Letters | Dec 15, 2008
Sleepless In The City
Dec 15, 2008
All this disproportionately loud noise (Outlook included) on the Bombay terror attack is because the affected come chiefly from the elite. The victims were people who could afford Rs 10,000 for room rent and a few thousand on dinner. It is laughable to see columnists—post-mortem experts all—mutilate the dead body with their expert commentary to fill up half the pages of the magazine. If this were a terrorist attack in which more people were killed at a religious place like Varanasi or Ajmer, the whole incident would have been written off in a couple of columns.
N. Kunju, Delhi
After all that I’ve read and heard about the attack on Mumbai, I feel it’s my fault. I’m the one to blame. Why?
Because I live my life pretending nothing can happen to me (until it hits home like this);
Because I take my security for granted all the time;
Because I’ve become blind to other people’s problems—in Kashmir, in Assam and more.
Because I continue to tolerate and even justify violence when it is in my interest.
Because I’ve spent the last five years telling my government that our priority is infrastructure and development when it should have been security;
Because I haven’t demanded accountability from my elected representative;
Because I suggested that martial law would be better without realising that 20 years of that hasn’t fixed Kashmir or the Gaza;
Because the only thing I would think of if I was caught in the crossfire is how I could save myself and my family;
Because there is so little I am willing to sacrifice for security. I will feel bad in the immediate aftermath but after a month, I would have moved on;
Because I complain about paying taxes;
Because I have a very long list of what I expect from my country and government, but virtually nothing on what my country can expect from me.
And more than anything because I have neither the attention span, nor the will or dedication required for being vigilant even if others aren’t.
What am I going to do about it? I’m still figuring that out.
Karan Manral, on e-mail
Isn’t it a shame that the army had to cut off TV cables in the hotels because our electronic media couldn’t show due restraint during their ‘live’ show?
Balvinder Singh, Chandigarh
The media for once did its duty more diligently than ever before, keeping emotions and the visible sense of shock well under control.
Zohra Javed, on e-mail
For the umpteenth time now, armed terrorists have walked in openly and executed a terror attack with deadly precision. They struck again in Mumbai, outsmarting our police and intelligence forces, taking two superdeluxe hotels hostage, targeting VT, not even sparing hospitals. And the CM’s response to all this? Vilasrao Deshmukh not only condemned the attacks, he strongly condemned them. My, how the terrorists must have quaked in fear! And what of that most Marathi of all Marathi manoos, Raj Thackeray? Forget issuing a statement, he wasn’t even to be spotted in any of the affected areas. The Indian government, of course, did what it does best: nothing. Soon the dust will settle down again and Mumbai will be expected to bounce back courtesy the Mumbaikar’s never-say-die spirit. But it’s no spirit, only helplessness that brings me and others like me back on the roads to earn our livelihood.
Parimal Aloke, on e-mail
Where was Raj Thackeray when Mumbai was bleeding? No one saw him or his ‘sena’ near the Taj, Nariman House, VT or Oberoi Trident. Why did non-Marathi-speaking manoos have to risk their lives to save Mumbai?
Col N.N. Bhatia, on e-mail
What else can you expect when the Indian government, the police and the ats have in the past one month been concentrating all their energy and resources in pursuing just the Malegaon blasts and ignoring all other security issues to score political points over bjp?
Anjali Sreekumar, Thiruvananthapuram
More than anyone else, the terrorists have understood India’s major weakness: its inept, bumbling power- and vote-hungry politicians.
V.S. Ganeshan, Bangalore
My salutations to the commando who told people at the Taj: "I want you all to stay calm. Listen to me, there is nothing to worry about. The first bullet will go through me, I’m leading you out."
Anurag Narayan, on e-mail
Where the heart is heavy and the head is bowed;
Where evil, greed and hatred have right of way;
Where morals, values and ethics have vanished into the oblivion of the past;
Where integrity and loyalty are up for sale, for a crore of rupees;
Where the security of a nation is unashamedly offered on a platter to lesser forces of evil;
Where ugly, soulless, corruptoids stuff their ever-widening bellies with the lives and well-being of a billion people;
Where a once eminent bureaucrat, who has since crossed over to the dark side, mumbles about retaliation;
Where the common man stands watching helplessly in mute disbelief and disgust;
Into that hell of bondage, my father, I’ve awoken.
P. Kamat, Bangalore
As a practising Muslim, I strongly condemn the attacks on Mumbai. It leaves me frustrated that ruthless men should give my religion and community a bad name and instils fear in me that I may be punished for the sins of others.
Haseeb Ahmad Khan, Nagpur
The dastardly attack on innocents in Mumbai will no doubt be universally condemned. But condemnation alone is not enough to check bloodthirsty terrorists. Terrorist training camps in Bangladesh and Pakistan must be destroyed. All political parties will no doubt support any government that decides to do so, helping it resist the international pressure it will likely face or even a conventional war that Pakistan might initiate.
Dhananjay Jog, Panaji
Embarking on a violent or coercive ‘war on terror’ (as the term is understood today) will only bring worse incidents of terrorism on everyone. In particular, India’s foreign policy needs a drastic change—we need to oppose and stop the illegal, unscrupulous and ultimately ineffective military strategies of the US, nato and Israel, even while cooperating with citizens of all countries on peaceful issues. Now is the time for us citizens to realise this if we don’t want even more bloodshed in India and elsewhere. India has a considerably more vibrant democracy than the US, though this needs to be actively kept alive and strengthened. Let not our establishment con us into a poorly thought-out response.
Dhruva Seshadri, Vellore
I think Dawood has as much a hand in this attack as he did in the ’93 blasts. Who else knows the ins and outs of the Mumbai port better than him? After all, he was the one who imported rdx for the ’93 blasts into the Mumbai port.
S.S.V. Ramana Rao, on e-mail
Ah Bombay..., Vinod Mehta now laments. When it is because of him and his clan that the vigour, strength and guts of the jehadis keeps growing multifold each day.
Narayan Srinivasan, Zurich
"Soon we’ll be back to the nasty Afzal Guru-Sadhvi slanging.I hope I am wrong." No, Mr Mehta, you are right. That crime has already beencommitted, and by none other than deputy home minister Sriprakash Jaiswal who was quoted as saying that "the terrorist attack could be a conspiracy hatched by right-wing Hindu parties".
C.P. Narendran, Nagpur
Trust Mr Mehta to draw parity between a convicted terrorist and someone who is at best a dubious suspect.
Rahul, Delhi
And to think Vinod Mehta and his ilk are the first to go holding candle-light vigils on the Wagah border!
K.K. Nair, Coimbatore
Will we win the fight against terrorists? I seriously wonder. Especially when our weakest neta since Independence assures the nation of tough action from within the security of a TV studio!
Udita Agrawal, New Delhi
History Is No Weapon
Dec 15, 2008
Apropos Nayantara Sahgal’s The Unending Struggle... (Dec 1), I agree. History on the one hand illuminates the horrors humans are capable of and on the other provides identity for a nation’s people. Hence the rss’s ploy to create a new identity and perpetrate horror. In the US, children are taught about atrocities against Blacks and their struggle for equality. Something we can never do in India as there will be uproar and violence by one group or the other. No wonder we’re an uncivilised nation whereas even a Black man can become the president of what’s still a racist nation.
Nasar, Raleigh, US
Chinese Checker
Dec 15, 2008
David Milliband and the British may have had their own compulsions in prostrating before the Chinese (Swerve off the Middle, Dec 1) but India would do well to stay off that course. The Dalai Lama’s path of genuine autonomy is our way, especially as it also serves as a diplomatic counter-measure to China’s recent posturings on Arunachal Pradesh.
Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai
Biblio Babble
Dec 15, 2008
Your Biblio (fifth?) columnist’s snippet (Raisin’ Cain, Nov 24) was as gratuitous as it was disingenuous. The paltry jibe at me had all the sophistication of a manicured claw in a hirsute paw: God’s Own Country is Kerala Tourism’s usp while the White Tiger is...well, the white tiger. Neither is the title of any prior work of fiction. As for copycat titles, one shouldn’t speak ill of the dead. Nor should your columnist be catty about the living. It does not make good copy. Especially when your columnist has passed judgement before the court can pronounce it—a clear disconnect between my intellectual property and your columnist’s presumptuous impropriety. Is the court listening? Sleeping with the enemy lends quietus.
Krishna Sobti, Delhi
Term Of Abuse
Dec 15, 2008
The problem with us Indians is our patronising attitude. If a Dalit is well-to-do, we tom-tom it, for it feeds our guilt complex. Is it not an oxymoron for Indian morons to stress that an IAS officer is a Dalit (Change She Makes, Dec 1)? The politicians and the media have perverted the very meaning of Dalits.
P.C. Joseph, Bangalore
A Memory Revived
Dec 15, 2008
Apropos Raag Shuddh Dharwadi (Dec 1), I was travelling en famille from Dharwad when Pt Bhimsen Joshi boarded the train at Pune on his way to Kalyan. He recalled my father Neglur Rangnath and how they had acted in dramas together, particularly Patitodhara. He also enjoyed the adike (betel nuts) and pedhas we had with us.
Madhu Neglur, Chicago
Title Mistrack
Dec 15, 2008
M.S. Gill in his Delhi Diary (Dec 1) refers to Malcolm MacDonald’s book as Birds in a Delhi Garden. It’s actually Birds in My Indian Garden. The illustrations (photos) were by Christina Loke, a guest in the then UK High Commissioner’s residence.
Zamir Ansari, New Delhi
