Modi was right to cancel talks with Pakistan
I think Prime Minister Modi's decision to cancel talks with Pakistan was the right move. Its more in the message than immediate results. No doubt, there will be some troubles in short run. But in the long run (considering Modi may have a tenure beyond five years), this will help.–Shirish Rana
* * *
We could as well talk to separatists and ignore Pakistan, if the separatists are really independent. If they are just puppets then the Pakistan Ambassador meeting them is a calculated step to sabotage talks even before start. They have done this before. They need to be told to stop this. If Pakistan thinks it can use this as an occasion to manage their own domestic difficulties and divert attention of the agitating groups on the internal situation, we need not not oblige. Ultimately if Kashmir is independent, then it must be politically neutral between all the forces around her. This is geopolitics and we will not allow it to be gobbled up by Pakistan or China.–KS Parthasarathy
It looks like Scroll is either run by the people of Pakistan or funded by them. The article is very biased and I will see future posts on the issue with this particular angle.–Shiv Khare
WH Auden's poem on the Partition of India
'Partition'doesn't so much criticise Cyril Radcliffe, as it does the dilemma faced by him. The 'ill-fated' Barrister and his 'fateful' decisions that changed the geographic as well as cultural map of a continent is what concerns Auden. –CL Jacob
Khankhoje in Mexico
What an interesting snippet of history of a son of India in a far flung land from his home, Mexico, in the times of Diego Rivera with photographs by Tina Modotti to prove
it -- and the poetic association of the three!–Ronnie Patel
Don't target Smriti Irani
Stop this harassment at once. Stop it in the name of honour and dignity! The Indian constitution does not require MPs or ministers to possess educational qualifications. She's smart intelligent, speaks intelligently, has a well-balanced head on her shoulders. She will do well wherever she goes. Support her instead.–Manju Dhall
Bharat Ratna for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
As it appears from this article, you are absolutely certain about Netaji's death. I request you to come out with evidence in this regard. It would make the work of people fighting for the declassification of files related to his death a lot easier. If your logic is as baseless as the claims of Justice Mukherjee on Netaji's death, then please stop it. Yes, the possibility of him being alive is less. But how can you rule it out altogether? Don't try to act God-like. –Arijit Chakraborty
* * *
It does not matter what the family members feel! The people of India feel that this award is not appropriate for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Please do a survey to check this out.–Chandra Kumar Bose
UR Ananthamurthy passes away
Read your synopsis of URA. It is ok. But his hatred towards Modiji was unnecessary. But see the destiny! Before the general election, he vowed s that he wouldn't live in India if Modiji was elected as PM. But God did not allow him to live in this universe. Now you can understand,who is correct!! –PPV Santanam
* * *
Prof.UR Ananthamurthy was of a rare species of men with near-divine sensitivity.I was briefly exposed to his lovable persona as a second-year English literature student at Maharaja's College at Mysore. After his marriage and just before his departure for England ,he took a couple of classes for us .I can never forget the intensity, the throbbing fervour as he explained;a pedestrian term to explain; what he did to Robert Burn's poem."..My love is like a red red rose that is newly blown in June. My love is like a melody that is sweetly played in tune...."
We sat spellbound. The red red rose was never redder,never more fresh and full blown. We experienced love in all its sheer harmony and all pervasiveness as a Sufi may have after years of spiritual experience.
A truely independent spirit that soars to great heights in flights of harmony,never severing its umbilical link with the "lowly" and the terra firma. –NI Razzaqui.
* * *
Let me start by saying that may the departed soul rest in peace. I can't comment on his professorial abilities, but his writing certainly wasn't Jnanapeeth level. The much-acclaimed Samskara (I have read it in Kannada) is a caricaturisation of Brahmins and not a lot more. In my opinion both Samskara's fame and Ananthamurthy's Jnanapeeth are a result of an ideological bias more than any literary merit. On the other hand, I did like his novella Divya, which was much more balanced and nuanced. It is no secret that Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnad got their respective Jnanapeeths by you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours game.–Ravi Kulkarni
Greening the Bolsa Familia
Thank you, this is great - wanted to alert you'll to the green equivalent of Bolsa Familia, also in Brazil, called Bolsa Verde, where families which meet the Bolsa Familia criteria are given direct cash transfers to conserve and protect the environment. So conserving the environment via specific tasks is seen as a 'green job'. Lovely. –Bishaka Datta
I like the neutrality
The best part I like about Scroll is the neutrality it has in most of the articles, with more facts and less opinion. I would like to make one suggestion and thatis the inclusion of more articles on Indian law system. I feel this is an area where there is a lot less awareness among people. People don't know their basic rights and continue to remain aloof from judicial processes and in turn reforms. Unless we get into trouble, we never care to understand the workings of an ordinary police station.–Abhinav Singh
Modi's U-turn
I wonder if there is an editorial board to filter articles like "So what if Modi's doing a U turn?". The article, written by Rohit Chopra, is without a clear message! This article is verbose and confusing. One wonders, "What is his point?" Is it Modi? Is it the Western journalists? Is it Hinduism? Is it the Indian diaspora? What is his message?–Surendar G Rao
* * *
Today's satire shot feature was just brilliant! What a way to start the day!–Sukhada Chaudhary
Hindustani music on Scroll
I am a regular follower of Scroll.in and of late have become a quite a fan. I especially love your regular articles on Hindustani music and titbits related to its various facets that you publish regularly. Please consider this mail as a thank you note for Aneesh Pradhan and others for their regular pieces on the subject. Though being a fanboy now, may I put forward a farmayish for even more frequent articles on Hindustani music, and in particular, something for the novice listener as well. It would be really fascinating to learn more about this wonderful facet of our composite culture through you guys.–Mukesh
Lord Mountbatten and India's Independence
You will be surprised if I tell you that August 15 was not Mountbatten's choice. In 1945 during Puja holidays we (my husband and I) planned a trip to south India. We boarded the train from Calcutta & our co-passengers were three Bengali devotees of Shree Auorobindo and we discussed about India's independence. They told us that India will get independence on August 15 ( Shree Aourobindo's birthday) 1946. It was unbelievable, but they were so sure that they laid down a bet of Rs 500. Nothing happened in '46 but in '47 India did get its freedom on August 15.–Krishna Chandra
On the possibility of teaching technology in Hindi
This comment is in response to Harish Dalal's letter in last week's Letters to the Editor. Hindi does have enough vocabulary to teach technology. But the last time CBSE used Hindi words for Newton's laws and rigid body motion, they were shot down for being too "Sanskrit-like" and "hard to pronounce". People don't want to be good at English or Hindi. Technical words in English seem easy because we are used to them. We don't set the standards for English so that language is safe. And in awe of that language, we have destroyed our own.–Ashish Bihani
Congress Party is disarray for the upcoming assembly polls
So poor Sonia had the right idea. If only the venal Congress politicians were less grasping and greedy and now the policy continues, which is the ultimate validation. Only one set of corrupt politicians have been replaced by yet another of exactly the same ilk, while Arvind Kejriwal, like John the Baptist, rages in the distance.–Sunil Mehra
New Hindi voices
I would like to congratulate both Scroll and Mayank Tewari for the article on Anil Yadav and his book on the North East. For us, who’ve suffered the misfortune of being turned away from Hindi by schoolteachers teaching infantalising textbooks, but who love reading and come to it from English, this is a much needed exposure – to writers and writing, discourses and conversations happening in the non-English Indian world. This is hampered by many things like the woeful state of translation in India or the unimaginative and mediocre cultural journalism in India. If the Disneyfication of India is to be avoided, then Indian cultural production has to have a pulsating life outside Bollywood and IPL. This means telling Indian stories in Indian voices to each other independent of box-office concerns – in niches small and various and aplenty. To find our David Foster Wallace so that one day they may find their Anil Yadav.
Thanks for introducing me to a new voice. I haven’t read a book written in Hindi since class 10. This will change soon.–Samrat Chakrabarti
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
I think Prime Minister Modi's decision to cancel talks with Pakistan was the right move. Its more in the message than immediate results. No doubt, there will be some troubles in short run. But in the long run (considering Modi may have a tenure beyond five years), this will help.–Shirish Rana
* * *
We could as well talk to separatists and ignore Pakistan, if the separatists are really independent. If they are just puppets then the Pakistan Ambassador meeting them is a calculated step to sabotage talks even before start. They have done this before. They need to be told to stop this. If Pakistan thinks it can use this as an occasion to manage their own domestic difficulties and divert attention of the agitating groups on the internal situation, we need not not oblige. Ultimately if Kashmir is independent, then it must be politically neutral between all the forces around her. This is geopolitics and we will not allow it to be gobbled up by Pakistan or China.–KS Parthasarathy
It looks like Scroll is either run by the people of Pakistan or funded by them. The article is very biased and I will see future posts on the issue with this particular angle.–Shiv Khare
WH Auden's poem on the Partition of India
'Partition'doesn't so much criticise Cyril Radcliffe, as it does the dilemma faced by him. The 'ill-fated' Barrister and his 'fateful' decisions that changed the geographic as well as cultural map of a continent is what concerns Auden. –CL Jacob
Khankhoje in Mexico
What an interesting snippet of history of a son of India in a far flung land from his home, Mexico, in the times of Diego Rivera with photographs by Tina Modotti to prove
it -- and the poetic association of the three!–Ronnie Patel
Don't target Smriti Irani
Stop this harassment at once. Stop it in the name of honour and dignity! The Indian constitution does not require MPs or ministers to possess educational qualifications. She's smart intelligent, speaks intelligently, has a well-balanced head on her shoulders. She will do well wherever she goes. Support her instead.–Manju Dhall
Bharat Ratna for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
As it appears from this article, you are absolutely certain about Netaji's death. I request you to come out with evidence in this regard. It would make the work of people fighting for the declassification of files related to his death a lot easier. If your logic is as baseless as the claims of Justice Mukherjee on Netaji's death, then please stop it. Yes, the possibility of him being alive is less. But how can you rule it out altogether? Don't try to act God-like. –Arijit Chakraborty
* * *
It does not matter what the family members feel! The people of India feel that this award is not appropriate for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Please do a survey to check this out.–Chandra Kumar Bose
UR Ananthamurthy passes away
Read your synopsis of URA. It is ok. But his hatred towards Modiji was unnecessary. But see the destiny! Before the general election, he vowed s that he wouldn't live in India if Modiji was elected as PM. But God did not allow him to live in this universe. Now you can understand,who is correct!! –PPV Santanam
* * *
Prof.UR Ananthamurthy was of a rare species of men with near-divine sensitivity.I was briefly exposed to his lovable persona as a second-year English literature student at Maharaja's College at Mysore. After his marriage and just before his departure for England ,he took a couple of classes for us .I can never forget the intensity, the throbbing fervour as he explained;a pedestrian term to explain; what he did to Robert Burn's poem."..My love is like a red red rose that is newly blown in June. My love is like a melody that is sweetly played in tune...."
We sat spellbound. The red red rose was never redder,never more fresh and full blown. We experienced love in all its sheer harmony and all pervasiveness as a Sufi may have after years of spiritual experience.
A truely independent spirit that soars to great heights in flights of harmony,never severing its umbilical link with the "lowly" and the terra firma. –NI Razzaqui.
* * *
Let me start by saying that may the departed soul rest in peace. I can't comment on his professorial abilities, but his writing certainly wasn't Jnanapeeth level. The much-acclaimed Samskara (I have read it in Kannada) is a caricaturisation of Brahmins and not a lot more. In my opinion both Samskara's fame and Ananthamurthy's Jnanapeeth are a result of an ideological bias more than any literary merit. On the other hand, I did like his novella Divya, which was much more balanced and nuanced. It is no secret that Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnad got their respective Jnanapeeths by you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours game.–Ravi Kulkarni
Greening the Bolsa Familia
Thank you, this is great - wanted to alert you'll to the green equivalent of Bolsa Familia, also in Brazil, called Bolsa Verde, where families which meet the Bolsa Familia criteria are given direct cash transfers to conserve and protect the environment. So conserving the environment via specific tasks is seen as a 'green job'. Lovely. –Bishaka Datta
I like the neutrality
The best part I like about Scroll is the neutrality it has in most of the articles, with more facts and less opinion. I would like to make one suggestion and thatis the inclusion of more articles on Indian law system. I feel this is an area where there is a lot less awareness among people. People don't know their basic rights and continue to remain aloof from judicial processes and in turn reforms. Unless we get into trouble, we never care to understand the workings of an ordinary police station.–Abhinav Singh
Modi's U-turn
I wonder if there is an editorial board to filter articles like "So what if Modi's doing a U turn?". The article, written by Rohit Chopra, is without a clear message! This article is verbose and confusing. One wonders, "What is his point?" Is it Modi? Is it the Western journalists? Is it Hinduism? Is it the Indian diaspora? What is his message?–Surendar G Rao
* * *
Today's satire shot feature was just brilliant! What a way to start the day!–Sukhada Chaudhary
Hindustani music on Scroll
I am a regular follower of Scroll.in and of late have become a quite a fan. I especially love your regular articles on Hindustani music and titbits related to its various facets that you publish regularly. Please consider this mail as a thank you note for Aneesh Pradhan and others for their regular pieces on the subject. Though being a fanboy now, may I put forward a farmayish for even more frequent articles on Hindustani music, and in particular, something for the novice listener as well. It would be really fascinating to learn more about this wonderful facet of our composite culture through you guys.–Mukesh
Lord Mountbatten and India's Independence
You will be surprised if I tell you that August 15 was not Mountbatten's choice. In 1945 during Puja holidays we (my husband and I) planned a trip to south India. We boarded the train from Calcutta & our co-passengers were three Bengali devotees of Shree Auorobindo and we discussed about India's independence. They told us that India will get independence on August 15 ( Shree Aourobindo's birthday) 1946. It was unbelievable, but they were so sure that they laid down a bet of Rs 500. Nothing happened in '46 but in '47 India did get its freedom on August 15.–Krishna Chandra
On the possibility of teaching technology in Hindi
This comment is in response to Harish Dalal's letter in last week's Letters to the Editor. Hindi does have enough vocabulary to teach technology. But the last time CBSE used Hindi words for Newton's laws and rigid body motion, they were shot down for being too "Sanskrit-like" and "hard to pronounce". People don't want to be good at English or Hindi. Technical words in English seem easy because we are used to them. We don't set the standards for English so that language is safe. And in awe of that language, we have destroyed our own.–Ashish Bihani
Congress Party is disarray for the upcoming assembly polls
So poor Sonia had the right idea. If only the venal Congress politicians were less grasping and greedy and now the policy continues, which is the ultimate validation. Only one set of corrupt politicians have been replaced by yet another of exactly the same ilk, while Arvind Kejriwal, like John the Baptist, rages in the distance.–Sunil Mehra
New Hindi voices
I would like to congratulate both Scroll and Mayank Tewari for the article on Anil Yadav and his book on the North East. For us, who’ve suffered the misfortune of being turned away from Hindi by schoolteachers teaching infantalising textbooks, but who love reading and come to it from English, this is a much needed exposure – to writers and writing, discourses and conversations happening in the non-English Indian world. This is hampered by many things like the woeful state of translation in India or the unimaginative and mediocre cultural journalism in India. If the Disneyfication of India is to be avoided, then Indian cultural production has to have a pulsating life outside Bollywood and IPL. This means telling Indian stories in Indian voices to each other independent of box-office concerns – in niches small and various and aplenty. To find our David Foster Wallace so that one day they may find their Anil Yadav.
Thanks for introducing me to a new voice. I haven’t read a book written in Hindi since class 10. This will change soon.–Samrat Chakrabarti