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E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 23:18:33 TEST This is in response to your article titled "A world of wheelchairs" by Chindu Sreedharan and Jewella C Miranda. I happened to read the article tonight and was touched by it. I would like to get in touch with the concerned authorities and see if there's any way I can contribute to help the current situation. Any effort from you in this direction will be deeply appreciated. Susmit Haldar Sayreville, NJ Contributions are welcome. Every paisa counts and can make a difference. Please contact: Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre, Park road, Khadki, Pune 411 020
Date sent: Fri, 03 Apr 1998 10:26:34 -0500 While we blame Pakistan for trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue, here is the Karnataka government internationalising the Krishna water dispute. With Jaya harping on Tamil interests, it is now complete. FATHER THOU ART IN HEAVEN, LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE. Need we say why India's future is dismal?
Date sent: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 16:36:15 -0600 Good interview! Shows the calibre of a typical minister in india. If Babu Khan really thinks he has a responsibility towards his community, then he should be integrating his community with the mainstream.Why would one minority community think that it is only their interest that is being neglected? The answer comes from the fact that their problems stem from their own "supporters" and leaders, who want to keep them illiterate and ignorant. These leaders have achieved this, as clearly seen from the reactions of some Muslims who blindly support politicians like Babu Khan.
Date sent: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 08:26:50 -0800 Babu Khan's resignation does not help the Muslim community that put him there. The BJP has not ruled India and so we should stop shooting from the hip at them. The Muslims have created some problems for themselves by having a large number support Pakistan. Babu Khan is just a flake and Muslims should now vote for a better candidate that can take the Muslim agenda to the BJP, and win the kind of concession that will make them feel safe in India. The Muslim agenda should also be to support India's stance on Kashmir and for the overall security of India. Babu Khan is no saviour of Muslims and so nothing good or worse is going to happen to Muslims in Andhra.
Date sent: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 15:34:03 +0100 I must congratulate you on your efforts. I Haven't heard about them since ages now. Hope you can project this as a marketing tool for people to invest in India. All the best in future endeavours. Manish Jain
Date sent: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 17:24:14 -0500 For Boeing (the world's largest aircraft manufacturer) announcing it would sponsor student research in aerospace engineering through a Boeing Research Fellowship will not mean much for the institute (IIT) or the country. It would be nice to set up a R&D centre or school of aeronautics in IIT or any other place in India like Microsoft starting the Indian Institute of Information Technology at Hyderabad. Netala Satyendra
Date sent: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 17:24:14 -0500 While it is indeed good to hear of a BOEING-IIT alliance, I am hard put to understand what the big deal is about "brilliant academic record " to screen the particular awardee. After screening students from India with a fine-toothed comb, it seems unfair to pit them against one another in pursuit of a research scholarship. Productive research can only be the product of well funded, well coordinated research which students take up not because of its "trophy" value but because they are interested. Indians must learn that brands are not the end of the world. Boeing puts in a lot of money into US institutions and students have a good deal of freedom to pick among projects. People talk about interests and not grade point averages when awarding research grants. This announcement from Boeing -- let me not sound like George Fernandes -- sounds like brand propaganda, no more. Give IITs the money -- coordinate the work with professors, set the agenda and let the institution pick the willing researcher, if indeed serious research is the intent. If it is meant to a "trophy" and some easy publicity for Boeing, wake up guys -- you are good. Command, don't be hauled over for a few dollars by every Tom, Dick and Harry. Siddharth Das MIT
Date sent: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 19:11:16 -0800 Dr Dinesh Keskar said -- "frankly I want to keep this an exclusive thing....." Dr Keskar, an Indian, born in a country of a billion people (now) seeking to promote "an exclusive thing" in an already pretty exclusive institution, seems to be betraying his Americanism. IITs and the other engineering colleges in India are marked by, if no one has noticed yet, a laudable 'fraternity' among students -- any one who has been in the US will testify to it. Not to make an issue of it, but I find it shocking that even the institutions buy this sort of thing. Where on one hand MIT abolishes grading in the freshman year -- we are trying to promote a status race at IITs. What is the objective? Aren't people happy enough having picked the top percentile of the nation's talent? If models are needed, look at Microsoft and Stanford. If there were a plethora of such awards, it wouldn't be an issue at all. But where there is one -- it definitely is an issue. At some point one needs to forget the race -- to relax -- to work rather than to stress over who's going to take the shirt off your back. Having been at MIT for a while now, I feel that it distinctively provides an environment in which one can do good. Almost all who have made it to the IITs have immense potential. Give them the tools -- they will produce results. Give them "trophies" to fight for, and true academic work would lie forgotten, replaced instead by competition Boeing in itself doesn't matter. Boeings will come and go. But not everything needs to be a free market. Not everything has to be materialistic. Some things like research still needs to be driven by passion and affinity for something. Making people compete among themselves to decide their work just isn't right. More such ideas and people will aspire to work for "BOEING" rather than aerospace engineering. The degree will merely be the means to a very mundane end. No man is above it. Given a hanging fruit that only one can have, people will root for it, breeding jealousy, and other such things. If DRDO's research is world class, so can the same be at IITs. Learning to be proud is among the many things our people lack. Not in a retrograde fashion but in a manner so as to realise and be aware of what they are worth. To excel in their work and not in the pursuit of trophies and goodies. To shun those who seek educational excellence through offers of lollipops. Adam Smith may have been right in a limited way but there is more to it than meets the eye.
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 16:22:27 -0800 Great article! Keep those good articles coming. Arvind Santa Clara, California
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:04:59 -0800 Congratulations on one of the funniest and most affectionate restaurant reviews ever written! Thayer Gignoux
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 22:42:20 -1000 I am a student here in Honolulu, Hawaii. Your article on Ramzan brought back memories of my native city, Hyderabad and the fun we had during the month of Ramzan. Congratulations on an excellent article, and hope you keep doing the same in the future. The recipe for Sheerkorma is going to be very useful for our Eid celebrations here in Honolulu. Thank you. Syed Arifuddin Hassan
Date sent: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 11:13:42 -0500 The sequence of excerpts on the life of M S Subbulakshmi was really great. I thank you for providing me with such a great Indian experience. Keep it up. Narayanan
Date sent: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 15:28:43 -0500 This article was interesting because it assumes that Western women can "ride better and feel better". Pray, what are the signs of this ability? The customary reserve of Indian women is not hiding an incapacity to ride or feel. Maybe, we just don't necessarily want to exhibit it. I like Farzana's writing and it is graceful of her to defend the cause of liberated Western women, but please give Indian women a break too! We are pretty great and we are discerning-a trait that seems rather refreshing after one's palate is jaded with continuous so-called frankness! How readers responded to Admiral J G Nadkarni's columns
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