|
|
|
|
|
| HOME | NEWS | DEAR REDIFF | |||
|
COMMENTARY
|
|
|
E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Wed, 06 May 1998 09:00:56 +0530 I feel what our defence minister stated is correct. We should not hide in fear and live in a fool's paradise. That is what honest, humanely Nehru did. We experienced the result in 1962. Successive Union governments foolishly followed the hallucination of China and deceived the people of India. At least Mr Fernandes said the truth. Let us take it with a pinch of salt and prepare ourselves for any eventuality. Strength alone is respected in this world. Let us come out of our fool's paradise and make our nation great and strong. Thanks to the defence minister. Thanks to the PM for not contradicting him. Dr Madhu
Date sent: Tue, 05 May 1998 13:08:32 -0700 Finally a minister came out and spelled the truth the way it is. Without China providing strategic nuclear or missile technology, there wouldn't be a threat from Pakistan. There wouldn't have been a Kashmir problem because India could have taken care of it if not hamstrung by possible a nuclear outcome. Anybody with half a brain knows who can be a potential obstacle for China emerging as the undisputed superpower in Asia. The only other nation with comparable population, military and industrial base is India. India and China compete on the same segments of the global trade, the same segment of foreign investment dollars etc. It just happens that India is at a wrong place, at a wrong time as far as China is concerned. China doesn't want to get into a direct confrontation right now, it would rather build its economy and modernise its army. So it uses Pakistan as a proxy to tie down India while keeping a posture of peace and negotiation in its direct dealing with India. In other words, it plays the age-old game of diplomatic duplicity to tackle India. Mr Fernandes just happens to spell out the obvious truth while the rest of the Indian establishment is all too scared to face the truth, and it wishes somehow the China syndrome would just go away if it rolls over -- and play dead with China.
Date sent: Tue, 05 May 1998 17:37:21 -0500 If he and others are so concerned about morals or morals that would offend our so-called "culture" they should pay a visit to Kamathipura and do something for those women there. Or watch a Hindi movie or two and do something about those so-called obese "sex symbols." If possible please convey this to him. Bombay is a city of life and love, we don't need these people to dictate what the youth should or should not be doing. Isn't that why we have a mother and father? Mansie
Date sent: Tue, 05 May 1998 14:55:41 -0700 The intentions of the author of this article are clear from the "havaldar" term used for Nandgaonkar. Nandgaonkar is no ordinary person. Several good Marathi songs are written by this talented poet. While our media is beating hell out of people who threw stones at Husain, this attitude of disrespect towards another artist simply because he is from another side exposes the progressive and liberal elite like the author. Today, we have to choose how much freedom is OK for us in Maharashtra/India. Do we want to go to that extreme limit as in Saudi Arabia or in the USA, or stay somewhere in between where the majority of the people are comfortable. The Maharashtra government has made a choice and Nandgaonkar is defining that. We should learn to follow some rules and not oppose everything which our government does. If people do not follow the rules, they must be punished. If the government establishes rules which are too tight, change the government in the next election. But till then the rules must be followed. Period.
Date sent: Tue, 5 May 1998 12:24:06 -0700 (PDT) For heaven's sake, please do not brand a public display of affection as noncultural. Is culture someone's pet that can be disciplined or something that can be manipulated to suit one's whims and fancies? Culture in fact is a growing phenomenon -- it is not stable or static. Its growth includes the entire spectrum of (both) socially acceptable and non-acceptable components. This dynamism is the most significant characteristic of any culture. Therefore, culture cannot be defined nor compounded. At the most (and to a limited extent), it can used to identify oneself against a set of established philosophies. Nandgaonkar's diktat against public display of affection is wise thinking with blinkers on. Mr N, it is very convenient to blame the West for sex, public display of affection, and the likes. I think most of these have roots in India rather than the west. If that is the case (and if Mr N agrees), we should organise Kar Seva to destroy the greatest sex thesis -- the Kamasutra -- our sex temples in Khajuraho, and some of our cave temples too as they are wrong influence on Maharashtra's innocent! The Maharashtra government behaved immaturely at the recently held concert at SNDT grounds. Amazingly, it did not feel or act the same at the Michael Jackson's suggestive and sex-provoking show. Obviously not, because it had Thackeray's blessings, and used as a fund raiser for some unemployment scheme floated by one of his sons. So Mr N, what are your views on those gory (Michael dancing holding his crotch) images etched into our young and old. In this case, I guess, the question of morals, values, and culture does not arise. Hypocrisy personified! Maybe, Mr N and Pramod Navalkar must have not missed a single movie of the late legendary Dada Kondke. But their sudden diktat on the Maharashtra youth is puzzling. Maybe, they have young college going children, and in order to discipline them might as well issue restrictions across the board covering the entire Maharashtra's youth. Please sirs, leave our youth alone. Stop behaving like gatekeepers to India's culture. Culture is a phenomenon, an experience, a liking, and a very affectionate identity. Unfortunately, in future, what Indians hear, see, feel, and touch will be determined by some "whacko" elected to public office.
Date sent: Tue, 05 May 1998 09:00:31 -0400 Pakistanis have every right to project Jinnah as a great man. Also some of the greedy Indian politicians (with the exception of Gandhiji, Patel and a few others ) of yesteryears have played some filthy games. So I don't think there is any fault on the part of the Pakistanis.We should accept the truth. The world knows about Gandhiji, even if the film portrays him in bad taste, it doesn't in any way harm this Great Man.
Date sent: Mon, 4 May 1998 16:08:20 +0530 I think the most enjoyable of your news columnists, particularly his tongue-in-cheek style of writing, a-la-Contractor of Afternoon, the Bombay paper. I wish more people could write about serious things in lighter vein -- that looks like the real freedom of press in a democracy. Guru
Date sent: Fri, 1 May 1998 10:53:55 EDT I do agree with Dr Pendse's assertion that the RBI's role is to control inflation and provide stability to the rupee. But I disagree with his assertion that the RBI is not responsible for the economic growth. Monetary policy and fiscal policy are the major elements of the economic policy of a nation. What good is economic policy if GDP growth is not achieved. The government is primarily responsible for the economy and the RBI being an important tool of the economic policy, should extend a helping hand to the government. The RBI's recent act in holding down the rupee, ignoring the negative effect it had on the exports (and on the economy), illustrates what harm RBI could do, if it pursues its "responsible for monetary policy alone" policy. S Krishnamurthy
Date sent: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 19:40:31 -0500 The honourable finance minister's assertion that 'only Indians, not foreigners, are worked up over swadeshi' comes to me as no surprise, as it is human nature to try and justify their point of view by whatever means even if their stance may be wrong. On a lighter note, I wonder whether Mr Sinha ever thought of the fact that perhaps the foreigners don't know the meaning of swadeshi and hence the nonchalant reaction from them on the subject. About tax collection, the FM told the gathered industrialists that 'it is your patriotic duty to pay taxes.' Well, good luck Mr Sinha, hope your strategy works. Mr.Sinha went on to say: "If we allow all the consumer goods in the country, who will benefit?" he asked, and then went on to reply, "The multinationals and the measly 100 million who constitute India's middle class." Spoken like a true IAS man who has no clue about business or economics or anything remotely close. Mr Sinha also takes pride in the fact that 78% of the Indians and most captains of industry support swadeshi. Well whupieeeeee, the captains of the industry supports swadeshi! What a surprise, surprise. What was Mr Sinha thinking when he said that I wonder. Sure they do support swadeshi so they can keep making their lousy products, be rude to customers, can still cheat on taxes, don't need to innovate or compete... man, what am I thinking. All the best. Mohan Marette
Date sent: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 10:01:17 -0500 This time around I do not think that economic reforms were any big issue. Neither are corruption or criminals. We have unfortunately begun to accept that corruption and crime are part and parcel of being a politician. For me the deciding factor has been stability. Reforms will come if there is stability. Every election wastes so much money that utilised otherwise it could provide electricity, water and educations in thousands of our villages. India cannot afford another election in the next few months. But are our elected members bothered at all. No. They get the money from the industry, some may be from abroad. They spend that and maybe keep some for themselves. Anyway, these guys are not the ones who are affected by the problems of the industry or unemployment or lack of education, water, electricity etc. I wish I had a magic wand and could wave it and make all those corrupt and criminal politicians disappear to the fires of HELL. Tapas
Date sent: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 14:25:52 -0600 What can one say about the state of affairs ruining the nation? One thing comes to my mind. Why is this article appearing now? Why did nobody hint about these electronic voting machines while the Election Commission was laying out elaborate plans for election security and election expenditure by political parties? I blame the newspaper community for this. These days the mass media enjoys a pivotal role in any affair. They have the leverage to raise governments and ditch them (Bofors, Mandal-VP, etc.) You cannot expect honesty from political parties. The public is too entangled in their own struggle for their daily bread. Why not the mass media take a step forward for a just cause? You see, they have a commitment to their readers: to bring out the truth. I don't see any benefit from the article except that it makes an interesting point. It raised my eye brows. That's all. We will forget this till the next election. Maybe you can keep a copy of this article. You could reuse it. Maybe we must drop the "Biggest Democracy" banner and start learning from other countries. Look at the media in the US. These people are committed to their community (not communal). Good luck my countrymen. Maybe one day, after hitting the bottom, we will realise the obvious. Parthiban
Date: Tuesday, April 21, 1998 2:47 AM Excellent coverage, keep it up. Ranganath
Date: Saturday, April 25, 1998 1:01 PM Photographs weren't exactly nice but the description of the event was nicely covered. Keep up the good work. Please do justice to him and provide GOOD and quality pictures.
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 13:27:35 -0800 Excellent article and a great job guys. No wonder Rediff is the best Indian site. Keep the good work coming. Saleem Alikhan
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 16:22:10 +1100 I am an Australian who lives in Sydney. I have often travelled to India and Nepal and am always interested in any destination which would be worth visiting. Thanks for this wonderful article. Mrs Lois Martin
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 19:17:20 +0900 Surprisingly well written, humorous in a subtle way. Good work Mr Srinivasan.
|
||
|
HOME |
NEWS |
BUSINESS |
CRICKET |
MOVIES |
CHAT
INFOTECH | TRAVEL | LIFE/STYLE | FREEDOM | FEEDBACK |
||