Women taking to liquor isn’t something new in the history of humankind, only they perhaps have new reasons to drink in today’s world (Swiggin’ Janes, Jun 2). The distaff side in urban families is increasingly reeling under work pressure in office, living as they are in an era of equal opportunities. I feel the dangers women who drink face can be contained to a good degree if much of the drinking happens at home—amid the company of elders and children.
Ramachandran Nair, Ruwi, Oman
Earlier, it was wine, women and song—and males presiding over it. Now, men are becoming mere ‘extras’ in such scenes of merriment. Middle-class morality has eroded to appalling levels, crass materialism has taken over. And the girls don’t mind, either. In fact, they’d shout back if anyone objects.
A.S. Raj, on e-mail
There’s no denying that women are overtaking men in various walks of life—and drinking is one. And, what men do, women overdo. There was a time not so long ago when women pleaded with men not to binge-drink, now it’s the reverse.
Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
True, if taken in excess and without sufficient gap, drinks can really harm women. How much is safe is for each one to fix. That said, why does no one point out whether there is any such ‘ideal limit’ for men.
Deepu Paul, Pune
You may have documented the ills of alcohol but, overall, the effort tends to subconsciously glorify the rising use of drinking among middle-class Indian women. Age-old values are giving way to deplorable practices in the name of wealth and attendant status. It’s high time the media realised this is a deadly trend capable of destroying the moral fibre and happiness of not just a class of our population but society at large.
Dr Vittul K. Gupta, Bhatinda
Of all people, I think it’s teetotalling women who would be hurt most by this trend of alcoholism among females.
K.S. Thampi, Chennai
I agree there may be situations where you may be forced to drink on a particular day. But sipping alcohol just to escape the label of being a ‘moralistic tightass’ or to earn approval from others is foolishness. Imagine having aids is suddenly all the rage. You walk into a party and someone says, "What? You don’t have aids! Such a party-pooper!" What will you do? Will you tell yourself, "Ok, I’ve to do something to get aids"? Or, be grateful that you don’t have it, and walk away? Come on, since when did we start feeling others’ approval is more important than our own joy?
Meenu S., Thiruvananthapuram
Secure equal rights, or at least 33 per cent seats in Parliament. That can possibly ensure women’s liberation. Not drinking.
Col R.D. Singh, Leh
The first wave of women taking to drinks in India happened with the invasion of imperialist forces. Now, it’s mncs that are triggering a second round. Either way, it’s a western import.
Mahesh K. Dadrwal, Jaipur
How exactly do the effects of alcoholism differ among men and women? Maybe Outlook can now do a sequel to this.
R.S., on e-mail
Our conservationists are, shall we say, too conservative? Is it not laughable, what they say in your story on relocating Asiatic lions from Gir to Madhya Pradesh (Gujarat’s Pride, Jun 2). Political borders, naturally, exist solely for humans; how can animals of the wild be held hostage to our territorial markings? Anyway, the move to rewild captive-bred lions is a very progressive step.
Avinandan D., Bangalore
It’s sad a few black sheep have brought disgrace to an otherwise well-disciplined force like the Indian army (Rotting Olives, Jun 2). But then corruption is a way of life in India—making it hard to dispel even when men are sent abroad for responsible jobs where they also represent their country.
Arun Mehra, Mumbai
Corruption in Indian services is hardly news—our peacekeepers serving in the Congo merely have a more exotic dateline. We have seen officers of the ias, ips, irs and other public servants draining our public coffers for so many years. And there’s nothing anybody could do about it. So our military men posted abroad are carrying on a grand Indian tradition by have been earning similar extra income.
N. Maganti, on e-mail
If we are serious about the problem at hand, we must also take on board certain damning comments made by commanding officers like Kalkat Singh and Karkirat Singh in interviews on the full role of the ipkf in 1987. Amnesty International has a report on the ipkf’s conduct, which describes the way they randomly shelled civilian towns in northern Sri Lanka, using helicopter gunships. What’s the difference between them and the Pakistan army that bombs the Baloch people?
Koman Vijay, Stillwater, US
Arab traveller Al-Beruni had noticed one whole millennium ago that Indians lack a sense of history. It’s hardly surprising that the Admiralty House, one of Chennai’s heritage monuments, is being dismantled to make way for a legislative assembly complex (Cornered Stones, Jun 2). But then there are two elements of cruel irony staring at this particular case. One, it’s the government—and not any real estate mafia—that’s keen to demolish a colonial-era monument that blends in many south Indian architectural features. Two, the chief players in the game are themselves ideologues of the dmk—a party that has taken pride in Dravidian culture.
K.R. Narasimhan, Chennai
The idea of setting up a federal agency to fight terror is good, but that alone isn’t enough (Octopus Reflexes, Jun 2). In the absence of a stringent law, any agency would prove ineffective in tackling terrorism. It is also clear that the Congress-led upa government, for which repealing pota was an achievement of sorts, is hardly likely to do anything towards this end.
Manoj Parashar, Noida
I wonder whether the proposed agency should, after all, be circumscribed by the specific crimes it can handle. It’ll be great if it’s given the power to probe any crime committed across any state borders—with or without help from the local police.
A.N. Banerjee, Newcastle, UK
It’s true the upa’s over-reliance on the Left has not, in the end, served them well (The Book Of Errors, Jun 2). What’s more, the Left would consider the compromises it wrenched out of the Congress, such as temporising over the Indo-US nuclear deal, as a great feat. The Congress was fooled into thinking that it could play the Left against the BJP. The Left, cunningly, has neutralised both the Congress and the BJP. The likes of Jyoti Basu had the last laugh despite his self-admitted ‘historic blunder’.
Narendra M., Hyderabad
For all his wisdom, Prem Shankar Jha needn’t advise the Congress on how to rectify its errors. The people of India will deal with it by ousting the upa in the next elections.
P. Desai Umarsadi, Gujarat
We just can’t afford to make the Congress irrelevant, as it is the only unifying force in Indian politics today. If we still consider all peoples—Dalits, obcs, Brahmins, Muslims, tribals—as Indians, it’s largely due to the sobering influence of the nation’s oldest party and its leadership, and the formal equivalence it bestows on all castes, communities, religions. Even most well-meaning people seem not to realise this.
M. Vijayakumar, Bangalore
The fear of a general election looming around the corner will definitely kill the nuclear deal. The Congress should sign the deal and go for early polls if the Left withdraws support.
Asad A. Khan, Doha, Qatar
It’s extremely sad that the Left still opposes a deal that would give India nuclear power. Won’t it be an antidote to the common man’s worries stemming from soaring oil prices? I think the Congress should go ahead with its move—if that means fresh elections, so be it. At least the party would be respected for putting the interests of the country over that of clinging on to power.
J.N. Bhat, Auckland
The rapid slide of the rupee is a matter of worry for any Indian (Cheapstakes, Jun 2). But not for Surjit S. Bhalla. He is one economist who habitually goes against conventional wisdom. And spouts nonsense in the hope that some of it sticks somewhere, and he gets recognised as a visionary.
Ankush Poddar, Calcutta
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be writing to four lakh kisans across the country, reminding them of how his government has served them (To, The Indian Farmer, Jun 2). But there will be one unpleasant query he may have to field: why, if the economy is growing at 9 per cent, is agriculture languishing so? If our food production was 200 million tonnes in 1996, it’s 217 tonnes in 2008—a rise of merely 17 tonnes in 12 years! Not surprisingly, our wheat productivity is just two tonnes per hectare vis-a-vis China’s five tonnes. It’s time we replaced our agriculture minister with none other than the erudite and clean M.S. Swaminathan.
Robin R. D’Souza, Goa
The Congress is trying a string of steps to please the farmer in its bid to gain political mileage ahead of polls. First, it went for a huge loan waiver in the last budget. Now, it’s wasting taxpayers’ money with huge expenses on publicity.
Atul P. Shukla, Allahabad
Vinod Mehta is right when he says our political parties are adept in passing the buck after terror attacks (Delhi Diary, Jun 2). It’s time we spent a lot more on intelligence gathering and coordinated the various anti-terror agencies better. All the same, some thought must be given to the increasing radicalisation of Muslim youth, and how to check it. It is a major socio-political issue that many of us would rather not talk about.
Ghulam Y. Faruki, New York
Excellent diary. One point needs to be stressed, though. If our investigative and follow-up system can be revamped so as instil fear in the minds of local helps of foreign terrorists, such attacks can be reduced.
K.C. Sharma, Delhi
As for bjp ministers escorting terrorists to Kandahar, I feel a Congress government too would have done the same. It’s only natural for any regime to secure the release of its countrymen.
Abhishek Ranjan, Kharagpur
So the Congress lost two PMs (well, one was an ex-PM) at the hands of terrorists. But they are themselves to blame. Indira Gandhi’s machiavellian tactics fostered Sikh extremism, later her son, Rajiv, engineered a similar misadventure in Sri Lanka, which killed hundreds of our army personnel.
Gopi Maliwal, Hong Kong
VM is right—the nda was soft on terrorism. But the upa was softer; it did away with stringent laws against terrorism.
Pravin D., on e-mail
Post the Parliament attack, the bjp mobilised the army on the border. Has the upa done anything to match that?
Devendra Patel, Ahmedabad
India is neither soft nor hard as a state, it just doesn’t care. The cops are mostly busy with the vips, and in any case their investigative bloopers could fill up a book ten times the size of the Mahabharata.
Arun Maheshwari, Bangalore
I agree with VM: Mario Garcia’s fees for designing a newspaper is on the high side. But it’s worth it. Garcia’s designing of the Wall Street Journal has attracted world attention. His collaboration with over 450 newspapers for the last 30 years is no small achievement.
V. Natarajan, by e-mail
The huge sums spent on hiring foreign designers can instead be used to firm up a team of editorial staffers and on improving infrastructure.
Rupesh Bhandari, Amritsar
Vijay Tendulkar deserved better recognition—in India and abroad (The Tumultuous Prophet, Jun 2). We knew his genre of Marathi theatre was a marvel, but the English-speaking national-cultural ‘mainstream’ couldn’t be bothered less.
S.P. Pandey, on e-mail
For over a year, West Bengal has been getting featured in Outlook only as a manifestation of vices: Nandigram, Singur and cpi(m) atrocities. The June 2 issue carries not one but two stories that cast the Communists in a poor light. As a native of the state, I must say your piece on the cpi(m) throttling ‘rebel’ theatre, Exeunt, is based on quotes by personalities handpicked to match your ideas. Ask luminaries like Kumar Ray, Soumitra Chatterjee, Arun Mukherjee, Sova Sen: they will have a different story to tell. As for the panchayat polls (People’s Party), I agree the cpi(m) has lessons to learn from the results. But it still holds 13 of 17 district councils.
Debaditya Ganguly, Calcutta
I was amused to read your interview with Amitav Ghosh (‘The Ghazipur and...’, May 26). The Ghazipur factory, from its establishment in the late 19th century till the 1950s, actually never ‘manufactured’ opium. It only facilitated collection of poppy resin from various centres—under government supervision. The resin then used to be sun-dried in open containers, cut into small pancakes and sent to shops and pharma firms. That said, Amitav is right: the British hugely profited from the venture.
V. Natarajan, on e-mail
Your Bollywood special (May 19) did not so much as mention the name of the industry’s first artiste who enjoyed star value: actress-singer Suraiya. In the 1940s, when she wasn’t even 20, Suraiya defied the contract-borne slavery of the big producers and studios, and began to freelance. When Nargis and Dilip Kumar got around Rs 50,000 a movie, Suraiya earned Rs 1.5 lakh. One always saw her draped in zari saris or dupattas, and dripping with diamonds. She owned a Cadillac that a posse of the Bombay police protected as she attended a premiere night.
Adi Katrak, Mumbai
Congrats for breaching a standard practice in your piece, Man of Conviction (Jun 2). When second-rate authors from the West (of course, Jeffrey Archer is second-rate; look at his sales) pass through India, our press would splash fawning profiles on them—even PR agencies can’t better those write-ups. But yours was an exception. Pointed queries about his jail stay, the research into his background—especially the rumours of the ‘assistance’ he gets—all of it made interesting reading. It requires some pomposity to compare oneself with Mandela, especially when you’re Archer.
Mahesh Vaze, on e-mail
I’m appalled by the contempt with which your writer looks at a celebrated novelist and his achievements. Agreed, Archer went to jail and served his sentence. But it’s very crude to remind him bluntly why he was imprisoned—more so when Archer is still popular among book readers across the world. Let Archer draw parallels between him and Mandela; that’s the best way you can deal with such pompous journalists, you know. Indian intellectuals seem to operate in the extremes. Either they attack celebs outright or they lick their boots.
R. Srivatsan, Newport News, US
When dynastic rule plagues Indian politics, as your cover story (May 12) notes, we in the tiny, hilly state of Sikkim have a CM who has publicly stated he won’t be part of the scourge. Pawan Kumar Chamling, who has the people’s mandate for a third consecutive time, has no member in his family who is active in politics.
B.P. Rai, Gangtok
