Indian Olympic Association President Adityan, pipping Bommai to the post and getting the VIP gold accreditation card at Atlanta (The Paes Setter, August, 14) before taking off on a more important jaunt to Florida, is reported to have said that India would win 100 medals in the next Olympics. He deserves credit for his wisdom, forethought and above all his incredible optimism. For the present, let us be happy and salute Leander Paes for bagging an individual bronze after decades.
Mitra J. Enjeti, Hyderabad
Q: Who is Mr India? A: Leander Paes
Baldev S. Chauhan, Shimla
That sport need not be result oriented (Quick on the Draw, July 31) does not stand to reason. Games are played with the aim of winning them. When a match ends in a draw why cannot the result be determined on points—awarding the game to the side with better performance and run rate?
S. Krishnamurthi, Ahmedabad
Khushwant Singh has wrongly used the expression "...dangers of religious fundamentals" (Lessons from Life, July 31). Religious fundamentalism means obeying principles of non-violence, truth, ethics and universal friendship—elementary canons of religion which are violated. The phrase should be dangers of ‘blind faith’ as this is often exploited by many leaders. An individual must use his brains to avoid being exploited. Religion is the noblest thought evolved by the human mind and cannot be held responsible for shedding blood.
Parjan Kumar Jain, New Delhi
Do you even realize that your coverage is so hopelessly biased towards having a pro-corporate and pro-rich stance that your magazine is reduced to being a PR piece for the big business sector in India? Why do you have a section, for instance, on what corporations are happy with and unhappy with? Why no similar sections on the Indian middle-class, the poor, the unions, Government employees.... I could go on but what’s the use? I hope that you realize you’re serving, wittingly or not, as a corporate mouthpiece and nothing more.
Amitabh, Received by e-mail
India is the only nation where politicians seek the help of criminals who then enter politics (Law Makers or Breakers?, August 14). The two are made for each other. The tragedy is no politician has been punished suitably. There should be a law that no one be allowed to hold public office till he is cleared of criminal charges. And the dispensation of justice should be made faster for this end.
U.S. Iyer, Bangalore
Pity the nation where 10 per cent of lawmakers have a criminal background and whose Prime Minister says he did not know the antecedents of the ministers he chose. I can think of only two remedies: candidates with a criminal past should be barred, and voting should be compulsory to avoid scenarios where a candidate wins with just 25 per cent of the votes polled.
Daulat V. Sampat, Bombay
You have clubbed notorious criminal MPs like Pappu Yadav with His Highness the Maharaja of Gwalior, Madhavrao Scindia. By this you have upgraded an alleged criminal to the level of a politician who accepts donations from individuals, a common practice the world over. If the escapades of Lord Krishna were listed and sections of the Indian Penal Code applied, it would be an interesting study.
M.K. Jain, New Delhi
I find that a majority of Yadav politicians are involved in criminal activities, irrespective of their parties. I feel ashamed of being a Yadav today. Lord Krishna and cruel Kansa were both Yadavs. It is the tragedy of our community that we have produced only Kansas not Krishnas for the past few decades.
Arun S. Yadav, Baroda
From May 30, a new order of ‘secularism’ emerged. Minister Bommai must squeak in Washington that India is now a federal State. The Centre is secular; governments in Gujarat and Rajasthan, non-secular. Secularism absolves criminals, whether Hindu, Muslim or Sikh. Politics differs from farming. It is time the kisan PM goes back to the plough.
E.N. Viswanath, Tiruchy
Lumpen elements have taken over from the politician-freedom fighters. They began with college union activities, then graduated to become MLAs, MPs and ministers, even though criminal cases were pending against them. Only when they are out of power does nemesis overtake a few. Narasimha Rao, Jayalalitha and Bhajan Lal are examples. Now a new term has been coined—judicial activism—to abuse the only obstacle in their path to power.
V. Sagar, New Delhi
If the induction of criminals in political parties continues, pickpocketing, theft, murder and dacoity will soon be the criterion for recruiting peons, clerks, officers and politicians. Innocent people will remain jobless and may even be sent to the gallows on charges of not having committed a crime.
A.P. Thadhani, Ahmedabad
I agree a vegetarian diet is healthier (Green Evolution, July 31). What I object to is the attempt to label meat-eaters as ghouls.
As for inaccuracies, you ought to correct Amrit Kent’s contention that the human teeth and digestive system are like that of herbivores. The four canines are typical of all carnivores. Also, most herbivores have two stomachs to help in digestion.
You also ought to calm young Pooja Jhalani, who "didn’t like the idea of eating death" and inform her that each time someone cuts a head of cabbage from its stem, it kills the plant. It is in the nature of things that each species feeds on the food in its environment. Modern man’s extreme mobility makes environment unimportant where diet is concerned. And so he evolved into an omnivorous creature, and good for him. Otherwise he would deplete the resources in his environment and starve.
I cannot help feeling that such articles are nothing but essays pandering to the Hindutva plank of banning cow slaughter. If so, they should be honest and come right out and say so.
I.J. Charles, Bombay
The stomach secretions of humans have been claimed to be alkaline and said to promote digestion of carbohydrates. The fact is that the pH of gastric juice varies between 1.5 to 2.5 in humans which is strongly acidic. There are no enzymes of carbohydrate digestion present. If a vegetarian diet leads to freedom from coronary disease, Eskimos should be the worst sufferers as their diet is exclusively meat and fish. However, they have the lowest incidence of heart disease due to the large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acid in the fish they eat.
Narendra Nayak, Asst. Prof. of Biochemistry, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore
Think of everyone being vegetarian and try solving the resulting supply problem. Survival of the fittest still rules.
Dr S. Bafna, Apollo Hospital, Madras
I was surprised by the remark that Mallika Sarabhai was "one time a chicken-chewer". Mallika has never been a non-vegetarian, though our family does eat eggs. There is no question of her ‘turning’ vegetarian! She has always been one.
Mrinalini Sarabhai, Ahmedabad
Our vegetarian culture has stymied our capacity to think, feel and live. The per capita consumption of meat in the US is 112 kilos, India’s share is a dismal 2 kilos. The industrial and technological revolutions that changed the face of the earth are gifts to mankind by the West. It is not that we have turned vegetarian en masse but that fish, egg and meat have gone beyond the reach of the common man. It’s not by choice that "more people are eating greener than before," but through compulsions of poverty.
K.R. Rajan, Bombay
Promoting vegetarianism on health grounds is okay, but it doesn’t necessarily make better human beings. Mother Teresa, a non-vegetarian, is a colossus of sanctity. Adolf Hitler, a confirmed vegetarian, unleashed terror on the world. But before eating flesh, think how you would feel if someone ate you up.
Devraj Singh Kalsi, Calcutta
Mani Shankar Aiyer’s statement that the three pillars of the State—Judiciary, Executive and Legislature—have to maintain an equation for harmony (‘Thieves’ Hit Back at ‘Sons of God’, July 31) seems to suggest that the one pillar (Judiciary) which stands taller than the other two should be cut to size.
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate if the other two pillars raise their levels to a standard equal to that of the Judiciary and start working towards a balanced growth of the country’s standards and values.
C.N.U. Mahesh, Madras
Will Mr Aiyer clarify what happens when the two important pillars of Executive and Legislature become nonfunctional and ineffectual due to the subversive attitudes of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats? Naturally, the third pillar (the Judiciary) carries the full load of the State before it too collapses. But looking at the cynical statements of the likes of Somnath Chatterjee, Mani Shanker Aiyer and Kalpn-ath Rai, it seems that this last pillar will also be subverted by the agents who corroded the other two pillars from within.
L.P. Sippy, Pune
The headline for the story is a befitting one. It appears from what the politicians say about the Judiciary, that they were under the impression that once in a political party they were above all authority. Political corruption was going on unchecked and the ultimate sufferers were the common people. The executive wing, ruled by political bosses, could be of no help. Hence, only the other wing, the Judiciary, was left to set things right. Though judicial activism has started late, it is better late than never.
K. Chatterjee, New Delhi
Sitting here in cool Kodi, I found the recipe for the bubbly prescribed by Messrs Ajith and Ajit (Gentlemen’s Moonshine, July 31) worth putting into practice. I have, however, a warning for the two. The temperature outside was 14 degrees and, inside the pot where the grapes were being palm and finger squashed, it was around 9 degrees or less. The grapes were cold and the water colder.I have followed their instructions to the letter. And now I am waiting with as much patience as is possible at a height of 7,000 ft with lowered supplies of oxygen to the brain. In Kodi I bumped into an Intelligence Bureau man who been recently posted here from Leh. He was telling me that tempers tend to run short when there is a paucity of oxygen.
And so will mine if at the end of the 47-day wait (the 21 stirring days and 25 sitting on my haunches) the brew tastes like gutter water. In that case (let Pillai and Ninan know) the pipe emerging from the pot will not end up in any bottle...bottoms up!
Nitin Padte, Kodaikanal
The photograph of Benazir Bhutto with Frank Wisner (Wise Man From the West, 31 July) shows Wisner sitting with his shoe pointing towards the Prime Minister of Pakistan. I remember a similar instance in Libya during the early days of the Gaddafi coup, when an American oil giant chief did just this and got a well-deserved kick on his shoe by the Libyan Prime Minister Abdus Salam Jalloud. Americans who are eager to teach their kind of manners and morality to the entire world, ought to learn a little bit about other people’s manners too.
Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, New Delhi
J.N. Dixit’s views on Frank Wisner’s remarks on solving the Indo-Pak conflict (Turn off the Alarm Clocks) are well balanced. Though some have expressed serious misgivings about his initiative, this new orientation on the part of the US is a welcome change. If Wisner can convince India and Pakistan and remove the hurdles in the way of an understanding, why should he be discouraged?
Hari V.G., Kollam, Kerala
Nehru’s domineering presence snuffed out a second rung leadership (Beginning of the End, July 31). Mrs Gandhi’s authoritarian regime stifled inner party democracy. With Rajiv Gandhi’s myopic policies the party degenerated into a coterie of power brokers. Rao landed it in a mire of scams. Now, thanks to the struggles for party leadership by the caucus of discredited leaders, the Congress with its century-old record of manoeuvring politics, is ready for history’s dungheap.
S.M. Kompella, Kakinada (AP)
The book Profiles of Intelligence (Neighbourly Wisdom, July 10) highlights the miserable condition of Pakistan’s Intelligence. That they could not foresee the exploitation of their country and resources by the US to counter the USSR-backed regime in Afghanistan, stands testimony to this. It sure looks like the retirement of Brig. Syed A.I. Tirmazi is the best thing that’s happened to the ISI so far.
Manish Mohan, Madras
