The article on British foreign secretary Robin Cook (Affairs of State, January 26) was out of place in a magazine which, in my opinion, has an authentic and candid outlook. While reading that article, for a moment I had a notion that I was going through some third-rate magazine. Write about Robin Cook’s diplomacy and not on his skills as a flirt.
J. Sadasivan, Thiruvananthapuram
The article India’s New Spin Doctors (January 19) carries my picture with a supposed quote "Earlier we had Mr Gadgil with a hearing aid as our spokesman, now we have got the youngsters to project our views." I had mentioned the appointments of our younger leaders as general secretaries, joint secretaries and spokespersons. But the remark regarding Mr Gadgil and his hearing aid has been gratuitously attributed to me. I have always held Mr Gadgil in the highest esteem and am not given to making such remarks.
Vishvjit P. Singh, Member, AICC, New Delhi
Our correspondent replies: I stand by the quote.
Anand as India’s greatest sportsman (Against his Vish, January 19)? Unfortunately not. I would put him at No. 3 behind Gavaskar and Prakash Padukone. (This is not including the Pele of hockey, Dhyan Chand of pre-independence India.) Gavaskar is among the greatest batsmen ever and finds a place as opener in several experts’ all-time world eleven. It is to his credit that in the last 30 years no international opener has averaged 50-plus as he has!
Padukone is a whisker ahead of Anand, as he won the All-England Badminton title (1980) and the World Championship in 1981. A feat Anand has not yet achieved in his field. Otherwise, they are uncannily similarly placed in their respective eras. Padukone was neck-to-neck with Morten Frost Hansen, till Hansen powered his way to a higher class. Anand is similarly even with Kramnik. But Kramnik is younger and may also be threatening to pull away. Let us hope he doesn’t, for Anand’s and India’s sake.
Vikram Poddar, Bangalore
Your survey results (BJP 35 Short of Magic Figure, January 26) are quite interesting. However, a sample which did not cover major states like Punjab, Haryana, Orissa and left out major metropolitan cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, would impose a limitation on the researcher in arriving at a national forecast.
It is well-known that even a constituency would be heterogeneous in terms of various socioeconomic characteristics. Again, all the constituencies are likely to be different on the same considerations. A survey result from a random sample of voters from south Calcutta is unlikely to represent the whole of Calcutta. The result thus may not be sufficient for forecasting the entire Calcutta scene even if the socio-economic characteristics of the sample, south Calcutta and Calcutta are known.
The methodology given in the issue and the heterogeneity of the population on various dimensions, are likely to severely limit the forecasting exercise vis-a-vis the national scene in India.
Even in the Western democracies, Gallup Polls for forecasting election results are not looked at kindly in many quarters of the public. Whatever may be the level of expertise involved in forecasting, a forecast by itself plays a major role in conditioning the opinion of the related audience, either positively or negatively, on the related context.
For instance, if there is a ‘forecast’ that there would be restricted economic activity (due to poor monsoon), production/supply levels may be scaled down due to anticipated decline in demand, thereby causing a fall in economic activity. And thus, establishing the ‘forecast’ to be true.
In most opinion polls, there is a large undecided element. This element is generally larger in electorates with lower literacy levels. An election forecast is likely to affect this undecided element.
R.V. Subramanian, Gurgaon
It seems that the corespondent has some deep-rooted malice towards Rushdie (Villains of the Year, January 5). She would have us believe that Rushdie is a villain simply because:
He wrote on India alone in Midnight’s Children.
He uses chutnified English.Apparently Outlook doesn’t like chutnies, Indian or English.
He is claiming his two-acre plot in Delhi. Well, I did not know claiming your rightful property made you a villain.
He called Le Carre a ‘pompous ass’. But Time magazine declared Rushdie the winner in this bout of letters because his letters were ‘better written’.
His books were banned in India and Pakistan. By that token, D.H. Lawrence would make a most incongruous villain.
Our PM successfully ‘challenged’ Midnight’s Children. Well, it wasn’t meant to be a history text-book for secondary students. And why isn’t Arundhati Roy a villain when E.M.S. Namboodiripad challenges The God of Small Things?
He didn’t underline, for your benefit, this part of the introduction to The Vintage Book of Indian Writing: "The task we set ourselves was to make the best possible selection from what is presently available in the English language, including works in translation". And the qualification: "There has been a genuine problem of translation in India and it’s possible that good writers were excluded by reason of their translators’ inadequacies rather than their own."
It’s immature to expect that an anthology doesn’t reflect its editor’s predispositions. Frankly, how many of the Indian writers you name has your reporter read in English?
Akhyl Sharma, Chengalpattu
I would like to draw your attention to an anomaly in the article Ostrich Don’t Fly (Outlook, January 5). What has been inadvertently mentioned as crumble parade is in actuality kambal (blanket) parade. It is a last resort against an errant individual who has invited the ire of his fellow colleagues. A blanket is thrown over the individual’s head prior to his thrashing so as not to allow him to identify assailants.
Major K.S. Jawanda, Srinagar
Year of Living Immoderately by Sunil Sethi (January 5) is rather immoderate. The scribe is too harsh. Diana, the "showgirl" (as defined by him) was the cause of worldwide attention to the land-mine problem faced by underdeveloped countries.
His trenchant criticism of finance minister P. Chidambaram was guided by the ‘half glass empty’ syndrome. VDIS has emerged as the most successful scheme in this category. Murasoli Maran’s efforts towards removing age-old governing rules from PSUs deserves applause; Kalpana Chawla’s flight to space; India’s foreign relations getting a boost; new countries in favour of the coveted council seat for India; the missile programme taking India to new heights; the tennis doubles duo of Paes and Bhupati bringing laurels to the country; Bill Gates’ appreciation of India’s IT professionals...the list goes on.The scribe has overlooked the other side of the coin. Despite ending the article on an optimistic note, he has tried to demerit the achievements.
Shashank Shekhar A., Roorkee
The article Frankenstein Exposed (December 22) carries the statement: "But there is a silence on the many times the IPKF circled Prabhakaran’s hide-out only to be asked to hold off—on the orders of RAW." This is likely to be 101 per cent true!
I was one of the officers of the Shipping Corporation of India sailing in the vessel M.V. Akbar, chartered by the Indian Navy to transport IPKF soldiers to and from Trincomalee during 1989-90. We transported about 1,500 soldiers on our return voyages to Trincomalee—and also tanks, food and armour. We made two voyages a week and the charter was for 18 months.
At parties held on board by the regimental officers returning to India we heard them speak of how LTTE chief Prabha-karan was encircled within a kilometre radius on several occasions. When they asked for the final ‘Go’ from Delhi, they were told ‘negative’. This was confirmed by three regiment bosses. On one side, they were sending soldiers to crush the LTTE and on the other they were ensuring the kingpin’s survival.
The wounded cadre from other Tamil militant groups (TELO, ERPLF, etc) who were sailing to India for treatment also confirmed these reports and the reputation that the IPKF soldiers were getting among the Sri Lankan Tamils for looting and misbehaviour with women. Why only Tamilians, any Indian citizen if he had a chance to witness or hear of these episodes would be angry with our government. When the facts were such, why does Mr Jain rely only on assumptions?
M.S. Parthiban, Chennai
Very rarely do advertisers and advertising agencies write this kind of letter. I am delighted to.In your last issue, we ran an advertisement for Apollo Tyres which was a coupon response ad and I must confess, all of us (at the agency) are overwhelmed at the response we received. We have received over 7,200 responses to an ad which did not even have an element of pre-paid postage! This must surely be a tribute to your magazine’s quality reach and the power of advertising in a vehicle such as the one you provide. Outlook has been a remarkable carrier of messages for us in the past; it now also becomes a very potent tool for database generation. In the words of an ancient Persian master, all I can say is: may your tribe increase.
Suhel Seth, CEO, Equus Advertising, New Delhi
Your cover story BJP 35 Short of Majority (January 26) was thought-provoking and informative. It is really disappointing to note that the result might again be a hung parliament, which is unsuitable for the healthy functioning of democracy in India. The National Front under V.P. Singh and the United Front proved to be failures. The single-party rule under P.V. Narasimha Rao ended in a full term. But the Congress may not get there this time. It is high time that the BJP is given a chance to rule. It is necessary for people to bring a single party to power. If the result is a hung parliament again, no useful purpose will be served by an election incurring heavy expenditure.
R. Sivakumaran, Chennai
The choices before the electorate: Ram Raj, Rome Raj, Kam Raj, Nam-ke-Vaaste Raj, Farm Raj, Traffic Jam Raj, Uncle Sam Raj, Sham Raj, Yam Raj.
Som Benegal, New Delhi
