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E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 12:28:05 -0500
This is for the information of Mr Sarkar, a CPM minister in Tripura, and others like him, who entertain the notion that Brahmins study Sanskrit to dominate the society. You need only to look at the reasons cited for writing the Puranas. Here is some information on the Vedas and Puranas that I have gleaned from the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and others. Vedas were never written down. They were passed on from generation to generation. They were recited in Adi Sanskrit, which is even older than Sanskrit and which no one, even one who knows Sanskrit, can possibly understand. Adi Sanskrit evolved into Sanskrit, like how Sanskrit evolved into Hindi and other languages. The Jnana Kanda of the Vedanta, which incorporates the Upanishads is entirely philosophical, devoid of any sacrifices or rituals, which are covered in the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. Since it was felt in those times that not everyone could understand philosophical teachings, the sages felt it important to impart the knowledge of the Vedanta to all through something the common people could relate to. Thus were born the Puranas, with stories that people could relate to. All the folklore of Hinduism emanates from the Puranas. And everyone knows the Puranas were written in Sanskrit. So instead of accusing anyone of conspiring to take over the society (sic), Mr Sarkar had better get his facts straight. It is easy to fling your arms in a crowd hoping to hit someone. What would he say to the fact that Tulsidas wrote the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi to popularise the Ramayana in the language of the day? No one denies the rigidity of the caste system as it exists today. But to fling about useless and unhelpful accusations hoping one of them would stick is stupid to nth extent. Ashish Chandra
Date sent: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 11:17:48 -0500
Dear editor, The article was worth a read. I would like to share my opinion about how the weakness at the Centre leads to casteism. How the BJP is responsible for that. And what it can do to help the nation tackle these issues. In the recent past, we witnessed the rise of caste-based issues. To our dismay, instead of concentrating on making itself stable, the BJP took up some controversial religious issues. This has given an invigorated climate for casteists. When people lost their interest in the Congress and the United Front, the BJP got an opportunity to form a government. They should have tried to give a stable, balanced and reliable govt. Though the BJP was 'rightist' originally, when it came to power some of its ideologies should have been compromised for realities. It is very unfortunate to see the BJP trying to thrust religion into everything. For a country that has got 50 years of 'secular' history, it is very difficult to digest an all-of-a-sudden new starting of Hindu raj. I personally feel the BJP should divert its attention to economic issues rather than indulging in religious-casteist issues.
Udhayakumar Chinnayan
Date sent: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 10:20:34 PST
Dear Rediff, I used to wonder why Rediff, being the classy ezine it is, prints the work of substandard leftist un-intellects such as D'Monte. But as Rediff publishes the views of more and more commies (such as Karat, Nayanar and other stone-age fossils), and more and more leftists, it is increasingly clear that it is not Rediff 's choice that is suspect. The basic problem is that all commies are substandard intellects. This woman, Brinda Karat, knows nothing. What does she know about the economy and what does she understand about the budget that makes her competent to comment on the topic? And if she is such an expert why doesn't she try to investigate the not-so-above-board activities of her senile comrade Basu, of the Public Ledger Account notoriety? Or are only the economic activities of the BJP of interest to her, though understand them she doth not? The good thing is that we younger Indians have age on our side. We will long outlive these fossils and carve out a better India than their limited imaginations can even dream of. God bless us all... even the commies. Prem Natarajan
Date sent: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 06:38:04 PST
The problem with the JNU types is that they know not the history nor geography of our country. I mean Kashmir. It is surprising that she did not emphasise the several nationalities in India. Instead she settled for multi-dimensional, multi-cultural mumbo jumbo! Her thesis on teaching housekeeping in schools is a heady cocktail of bra burners and Permanently Eating Out Punjabi Practice. It can be stressed that housekeeping needs to be taught to both boys and girls. If you are brought up in a household with at least four servants then this subject can make one feel yuk! But lo and behold! In millions of Indian homes members of the household perform these, unscientifically and inefficiently. Nothing wrong to teach these things. As long as a broom is used to sweep, we Indians better learn how to hold it for efficiency and effectiveness. The schools are the best place to teach these. So what is your problem? These can be and need be taught to all our children (boys and girls). It won't destroy our muti-cultural, multi-ethnic and other multi, multi things. Vaidya
Date sent: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 12:20:19 -0500
I would like to take back my criticism of Rediff for not interviewing Mr Chitlangia and the Vidya Bharati leaders. Thanks. We would like to know what the leaders have to say about these issues. The interview has brought out a very humane face of Chitlangia. I was not aware of this man till the time a few troublemakers raised hue and cry in the education conference in Delhi. Many times, we feel that only those people are great who get awards and recognition from the media. After reading a variety of newspapers for the last 30 years, I know that the media is responsible for each award and exposure. When the media is highly infested with leftist liberals, no wonder that people like Chitlangia & their work gets neglected. Running 1,300 schools with 40 students each is a huge work by any standard for an organisation not seeking any monetary help from the Indian Government or foreign sources. I felt like laughing over Amberish K Diwanji's weak attempts to embarrass Chitlangia over "Shambu" from the Ramayana and "Eklavya" from the Mahabharat. It is better if Mr Diwanji remembers the old saying that we must take whatever is good from our old heritage and drop the bad part. No one in the RSS/BJP is encouraging or even indirectly supporting the OLD social evils of caste system and Sati, and the current ones of dowry demands and corruption. The hyperbole by ministers and the media clearly shows the jaundiced eyes & bias of our leftist liberals. These evil forces are afraid that their gameplan, so carefully hatched in the past 50 years, is about to be negated by the new awakening in the Hindu society.
Mukund Kute
Date sent: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 18:15:56 +0100
Dear editor, I was very happy to read this article and would appreciate if articles of this type are published more often so that we are able to inculcate Indian Culture in our children, and they become healthy children of our nation. They should be proud of the Indian heritage. Looking forward to many more articles like this, Gauri Raghunathan
Date sent: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 15:53:38 -0500
Dear Prem I am too numb to be shocked anymore by this shameless unctuousness by the BCCI. Sycophancy is the stepping stone to success in our country nowadays and cricket is no exception. How else would you explain the presence of people like Lele at the helm of such a powerful (read premier) sports organisations in the country. We cry foul when a match referee shows partiality (remember the fiasco during the series against the Australians) but look what our own board does to its players. To my mind, if there is a bowler with a highly suspect action then it is none other than the Lankan player Muralitharan. Wasn't there a big controversy about his action too? What did the Lankan board do in response? They persisted with him and so too with Dharmasena, another suspected chucker. The result? Muralitharan has gained so much confidence that he is today the main strike bowler for Sri Lanka. Look at the Pakistanis. The cream of the team, including senior players like Akram, Malik, Ijaz Ahmed, are under a cloud for a serious match fixing allegation. So what? They are still playing in the team based on the theory that you are innocent till proven guilty. Can you even dream of such a possibility had they been Indian players? No wonder teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka steamroller us on the cricket field, which has more to do with a sense of purpose than superiority in terms of talent. All we do is look for excuses as absurd as the ones that has now become one of Azhar's stock excuses: "We bowled badly, we batted badly and we fielded badly". What the heck is he doing in the team as a captain if he can't make the ten guys under him do even that? The saddest part is that selectors buy that bull and keep filling the team with these nincompoops while promising talents like Harbhajan -- or even a Chauhan for that matter -- are unceremoniously dropped for the most trivial reasons. Don't be surprised if one day you see Tendulkar dropped from the national side because the Australians "fear" that he is a threat to Don Bradman's mantle of being the greatest batsman the game has seen! I am sure the Leles of our country would only be more than happy to oblige!!
Kiran Nair
Date sent: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 13:30:00 -0400
Hi, I agree wholly about this article on the failure of India in Zimbabwe. First of all, Azhar surely is past the hill. He always plays so irresponsibly. And once in a way, this irresponsibility turns out into a responsible innings when he gets a big score. Nowadays, he reminds me of Farrokh Engineer for whom the phrase 'Hit Out or Get Out' became oh-so-popular. And Azhar's captaincy too leaves a lot to be desired. The only good thing about him is his fielding hasn't lost it's sharpness. He has no business to be in the Indian team, leave alone lead it. How can any one forget the circumstances under which he became skipper. Sanjay Manjrekar should have been a better option. This regional quota system should stop. So what if the Indian team comprises of only Bombay players? U think the general public is going to mind? They want to see entertaining and sensible cricket. But these selectors are not the general public. Right? Right. They have to exercise their stupid notions and select players like Sidhu, Mohanty etc at the cost of players like Wasim Jaffer, Amol Muzumdar etc. Vipul Kothari
Date sent: Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 10:53:41 +0530
Pritish Nandy has echoed what a lot of citizens living in this state feel but are scared to voice their opinions because of the muscle/extortion power being used by the present government. However we probably have no need to worry for too much longer -- they have cooked their own goose and the chances of their getting back to power are minimal. Articles such as these should be widely publicised in all media, especially the local language.
Date sent: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 09:05:36
Mr Ibrahim is talking rubbish. He should realise nobody believes him. He does not answer one important question: Why did he keep changing the policy? Let him answer that and everything will be clear.
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 11:43:07 +0530
I feel the VSNL's service is improving of late. I am able to get connected easily and the line holds quite well. I do not think at this point of time the VSNL should increase the number of accounts and deteriorate the connection quality without improving their capacity.
Date sent: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 06:44:38 -0400
Rajnikanth and Sivaji had paired in Padikaathavan in the mid-'80s. Sundar
Date sent: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 17:36:46 EDT
It was a GREAT interview!! I loved it! I would like to see more interviews with Shah Rukh!!
Date sent: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 18:54:21 +0530
The film is a big FLOP. I repent wasting my Rs 31...
Date sent: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 22:37:45 +0530
Kajol is a great kid and the interview was well done. Keep it up. How Readers responded to Varsha Bhosle's recent columns How Readers responded to Pritish Nandy's last column
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