It was too much to read the Outlook cover story, Captain Courageous (September 3). Actually our cricket team does not need a captain as one or the other player always does the needful in crunch situations. Much like the way our country is run by the nda government.
Sham Belgaokar, Mumbai
You’ve hit the nail on its head. It’s shameful that only a few months after scripting one of India’s greatest Test victories ever, a section of the media and some irresponsible persons like Raj Singh Dungarpur in particular, are gunning for Saurav’s head. It was important to come up with support for the beleaguered man and I’m glad you did—that too with facts, and not with emotion.
Riju Mukhopadhyay, on e-mail
No captain with any amount of sense would utter an unparliamentary word under the very nose of the umpire and get himself suspended for the next match as penalty. It’s all right to be aggressive but with the ball and bat, not with language and the body. He should learn something from Arjuna Ranatunga and Steve Waugh.
Jamyang Gyal, Baroda
How much was Outlook paid for this article? It seems the Ganguly-Dalmiya team is spending lots to promote and make the former look like the best captain. After all, they were the ones who fed the media both money and stories to sack Tendulkar for Ganguly to become captain, win some Tests at home or matches against low-rung teams like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe to consolidate himself and then, a la Azhar, fix matches...
Vishaal, on e-mail
No country in the world (except Pakistan perhaps) changes captains as frequently as India does. As for Dungarpur, his open berating of Ganguly calls for strong action from the bcci. Otherwise, we’ll have to presume that the likes of Muthiah, the bcci president, and Lele are nothing but puppets of feudalists like Dungarpur.
Dennis Christie, Bhilai
You’re right, Saurav’s our best bet for a long time to come. It’s high time we escaped the ‘Raj’ hangover which just doesn’t seem to leave us.
Jay Nair, on e-mail
A level-headed cover story. I’d like to add one more example to Dungarpur’s ‘seminal contribution’ to our cricket, namely the dropping of Mohinder Amarnath just after he won the Man of the Series award and the Indian team won a tournament in Bangladesh.
Apurba Datta, on e-mail
The facts and figures of Ganguly’s achievements speak for themselves. bcci officials and Indian selectors have always treated Bengali cricketers as unwanted children. Calcutta cricketers are right when they say that age has taken its toll on Dungarpur. He should go.
Sujeet Sarkar, Jodhpur
When Saurav went to England to play county cricket, he was considered moody, obnoxious, abrupt and not a team man. I was on the same ground and remember that when he scored a 50, none of his teammates came to the balcony for the customary clapping and to acknowledge his raised bat. This shows what his teammates thought of him. He was also part of the Indian team which for four years failed to win abroad. Even the Tests he’s won as captain have been due to others’ contributions. Only if he performs consistently will he command the reverence the Australians give Waugh.
Bhanu Prasad, Cardiff, UK
Your cover story helped us decide ourselves on Ganguly. The British left us, but they left us with institutions like the bcci and Censor Board (apropos Rock ‘n’ Roll Banned) which regulate our thought processes.
Vaibhav,on e-mail
Is there nothing—a signature campaign or a pil—that we can do to make BCCI and Dungarpur accountable for their questionable actions?
Koshy and Nina Varghese, Sultanate of Oman
Dungarpur was the man who sacked Srikkanth for no reason, ruined Chetan Sharma’s career just as it was taking off. Conversely, towards end-1997 when Azhar was playing some appallingly irresponsible cricket, rather than a sack, he was awarded captaincy. Dungarpur was bcci president then. What’s with the man?
Balaji K., on e-mail
Dungarpur is the same incompetent, senile buffoon who was critical of Gavaskar and is now picking on Ganguly. It’s time bcci sent Dungarpur out and invited Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri et al to run the organisation.
J. Padmanabhan, Lynnfield, Mass.
A fabulous cover story. We always blame the captain for a team’s bad performance but never the selectors or the team as a whole. Time it changed.
Sudhindra Poojary, Manipal
The only people who believe Saurav is a bad captain are the press in India and the Raj Singh Dungarpurs. I’ve never heard any cricket fan say so. By speaking in his favour, Outlook too has shown that it cares.
S. Jagannathan, on e-mail
Very well-researched article. I think until the general public doesn’t raise its ire against the ‘administrators’ of Indian cricket, they’ll run the show as they please. What’s Lele or Dungarpur’s contribution to cricket, bar shooting off their mouth every now and then?
Sudhir Pandramajallu, on e-mail
Great article, boss. Ganguly is the only professional player in the team and that’s what he’s trying to inculcate in his team. Encourage him.
Shamya Dasgupta, on e-mail
Ganguly’s the best we have. But how does Dungarpur get to decide on matters on which he is neither an expert nor an authority? He has traded the Cricket Club of India grounds for increasing his social stature.
Hari K. Nagabhirava, Norcross, Georgia
Please don’t compare Sachin or Dravid’s humility with Saurav’s arrogance. Please remember he refused to carry drinks as the 12th man in the World Cup series in Australia.
Sri Ram, on e-mail
How fickle can we get? There was a time when Ganguly was second only to Tendulkar in world cricket, second only to God on the off-side and was the prince of Calcutta.
Varun Joel, on e-mail
Saurav is a thinking captain, his cricketing brain is always ticking on the field.
Partha Pratim Sanyal, Bhopal
I wonder if bcci is seriously interested in the goodwill of Indian cricket? All they want is to keep their positions intact.
Burhani, on e-mail
Thanks Outlook. At last somebody came to Ganguly’s rescue. Of late, he has been victim to bad decisions from umpires. The bcci should give him more time and let Dravid play his usual sheet-anchor role.
Bal Govind, Bareilly
We need a captain who can feel disappointment and grief at not winning a game. Even Steve Waugh might not have reached eight finals as our prince of Kolkata did.
Niranjan Rao, Bangalore
It was an absolutely cogent and commendable effort on your part. But the question still is: "Will the bcci stop its murky game even now?"
Sushma S., on e-mail
You seem to have harshly judged the great and multi-faceted Dungarpur’s contribution to Indian cricket. As an administrator, he heard and saw no evil which is why he could never believe match-fixing could take place. As head of nca, he had to go all the way to Sri Lanka to coach the team there. And we only have to ask Saurav to know how great a motivator he is.
Rajat Dhar, on e-mail
Saurav’s captaincy against the Australians was superb, he successfully tackled an orchestrated campaign by the Australian captain, his team, their commentators and media. Although they were able to unsettle his batting, he gave back as good as he got by winning the series. This is no mean achievement.
T. Krishnan, on e-mail
Your cover story was like a well-timed Ganguly cover drive as it hit the stands just when India pulled off a miracle win at Kandy sans Sachin, Kumble, Nehra, VVS and Srinath. Can’t remember any other captain doing the same with such minimal resources.
Samarth Srivastava, on e-mail
Some reasons why Dungarpur shouldn’t be involved in matters relating to cricket: For dismantling the core of the team in the year 1989-90; for removing Srikkanth as captain, for giving Azhar a long rope, for swindling board money to go on foreign tours, for criticising the present captain in front of the players.
Ramachandran, on e-mail
Advani’s suggestion of an amnesty for accused policemen in Punjab (Pardon the Politics, September 3) is worth considering. When the fierce face of terrorism was haunting the state, it was Punjab Police which took up the challenge and brought peace back in the state. The nhrc wasn’t the one to experience the vexation and agony of those horror-struck years.
Cherag M. Kelawala, Ahmedabad
Prem Shankar Jha is right about the elimination of moderates but he makes an error in his column Surrender of Good Sense (September 10) when he says that head of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir Abdul Majid Dar was killed in a police encounter; it was his deputy, Commander Masood, who died.
Ilmas Futehally, Mumbai
We regret the error—Editor.
Apropos The Mob’s Fond Farewell (September 10), the most apt punishment for those savages in the Shiv Sena would be if all doctors refused to treat them and their families.
Adesh Shah, Mumbai
Apropos The Honey Trap Sting (September 3), it’s amazing to see the Samata Party protest against Tehelka’s method. Journalistic espionage is nothing new in this electronic age. And the fact remains that they were able to expose corruption with hard, recorded facts.
D. Choephel, Bangalore
The drop in the marketshare of scooters (Thru With Step-Thru, September 3) is due to the failure of manufacturers like Bajaj to play up the advantages of scooters over mobikes. More compact, with space for a carry-box and a spare tyre; scooters also afford better support to the pillion rider and gives better mileage. All they need now is better styling and sales strategy.
V. Subramanyam, on e-mail
While there is a lot of truth in your story A Touch of Unrealty (September 3), the real estate boom is confined mostly to a few sq kms in the city with only a small number of people involved in the deals. Were it not for these deals—shady or otherwise—Srinagar would’ve resembled war-ravaged Sarajevo or Kosovo. The deals have done a lot for our economy.
Tahir Sufi, Srinagar
Your correspondent should have asked the government officials quoted in the story just why despite the danger and uncertainty, the top j&k bureaucratic positions are the most sought-after in the country. Do these smart public servants have a death wish or are there intangibles nobody wants to discuss? Just check on the palatial homes built by retired non-Kashmiri bureaucrats who served in Kashmir and now live in Delhi and elsewhere.
Vijay Sazawal, Washington, DC
An Urnful of Memory (September 3) brought back memories of our family’s association with the freedom movement led by Bose. My father headed the local chapter of the Indian Independence League in Kluang. As member of the Balak Sena, I witnessed the great admiration the Japanese had for him. It would be in the fitness of things now to bring back his ashes to India and build a museum to house the urn and other memorabilia associated with Netaji.
H.N. Sathyanarayan
The Hizbul and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the two top militant groups in the Valley, have denied any Burqa Manoeuvre (September 3) on their part. Islam forbids compulsion. In the south, Muslim women wear the hijab and are quite comfortable in it. No acid attacks, no threats.
Ruby Nishat, Bangalore
What the lady says about her Walk on the Wilde Side (September 3) is sad but very true. It is not only the illiterate but also the so-called educated who stoop to such lows. But I’m sure that for 10 uncivilised folks, there’s at least one Indian who is a cultural ambassador of our country.
Prasad Boddupalli, on e-mail
Ms Wilde and her ilk would rather get their baggage stolen, bottom pinched, be fleeced by taxi drivers or be offered favours by Italian gigolos, but uncouth and filthy third world natives... No, thank you, we’re still good ol’ racist Brits. Firang hippies come to countries like Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand and India for drugs, paedophilia and other post-colonial highs without giving a hoot to the host country’s sensitivities and go back abusing us.
Ananth Gupta, New Delhi
It’s extremely embarrassing but I agree with almost every point Ms Wilde makes. Once, driving down an American acquaintance from Mumbai airport to Pune, I had to entertain him with sights of young and old defecating on the roadside. Another friend while recounting an experience told me that slums in other countries were confined to pockets, but that all of India looked like a slum. I was ready to gouge his eyes out for it, but I realise it’s true. Is it too much of an effort to keep our cities cleaner?
Rajiv Varshney, on e-mail
Have the Brits forgotten the racial slurs we have to suffer constantly in their country? And since we are famed for our hospitality, don’t you think the problem could lie with the likes of Wilde? Don’t you get mugged in London? Lastly, her trivialisation of the essence of India to just a cup of tea shows her unparalleled ignorance.
Udai Singh, on e-mail
Agreed that diseases, water and vaccines are the bane for any traveller in India but which part of the world does not have the problem of persistent eve-teasing? As for Ms Wilde’s problem with a foreigner paying $10 for visiting the Taj, since you do not pay taxes in India, you need to pay more.
Ramana, on e-mail
As a foreign tourist, I have put up with everything—from cheating by hotels, tour operators, taxis and autos to verbal and physical assault by locals. India is filthy and the situation with beggars and disabled stinks worse than the constant smell of urine and faeces in the street. No wonder India has so little tourism even when its natural and physical wealth is so abundant.
Eathan, on e-mail
Stray embittering experiences can’t be generalised the way Wilde has. Why should westerners take us for granted and expect us to tolerate all their humbug? Just for valuable forex we cannot be expected to tolerate the gimmicks and tantrums of half-clad tourists.
Ramanathan Muthiah, on e-mail
As a woman, I certainly empathise with Ms Wilde as I’ve been subjected to the same. But I can’t believe India’s the only place where tourists are badly treated. When in the US, two rednecks hurled an empty beer bottle at me accompanied by racial abuses. Do I assume that every person I meet is a racist redneck? Am I rude to Americans because of that?
Jyoti Ganapathi, on e-mail
If indeed my rant and rave could match up to what I’ve read. I believe it’s a matter of perspective of being able to appreciate the countryside without choking on English cuisine, watch Berlin with a sense of awe without getting intimidated by the neo-Nazis. The eye that discerns will salute the Taj but then it takes a special sensitivity to acquire...
Kantian Rhapsody, on e-mail
Wilde’s column would awaken a sense of shame in any Indian. It reminded me of the time a friend at jnu was showing off his Ray Bans. As it turned out, he’d stolen them from a foreign tourist at Bahai’i temple. And he was an educated man!
Niraj Kumar Jha, on e-mail
Apropos Sagarika Ghose’s review of Riot (When Forster Meets Hindutva, September 3). Shashi Tharoor is now espousing the cause of secularism. This is the same guy who was an abvp candidate during the 1974 Academic Council elections in Delhi University. Perhaps he was stupid, young and ignorant then!
Rajiv Chopra, Jammu
A very well-written review, with some insightful lines. However, there’s one point I do want to make. I have heard of many vhp leaders giving the same kind of spiel as Tharoor. It sounds clichéd to us, perhaps because we hear it so often, but then that’s why it has become a cliché.
Anita Pratap, on e-mail
Thanks Sagarika, I think it’s time I picked up your novel.
Charuvak, on e-mai
In India’s Top B-schools (September 10), we apologise for any embarrassment inadvertently caused by a caption on the fore School of Management—a typographical error converted the intended ‘A’ billing into a ‘D’. In Bull’s Eye, a reference to a taped conversation about L.K. Advani and an Israeli firm was wrongly changed to imply Advani himself had the conversation. Error regretted
