In his essay Shh...It’s a Free Country (Mar 27), Sunil Menon asks, "Are we afraid of our democracy?" It is more that our delusions of grandeur about our democracy are way ahead of the reality of it. We have bought our own PR hook, line and sinker. Others have realised that pats on our back about this soothes our fragile egos—we then do what the ‘master’ asks. For sure, our democracy has matured to the level that voting happens, it’s free and fair by and large (ie, the EC works) and governments change without a lot of trauma. But this is elementary stuff, the easy part as it is more about ritual (of which we have a long history of being great at). The next levels of democracy—rule of law, justice and a liberal people—is where the going gets tough. As a culture, hierarchy is deep-rooted; even today we create more divisions (then claim "unity in diversity"). We don’t really believe all men are created equal. And that all deserve the same opportunities we expect for ourselves. This is the breaker in the road ahead.
Arun Maheshwari, Bangalore
Well said, Mr Menon, but I’m going to hold you to your words. I hope you’re as understanding and indulgent when the "other fringe" mobilises likewise. And, I hope that after reading the last sentence, you also recognise the folly of encouraging the "fringe", on either side of the political fence.
Neeraj Garg, Austin, US
Beautiful! The essay eloquently deplores the secular Left’s discomfiture with Muslim protests against George Bush. But Menon doesn’t quite state why the secularist is uncomfortable with the political Muslim. A religious Muslim sees the Quran as a final authority, and the rss types say that is proof enough of his disloyalty to the Indian state (the Quran’s word being more important than the Indian Constitution’s). By that yardstick, the Hindutva pracharak’s loyalty is equally suspect: he wants a Hindu rashtra, so why would he believe in a secular Constitution? Muslims say Islam calls upon them to be compassionate towards Muslims everywhere in the world, which explains the protests against the US theory of ‘benevolent invasions’. For the rss-wallah, this is proof of a conflict of loyalties. And this causes the Indian secularist’s discomfiture with such protest. But, doesn’t the Indian Hindu too get worked up about the plight of Hindus in Pakistan or Bangladesh? Doesn’t ‘Vishwa’ in Vishwa Hindu Parishad mean ‘world’?
Shivam Vij, Delhi
Is the author legitimising political Islam which vivisected our motherland 60 years ago?
Anindya Chatterjee, Dubai
Indian Muslims are in an unenviable position. They’re opposed to anything Bush does, the ‘Illegal’ Iraq takeover, the Iran brouhaha. But they remained neutral about the India-US N-deal. It’s high time they developed a concrete view, else this opinion-ostracising will continue. Saffron and green extremists will take advantage of this neutrality to divide the Muslims and mainstream further.
Omkar Patki, Mumbai
It’s indeed our fundamental right to call for "death to devil Bush", to eulogise bin Laden, to force bandhs to prove a point. And if someone refuses to comply, to resort to rioting and killing. It is India which is at fault...the only thing it has done for Muslims is to ask them to "stick to the circus or cricket". The fact that we have a Muslim First Citizen is, of course, an aberration. What we should be doing is granting Muslims reservations, creating exclusive units in the armed forces and granting citizenship to all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Then, hopefully, we might be en route to creating a free country.
Vikram Singh Chauhan, Jabalpur
The problem with these leftwingers is that to give a veneer of intellectualism to their bigotry, they dump verbiage on you instead of simple, straightforward argument (if there is any). Why meander in every which direction your bile takes you to? It shows a problem with editing at Outlook as well. Looks like anyone with the "right" opinion gets published as long as he doles out cute-looking prose. Logic, conciseness, clarity of thought be damned.
Rajesh S. San Francisco, US
This turgid and vacuous stuff belongs more in some theoretical journal of the Communists than in Outlook. It reminds me of Justice Krishna Iyer, who is a past master at this kind of ominous but ultimately meaningless prose.
Nalini Vinjamuri, Chicago
With his literary feat, the only thing the author could convince me of is he is of the cult that preaches saintly virtues to Hindus.
Vinod Phadke, Tiptur
Are we afraid of our democracy, we’re asked. No, I think we’re more afraid of a second Partition, of jawans killed in Kashmir, of bomb blasts in Delhi, Mumbai, Benares or Ahmedabad.
Raveesh Varma, Michigan, US
In the last few days, newspapers all over have been talking about the sad plight of Abdul Rahman from Afghanistan who may get the gallows for converting to Christianity. The Indian government lodged an official protest with their Danish counterparts because a paper there published caricatures of the Prophet. But it has lodged no protest with the Afghan government about this gross violation of religious and human freedom.
Bipul Baibhav, Memphis, US
Shh...it is a secular country, don’t question the Muslims? On the one hand, the article says it is a free country; on the other questions a person’s right to question why Muslim leaders hold rallies to protest atrocities only against Muslims all over the world. Don’t I have the right to ask the Muslim leadership where all the protest rallies were against the attack at Varanasi or Akshardham? No, that would be Hindu fundamentalism. By allowing religion to be the basis for public platform, we are creating a monster here. I have protested the Hindu fundamentalist on it and I’ll protest equally against Muslims doing the same.
Sudhir Sharma, Barnala
The fact remains that these were not humanitarian but Muslim protests with Islamic solidarity their main theme. The fact that Muslims can’t whip up such passion when Hindus are being cleansed in Kashmir or other such atrocities shows that a large number here put Islam before India.
Kiran, Hyderabad
Will Sunil Menon, and all those who share his views, support the rath yatras of the bjp for what happened at Delhi, Varanasi etc, which caused more harm than the cartoons published in faraway Denmark?
E. Raveendra, on e-mail
I wonder what Menon’s real purpose was in writing this piece.To show how smart he is? Boy, I’ve never read anything so convoluted. From the number of subordinate clauses he has used, looks like he is a Communist ‘intellectual’! That’s the way they write whichever part of the world they’re from! It’s a shame, though. There just might be an insightful commentator trapped beneath the mountain of words and ideas.
Radhanath Varadan, Hanoi, Vietnam
By the same token, do the bjp, vhp et al too have a right to protest jehadi killings without liberals frothing at their secular mouths?
Gopi Maliwal, Hong Kong
How do you call the Jamait cadre plain-vanilla ‘Muslim’?
Narsing Gowd, Secunderabad
Many a committee has come and gone since the days of the Indian Police Act, 1861, without much impact on the police force (Culture the Khaki, Mar 27). A semi-literate police constabulary with a 24-hour duty structure and drawing a meagre salary hardly encourages a mindset to attend lectures on human rights or discourses on the art of feeling proud of their jobs. Only an enhanced educational standard at the entry level and an improved compensation package would keep them motivated and give them the prudence and strength to withstand pressures from criminals and politicians.
K.J. John, Baroda
Why is it that the task of system overhaul always goes to the influential and high-profile? It might be worthwhile to involve university teachers and students. They know the other side of the system, having worked on it, interacted with it, without being part of it. For instance, there are volumes of papers related to the Police Commission of 1861 that include interviews of commoners and others. Each volume has more than 1,200 pages. Present-day reformers could take a cue from these laborious efforts of the colonialists, which, though done for different motives, remain praiseworthy in the attempt to make commoners think and speak about their system. Back in the present, we need to focus on the very procedure of entry into the police. The competitive exams conducted by the upsc and the ppscs are flawed. Especially the prelims, which are intent more on reducing the number of candidates than on judging knowledge on a subject, leaving selection to chance. As for state recruitments, those who get in by giving bribes later have no qualms taking bribes. There is a need to rethink the entire culture of police, from entry, training, field experience to expectations from the job and more. Who’s training? What’s being taught? Are fresh ideas in social research included? Or are a few old men perpetuating a feudal system of policing?
Jagjit S. Sandhu, on e-mail
The Benarasi Weave (Mar 27). Great story and the way things should be. Indeed, ‘Every one is responsible for his/her deeds himself’. Like Osama bin Laden is not every Muslim’s uncle, similarly people in the bjp or vhp are not the thekedars of the Hindus.
Ambuj, St Petersburg, US
Being witness to the frightening and spine-chilling times after the Mumbai blasts myself, I feel norms have to be fixed for political reactions and on standards of procedures to be followed by the administration, including controlling or otherwise of assembly of people to stage protests or to show solidarity after such strikes (A Time Bomb in Eternal City, Mar 20). The message that the hatred and planned assaults are to be nipped in the bud should be loud and clear to all authorities concerned. God forbid anybody from seeing Gujarat or the time I walked the less than a km stretch of the Liberty Garden Road in Malad (West) with my heart in my mouth.
Himendu Roy, Hyderabad
In a report many years back, (late) Justice A.N. Mulla had described the police force as an "organised gang of dacoits" (Culture the Khaki, Mar 27). A number of committees and commissions hence stressed the need to discipline and humanise the force. Yet, nothing changed and Justice Mulla’s words have been vindicated by many an instance of police (mis)deed throughout the country. It’s a sad comment that the common man today considers the police more criminal- than citizen-friendly. As for the Delhi Police aka Dheeli (slack) Police motto—"With you, for you, always"—one wonders whether it is addressed to ordinary citizens or those with money power!
P.K. Srivastava, on e-mail
Prem Shankar Jha has a few facts wrong in Milosevic’s Last Laugh (Mar 27). Milosevic was accused on 60 counts of war crimes, which is why his trial took so long. And before dubbing the International Criminal Tribunal of Yugoslavia as all-American, he should recheck the names of all the judges at the icty as well as the lawyers both in the prosecution and defence. He will discover that they are a mixture of both the common and civil law tradition. The chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is an Italian!
Divya Prasad, Sarajevo
I was shocked to see your headline The Sins of Somnath, Reversed (Making a Difference, Mar 27). The sacrilege at Somnath was not committed by Indian Muslims, it was the foreign invader who did so. How then does the onus of erasing that responsibility devolve on an Indian Muslim or on all Indian Muslims?
M.R. Kidwai, New Delhi
It was heartening to read the selfless work Yeasin Pathan is doing. As a reader suggested, Outlook should enable online contributions for those who figure in this feature. I, for a start, intend to get in touch with Pathan on e-mail and offer him some help.
Azza Alikhan, Santa Clara, US
Apropos Where’s My Naukri? (Mar 27), I have a simple solution for filling vacancies in reserved categories. Just ask all unemployed sc/st voters to get their voter IDs, put them in a barrel, pick a job vacancy and ask Mr Udit Raj to pick a card from the barrel. Voila, a vacancy is filled. This will cost a lot less money and can be spent on some general category candidate who’ll do the job.
Anurag Banerjee, Eastleigh, UK
Khushwant Singh’s review of Yashodhara Dalmia’s book on Amrita Sher-Gil (Hamari Amrita, Mar 27) is a series of sexist free associations that reveal nothing about the book except that he hasn’t read it. Hey, we want to know about the book and not what it feels like to be suffering from male post-post-menopausal angst.
Shobini Ghosh, New Delhi
Was it necessary to include the name of Nand Khemka in a box on possible fakes in Osian auctions (White Shadows, Mar 20)?
Neeraja Poddar, Calcutta
Indians are surely coming of age as far as fashion is concerned with designers doing their bit in every possible way (Pretty Picture, Mar 27). No wonder we see a multi-hued impact: on K-serials, Indian idols and scores of local heroes who have fuelled a mad race to look and feel better. It’s good that all this is boiling down to better performance and more confident workforce.
Jinu Mathew, on e-mail
The glitter apart, the Indian fashion industry is as far removed from the average Indian as the moon perhaps. The recommendations of the "high-powered" jury notwithstanding. Manish Arora’s clothes are not what any sane Indian would choose to wear. Also, his designs are loud and crass. To put it in a nutshell, in exceedingly bad taste.
Shahnaz Mansingh, on e-mail
Apropos Clotheshorse Stakes, now that you have the same man showing off another of his "creations" on the cover as in ’03, I have a repeat question to ask you: Who wears these?
Ameet Bhuvan, Bhubaneshwar
The Indian fashion industry has made a significant impression on the national and global mindscape. Till a few years ago, Indian designers were busy making dresses that looked largely western, hugely expensive and often fit to be worn only on the ramp. It’s heartening they are now concentrating on Indian outfits like sarees and lehengas, using Indian material, colours and embroidery and, what’s more, at more affordable prices. The designers have found a good market at home yet, sadly, a chunk of them are catering only to the P3Ps.
Sanjay Kapoor, on e-mail
It would have been meaningful had you highlighted the industry’s real heroes: designers who reach out to the masses. Not those whose products just tickle the audiences at shows.
Anita Pai, on e-mail
Agreed that the fashion industry is booming like never before, and many designers are gaining excellence in craft, but can they enter the world market and make a similar impact? I feel it’s possible, though we’ll have to see if the Indian touch isn’t missing. It would be exciting to see how they blend the national taste with a global flavour.
Sameer Ahmad Hashmi, Bangalore
How Sonia Gandhi looks elegant (The Ooh!... And The Ugh!) nullifies your nine-page story on prohibitive designer outfits.
Rama Saxena, New Delhi
If scanty clothing is the yardstick, the biggest fashion show is staged by Naga sadhus at the Kumbh Mela.
Rajneesh Batra, New Delhi
In your review of our restaurant—6, Ballygunge Place, Bangalore (Fine Living, Apr 3)—you mention the average price of a meal for two as Rs 3,000, which is wrong. The error will put off a lot of our potential customers. An average meal for two at our restaurant is Rs 700 plus taxes.
S. Ramani, on e-mail
An erratic phone connection caused us to mishear the price. We regret the error.
Apropos the quiz we published in our Jan 9 issue, the correct answer to the first question should be Paul Volcker, not Peter Drucker. The error is regretted.