Arena

E-mail from readers the world over

Date sent: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 17:41:50 +0500
From: Raghuveer Malik <veeresh@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in>
Subject: Veerappan

This complete Veerapan episode is symptomatic of the political scum of India and their nexus with criminals. It would take probably a few dedicated and armed army men to finish him. But no, he has to be given run of the place, so..

Veeresh Malik

Date sent: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 18:22:25 -0500 (EST)
From: <Muna123@aol.com>
Subject: Crescent of Terror

Your article is no more than propaganda to blemish your neighbouring countries. India is creating its own problems with its own people, it does not make sense to blame someone else. There are lots of dissatisfied Indian citizens of different castes and religions who are involved in creating problems in India. As long as there is no equal sharing of wealth and power, it is normal to have problems like what India is facing now.

Anju

Date sent: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 15:30:37 -0600
From: Anurag Sinha <Anurag.Sinha@mci.com>
Subject: Article on Gujral's inefficiency

I completely agree with Mr Nayar on this issue, and feel he has brought out his views very well. There is no doubt that in spite of its good intentions Gujral's India has lost in the the international diplomatic race. Leave alone diplomacy, even on the economic ground India has lagged behind when all that was really required was just a will to succeed.

Being an NRI, I am appalled to see the number of fools at the helm of everything, leading my beloved country to the gutter. But it is the Indian public who should be blamed because it is they who have elected and supported such politicians. My only prayer is: Somebody please give us some direction.

Anurag Sinha

Date sent: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 09:23:49 -0500 (EST)
From: <Nareshf@aol.com>
Subject: Dilip D'Souza's column on police encounters

Of course, Dilip D'Souza would never have become a statistic. No one in journalism does, never mind their antecedents. However he makes some valid points. Could we have more D'Souza and less Bhosle please?

Jerry Pinto

Date sent: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 10:06:06 -0800
From: Sanjay Bhatia <sanjay@best.com>
Subject: Pritish Nandy on extortion

I enjoyed this one a lot. Let's have more of this stuff. Let it disgust the people enough to remove ineffective politicians from power.

I too can relate to him my family's recent experience with extortion.

Date sent: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 17:16:42 -0800
From: Sashi Binani <sashi.binani@ezaccess.com>
Subject: Column by Ashwin Mahesh

Very well written. It bring out the turmoil that many of us face.

Date sent: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 22:24:48 -0500
From: GAURAV KAMPANI <gk2503a@american.edu>
Subject: Amberish Diwanji: The Case for English

Amberish has made an excellent case for the continued use of English.

Gaurav Kampani

Date: Friday, October 24, 1997 10:18 PM
From: Sree Kumar <sree@nationwide.com>
Subject: Fire power

Why are you not writing anything about the new Malayalam film releases? I have heard that two good movies Guru and Kaliyattam have been released recently. Why don't you write about these two films?

Shri

Date sent: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 02:25:45 +0530
From: <anand@cc.iitb.ernet.in>
Subject:

Well-written piece.

Perhaps you could supplement it with some further analysis. For example, STPI probably has more experience than VSNL in carrying Internet traffic.

There is another, perhaps even more important issue. While, international band width (and its control) is important, even more so is the lack of a *domestic* high-speed Internet backbone. It is indeed a quixotic situation when data has to make an international hop while communicating between two sites in the same country (or city).

Date sent: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 10:42:57 -0700
From: Sunil Bopardikar <sunilb@Eng.Sun.COM>
Subject: Who's afraid of Chandrababu Naidu?

Excellent topic and coverage.

Sunil

Date sent: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 10:46:14 +0400
From: "Mrs D. Bhautoo" <dbhautoo@dove.uom.ac.mu>
Subject: God Of Small Things

The Indian mind is hypocritically prudish. The same false prudishness which has caused Mira Nair's Kama Sutra to be censored in India. Is it the sexual encounter which is really shocking? Or is it the suggestions of class defilement in a nation where notions of untouchability has seeped below the level of consciousness?

The ultimate union in purity, beauty, mutual surrender, the synthesis of the complementary powers of the created world... It is all in the shastras, is it not? Read the laws of Manu, and find out how explicit it is about love between man and woman! Only the laws of Manu keeps rigidly to caste hierarchy. Is that why it is more acceptable?

Date: Thursday, October 16, 1997 8:15 PM
From: Vivek <etslrkp@showme.missouri.edu>
Subject: Mmmmmm: Mahima

Questions are good and to the point. Ms Chaudhury comes across as a very down to earth person, not at all taken in by her instant fame. Very surprising to hear about her personal life. One question, was the interview conducted in English, or has there been a translation?

Vivek

The interview was conducted in English.

Date sent: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 17:36:09 +0530
From: "K.M.RajaGopal" <kmr@india.hp.com>
Subject: Walter Dawaram: interview

Good one!

Raj

Date sent: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 20:53:33 -0400
From: "Susheel Jalali" <sjalali@nortel.ca>
Subject: Kudos to Varsha Bhosle

I just happened to read one of her articles, and got drawn into reading a chain of about a dozen more. I really felt as if a big load was removed off my chest -- somebody is at least doing what I thought had been urgently required for the last decade.

In 1990 I used to think, "Is India so bereft of intellect to let all this happen without a voice of reason?" She says, "It's hardly possible for Bhosle and the likes of her to counter a book on the "myths" about Muslims in a mere article. But not to worry, we'll get there: Truth always does."

I hope that means she is going to write a book about it. Varshaji,if you read this, please remember to also include a longer-range Root Cause Analysis -- this terrorism is now killing by super and sporadic blasts; but it has also been continuously and copiously killing our at least 10,000-year-old culture for the last 1,400 years -- because the saner pre-Islamic elements in the Muslim world (surviving as Sufism, Ismailism etc. -- I don't know of others -- maybe Kurd-ism?) are as spellbound as Hindus by their belligerent self-righteous rhetoric.

It has now been proved that culture and scientific temperament emanated out from India -- from the Sindhu-Saraswati basin (including Kashmir) to all parts of the world. We had a functioning democratic monarchy much like UK's 5,000 years before the West even dreamt about it, and our progress in the five art forms and the sciences was unmatched.

Read the book by Dr Subhash Kak if you want to know more about the Sindhu-Saraswati contributions. It is called: In search of the cradle of civilisation.

I have to cut myself off unwillingly, because I feel like continuing to read your articles, as if it will result in miraculous solutions coming to light. However, I do realise the problems that you have been writing about are, as we say in Computer Science, NP-complete - for which there are no known step-wise solutions -- but only heuristic, hit-and try guesstimate-based solutions.

Yet, yours are the clearest expositions I have seen to date, and I hope bureaucrats in the secretariat of the home ministry or defence ministry also understand as much if and when they read your material.

Do you think the BJP's finally (if?) coming to power will cause them to begin to "redress" the gigantic problems? Is it a reasonable hope to live by, if any?

Susheel Jalali

Nortel, Ottawa

Date sent: Thu, 09 Oct 1997 17:28:07 -0700
From: prasad <prasad@fortuna.fortuna.com>
Subject: Rajeev Srinivasan

The man does not know Hindi, is prejudiced against commercial cinema, does not know Sholay exists - What qualifies him for this article? Some of the greatest works in Indian cinema -- apart from the usual Mrinal Sens, Adoors etc -- comes from people like Guru Dutt, Gulzar, Balu Mahendra, Shyam Benegal, Sai Paranjpye and many more...

I understand that it is very difficult to limit the numbers to ten and that it's one's own personal choice. Therefore, only someone whose knowledge encompasses all aspect of Indian cinema can come up with a list which is sort of acceptable. No harm meant to Mr Rajeev though.

Prasad

Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 13:10:32 -0700
From: Revathi Narayanan <rnarayan@altera.com>
Subject: V Gangadhar's article

Really great article!! Brought back sweet memories. He even remembered the Deepavali malar magazines... Oh ! What a joy it was to read them!!

Thanks for posting this article on your page. Hoping to read more of the same kind.

Revathi

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 08:54:39 -0500
From: Nishith T Shah <nshah@bpa1.sbi.com>
Subject: Lord Desai

Maybe some of the things said are true but the guy has no right to criticise India. He lives in London and criticises India from there! He should try to live in India and criticise India.

He has even changed his name to British Lord Desai.

Nishith

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 16:24:32 -0700
From: "Venkatesh" <arv@venkatesh.com>
Subject: Admiring Reliance for changing its corporate image

Very interesting article. I have been a shareholder for almost 15 years. I have followed the company and Mr Mehta's article makes fascinating reading.

According to the article, it is listed on the NYSE. I could not find the listing. According to their web site, there is no listing for an Indian company. As a matter of fact, it does not have any Indian companies listed. Am I wrong?

Keep up the good work. I visit your site almost every day.

Venkatesh

Date sent: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 14:40:15 -0800
From: <vketan@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Kesri-Kanshi-Gowda criticise BJP

The Congress president is evidently forgetting his own role in saving the Narasimha Rao government. As they say, "People who stay in glass houses, should not throw stones at other's houses."

As for Kanshi Ram -- the man who said that chamars are to be kept at his feet and not his head (so much for being pro-dalit), all he can do and will do is brag, whereas H D Deve Gowda is now for all practical purposes history in Indian politics.

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