws on corruption and bribery.
K.J. Patel, London

Why is it that people who say corruption is everywhere in India are the ones who have engaged in it in some fashion?
Jaipat Singh Jain, New York

It is an incurable myth in the Indian mind that there is corruption everywhere in India and I, being a single person, can do little to tackle it. And while we may not take bribes, we do not hesitate to give it, if it means our work gets done. And that’s what entrenches corruption in our system.
Gouri K. Dhangadamajhi, Hyderabad

Midnight’s Orphans was a beautifully conceptualised and narrated article. Keep it up.
Sajosam, New Delhi

It’s wonderful that these “remnants of the past” decided to make India their home and stayed on. Their motivation behind this is personal and not for us to judge. Their perception of British India must be very different from ours and I respect that. Their presence here adds to the diversity we’ve always boasted of.
M.K., New Delhi

Hats off to their survival skills.
Sivarama Sarma, Vijayawada

Excellent chronicle. Merci.
B. Karthikeyan, Chennai

In his piece She Bangs, She Bangs..., Palash Mehrotra refers to terms like ‘Socialist India’, ‘socialist nation-building’ and ‘patriotism’ almost as if they were choice abuses. Somebody ought to tell him that Independence Day is not just another party. Never mind good-for-nothing urban junkies who raise their voices for gay rights once in a while.
Anup, Hartford, US

Yes, patriotism has a different focus now. This Independence Day, I saw some of my young friends visit a blind school to distribute educational kits for 40 blind girls.
V.N.K. Murti, Dewas

True, the expat is “emancipated” as Tunku Varadarajan tells us in his piece, The Hick, Finally at Home, but only if “emancipation” means imagining away bothersome things. The expat of yore could not expel the “Hick at Home” from his mind as effortlessly as the expat of today can. Images that once clung tight, like chulha smoke, no longer do so, but not because chulhas are now smokeless, but rather—to overwork the metaphor—one keeps the chulha far away from oneself! The embarrassing Hick still exists no doubt; it’s just that the nyt, on the one hand, is currently busy picking on China instead and, on the other, a certain (numerically tiny) segment of India (at home or abroad) is celebrating itself and its economic success without a glance at the Hick, who now only exists in banishment beyond its blinders.
Meghant Sudan, New Delhi

Why put scantily-clad women dressed in Indian colours in this article?
Manzoor, Hyderabad

How can you become a pio without experiencing our well-worn system of wealth redistribution—bakhsheesh (The Papers Are in Order). Sam Miller would rather spend five times as much applying through the London high commission than part with Rs 100 to prove a point. He doesn’t deserve a pio card!
B. Reddy, Bangalore

My experience was quite the opposite to Miller. While applying for another five-year visa, in an amazingly cool (nice AC) and efficient office behind the Hyatt Hotel in Delhi, I was told I’d be better off if I got a pio card with a 15-year visa instead. Same cost. So I filled out the application. Two weeks later, I got a call to say it was ready. No interviews, no bribes. Guess the government prefers American husbands to Brit ones. On the other hand, when we applied for an Indian passport for our daughter who was born in New Delhi, it took us two years to get one: the government just could not understand why we’d want an Indian passport for her when she could get an American one. Ah, well....
Joel Waldman, New York

Getting a pio card is easy in Dubai. Registration of foreigners is free once they land with a pio card. But last year a relative with a pio card went to the Hyderabad police commissioner’s office to register. And he was forced to give some amount for ‘chai paani’. And we’re expected to be safe with these protectors of ours.
Bharti Bhojkumari, Dubai

I thought the pio had been replaced with the Overseas Citizen of India card, applicable to most Indians living abroad. It’s possible that the pio is still given to people like Miller, who are Indian by marriage rather than by ethnicity/birth. The process is much simpler when done outside India. There is a shocking lack of privacy, though.
S.R. Sunder, Austin

Wow, Justin McCarthy’s piece is astonishing (Same Difference). I’m saddened to hear that even the young elite are still so invested in, and oblivious to, caste. And to think that these are our contemporaries. I’m a researcher and have anecdotally taken note of the ways caste and other forms of social hierarchy come into play on so-called modern sites. The matrimonial sites commonly use caste, but did you know how much gay sites use skin colour? Yes, men boast of their fair skin just like in the heterosexual world—it’s a selling point as important as an elite education or US visa. This all points to an emerging consumer society that will not free anyone of the old world order, but in fact only strengthen it.
Diepiriye S. Kuku-Siemons, New Delhi

Great piece, reminds me of all the small things around us which we don’t appreciate, or maybe even want to avoid.
Aseem, Delhi

Heart-warming and a scream, all at once.
Leila Nair, Burnaby, Canada

The big fat Indian wedding is nothing but a reflection of the underlying big fat Indian insecurity (On Our Gilded Thrones). Having a big and expensive wedding has nothing to do with the bride, groom and ilk having a good time, but everything to do with showing off one’s riches to friends and relatives. Due respect to the Chhatwals, the Mittals and the Roys, but their big fat weddings only show that despite all their achievements, they are still petty, egoistic and insecure banias inside.
G.N., on e-mail

What exactly are you trying to prove by having a not-so-lavish wedding? How sophisticated and cultured you are? You still end up showing off. That said, some of these tamashas—and they’re tamashas because the actual meaning of the events gets lost—ARE over the top.
Shilpa, Washington DC

The best way to beat the blues on kiddie parties is to not try and live up to the Joneses or the Kapurs (Bursting Balloons). We had a picnic in Jamali Kamali, a perfectly lovely and perfectly public garden in Delhi and the kids had a riot with their balloons as my nephew turned 1 and then again 2 on a winter afternoon!
Priti A. Choudhry, Delhi

I read with delight Shobha Narayan’s piece, Launga Elaichi Ka. A national dish is definitely long overdue. But shouldn’t we first decide whether it should be vegetarian or non-vegetarian? Her idea of idli, saffron chicken and saffron kababs on a pristine white plate does not even satisfy the first condition!
Mohan Das, Bangalore

How could Ms Narayan forget the one dish that is eaten in every state in India—the humble khichdi? A combination of rice and dals, it can be found in most north Indian homes; in the south, it is known by different names and had for breakfast. Ms Narayan seems to have taken restaurant food as her guide. The common food of the common people must serve as the basis for selecting a national dish.
Paul Deepak Aroul, New Delhi

You forgot Mayawati’s statues complete with bag in hand in your list of 62 reasons to celebrate (Isn’t That Nice of Us?). Who says we don’t have an eye for detail?
Murali Gopal P., Delhi

Those were pretty tame guest lists (Look Who’s Coming to Dinner)!
Anwaar, Dallas

Oh, what pretentious name-dropping!
Frank, Bangalore

That was Un-PC
Your article Cradling Hope (Aug 17) on the lesbian couple Chandraleela and Swapna says “As with normal couples, the anticipation and preparation for a baby is also strengthening their own bond”. Considering the connotations of the word normal, I think it would have been more appropriate to use the word “straight”.
Richa Kaul Padte, on e-mail

I suggest Chandraleela and Swapna both have a baby each through artificial insemination. It’s a luxury only lesbian couples can have. And if the procedures on both are well-synchronised, they can even have “twins”, born about the same time.
C.V. Venugopalan, Palakkad

Revisionist History?
I wish Raja Menon (Just One Shark in the Deep Blue Ocean, Aug 10) had dwelt a little more on the reactor of ins Arihant. I remember one of his earlier articles in which he claimed that with an 80 MW reactor, the sub was underpowered and that what it really needed was a 140 MW reactor. Was it based on sketchy information, given the irrational hypersecrecy our government is prone to in such matters?
Deepak Banerjee, on e-mail

Grand Reviewer
Perhaps no other scholar could have done more “justice” in reviewing Amartya Sen’s latest book than Pratap Bhanu Mehta (Doing Justice, Aug 17). Sen’s argument is a critique of the ‘transcendental’ (as against the practical) approach to justice, but should we dismiss all of it as unworthy? The capability approach is definitely an alternative, but leaving considerations for democracy to take care of could allow majoritarian rule to play arbiter, which is hardly ideal.
Chandrashekhar A.C., Raipur

A Jimnast Forever
Your piece, From the Machan Up There (Aug 10) was an excellent piece of nostalgia with the freshness of the breeze of Kumaon. You took me back to 1964, when as a young second lieutenant, I walked around the forests to feel the imprint of Jim Corbett. Yes, the sanctuary had already been named after that great conservationist.
Gypsy Capt, Los Angeles

Money Talks
Apropos of your article on TV shows (Do You Believe What’s On sks? Aug 10), the sway of Mammon over the Indian middle class is so complete that it doesn’t mind revealing its deepest secrets for money and a few moments of glory. If emotional cleansing were the real concern, there are other avenues for such catharsis.
P. Prasad Thampy,Thiruvalla

Surely You Exaggerate
Apropos of your recommendation of Gunpowder restaurant in Hauz Khas (Aug 17), the very entry to the place—dingy and lacking hygiene—would put you off. Why such hype when the food is nothing to write home about?
B. Mohanti, on e-mail

Nugget Knowledge
To my knowledge, Chicken ’65 (Recommendations, Aug 10) was invented during the 1965 war with Pakistan. Troops at the front needed a quick, convenient and delicious meal and army cooks from Andhra put together fried chicken with a lot of masala and curd, which came to be known by that name.
Ravi Kishore, on e-mail

Epithetically Speaking
So, now the bjp also stands for Ban Jaswant Party.
N. Paul Jeyatilak, Chennai

It’s A Truism
Bibliofile is the Page 3 of writers.
Parmesh Rudra Joshi,on e-mail

Clarification
In the article titled “Making News, Breaking News” published in the April 1, 2002, issue of Outlook magazine, a reference was made to a possible tie-up between Aaj Tak and Star News, which was controverted by the former and was found untrue. The article was not intended to suggest anything derogatory about the management or officers of TV Today Networks Ltd. The error was unintentional and any offence caused to Aaj Tak, to any member of its management or any of its officers is regretted.—Editor