The bjp-led government is not doing democracy any good by bypassing Parliament on sensitive issues (Dumb Charade, September 18). Disrespecting parliamentary norms is as much a subversion of democracy as imposing dictatorial rule.
Shashwat Gupta Ray,
Baroda
The following quote has been picked from the story Gunfight@okportal (September 18). "Those who use the Net right now are very technology-savvy. The next wave of Net users will be less so, and the ones after that even less. They won’t know how to change the default page and will use sify.com." Will the editor or the writer or anyone else kindly explain the meaning of that statement to me?
Shobha Ramswamy,
on e-mail
I am in full agreement with many of the charges levelled against expensive corporate hospitals (Practice Makes Profit, September 11). Despite having highly-qualified doctors, the services provided by one such hospital in Chennai are abysmal. Unclean rooms populated with cockroaches, uncomfortable beds, lack of running hot water in the bathrooms are just some of the problems.
V. Krishnan,
Chennai
There may be certain deficiencies in the functioning of corporate hospitals, but it cannot be denied that overall the treatment made available in these hospitals, though at a price, is far superior to that offered in any government hospital. The very fact that Mr Kumaramangalam himself chose a corporate hospital was an indication of his own lack of faith in the government-run machinery. It would be more purposeful to raise a hue and cry about the quality of treatment made available to the general public than raise a bogey about the quality of treatment given to one single individual in a corporate hospital.
Joseph Augustine,
Chennai
There’re some glaring errors in your story. There’s no organism called "Klensiella" as stated, it is Klebsiella. Antibiotics should either be named by brand or by genre. Primaxin is a brand name whereas Amoxycillin is a chemical name. Also, Septicemia isn’t a symptom of any particular organism, it just signifies pus and bacteria in the blood.
Nitin Agarwal,
on e-mail
It sickens me to see that the PM is being put on the block for things like wearing glasses and using a hearing aid (Those Seventy Plus Blues, September 11). And if these are the grounds on which you want to send Vajpayee into lala land, why not take your editor as an example. He’s worn glasses for ever and would often stand among his staffers and absent-mindedly pick his nose (and worse). That was over ten years ago when I worked with him. I don’t know if he’s gotten worse. But that hasn’t stopped him from being, by far, the best among the 21 editors I have worked with. And, apart from a few stories that stretch your imagination, Outlook is the most tolerable Indian newsmagazine. Guys, give the old man a break, okay?
Nitin Padte,
Kodaikanal
Apropos The Price of Blood is Relative (September 11), Abdul Kareem, the father of the slain SI, Shakeel Ahmed, has been forced to approach the courts for justice flagrantly denied by the governments. He needs to be supported by all. I request you to publish his address and to issue an appeal to your readers to send their contributions to Mr Kareem so he can continue his fight to uphold the law.
S. Prasad,
Bangalore
So there is another prophet of dystopian fantasy (Death of the Bhadralok, September 4). Another tiring, cliched, report propelled by stereotypes about the so-called Bengali "bhadralok". Soutik Biswas traverses the much-trodden path and mostly sticks to one of the founding myths of the apocalyptic ‘90s social scientist: the decline and fall of the Bengali.
Bengalis might not be in the pink of their health but they’re doing well in certain sectors. And that Babu whom you’ve made an icon is the most common figure of ridicule among Bengalis themselves. What could’ve been a healthy critique turned into abuse masquerading as emotional backlash.
Sayandeb Chowdhury,
Calcutta
The decline of the Bengalis is inherent in their character. They were the first to come in contact with western civilisation, some pioneers among them took advantage of this and "created a new life, not only for themselves, but for the entire Indian people, by their intellectual and moral effort." But the Bengalis lost their advantage and fell back on their eternal ‘sloth’, which’s now been legitimised by shameless politicisation. Of course, one must not forget that the influx of refugees from East Bengal has also upset the balance totally.
Dr Arabinda Mitra,
Bihar
Your story is not only outrageous but also indecent. Bengalis are by far the most friendly, knowledgeable, sincere, honest and idealistic race in the land. There are many aspects to Bengal’s decline, foremost among them is the state’s poor economic condition. But there is definitely a positive change in the psyche of modern Bengalis. Those who gave this country Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana cannot perish due to the utterances of a few cynics.
P.K. Mitra,
West Bengal
Your story read like a drain inspector’s report. To suggest that the ideas and philosophy of the bhadralok have been the cause of the decline of Bengal is absolute nonsense. The bhadralok have been the harbinger of modernity and while emphasising a certain code of conduct, manners of speech, wide interest in art, science, culture, sports, music and a little disdain for money, they also laid equal stress on hard work, entrepreneurship and extravagant inquisitiveness. It is the erosion of this concept caused by systematic attempts to destroy its core of values and institutions in the last 20 years that has caused the low levels of success of the Bengali people in many fields.
Rangan Dutta,
New Delhi
Why’ve you singled out Bengalis for this outrageous story? I’ve got about 20 calls from friends making fun of me. I’m now making a call of my own: to cancel my Outlook subscription.
Nirmal Kumar Mukherji,
on e-mail
Apropos The Eclair State (August 28), I feel upset at the attitude of south Indians. They can turn cities upside down and make life miserable for two state governments when something happens to their matinee idol. They even commit suicide en masse if a cine idol is harmed. But they can’t show some courage and venture into the jungle to kill Veerappan and free Rajkumar.
Paramvir Sawhney,
Gurgaon
Reading Crowding Out Cupid (September 18) reminded me of what a theatre colleague in Berlin told me during those days of the gdr: "When a man has a girl but no room to take her to, that’s a tragedy; when a man has a room but no girl to take there, that’s a comedy. But when a man has a girl and a room to take her to, but has to attend a Party meeting, that’s socialist realism."
Som B.,
New Delhi
Your cover story (To Play The Nukebox Tune, September 18) is silent on what role Russia, a major military power and once India’s closest ally, will play in the whole scenario. And what about all the other big players? Will they be mere spectators? Even if we assume the report to be partially true, there’s no doubt that we are heading towards WW III. A war which will achieve nothing.
Animesh Raizada,
Balrampur, UP
I used to think that it was only the US which had the time and inclination to ponder issues like "What to say and do if the US has a visitor from outer space" and other trivia beyond the ken of lesser third-world mortals. But Outlook, the progressive magazine that it is, has boldly thought otherwise and made public a document that rivals Through the Looking Glass. Just one question: Aren’t there any other matters of importance in the country?
To worsen matters, your cover also shows peaceable Bangladesh as being a part of ‘Akhand Bharat’. Perhaps the report from the US epitomises the grand spirit of consumerism so characteristic of that nation: annex Pakistan and get Bangladesh for free!
Subrata Majumdar,
on e-mail
The report is just media bluff. Even if such an event takes place, then God alone can save our country! Think about the Baluchis, Pathans and other beings from the -W frontier becoming Indian citizens!
Arvind Dave,
Bhopal
My feeling is that Pakistan might not wait until 2012 to destroy itself. Indian defence analysts and planners should go all out and take the opportunity when it happens.
Capt (Dr) K.A. Shetty,
Mangalore
Your story was a scream. Desperate times? India Today "scoops" the Hamoodur Rehman report one week, and bingo! Outlook "scoops" a US thinktank report. Really Mr Mehta! Et tu Nostradamus? The scenario was really out of cuckooland. Just look at the protagonists: The US, a country that can’t cite a single instance where its intervention resulted in the formation of a popular government. Defenders of the Free World! Hah! Then there’s India: a would-be regional superpower. But what about 1962? As per the Rehman report, the Pakistanis practically defeated themselves in 1971 - our ‘great triumph’. What about the ipkf fiasco? What about the intelligence failure in Kargil? What price "patriotism"? Assam? Nagaland? Kashmir? What about Veerappan, Laloo’s stone-age fiefdom of Bihar or the circus that’s UP?
Sober up. Reality has a different script. India must clean up it’s act first. Playing God on the global stage can only come later.
B.S. Keshav,
Bangalore
Your story is like a Bollywood film with a Hollywood cast. Despite that, India’s emergence as a regional superpower is only a question of time.
Prashant R. Deshpande
Cambridge, US
Here’s an alternative scenario: India, China, Russia and Japan team up to arrest America’s growing hegemony in the region. The only worrying factor here is the anarchic conditions in Pakistan. The present myopic rulers might just use nukes against India. To prevent that we can have a pre-emptive strike to destroy their nukes.
Praful Bhatnagar,
Mumbai
With reference to Warm up in the Big Apple (September 18), it is reported that two chefs from five star hotels accompanied Vajpayee to America. They’re said to have cooked dishes like prawn masala, tomato chicken and bhindi do pyaza for the PM who’s said to require special Indian food. Being a resident of New York, I can assure you that there was no need to import expensive chefs from India. There’re many Indian restaurants Vajpayee and his entourage could have eaten at or ordered from. Is it routine behaviour for our PM to spend so much on food? Why can’t our politicians behave like normal ‘poor’ Indians? Instead of wasting his energies on food, Vajpayee needs to take action against Pakistan and not feel satisfied by delivering a speech or two.
Dr Joseph K. Mathai,
New York
Krishna Prasad refers to the legendary ‘YNK’, late editor of Kannada Prabha (Delhi Diary, August 28), who used to say: "If ever I were imprisoned for excessive punning, I’d rattle the door and shout o-pun." If Veerap-pun ever finds himself in such a situation for his deeds, he’d perhaps shout "Tora Tora Tora", which, properly pronounced, means ‘open’ in Tamil.
K. Damodaran,
Gurgaon
