Our politicians are true disciples of Jesus Christ. They get one slap on the cheek from across the border and they ceremoniously offer the other.
L. Tia Ao, Nagaland
The more the BJP is attacked for being communal by the Opposition, the more votes it gains (Feni, Vidi, Vici Again, June 17). But the Congress just doesn’t seem to understand this. In the guise of being "secular", it continues to barter the dead of Gujarat for more votes.
K.S. Ramesh, Mumbai
Your story fails to recognise one key element in any Goan assembly election—that Goans vote for candidates than for parties. You have only to chart the number of defections that have occurred over, say, the last 10 years to get a clearer picture.
Rahul Goswami, on e-mail
The stereotypes about liquor and Goa, is that the only context the rest of India understands when it thinks of Goa?
Francis Fernandes, Goa
Apropos Vinod Mehta’s editorial Take it With Grace (June 17). I agree India should be willing to talk to Pakistan. But before any actual talks, the Indian leaders should decide whether they are prepared to make significant concessions. Otherwise the talks will be a fiasco and cause further frustration to our belligerent neighbour.
Lalit Bagai, Denmark
I agree that India is pushing Pakistan too far, without having a concrete exit route. There’s a saying that goes: "Don’t corner a rat, because the rat will fight like a lion. Since that’s all that the rat can do." So I think the best thing for India now is to accept the escape route being provided by the US.
Josh,Boston, US
Is Vinod Mehta an Indian? Why does he seem to be fighting against India shoulder-to-shoulder with the West? If the war against terrorism can be carried to any soil with international support, I wonder why we have to put up with comments like "excessively raising the ante". The best thing is to treat your views as a bad joke.
Sriram C., Chennai
Why Take it With Grace, Mr Mehta, we should take it as it is. It is the politics beneath the patrolling that we’ve already submitted to and it’s more dangerous than the namby-pamby talks of General Musharraf. It’s not the internationalisation of the issue that is of concern, it’s how our political pundits deal with it on par with the ground situation that’s more important.
Ashutosh Nayak, Balasore, Orissa
Here in the US, if a child goes missing, the news is on all newspaper and TV networks. And doubtless the reaction to the death of around 3,000 people in the WTC crash was proportionate. But it’s 60,000 lives that have been lost in Kashmir. When the US says "We will not negotiate", it’s taken as determination. But when India acts stubborn on just one precondition, it’s labelled both arrogant and inflexible. Are lives in this part of the world that cheap?
Saravanan Natarajan, Greensboro, US
It’s uncontrollably funny that courtesy Pramod Mahajan, the government (which loses money in whatever it does) is trying to teach the Tatas (sales Rs 40,000 crore-plus at last count) how to do business (Speed-Breakers on the Info Highway, June 17)! Funnier still, politicians are giving Tatas lessons in morality and ethics? What next? Laloo preaching Gandhian austerity!
Bharatram Gaba, Mumbai
According to Anita Pratap (Choking on Our Froth, June 17), netizens "sitting far away in the US" can advocate "hate" and push for war without suffering the consequences. To counter her arguments, first, we have loved ones in India and second, I can use her illogic and accuse her of the same. She is privileged not to be an Indian living in Kashmir or an army jawan or Kashmiri Pandits who are refugees in their own country. If the threat of war makes us back down, it is an acknowledgment that the killing of a few Indians on a regular basis is acceptable.
Srinivas Peeta, W. Lafayette, US
In contrast to Ms Pratap’s belief, Indians and Pakistanis in the US have taken time off to organise peace marches, meetings with different caucuses in the US Congress to pursue them to defuse war tensions between the South Asian neighbours.
Ritesh Ramesh, Chicag
Apropos the Polscape anchor (June 17) that says AICC president Sonia Gandhi did not give Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi an appointment for a full three days. The fact is Tarun Gogoi was in New Delhi for both official and party work and never sought an appointment with Sonia Gandhi. So the question of his being denied one doesn’t arise. Mrs Gandhi scheduled a meeting for party-related work on June 6, and the meeting took place accordingly.
Press secretary to CM, Assam
Our correspondent replies: It is inconceivable to think that a Congress CM will come to Delhi and not seek an appointment with Sonia Gandhi. In any case, the press secretary says no appointment was sought but Sonia Gandhi scheduled the meeting on June 6. How was it done without the CM seeking an appointment?
My condolences to Hansie Cronje’s family and friends (Oh Captain! My Captain!, June 17). But his untimely death cannot exonerate him of the crime he himself admitted to. To suggest that he was a scapegoat doesn’t help his case either, he was still a wrongdoer. Also, the fact that he was a national captain who had the faith, trust and respect of his team-mates, his countrymen and cricket fans the world over makes his misdemeanour more grave—you know what they say about Caesar’s wife!
Bibil Thomas, Chennai
Outlook’s reviews of Hollywood films have never been satisfying and that of Spiderman (June 3) drives it down further. We never get to know the story, the SFX, the acting or any of the traditional parameters used to judge a movie. Instead, we get enmeshed in discourses of post 9/11 politics, something that would do well in a college film art course, not in a capsule review.
Dibyaduti Purkayastha, Saratoga, California
I found Saba Naqvi Bhaumik’s Oxford Diary (June 17) in poor taste. The parallels she drew were outlandish and her holier-than-thou views were nothing but elitist and sectarian.
Shruva Gupta, on e-mail
I could not correlate Saba Naqvi Bhaumik’s dig at Hindutva. Of course, khaki RSS shorts are as much out of sync at Oxford as say, the burqas, chadors or the head veils. Her reference to no Indian (she obviously meant Hindu) seat at Oxford and the glee about there being one for Pakistan was extremely trivial.
Kaly Bose, on e-mail
Apropos Catharsis, Updated (June 17), just when will Girish Karnad write an original play? Everything he has written has really been a dramatisation of somebody else’s story—from mythology, the epics, European classics or the folk-tales compiled by the late A.K. Ramanujam. The repackaging seems to apply to his films too.
A.B. Chisti, Chennai
Much as I appreciate the focus on turmeric (Lifeline, June 17), I can’t but point out certain omissions. It seems that all things Indian assume significance when they come through a foreign conduit. With so much scientific research having gone on in several Indian labs, namely CDRI, the National Institute of Nutrition, Amala Cancer Research Centre and our own Asichunchanagiri Biotechnology and Cancer Research Institute, there is no mention of the pioneering work done on the anti-oxidants and the disease preventive activity of turmeric, curcumin and our own turmerin.
Leela Srinivas, Mandya distt., Karnataka
Apropos your cover Mentors, Monitors (June 17), US intervention should not be wished away off-hand as it is indeed the sarpanch of the global village. Of course, any peace formula they may devise should be accepted only if it suits both parties. What is also assiduously ignored by one and all is that China is not a party to the dispute though a part of Kashmir in the east (which both India and Pakistan show as their own) is under Chinese control and would probably remain with them even if the dispute is settled between India and Pakistan!
Vijay Veerla, on e-mail
It was amusing to see Dubyaman playing peacemaker on your cover. Surely you’re referring to the 1917 Colt PeaceMaker?
Srinivas Shastri, on e-mail
George W. Bush a peacemaker? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes (who’ll guard the guards)?
Partho Datta, on e-mail
We may not like US involvement over Kashmir but the fact is we would not have achieved by going to war with Pakistan what we did by the US arm-twisting Pakistan. The latter made one of its greatest foreign policy blunders with its nuclear war threats and rhetoric. Such irresponsible behaviour just cannot be tolerated in the world of today. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Russians getting closer to the Americans, a new king of democratic colonialism has come into being. And India, being a democracy, should take full advantage of the new global equations.
Suja Nambiar, Karaikal
Unfortunately, US financial aid to Pakistan—presumably meant for the growth of its economy—instead goes into the promotion of terrorism, particularly against India. The US thus is indirectly funding the very terrorism it wants to stop. It should end monetary aid to Pakistan.
Mahesh Kapasi, on e-mail
Your story Terrorism on Hold establishes beyond doubt that terrorism has been given full protection, aid and nurturing by the hakams of Pakistan. It is they who are anti-Indian and who have aided and abetted terrorists (or so-called jehadis) in J&K fighting a supposed freedom struggle.
Ujagar Singh, Chandigarh
India’s done the right thing by cracking down on the funds flow from Pakistan to the Hurriyat leaders. The action has come 8-10 years late, but at least it has begun. Our income-tax authorities too should be taken to task for not going into the details of the "beyond the means" lifestyle of these Pakistan-sponsored paper tigers. The cash crunch will defang these leaders. It’s also high time the government closely audited the role of the ruling party in J&K on how it has used the funds allocated by the Centre for containing terrorism. We may end up with bigger surprises!
Rajeev Sinha, on e-mail
The Leftists have been left out in the cold! Soon after the NDA’s announcement of Abdul Kalam as their presidential candidate, Leftist leaders displayed the most bizarre behaviour on TV. First Somnath Chatterjee’s intemperate and insolent remarks, then Yechuri and Bardhan et al competing with each other in opposing Kalam’s nomination after being ditched by Mullah Mulayam and finally the Congress abandoning them...their isolation was complete. But trust a sardar (H.K.S. Surjeet) to live up to his name and persist with nominating "their own candidate". In fact, he invited ridicule when at a press conference he said the People’s Front no longer exists. As a Marxist (initiated by the great M.N. Roy himself), I am truly ashamed at the extremely garrulous and intemperate attitude exhibited by the Marxists of today, and unfortunately, by leaders of yesteryears like Jyoti Basu endorsing it. They seem to be out of sync with ground realities. For example, how could they expect the Congress to "ditch" a Muslim, a Bharat Ratna and a scientist of international acclaim without fearing a backlash and the risk of losing the Muslim vote. Is this the beginning of the end of the Leftist movement in India?
L.Y. Rao, on e-mail
