Your cover story (The Shrink Is In, May 2) on the growing importance of mental health specialists was truly well-timed. As Indians, we grow up feeling embarrassed for not being mentally strong. Like the story points out, "family, friends, guru and astrologer" are supposed to heal our mental wounds. High time we stopped suffering like this. On a personal note too, the story touched me. I grew up seeing my father ill-treat my mother all through my childhood and even later. No one in the family ever talked about it. I have begun seeing a specialist this year, and it’s really helped. Hope the piece gives the strength to others who have suffered like me to come out and seek help.
Anushree Mukerjee, Delhi
So the seed has come back to bear bitter fruit. If we hadn’t abandoned our values in a mad rush to attain the "comforts" of life, we’d still be enjoying our gains. Our scriptures clearly state that Maya and the Lord (read tranquility of mind) can’t be aimed at in one shot. If mind-healers have come to make their presence felt, it’s because we ignored the need of the spirit to satiate the desires of the body.
Arvind K. Pandey, Allahabad
The problem with Indian shrinks is that they are mostly pathetic. They see hundreds of patients everyday to make as much money as possible and don’t care a damn about the well-being of their clients. Only God knows if some of them are even qualified to practise. What is the use of our realising we need the "services of such mind doctors"? To top it all, there’s no mechanism to register complaints, nor provisions to ‘de-license’ them (considering they don’t need a license to practise in the first place, unlike other doctors).
Kamal Purohit, Delhi
Even as more and more people today are going to mental health experts, it still remains a taboo. No one wants advice on "such matters". Even those seeing a shrink don’t want anyone to know about it. As for those who do get to know, they soon classify you as a ‘mental case’.
Anshul Dhar, Mumbai
‘Shrink’ is a derogatory term used either by uncivilised semi-literate people or those who harbour hidden aggression towards psychiatrists and their ilk for fear of their unconscious muck being brought out into the open. A more refined way of referring to this group of help-giving professionals is ‘applied behavioural scientists’ as a collective term.
Dr N. Gopalakrishnan, Chennai
The shrink is ‘in’ because the janta are mentally trying to park a Merc in a space fit for a Maruti.
Rajneesh Batra, New Delhi
Your Chennai correspondent is at it again (Critics...Rascals, May 2), trying to pass off his anti-conformism as non-conformism. This time he’s taken on Kamalahaasan and Rajnikanth, two Tamil screen titans. He challenges credulity by saying Kamal can’t ‘show the way’. On the contrary, Kamal’s scripts (Mahanadi, Thevar Magan etc) have always taken Tamil cinema into untested waters. And the attempts to attribute personal opinions to ‘industry insiders’ are puerile at best. A jarring example is of the mysterious individual who said the success of Rajni’s Chandramukhi spells doom for the Tamil industry.
M.S. Prabhu Ram, on e-mail
I don’t think your writer lives in Chennai...for, how can he write this article? Or perhaps he doesn’t watch Tamil movies. Has he seen movies like Kadhal, 7G, Rainbow Colony etc. It didn’t ape Rajni or Kamal’s style and were made by youngsters with young heroes. Rajni has a movie after three years and Kamal has two releases a year. The two are not the only ‘old’ winners in Kollywood. They are there in the race with the youngsters.
Krishna Prasad, Hyderabad
I am a Kannadiga and I don’t watch Tamil movies. But even someone like me knows what Rajni’s star value is. In the entertainment industry, stars and hits are a must. It’s the same with the Tamil film industry. For the paisa vasool public, it is important that they get to forget their daily troubles, lose themselves for three hours in the dark cinema halls. These stars help them do it.
Sanjeev, Bangalore
I guess the author’s idea of sucking up to his bosses in Delhi is to trash the Tamil film industry. Yes, it’s unnerving to see 50-plus heroes canoodling with women half their age, but isn’t it happening everywhere? If Rajni has been saddled with a particular image, it’s because he can still carry it off unlike some Bollywood Big Bs. Coming to Kamal, he along with Mohanlal are perhaps the last of a generation that has saddled the twin roles of being a star and a fine actor with aplomb. Kamal has kept pushing the boundaries of creativity, experimenting and going beyond stereotypes. And if Chandramukhi is a hit despite its cliches, why contest it?
Vivek Nagar, Bangalore
Your correspondent’s prejudice against Tamil cinema in general is well-recorded. But ultimately, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The people have judged and given the two a thumbs-up, arm-chair critics be damned.
J. Ravi, Bangalore
Agreed, Rajni looks too old to play the hero. Everyone knows that. To me, he retired in ’98, after Padayappa’s stupendous showing (incidentally, it broke b-o records in the US and Japan for Tamil movies). But trivialising Kamal’s talent and motives came as a rude shock. Not stopping there, you speculate on how Tarantino could have got inspired from Kamal (sic). Are you suggesting we can’t possibly think ahead of Hollywood? How inspiring.
Balaji Kumar, Moscow
If 50-plus guys like Pierce Brosnan can cavort with 20-year-old girls, why can’t Rajni? He’s at least a phenomenon....
Balakrishnan, Chennai
It was refreshing to read The Black Gold’s Curse and All that Gas (May 2). While scope for finding more oil or its alternatives in India is limited, there is an engineering solution to the problem of energy shortage. An alternative to the Centre’s proposal for river-interlinking called ‘Indian River Grid’ has the potential to develop 65,000 MW of hydroelectricity and 16,500 km of navigable waterways.
K.V. Rupchand, Chennai
It’s heartening to see ‘Peak oil’ and Colin Campbell find a mention in the mainstream media. ‘Peak oil’ adherents think oil production will peak in the coming decade as there isn’t much left under the earth. Consequently, worldwide demand will outpace production, oil-dependent economies will crumble, and resource wars will become inevitable. The need of the hour is to face up to reality and launch aggressive public-private initiatives to create a renewable alternative to hydrocarbon energy before it is too late.
Bhaskar Hazarika, Delhi
I can’t believe R.K. Pachauri is saying a ‘peak oil’ prospect is "unlikely". Everyone and his uncle, including energy analysts, bankers and US Congressmen, not to mention oil company insiders, are saying peak oil is due in ’07. Technically, the world will not run out of oil, but it will be a lot harder and expensive to get it out, which has the same effect as oil running out. Even if the date is 2030, as Pachauri thinks, it is better to think in terms of ’07. At least then we’ll get all the alternative stuff he mentions rolling. And what’s this about committees? Hello?
Narayanan, Boston, US
Apropos Benediction? (May 2) on the new pope’s election, Pope Benedict XVI is right in opposing homosexuality and abortion. The Bible says these acts are sins. So is rock music with its roots in the satanic church. His job as pontiff is to uphold the values of the Bible and not the immoral values of this materialistic world.
Derek Saldanha, Pune
The new pope’s tenure begins with an unenviable reputation as "champion of doctrine" earned in 2000 after his Vatican document ‘Dominus Jesus’, a divisive treatise that has caused concern among people of other faiths. The article does not mention it but it is of relevance to India.
Kangayam R. Rangaswamy, Madison, USA
History is replete with our mule-like attitude (Newsbag, May 2). We have prostrated before invaders of all hues. And now even the Bangladeshis are attacking us.We must give up misplaced notions on ahimsa and prove our prowess vis-a-vis our manpower and N-power status or we’ll never be able to hold our head high.
K.P. Rajan, Mumbai
Bangladesh, in the liberation of which India played a great role, has become a nuisance. Crores of Bangladeshis have crossed over to India illegally. India’s security is far more important than votebank politics. It’s time our leaders sat up and took notice.
L.R. Sabharwal, on e-mail
Apropos Prof D.N. Jha’s review of my book A Spoke in the Wheel (Gap in History, May 2), the novel does not confuse Upali, the fictional protagonist who is Ashoka’s contemporary, with Buddha’s disciple of the same name who lived three centuries earlier. The earlier historical Upali is also mentioned in the book (page 330), as a contemporary of the Buddha, precisely to avoid such confusion. The same name was used because foundlings by monks would have probably had a good chance of being named after illustrious forbears.
Amita Kanekar, Mumbai
Apropos Dolly, The Tiger (May 2), technology is welcome to offer solutions on the enumeration of tiger numbers, but dna fingerprinting will be meaningful only if it can be provided at the forest division levels or at least state levels. Technology may exclude scope for fudging but its efficacy will finally depend on the efficiency of the field staffer in collecting the scat of all tigers for dna printing. And yes, it should be cost-effective and easily usable too. As far as deriding the pugmark method goes, one must understand that it’s not just about counting tigers. It’s a comprehensive exercise involving information/data compilation, field expertise, and most importantly every wildlife staff member and even the forest villagers. The census thus imparts a sense of belonging among all concerned. It must be remembered here that the disappearance of the tigers in Sariska is not on account of poor ‘censusing’ but because of poor policing and unmotivated/uninvolved field staff. On the second issue of cloning the tiger or cheetah, with the forests disappearing what is the point of it? A classic example of missing the woods for the trees? Why not carry out a rudimentary exercise of opportunity cost to the society and decide whether the Rs 5 crore earmarked for cloning the cheetah or the Rs 12 crore to be spent on ‘Lacones’ would be better utilised for equipping and training field staff.
N. Sunil Kumar,‘Wild Orissa’, Bhubaneswar
Apropos Impartial Judge? trai Again (Apr 11), the directions of trai are for all operators in the industry and are based on regulatory principles rather than bias towards any particular operator. Reliance, as well as others, have been given show-cause notices by trai on various issues a number of times. On the issue of illegal re-routing of international calls as local ones by Reliance Infocomm, trai has already explained its action previously on several occasions. The present legal framework of the trai Act provides that as soon as a matter becomes a dispute between two operators, trai ceases to have any legal jurisdiction. Only tdsat is then empowered to look into it. trai considered it appropriate to refer the matter to DoT. trai has also not given approval to cmts operators for commencing local call service in the name of subscribers local dialling service/roamer link service etc.
Rajendra Singh, TRAI, Delhi
Mr Mehta, you needn’t scratch your head anymore about Kashmir (Delhi Diary, May 2). After the April 7 bus diplomacy, even in PoK they are asking: if the Berlin Wall can fall, why can’t the LoC? And with ‘softer’ borders, even the political unification of the Valley can now be dreamt of. It will then truly become the ‘Switzerland of the East’.
K.K. Doshi, Lucknow
Iwas looking for insight from Gurcharan Das (Inglish As She Spoke, May 2), but found none. He has nothing new to say, anyone who has travelled a bit comes to these conclusions. As for English uniting India... ha, ha, ha. Did Bangla unite the Bengalis...did Punjabi unite the Punjab? English plus vernacular is a world trend. In Singapore the Chinese, Malays and Tamils have their own Singlish...where they end every sentence with "lah". Not to mention the ‘ummmmmm...’ at the end by Pernakan women.
Dharmayudh Singh, Philadelphia, US
Like it or not, English is possibly India’s only national language. To be fair, Hindi has made inroads in the south and east but can’t match English’s reach. It helps that, as a neutral language, it doesn’t face the animosity Hindi induces. That we are now ‘mixing’ English with our own is a positive, proving it’s no longer a ‘foreign’ tongue but an assimilated part.
Vinod Raman, Kansas City, US
Das is naive if he thinks all of India has taken to Inglish like cricket. Today’s youth even speak American English with a perfect accent (thanks to all that voice training), and if the north speaks Hinglish, then the south has its own Tamlish or Telugish. Not that it’s all right. Like ad copy, it’s fun, not serious business. You can’t gloat over mistakes and brand it ‘desi’. English has emerged as the world’s lingua franca by trimming its sails to the winds of change. Regional flavours may sound good on TV but won’t be tolerated in print. In boardrooms, it’s global English which rules. (In bedrooms, though, Inglish may have a say.)
S. Venugopal, Bangalore
Das’ superpower dreams have led to him to forget ground realities and he ends up contradicting himself. The Inglish he celebrates is an urban/semi-urban colloquial language, shaped by a superficial media. It’s not the language of education, not the tool that allows us to cultivate all our faculties, the language of our folk songs, or our poets and our mothers. Das decrees: "Unless you acquire the nuances of English before 10, you are disadvantaged." Now, what happened to the ‘Inglish’ he was celebrating a few paras before? Besides, he seems to say, ‘Better perfect the English, otherwise you have no place in a global era’. I am no vernacular nationalist, but what happened to all the ‘multiple choices’ this era promised? The author also misinterprets Sheldon Pollock who says older cultural practices were tied to cosmopolitan interests. As his essay ‘Cosmopolitan and Vernacular History’ suggests, "vernacularisation helped initiate an early-modern era" in Europe etc. Even in a globalised world some may consciously choose the ‘local’ instead of the larger world. And doing so is not at all unhealthy. Pollock clearly isn’t headed where Das wants to go with globalisation (cosmopolitan epoch) and English education for all. He’s saying one can be both this and that, without completely being one or the other. He’s looking at multiple choices, ‘not perfect English before 10 or perish’.
Sudarshan Patilkulkarni, Mumbai
The author thinks Inglish is our gateway to superpower heaven. That’s his opinion, but attacking Bengal, Kerala etc for their choice is unwarranted. When West Bengal introduced Bengali as the medium of instruction (English only from the sixth in state schools), there was much criticism. But the problem really was in execution. The government didn’t do its homework, started off in a haphazard manner, and as a result had to roll back. The author should have dealt with this part of the issue on a more serious note.
Indranil, on e-mail
People who studied in English medium tend to think in English. I am a perfect example. I grew up speaking Malayalam at home and am relatively fluent in it. But for all practical purposes (the books I read, the way I think), my first language is English. I am one of those Das lauds as someone who can help integrate India into the global economy. But my loss is real: a mother tongue I can’t call my own.
Parvathy Nair, Mumbai
A couple of entries for the most memorable quote by an Indian. Subhash Chandra Bose who told his ina comrades, "Give me blood and I promise you freedom". And Gandhiji, after the Calcutta riots, tells a penitent Hindu fanatic, "Adopt a child but make sure it’s a Musalmaan."
Subir Das, Pune
