It’s not surprising that iim-A, B and C still rule the roost among the best business schools in India (The New Badshahs, Sep 18). Agreed, these premier institutions produce great team workers for big companies and mncs. But when it comes to spawning new business and generating employment, the same B-school graduates score a big zero! Our renowned B-schools impart leadership qualities, interpersonal skills, deft oration and excellent manners to their wards, but never teach them street-smartness—something that the non-mba businessmen have in abundance. Taking risks is alien to the B-school alumni. Selfishness and being cautious is a life-long mantra they learn to live with.
K. Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
An eye-opener of an issue. But sad no one talks much about the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta (ranked 12th by you in a category), which is the oldest management school in the country. Its alumni include L.N. Mittal and the late Sumantro Ghoshal. It continues to churn out quality managers despite red-tapism and constraints of space and funds.
Dr Jinu Mathew, on e-mail
Your special issue carried too many advertisements on B-schools. Worse, many of them looked part of the story.
Abhay Verma, New Delhi
So you thought we readers are dumb not to differentiate between an ad and an article? Sad that Outlook too is plunging to low moral standards.
Srinivas, Lucknow
Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (sjmsom) was misspelt thrice as SJSOM. Only once was it spelt rightly.
Prof N.L. Sarda, SJMSoM, iit Bombay
Apropos Ashis Nandy’s piece The Other 9/11 (Sep 18), the way America is now isn’t how it was five years ago—the 9/11 terrorist attacks irrevocably changed everything. They were a tragic watershed which turned American Muslims from ordinary citizens into objects of suspicion and discrimination overnight. Not only the Muslims but their faith itself came under fear-fuelled attacks. For Muslims, the Bush administration’s "global war on terror" has become a euphemism for racial profiling at airports and borders, monitoring of mosques, closing down of charities, fbi moles in their community, sting operations, high-profile arrests on terrorism charges seldom proved in a court of law, and discrimination and harassment by law enforcement agencies.
Nasreen Shaikh, Nagpur
Ashis Nandy’s writing is so academic and theoretical that it is impossible to wade through it. Perhaps only an Indian can write this kind of verbose nonsense just for the heck of it. This is what made some idiots in the West think we were other-wordly.
S. Pillalamarri, Vijayawada
Apropos We the Staple (Sep 18), here’s the link: 90 lakh households will eventually pay M. Karunanidhi’s nephew Rs 100 a month for cable. Of course, the money is still peanuts compared to the kind of moolah Jayalalitha made.
Parthasarathy, Chennai
Indians as it is aren’t a very active lot. By distributing free TVs, the dmk will breed more couch potatoes, making them obese and, who knows, even diabetic. Rather than give them a passport to disease, the honourable CM could perhaps next time provide something for their general well-being, and provide good gardens, playgrounds or libraries.
Gajanan, Sydney
There were no politicians in the elections at my engineering college in India, but even selections to the hostel mess committee became a licence for free meals and a chance to grab the food money of other students. It’s amazing how in India, everyone in politics, student or otherwise, comes to abuse their authority. Do universities need politics to the extent it exists (Buds of Venom, Sep 18)? No democratic country has education politicised as much as it is in India. Colleges in India are considered the first learning ground for politics, hence the emphasis on student politics. But there is unionisation and politicisation in every aspect of life in India, be it jobs, business, or even management of religious institutions. Why waste student years on unnecessary, counter-productive politics?
Kunal Mangal, Denver, US
Goondaism and coercive practices are a way of life in India. Even Parliament is not immune to it, why expect college unions be any different? The sad fact is that Indians are an infantile, indisciplined, tantrum-throwing, violence-prone lot, for whom decorum and civility are alien concepts.
B. Ramdeo, Springfield, US
Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar’s daughter, said on the eve of filing her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha she was deeply interested in education, health and social issues (Heirloom Spindles, Sep 18). This from a person who declared assets worth Rs 42 crore, the bulk in foreign banks and as shares in foreign companies. The Pawars do not belong to any princely clan, nor are they known for any extraordinary business acumen to account for this kind of big money. Black converted to white via the farm conduit? Maybe there is more to Telgi naming Pawar among the beneficiaries during his narcoanalysis, which you do not even mention.
M.A. Raipet, Secunderabad
One expects someone like Prem Shankar Jha to know the basic tenets of Islam, yet he betrays his ignorance when in his column The M/Other Tongue (Sep 18) he asks what lines in the song offend Islam. The first pillar of Islam is La-ilaha-illallah, Muhammadur-Rasoolallah (no one is worth worshipping except almighty Allah, and Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah). By letter, a Muslim ceases to be a Muslim once he has distorted this to include anyone else in his/her worship. The plot of Anand Math is anti-Muslim and Vande Mataram is part of it. Even then my faith teaches me to respect other’s religions and tolerate such attacks.
Saba T. Akhtar, Patna
Indian Muslims are not averse to the idea of singing Vande Mataram because it’s in Sanskrit. And it’s not the first stanza but the third, which talks of worshipping Durga and Lakshmi, that they’re against. Being a Muslim, I don’t think singing Vande Mataram will make me any less ‘Muslim’. Yet I would not like to be forced to illustrate my patriotism. And I can’t associate with the song the way Jha can, though I do have sweet memories of childhood when it would play every morning on DD. I’d still prefer it that way rather than a symbol of forced jingoism.
Rabea Khan, Delhi
Once again, Sikhism is hinted to be a part of Hinduism. It can only invite more scepticism.
A. Pukhraj, East Lansing, US
I think Prem Shankar Jha hits bull’s eye when he says "The dismal truth is that six decades after Independence, India is more divided than it was in 1947. We have only ourselves to blame."
Deepak J., Bangalore
Apropos Gandhi, A Second Coming (Sep 11), the singlemost important reason for the waning relevance of Gandhi and his philosophy has been the betrayal by Gandhi cap-wearing politicians. They have come to epitomise all that is corrupt and hypocritical. They have quietly filled their coffers while sanctimoniously spouting forth tenets Bapu espoused, making a mockery of all that he stood for. While the real freedom fighters who subscribed to Bapu’s policy of self-effacement stayed in the shadows, hundreds of others reaped benefits far exceeding their contribution, with lucrative jobs for them and their progeny, free housing and rail travel. Charkha and khadi too are today seen as symbols of a freedom struggle most have not seen or been affected by. The Khadi Gramodyog industry has outlived its usefulness. Its ubiquitous ‘ashrams’, often occupying prime real estate, are antiquated, overstaffed and overstocked with merchandise hardly anyone buys anymore. While today more than ever we have the need to re-espouse Gandhian values, it makes sense to jettison what is a huge drain and has no relevance in today’s times. Bapu would have approved.
Shahnaz Mansingh, on e-mail
Your cover showing a young Gandhi, well-attired in western clothes, rightfully portrays him as a ‘human’ being, who made some tough choices in life. Till today, he is the only leader who appeals to us for the way he blended philosophy and praxis. Can we imagine ‘a nationwide non-cooperation movement by non-violent means’ today, when even a one-day bandh in a city or part of a state can’t be enforced without deploying goons.
Dileep Dixit, Itanagar
As a person nearing 94, I find the article on new Gandhians interesting but unduly optimistic. It reminds me of the youth unrest of 1968 which also inspired JP’s movement, but we all know the results.
V. Tandon, Allahabad
Let’s learn to put a movie into the league it belongs to. Lage Raho is a fun film, better made than most Bollywood fare (Carry on Mahatma, Sep 18). But if at all we respect the man, let’s mature as an audience and appreciate cinema like Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara. And if we have to understand his personality, there is no better work than Richard Attenborough’s multiple academy award-winning Gandhi.
Vijayender, Bangalore
Don’t be naive, Mr "former editor of Debonair". Infidelity is very much alive and kicking, whatever you might say in your Delhi Diary (Sep 11). It’s just that the practitioners of the art have become deft enough to escape the probing eyes of the neighbour and the voyeuristic media, though not always. I do agree, however, that the middle classes by and large are too insular and tradition-bound to fearlessly navigate the choppy waters of adultery. But flourish the vice will as long as the legend of our divine master adulterer lives on in our mythology. Hats off to the polygamists for adding a bit of sparkle, sauce and spice to their lives, which we monotonous monogamists can only grudge.
S.C. Sharma, Palampur, HP
In the story Exported Martyrdom (Sep 25) on Indian soldiers fighting on the Belgian front in World War I, the strapline inadvertently mentioned Hitler. We regret the error.
