While I’m grateful to Sheela Reddy for what she says about me (The Past Master, August 28), I’d just like to mention that I was never "unceremoniously thrown out of the Aligarh Muslim University" (nor "flung by the ear from amu"). I reached retirement age in 1991 and was granted extensions for three years. If there were any difficult times, I always received support from colleagues and students at amu.
There are other small matters: D.C. Sircar was scrupulous in dating inscriptions; he didn’t deal with artifacts. Nor did I attribute to Edward Said the statement that the historian cannot question Islam’s basic tenets, which are in any case not at issue. The question is whether ‘outsiders’ can really interpret the ‘Orient’, or ‘Islamic history’, or the past of Hinduism. In this respect, Said’s Orientalism has come as a great aid to those preaching a parochial approach to history.
Irfan Habib,Aligarh
As per your article Stammer, and Speak (August 14), India should go for peace talks with the insurgents in the Valley despite the provocations from them. To their mentors in Pakistan, this approach is a sign of India’s weakness. They perceive that pressure from the mujahideen has tied up the Indian army and paralysed the Indian defence machine to the extent that it’s incapable of initiating a war against Pakistan. It’s this perception India needs to shatter if it’s to stop more massacres by these insurgents on the dictates of their masters in Pakistan.
Sanjay Kumar,Jodhpur
Where did Outlook get the astounding figure of 83 million tourists annually visiting Uttaranchal (Splitting Headache, August 21) when even total domestic tourism in India isn’t that much?
Raj Kanwar,Dehradun
Why does Outlook use every small incident to go for the forces’ jugular (MiG-Life Crisis, August 21)? You should heed what experts like air chief Tipnis say rather than seeking advice on MiGs from the likes of Suresh Kalmadi, who was only a second pilot on a transport aircraft of Korean War vintage.
M. Banerji,on e-mail
Will someone out there suggest a readable weekly newsmagazine to me? Because I am thinking of dumping both India Today and Outlook: the former because by and large it’s infantile and uninspiring and the latter because, though it has class, it’s anti-national, anti-Hindu and Pakistan-friendly with a pronounced proclivity for soft-pedalling the upsurge in Islamic fanaticism and bigotry. It also has a sham secularist at its helm prone to riding roughshod over its discerning readers.
R. Sampath Kumar,Coimbatore
I’ve just returned from a visit to Pakistan and read Hesitant Advice from an Old Friend (July 24). India’s blamed, in Pakistan, for causing not only the Kashmir obsession but also for driving Pakistan to spend its sparse resources on its defence outfit, and well beyond its means. It’s a sad reflection that both the governments are locked in prejudiced history at the cost of vision.
M.. Khan,London
Is Crossroads trying to prove that it’s a First World shopping mall in a Third World country (A Pall at the Mall, August 28)? India’s a free country and everyone has the right to shop or window-shop where they like, regardless of whether they have a credit card or a cellphone. As for their clientele wanting more ‘elbow’ room, Crossroads already has plenty of that. It should cut out the excuses and get real.
Monisha Miranda,on e-mail
It seems we can’t live without some kind of heroes. First it was cricketers, now it’s hockey players (It’s in the Mind, August 21). Why can’t we simply accept the fact that we stand nowhere in sports?
Masood Ahmed,Dubai
t’s not the first time the Indian state has showed itself to be weak (The Eclair State, August 28). After all, did it not begin with our submission to the European masters? A small country like Pakistan can openly abet terrorism/killing/hijacking/extortionknowing that it will never face retaliation. This is why the then home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed could exchange hardcore terrorists for his daughter. Or our minister for external affairs escort terrorists to Kandahar. Why should we be surprised if Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are bending over double to please Veerappan?
Air Cmdr (rtd) R. Singh,Pune
Rather than hail Veerappan as a hero, the state should try him in absentia and sentence him to death for killing more than a hundred people.
R.. Vaswani,Mumbai
In the Indian context the adage ‘As the king, so are his subjects’ seems to have been turned on its head and become ‘As the people, so is their king’. It’s foolish sentimentality of the people and their shameless idolisation of an actor that’s weighed down two state governments.
Prasad Boddupalli,Arizona, US
It’s time the common Indian recognised the Veerappan, Kandahar and Kargil issues as the symptoms of a larger disease affecting the Indian psyche and did something about it. For, as Gandhi said, doing injustice is as terrible as tolerating it. Reaching a compromise is always easy, but any more of it and we’ll be putting our own and our generations’ future at stake.
Nitin Verma,Louisiana, US
Thank God Veerappan hasn’t videotaped the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu CMs standing on their heads. His demands clearly favour the tnlf and the tnra, two extremist outfits in Tamil Nadu. His present gang members use AK-47s, used normally by terrorists. A link with the ltte is also suspected. Why then are we placating a terrorist like him?
Sqn Ldr B.G. Prakash,Bangalore
Sacrificing for the sake of the country is not the prerogative of the armed forces alone. Rajkumar, by meekly telling the government through taped videos to agree to Veerappan’s demands, is not doing any good for the state which holds him in such high esteem.
Sonu Philip,Pune
The ethos of this country revolves around power. As long as Veerappan holds the reins of power, he’ll be Lord. The moment he loses it, he’ll be a nobody. Wasn’t P.T. Usha queen as long as she brought home the golds? Likewise, Kapil Dev was a living idol as long as he appeared to control events, but the moment his weakness was exposed, he was reduced to zero.
H. Ghonglah,on e-mail
It’s all very easy to say that commandos should be sent to free hostages to prove that we are not a soft state. But any such action could result in serious consequences. The two state governments are doing their best, given the brigand’s newly-acquired political hue. Patience and perseverance, not false bravado, are needed in the face of a stubborn kidnapper out to gain the maximum out of the sordid episode.
D.B.. Murthy,Bangalore
The acceptance of many unlawful demands of the lawbreaker shows that in India "law is the concubine of the rich and influential". Communal elements like the Shahi Imam and Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray care two hoots about the country’s laws. If the law is to be used and abused selectively, then why do we waste such huge resources on our highly inefficient judicial system?
Dr Manoj Kumar,Delhi
The criticism of the fourth estate by the President in his Independence Day speech was unfair. Given the rising level of crime, it’s bound to attract the media glare. As are the pathetic efforts of successive governments to eradicate such criminals. From Rubaiya Sayeed to Rajkumar, the government prefers the easy way out. It’s this governance system the President should have reprimanded.
Shashwat Gupta Ray,Baroda
It’s not only the weak state but also the people who’re responsible for the idolisation of Veerappan, now gloating over his ‘prize catch’ Rajkumar. And so a mountain rat has become a monster. Would the response have been the same had the kidnapped hostage been a writer or a scientist rather than Rajkumar? As long as people continue to foolishly revere filmstars, the country will again and again be held ransom to terrorist whims.
R. Ramasami,Tamil Nadu
Your cover made for an interesting picture. Of demand, market and supply represented by M. Karunanidhi, Veerappan and S.M. Krishna respectively.
Mohan Amin,Mumbai
The silence of the Central leaders has been as intriguing as the attitude of the two state governments. The compulsions of the nda coalition notwithstanding, one expected the ministers of home and law to throw their weight against the display of such cowardice by the two southern states. The parliamentarians have been equally indifferent. Is the writ and interest of the central government confined only to the northern belt? The two state governments deserve to be dismissed for glorifying a criminal and acting unconstitutionally.
J.M. Manchanda,on e-mail
Your cover picture gave the impression that the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are paying obeisance to Veerappan with folded hands while uttering the mantra ‘Veerappaya Namaha’.
S. Krishnamurthi,Ahmedabad
Our self-serving politicians have time and again showed us that they have their heads, not firmly on their shoulders, but up their rear end. If a petty poacher can hold the state to ransom, what hope can one have for security against greater threats?
Rahul Ponappa,on e-mail
