As an Indian teenager, I might seem a rebel of sorts, but your Independence Day Special (Aug 21) made me feel a tad insulted. It’s a sure sign of insecurity to see even Outlook conducting polls in other countries (54% say India is...) to know whether they believe us to be a developed economy or not, a "strong" nation or not, etc. Why is it so hard to believe that we are developing in so many spheres, that we are a strong global force? Why do we need "reassurance"? And wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to conduct a poll in our own country so as to get the regular working Indian’s point of view. At the end of the day, it is us, the people of this sovereign, socialist, democratic republic that make this nation whatever it is—not the people of New York, London, or Beijing. Indians should be proud to be who they are, and not so seemingly desperate to be ‘accepted’. Especially by nations which use strong adjectives to describe themselves in the most positive light despite what actually goes on in their own backyards.
Nupur Parik, on e-mail
Unlike many others who painted a gloomy picture, Outlook reflected a positive mood in its freedom special . For, on the eve of our 59th Independence Day, we see that our strengths are many and we have reason to rejoice. Who would have thought, after integrating over 600 princely states into one nation-state, we would still be in one piece. And that too, as the largest working democracy with the best election system. Then there’s our free and dynamic press, our being an IT giant. I leave the best for last—our armed forces, still one of the best in the world. India will be what it thinks. The 21st century belongs to us.
Col R.D. Singh, Jammu
Bill Gates’ article was most heartwarming. Gates has, even if indirectly, opened the gates for many in India, to walk out from a life of poverty and mediocre living. The farmers of Maharashtra, the women in India’s interior villages, and the talented youth of India will vouch for this. The Imagine Cup he has floated to unearth technology and talent speaks of his vision even in philanthropy.
Duke Jeyaraj, Hyderabad
Great piece by Gates. As the guru put it, IT will really be India’s shining diamond. But one area we’re lagging in is net connectivity and user hours.
Deepak Dalal, Sikkim
The Outlook poll made strange reading. Such an exercise could only have taken place in a country whose people and powers-that-be are totally ignorant of India or its problems and prospects. But one reality strikes full and bright—the poor marketing by our political, cultural and business ambassadors. China scores over us in many aspects due to its ability to sell without looking for any favours. If we build up our military and N-power rather than gloat on "our culture", the West will duly change its views. Sadly, India’s caste-based polity won’t ever let this happen.
H. Rajagopal, Mysore
We most certainly don’t need certificates from the West. If tomorrow some mover or shaker in the West were to state ‘ex-cathedra’ that Yoga, currently the flavour of the month in the West, was invented by Ben Franklin and perfected by Tom Paine, would we tamely go along? Let the West keep its opinions to itself and refrain from foisting them on us.
Ranjith Thomas, Calcutta
One thing that baffled me in the poll was the horizontal bargraphs. I didn’t expect to see the Ashok Chakra, but the order of the tricolour was reversed! What’s going on?
Deepthi M. Rao, Chennai
To acquire superpower status (The Mirror Asking), we need to look at America again. Irrespective of what the world thinks of it, it sees itself as a saviour of mankind. Though not in the same corrupt manner, we Indians do need to see ourselves as leading the nation, not as a country that quietly lets outsiders bleed her to death, not as a soft state but as a nation that has the power to outshine the best, and turn its worst enemies into its greatest allies.
A. Bhuvan, Bhubaneshwar
Amartya Sen need not worry (‘Hope India now doesn’t get too hung up on cultivating power to feel for the other side’). Poverty will continue to haunt India for decades to come. Even otherwise, if there’s no poverty in the country, it should be invented by all means. This will ensure that Sen and fellow communists can wax eloquent about the plight of the poor and make a small fortune in the process.
S. Pillamarri, Vijayawada
India’s trade ties with Rome are much older than Italian premier Romano Prodi recounts in his interview (‘I bet many times India would take off. It has’). Indian ships loaded with spices and textiles used to anchor on the ports of Italy. As for Giuseppe Mazzini and Garibaldi casting their influence on our national leaders like Gandhi and Nehru during the freedom struggle, Nehru in his autobiography gives an interesting recollection of how he was influenced by Garibaldi during his early student days. We eagerly await Prodi’s arrival in India February next year.
H.N. Sinha, New Delhi
Excellent responses from the Italian premier. We hope to hear more from him in future.
N.M. Allahbaksh, New York
The photo showing Indira dining with her sons and Sonia at her 1, Safdarjung Road residence carries a wrong date. It isn’t November 6, 1980, as Sanjay died on June 23 that year. Maneka’s absence in the picture suggests it was taken before Sanjay’s marriage in 1974.
Rajiv Chacko, Bangalore
Editor’s note: We regret the error.
Dominique Lapierre is more Indian than most of us Indians (‘Ok Tata’ Truckland). Typically, he is repaying the love he got during his many visits to India. Lapierre has correctly diagnosed lack of education as the bane of our country. I salute him and many of his ilk who serve by way of sharing.
V.N. Gautam, Delhi
Dominique, what a Himalayan inferiority complex you are giving us!
Anil N., on e-mail
The likes of Lapierre are sick, legitimising and even aestheticising the gross inequalities and exploitation in our society.
Sundari, Chennai
Ayaz Amir is right (Wah Janab, Couplets Again?) that the usual reaction of Indians and Pakistanis to the other’s pet issues is to shrug and go on. More such shrugs would be better but since this wouldn’t solve the problem of people being blown up on India’s streets, here’s a solution. India divides j&k into four parts, Ladakh, Jammu, Panun Kashmir (north of Jhelum), and Kashmir Valley. Pakistan isolates its division of PoK into Azad Kashmir (Sunni areas) and Northern Areas (Shia Gilgit-Baltistan). We have a transfer of Sunni and Shia minority populations between Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. Likewise, a transfer of Hindu/ Shia and Sunni populations between Kashmir Valley and Panun Kashmir. Finally, we exchange Kashmir Valley for Northern Areas. Pakistan gets its ‘K’ and India gets peace with no loss of territory. Sunni Kashmiris enter their promised land. Then all of us give each other a shrug and instal an automated gate at Wagah. Once the stamping of feet stops, the couplets and candles too will die out.
Ashish K., Cambridge, US
Most Indians do wish Pakistan well. We’d like to see them prosper, check out their eateries on the Mall Road in Lahore etc. But we can’t avoid the lumbering elephant in the room; all said and done, criminals of international pedigree still find refuge in Pakistan.
A.K., on e-mail
I don’t miss Ayaz Amir at the Dawn every Friday. He was in the army before he dropped the rifle to take up the pen. He knows the isi well too. He also knows how well it’s infiltrated India in an effort to make India bleed. So when we raise the accusing finger, what else can he offer than calumnies? He’s certainly not going to come clean. And he likens India to Israel. We face so much trouble from one front. Imagine Israel, facing it from all sides!
T. Sathyamurthi, Folsom, US
It’s surprising to see that an Indologist like Christophe Jaffrelot (India at Puberty) could not connect the dots. First, the rise of Hindu fundamentalism and the "plebians" are not independent events. It was Kamandal against Mandal. Secondly, on what basis does he conclude that the upper middle-class no longer influences politics? The strings of at least two major parties, the bjp and Congress, are controlled by upper class manipulators with no political base.
R. J. Chandra, Phoenix, US
One thought that equating secularism with an anti-Hindu viewpoint was the convenient stand only of the perfidious political dynasties of India. It’s rather surprising that the same definition is found in a French Indologist’s writing also. The world’s indeed become flat.
V. Seshadri, Chennai
The middle classes cannot be blamed too much. Everywhere in the world, be it liberal democracies or illiberal dictatorships, the middle classes hardly get involved in politics or other issues. They are insular and selfish. On an idealist scale, this is not for the best. Still, there has to be a class which is willing to work hard, pay taxes, and provide social and economic stability. If you don’t bother them much, they’ll be content to get on with their lives, buy whatever they want and make occasional noises in the media.
Akhil, Chicago, US
Excuse me, Mr Jaffrelot, but how many nam nations were/ are democracies? So, in intent, you are for democracy or nam; you cannot be for both of them. But then, how can a mere mortal like me ask such stupid questions to an ‘eminent’ historian like yourself! Hypocrisy, the name of secu-lib intellectuals!
Gopi Maliwal, Hong Kong
Evangelism of the sort noticed in Paul Brass’ piece is rather too strong to digest (Nirvana Is Tomorrow). Religious intolerance is not a malady peculiar to this country alone. Ethnic exclusiveness has been the hallmark of the country he represents. True, India has not been able to overcome many ills but it’s not always due to the insensitivity of the majority Hindus.
G.R. Saha, Calcutta
Brass’ is another flower in the string of anti-India garland Outlook has gifted its readers in the name of Independence Day special. Illogical conspiracy theories in the garb of analysis from so-called experts. Finally, Prem Shankar Jha has got some real competition.
Narayan, Zurich
I agree with Brass. There is no real democracy, as he says, in pseudo-democracies like India and the US. These countries have failed—in fact the real democracies are Iran and Syria.
Anil Narlikar, Pune
In his piece How The West Was Not Won, Edward Luce notes that the US heeds only those events in the rest of the world which are directly related to its current domestic agenda. That is true for all countries. If a top leader of Somalia or Zaire visits India, he or she will have to find a taxi from the airport to meet the PM. How many people really cared when the Saudi Arabian king visited India? Most Indians don’t care even when the dignitary is from Russia or China. Bush or Clinton receives more attention as a lot more people know them.
V.R. Ganesan, New Jersey
Mark Juergensmeyer (Mohandas, In Modern Times) is wrong in advocating that a Gandhian approach of moderate discussion-based solution to terrorism is likely to be more successful than use of military power. It would send wrong signals to terrorists that their ideals and approach are recognised and employable. It would encourage them, leading them to think that force won’t be used against them. Terrorism is a criminal activity of great magnitude and wide reach, warranting constant check via powerful, tactful use of force.
K. Sethumadhavan, Delhi
Gandhiji’s greatness was in making his very life an open experiment—and that, with truth! The flip side was that he was, in effect, experimenting with a nation.
Bharath Desam, Detroit
No offense to the Mahatma, but I think we would have got freedom sooner had we not wasted time with non-violence.
S. Aravind, Rochester, US
Clovis Maksoud is right (HQ, South) in citing that it wasn’t ideology but his mistrust towards both blocs that prompted Pt Nehru to float nam. Ideally, we should have been pro-US right from the start.
Akshay, Hyderabad
Good piece, except that the writer overlooked Pakistani influence on the Arab League.
J.S. Thomas, Aberystwyth, UK
‘Indian’ cuisine (No Dash of Masala) has had a trajectory similar to Bollywood’s: formulaic, uninspired, thoroughly North-Westernised. As a half-Bengali, half-Rajasthani gourmand, I too have felt repulsed by this "sameness". Practically every non-veg wet dish is a minor permutation of chicken, lamb soaked in too much tomato and cream. Why haven’t the light jhols of our kitchens made it to the menus? Let’s put it this way...no Indian eatery I’ve ever been to has anything compared to the food I’ve had at Hindu ashrams in Orissa and West Bengal: light, unsalted, no spices, unbelievably diverse...they make the celebrated Greenwich village veggie fare seem bland and heavy.
Suraj Dutt, New York, US
The callous reference to an ‘illiterate’ sliding his hand into the tandoor is quite indicative of the snobbery one faces right at the entrance of these maharaja-class Indian restaurants. As the story suggests, the food is no saviour either.
S. Ashok, Pennsylvania, US
Has the author tried to fund an innovation? I doubt it, because most Indian entrepreneurs are stingy. She could have tied up with a technical institute, provided inputs that could have made the life of someone working on a tandoor easier. It’s easy to blame others.
R. Raj, on e-mail
There’s a wrong figure in Last Statistic: 127th in 177. The official defence expenditure in 2005-06 was Rs 83,000 crore. Defence pensions, if added, raises it to Rs 95,000 crore, which is nearly double the figure mentioned.
Pavan Nair, Pune
"I’ll take you to the largest diamond store" from a taxi driver in Durban hits the nail on the head, Mr Mehta (Independence Day Diary). It’s great to see the change in perception over the years. We deserve this for all the great work that’s taken place since we were left high and dry by the fleeing goras. To remember Iqbal’s verse, translated thus: "Don’t be afraid of the breeze that blows against you, O’ Falcon/This breeze runs, but to take you further up."
Arif Jameel, Dubai
Outlook’s pulled off a coup of sorts on all others with this special. Still, it would have been nice to have a few of our own experts.
Sivakumar, Chennai
Dear Mr Mehta, we’ve had enough of the Natwar nautanki. Please don’t waste any more space on him.
B.K. Chowla, Delhi
Your recent cover on obesity (Oh!, Aug 14) rightly points out that poor eating habits start early, when infants are offered an extra bottle for comfort. But why are middle-class Indians so stuck on bottle-feeding babies anyway? Studies over the last 30 years have shown that breastfed babies are less likely to have problems with obesity, hypertension, allergies and certain forms of diabetes. Since having twins a few months ago, I’ve been shocked at how breastfeeding is regarded as unnecessary or even odd by everyone, from fellow parents to health professionals. This, when the who advocates mothers breastfeed till a child is two! Clearly, the roots of obesity and related ills go a lot deeper than the contents of a child’s tiffin, or the extra gulab jamun. Assumptions about nourishment, food and nutrition have to change at the level of mothers and children if we are to survive the obesity epidemic.
Kiran Purohit, Mumbai
