Frivolous objections
Thank you for this post. Interesting title – Malhotra as a modern Rand. (“Plagiarism row: How Rajiv Malhotra became the Ayn Rand of Internet Hindutva”) Yes, Rajiv Malhotra is iconic and is shaking people out of their comfort zone. I thought your coverage, a Westerner's gaze at Malhotra, is predictably problematic. For example you fail to tell us why Malhotra finds the work of Wendy Donigar and her "children" works objectionable. It’s because they apply Freud's psychoanalysis to Indian deities.
For example, they apply the Oedipus Complex to Shiva, his wife Parvati and their elephant-head son Ganesh. In this way, Lord Ganesh's elephant trunk is analysed by Wendy to be a "limp phallus". Can anyone disagree that this idea is extremely objectionable to Hindus? – Ragini Sharma
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So what exactly has this got to do with Ayn Rand? - Dawsonjg on email
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Just saying that someone has plagiarised is not enough. Swiftboating Rajiv Malhotra will not work. I'm sure a bunch of people have already sent you a response to the plagiarism charges.
Rajiv Malhotra has done more rigorous research on the topics he writes about than all of your writers combined. Certainly Shoaib Daniyal has no credentials in this matter. All he can do is go by the word of Martha Nassbaum. Has he tried to read Malhotra's books? They're so chock-full of attributions and sources that you could get dizzy. It is a challenge getting through them because every few paragraphs he cites specific sources. Anyone who has read his books knows that he is very meticulous and rigorous about citing sources.
Your calling "Yankee Hindutva" an "admirable" phrase itself gives you away. You're doing a good job of playing to the gallery.– Raj
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It is said that Rajiv Malhotra's own children have converted to Christianity. Perhaps this is the reason for his angst against the West. Wonder why his so-called 'scholarship proof' had no impact on them, perhaps his blatant 'Fekugiri' put them off too. – Pradeep Gop
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It is amazing that so much has been written by Shoaib Daniyal because he seems to want to show his objectivity. If that is so, Shoaib, can you please respond point by point to the rebuttal given by independent readers? Why are you defending the Left leaning, India and Hindu-bashing bunch? If you are a journalist, irrespective of your own religion or bias otherwise, you should be objective in analysing the issue at hand point by point. Richard Young Fox is a silly troll on Twitter, and raises frivolous objections. Please respond point by point to the rebuttal, and we will see how balanced you are! – Krishna Kumar Pillalamarri
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I'm pretty sure "Yankee Hindutva" was not "Gita Ramaswamy’s admirable phrase”, as the article has it. In his letter dated May 21, 2007, to a young American Hindu, Vijay Prashad, he wrote: "More than a decade ago, I used the term 'Yankee Hindutva' to describe the way Hindu chauvinism came into the United States." That would put the coinage back to at least 1997, long before the May 23, 2011, Outlook India article your piece links to.
I happen to know this as I was checking out Prashad's work several years ago, and have a great interest in the subject. – Chris Locke
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Chetan Bhagat should next write a psychoanalysis of Rajiv Malhotra. Hatred sometimes makes you lose your mind. – Kalpesh Sharma
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Why can't Nicholson understand and accept that we Indians are basically good at "jugaad." We do not produce original stuff, this is in keeping with our cultural tradition of which Rajiv Malhotra is a proud guardian. Nicholson should learn the word Jugaad to describe Malhotra or maybe Chor and Feku will also just be fine. – M Srinivasa Rao
Tight-fisted Indians
This is with reference to your article on Azim Premji and philanthrophy (“Azim Premji aside, why are India’s ultra rich so tight-fisted when it comes to philanthropy?”). The Paranic paradigm of Hinduism is Brahmin-centric and Devata-centric. It is not Manavata-centric.
Hence, we find religious activities such as construction of temples, patronising Brahmins et al, are central to the core of Hindu tradition, followed blindly without question, as being the immutable truth. This of course, it isn't. The vested interested of Brahmins to protect their interests and those of their progeny, lies foremost in this paradigm.
Hence, people will donate to temple causes rather than for humanitarian ones. This has been evident through centuries, when with the fall of Buddhism, Brahminism in its obscurantism, never created centres of learning for the aam aadmi.
Much has been said by scholars such as Dr BR Ambedkar, Swami Dharmateerth in The History of Hindu Imperialism and works by Dr K Jamnadas such as Tirupati Balaji was a Buddhist Shrine, Decline & Fall of Buddhism - A Tragedy in Ancient India and Devadasis Ancient to Modern among others. Various other works of Buddhist scholars are extant. – Lama Shree
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As someone who raises funds for a not-for-profit hospital and school for disadvantage children in Chhattisgarh, I can tell you that trying to get Indians to donate money or time (whether they live in India or abroad) is like extracting a juicy bone from the maws of a wolf.
I'm glad you've written this article but I think you could dig deeper.
A global survey done by the Guardian showed that Indians and Chinese have the least charitable citizens, while Sri Lankans are the sixth most generous with time and money for volunteer purposes.
The 2% for CSR is the biggest fraud there is. As you rightly pointed out, the process is not transparent, the websites do not convey the company's current funding interests, how they go about selecting causes to fund, how an organisation can apply for funding, or how they measure the social impact of their donations. NGOs, on the other hand, are required to jump through hoops to prove transparency in their actions and that money spent has measurable social impact.
I recommend you do a follow up study looking at various companies, their CSR pages and their responses when you try to write to them introducing your NGO. – Gayatri Ganesh
Question time
Fantastic interview of Rajdeep Sardesai by Akash Banerjee. Way to go ("The Rajdeep Sardesai interview: 'Today, you are expected to be a bhakt or a permanent critic'"). – Ajay Arora
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Good interview. But one question that ought to have been asked is how deep the malaise of 'paid news' is and what effect it would have on the society? – Shishir Dholakia
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Rajdeep Sardesai, you stand tall amongst your peers . – Rohini Bhola
Indian democracy
The military dictatorship article is not only amazing but very revealing as well (“Why there has never been a military dictatorship in India”). We take freedom for granted. We are indeed in a lap of luxury when compared to several nations all over the world. Every reaffirmation or rejection of political masters is smooth despite low literacy and awareness. The changing environment will only strengthen the process. – Ajit Agharkar
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It is a fact that people have been losing faith in the democratic system irrespective which political party forms the government at the Centre.
People have not been given a transparent people-friendly and accountable administration. So, hatred towards democracy may create unpleasant situations. This is the reality. – Amaranth Rengachari
Planning woes
It was interesting to read Rishi Aggarwal's article about Mumbai's coastal road, especially his institutional take on the issue rather than a project-specific critique (“Mumbai’s coastal road: A case of putting the cart before the horse”). Having worked with non-profits and citizens' groups around planning advocacy projects in Mumbai for a few years, this holistic view of what is good planning seems to be a rare commodity among government agencies and citizens' groups and that is truly heartening to see. What the article misses though is as interesting as what it includes.
Rishi calls the "(dis)proportionality of enthusiasm" – why we do not show enthusiasm in building better planning institutions – he does not define who constitutes the collective 'we', and therein lies the rub: the reason why this disproportion exists is that it reflects the disproportion we (which I would define as the well-to-do in our city) want to sustain in this increasingly unequal city. It appears the city has approximately 750,000 private vehicles in a population of close to 20 million.
Transportation planning in particular has focused on making these people somewhat satisfied even if it leads to ridiculous contradictions. The Sea Link built without the Peddar Road flyover comes to mind, because taking away access to the sea for hundreds of fisherfolk in Mahim is not considered as important as maintaining nice views for Peddar Road's residents. – Siddharth Nadkarny
Fact and fiction
You are contradicting your own great findings (“Rani Padmini and four other Hindutva history myths exploded”)! You have mentioned that Sanskrit was a language founded somewhere near the Black Sea together with other languages like Greek and Latin and they were some 6,000 years old.
In the other sub item, you are denying that Ayurveda, etc. are not 5,000 years old whereas they are all written in Sanskrit. This shows how shallow your knowledge is. – Omprakash Ramkrishna
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I think the whole history of the world is a probability. This article has been written by anti-Sanatan Dharmi sentiments. God bless the poor author. – Bhaskar Sharma
RIP, Aruna Shanbaug
I have just read Pinki Virani’s Aruna’s Story and it was very hard (“Aruna Shanbaug, the focus of India's euthanasia debate, finally dies a natural death”). I had to put the book down several times. Poor, poor Aruna. So pleased that she has been released from her deep misery.
May she find peace in heaven. I can't believe she was left in a vegetative state for 42 years, which only prolonged her agony. – Sheila Parkes
Bobby Jindal doesn’t care
No Bobby Jindal. If he can't honour his family or his roots, how he will honour and care for the citizens (“POTUS Palooza 2016: There's another candidate who is much more Indian than Bobby Jindal”). – Neelima Pradhan
Wonderful paintings
Wonderful paintings of an ethereal quality (“A ticket examiner captures the beauty of Indian Railways in these colourful paintings”). – SB Mishra
Physicians, heal
The situation in Madhya Pradesh is pathetic and aspiring students are subject to unfair competition. Agreed that a Vyapam-like situation is scandalous (“Vyapam's hidden costs: Broken dreams and a health system staffed by dodgy doctors”).
There is another situation caused by the 69% reservation given in Tamil Nadu, and the talented brainy people belonging to so-called upper caste do not have any chance to get in to medical colleges at all. Besides, the relentless pursuit by the political class and exploitation by the selected candidates who can never be questioned due to the immunity given by constitutional amendments has resulted in candidates of questionable knowledge becoming doctors. These people graduate after many attempts, do not improve the competence as they don’t make any attempt to upgrade their knowledge and take every possible route to garner government jobs.
They use the position to get the patients to their private clinic for the treatment and make money. The condition of patients is pathetic as they are treated by mildly incompetent doctors. I would like to call them quack doctors with a degree.
The entire Indian medical system requires a thorough overhaul to bring about quality and maintain its pride of place. – Rajan
Unfair comparisons
Most citizens tend to favour the first leader after Independence (“Thought Modi was popular? Wait till you see how much citizens 'love' these Central Asian leaders”). All the countries that were mentioned in the article have a higher percentage of vote base because all are new countries formed after splitting from Russia (USSR). So, a fair comparison of these central Asian leaders should be with Nehru or Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and not with the present leaders. – Muthuraja
Teesta's defence
Teesta Setalvad does not refute the allegations regarding the purchase of booze, shoes, and other expensive sundries from around the world to the tune of crores of rupees as reported (“Modi government's hounding of Teesta Setalvad is a message to all dissidents”). She claims that they were paid for from her "personal income".
Pray, how do "dissident" human rights campaigners in India such as Setalvad and her husband generate this kind of 'income'? The obvious answer appears to be by siphoning off gobs of money put under their charge for humanitarian (and other) purposes. On the surface at least, Setalvad's explanations appear extremely doubtful and self-serving. So why not let the courts settle this before you give space to motivated journalists to spout vitriolic against Modi and his government? – Amit Sinha
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We often wonder why such stories did not appear when the Congress was ruling. Funding of these NGOs is always under question. The West did not want the Russians to set up the Kudankulam nuclear plant. These days no one buys you free lunch. We fail to understand why these NGOs are funded. Please do not forget what the Congress has done in the past. We would like read about them too. – Murali Iyer
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It should be evident to anyone as is to a near nonagenarian like me that, first the Gujarat government, and now the Centre is harassing Teesta Setalvad and her husband, trying to hamstring their efforts to help people who have suffered in Gujarat in 2002.
India is going through dark times. We should be grateful to those who battle on and support them in whatever way we can. I am cowardly enough to be pleased that I may not last out the first five years of this government, but sad to think of the millions who will have to bear with it. – Maggie Thomas
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All citizens fighting for justice, secularism, freedom and liberty must take serious note of the harassment towards Teesta Setalvad by the State (“Modi government's hounding of Teesta Setalvad is a message to all dissidents”). It is shamelessly using its power to crush her voice for justice.
Kalpana Sharma's article is eye opening. It reminds of the person who did not speak when his neighbour was taken away by the fascist forces. Next day, another neighbour was picked up and he remained silent. This way one by one all the neighbours were taken away to jail. Then when the fascist forces came to arrest the person who was merely a silent spectator, there was no one to oppose his arrest.. – Yusuf Shaikh
Manipur protests
Nice article. It gives a clear insight about the indigenous sections present in Northeast India (“Inner Line Permit protests in Manipur are one community's bid to retain its predominance”). I am one of the few against ILP but not for the reasons you cited. I feel it’s not correct to say that Meiteis enjoy unrestricted political power. In the past, we had tribal chief ministers and still have many political leaders and even in the police forces that have strong political hold in the administration.
Reservations were given in order to uplift members of backward and unrepresentative sections of people so that they could get better opportunities and enhance their social and educational status. It is not a permanent status to be enjoyed for an indefinite period. We want to utilise our rights at the maximum but fail to exercise our duties. Fifty years after independence, we still want to enjoy reservation status. None of the already uplifted individuals has discussed exclusion from reservations and utilising funds for other upliftment programmes. The creamy layer, the property owners and professional class all try to find ways to gets reservations although they are not constitutionally entitled to it. – Sophia Rajkumari
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Is Richard Kamei Manipuri? Please don't write any story about the ILP issue blindly not knowing anything. The ILP demand is for all indigenous Manipuri communities and people. – Thawal Yumnam
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Since there is a prohibition that no outsider shall be domiciled in the hill areas, including Meitei and residents, the hill areas are fully secure. Likewise, if the people of Manipur demand the implementation of the ILP spearheaded by Meiteis to secure Manipur, all communities should support the agitation. – Gyanendra Raj Kumar
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Why spare the Congress?
When you attack the BJP at everything possible, then why spare the Congress? (“At Sonia's iftar party, the shifting Congress power balance becomes apparent”) In this article and even in a few previous ones, there seems to be a positive bias towards Congress and Rahul Gandhi. We all have seen his interviews and speeches so we all know how stupid he is. By using phrases like “his new aggressive avatar”, you are just trying to show him as a leader fighting the BJP. Why not be neutral to all parties in praise and criticism? – Abhishek Sharma
The golden period in Kashmir
There is only one genuine point in the BJP's argument which cannot be refuted (“Who owns the memories of July 13, 1931? In J&K, it is a divisive question”). The Dogra rule, though unjust, could definitely be considered as the period of golden rule in the modern history of Kashmir compared to the Indian rule, represented by the successive regimes in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
There were no custodial killings, no involuntary disappearances, no mass killings and no bloodbaths, except the one in 1931, during the entire Dogra period. What Kashmir has seen during the past 25 years can never be effaced from the minds of future generations. The brutal killings and bloodbath which took place from 1990-2000 onwards are unparalleled in history. Such sacrifices only get eclipsed by commemorating July 13.
Going back to 1931, it was Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the July 13 carnage. History is full of such incidents when autocratic rulers suppressed protests through brutal methods. – Rafi Punjabi
Just do it
It pains me to read such requests made by girls openly in public (“Please provide sanitary napkins for detained protesters: An open letter to Delhi police”). Therefore, with due respect to our police department, I request them to provide the girls with sanitary napkins.
It is like a punishment if this type of help is not provided to them. Let us see that they will not be made to request for such things openly, as it is a very delicate issue. – Srilaxmi Mylavarapu
No comparison
The comment about the Emergency and the comparison between Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi betrays the bias of the author (“In media's Emergency analyses, Indira stood as proxy for anxieties about Narendra Modi”). He seems to suggest that the personality cult began and ended with Indira Gandhi and has resurfaced with the electoral victory of Modi. Nothing can be farther than the truth.
The cult of personality is embedded in the politics of "leaders" such as M Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav. – S Venkataraman
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Once upon a time, Indira Gandhi was even depicted on a magazine cover as Bharat Mata. Was she also on posters in this avatar? - gok-8@spro.net
Undemocratic raids
The action and its timing of the CBI raid on Teesta Setalvad's residence is undemocratic (“CBI raids Teesta Setalvad's home two weeks before Gujarat high court hears case against Modi's 'clean chit'”). – Prakash Burte
The sprit of Mumbai
An excellent example of coexistence beating the man-animal conflict (“A Mumbai Victoria horse-carriage builder sees the end of the road for him in the High Court ban”). Whether it is a terrorist attack or a carnivore living nearby, Mumbaikers take it on their stride positively. Long live this spirit of Mumbaikers. – KH Gopalakrishne Gowda
Spare the deities
I see that you have made use of the Google Deep Dream images with religious iconography, including Hindu deities (“See how terrifying India looks once it has been run through Google's trippy Deep Dream engine”). India has a splendid diversity and has got many picturesque locations and there are many other images related to India that you could have experimented on.
Please do refrain from experimenting on images of deities as well as making related posts, because you could be hurting the sentiments of many Hindus across the country. – Chukku R
Song sung true
The problem with music listeners is their low perceived value of the "song" and high desirability of ‘songs’ (“Streaming may suffocate the music industry – or save it”).
We all talk about music but forget that at any given point in time, the listener is dealing with 4-5 minutes of an entertainment module which is the singular song. The perceived value in such a short duration of entertainment goes up only when it is a chartbuster song. Otherwise it is the collection of songs that is valued. It is a double whammy of sorts that the short duration of song also lends it to easy piracy.
In the near future, streaming should help us understand the final demand-supply-price equation for ascertaining the value of a song. Hopefully, from there business should realign investments for viability. – Gangaraju SS
Out of context
Comparing pro and anti-Modi feelings to Atticus Finch's attitudes toward race totally out of context and poorly informed (“Why Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set A Watchman’ cuts close to the lives of many Indians”). People were tired of six decades of rule by a single family that treated entire India as its fiefdom, and wanted someone to take a wrecking ball to the Gandhi-Nehru family and its extensive power structure. I don't believe Indian attitudes toward caste changed as much as American attitudes toward race in the past fifty years. – Janaki Ram Ray
Need good translators
Arunava Sinha’s article bemoans the absence of regional-language writing in foreign markets and asserts that "quality – either of the original works or of the translations – is not the issue” ("Indian literature must look beyond English to go global").
The quality of the original works is not the issue, but the quality of the translations – with respect to Sinha, a prolific translator – certainly is. The vast majority of translators translate from their mother tongue into English. As a rule, they have an excellent knowledge of the original language but are poor stylists in English. Translation of fiction is much more than the literal reproduction of meaning. The fallacious assumption – one propagated by Sinha elsewhere – that a translator needs to be embedded in the literary culture of the original work – rather than be an accomplished writer in English – has doomed any prospect of regional-language fiction going global or even national.
Look at the literary authors who do find a global audience in translation – Knausgaard, Ferrante, etc. Their translators are typically British or American, translating into rather than out of their mother tongue. The best translators of Indian-language fiction at present are Jason Grunebaum and Daisy Rockwell, both of whom learnt English as adults.
Until Indian language writers find better translators, no amount of publicity from publishers is going to get them anywhere. – Prapanch Kulkarni
Look beyond sweet words
So news writers can go to any length to create sensation because the accused belonged to a particular community that is already living under threat? (“The many wrong messages that hanging Yakub Memon would send”). This is the serious problem with Indian media that every time a Muslim convicted of brutal crimes is being hanged, media starts writing that it will send out a wrong message. The media needs to look beyond the some emotional words written by Yakub Menon. – Manoj Saini
Contacting Shirin Dalvi
Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the challenges Shirin Dalvi faces (“Six months since she published Charlie Hebdo cover, Urdu editor struggles for work and money”). I was relieved to read of the efforts of the human rights collective – Hum Aazaadiyon Ke Haq Mein – but was disappointed that you had not provided any additional information. How can one donate to the organisation and contribute towards the collection? I think this information ought to be shared with your readers. – Mukti Khaire
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I read your article on Ms Dalvi. Would like to help her in a small way. Could you send her address? – Varun Arora
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I wanted to contribute. Can you let me know where to send the money. The Scroll story does not mention this. – Manjari Katju
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Would like to help. Grateful if you forward Mrs Dalvi's email. – Deepak Bhaagt
Please publish a link or address for the group that is trying to help this brave and persecuted person. Many, like me, would like to contribute from abroad. – CM Naim
Remembering Rembrandt
Bravo. Superb article (“Move aside 'Night Watch' – Rembrandt painted Mughal miniatures too”). – Jyoti Pande
Childhood days
What a beautiful piece. It was the same feeling I got while taking part in Hindu festivals of Diwali and Ugadi (Telugu New Year’s) celebrations (“Ramzan nights, not just days, have their own rhythm and soundscape”). The early morning wake-up calls, the nadaswarams blaring out of the radio, cousins and brothers lazily getting up from their beds after repeated pleadings from my parents and Chachas, the ambience reminded me of my school days.
Nothing like having an oil bath and that shikakai (a herbal shampoo) powder which produced more surf than the present-day shampoos, and that new pair of clothes followed by steaming Pongal energised our morning by that customary firecracker. If it was Ugadi, the chutney made up of neem flowers, jaggery plus tamarind, was the star item of the day. Going to the temple in the morning with the new trousers was always a tradition which we four brothers maintained to this day.
Festivals in childhood had their own place and those traditional practices have been overtaken by modern methods. I salute Taran Khan for her nostalgic piece which revived my childhood days. – Veturi Sriharsha
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As a non-Muslim, I found this memory piece a fascinating evocation of an important spiritual and cultural holiday in which the writer shared her personal experience of Ramzan in her Aligarh home and then in other, more foreign places. It’s beautiful and informative.– Vibhuti Patel
Failing students
A well-written overview of what goes on in the IITs (“Why IIT Roorkee's expulsion of students to improve academic quality is unfair”). It seems like some students will always fail because of average CGPA.
No matter what, to admit the cream of the crop (a few thousand out of 1.25 billion population) and then failing them is ridiculous. – Purnima Gupta
Vegetarian terror
Kudos on a very interesting article written from a perspective I had never considered (“Reality check: Vegetarians, there’s more animal blood on your hands”).
I am a non-vegetarian and have never understood the rampant modern vegetarian terrorism that has been unleashed in the last decade or two. Not to mention the sly taunt that non-vegetarians are in some way unethical and murderers. This puts the ball right back in the court of the vegetarian fanatics.
Maybe, just maybe, now they'll live and let live. – Dr Kurush F Dalal
No state patronage
Good to see the mainstream media take interest in the RSS (“An unnoticed fact: the RSS, India’s biggest NGO, gets foreign funding too”).
First, some facts: The RSS is not a registered organisation. It does not enjoy any state patronage nor can it raise funds even from the general Indian public, let alone foreign entities. The RSS runs on the selfless sacrifice of its millions of Swayamsewaks. Many Swayamsewaks have formed organisations in the service of society. The RSS has no legal or economic standing in such organisations. Chief among them being the running of schools, numbering about 30,000, and providing quality education at minimal cost to lower middle-class and poor families.
True to RSS character, they do not take a penny from any government, even the BJP government. The same is with more than 150,000 service projects that work among the poor, unlettered and downtrodden.
We all know that the lion's share of relief activities in any calamity, natural or manmade comes from the Sangh, and to set the record straight, here again there is not a penny of government support. Wherever issues of foreign funding are involved, organisations run by Swayamsewaks are probably among the best in complying with every norm.
We would expect educated criticism of any public work and not propaganda from esteemed agencies like you. – Venkata Raghava
Better than Federer
I was quite pleased when I came across the piece about Serena Williams on Scroll.in (“The real question: Is Serena Williams the greatest athlete of our times?”). The author, Oindrila Mukherjee, has very clearly pointed out how Serena Williams is getting better with age as she exhibited at SW19 by winning her sixth Wimbledon crown. Despite facing a barrage of sexist and racist slurs, Williams is dislodging her competitors with ease and is inching closer towards matching the grand slam tally of Steffi Graf and Margaret Court.
In the contemporary era, there is only one player who can compete with Williams for the title of the “greatest tennis player ever” and that is none other than Swiss maestro Roger Federer. Considering her impressive tally of 21 grand slam singles and 13 grand slam doubles titles, we can easily state that Serena has the upper hand when compared with Federer who has won 17 grand slams in the men’s singles category.
Add to that Serena’s Olympic singles gold medal in 2012 as also three Olympic doubles gold medals and Serena is comfortably above Federer who is yet to win an Olympic medal in the singles category. Serena is a proven talent in twin categories of tennis but Federer’s class is primarily restricted to singles tennis. – Saif Ahmad Khan
Persian paradox
Well-written article. I support India’s relation with Iran (“Why Iran's rise holds huge potential for India (but conditions apply)”). – Harold Lutchman
Unfair credit
As far as I know, the dragons in Game of Thrones were worked upon by what is left of the RnH LA outfit (“This Indian company made Khaleesi’s dragons in 'Game of Thrones'”). This is just a case of taking undue and unfair credit by some obscure studio that managed to purchase this once awesome studio. – Raphael Fernandes
Idiotic, bhai
Almost all Hindi movies are not-well researched (“Film review: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ has two stars, neither of whom is called Salman or Kareena”). They just tend to gloss over or give a comical colour to hide the utter lack of knowledge of the writers, directors and actors. There'll be rhetoric but that's about it. Salman Khan's movies are all idiotic and juvenile, to put it nicely, with no sense of coherence and logic. – Binod K Gurung
Please don't preach
It is really amusing that a company like Infosys founded and run by Narayan Murthy for several years, has hardly gone beyond the "body shopping" model (“Full text: Narayana Murthy questions the contribution of IITs and IISc in the last 60 years”). Has Infosys or for that matter other IT companies made attempts to innovate and design a product?
The obvious answer seems on the negative side as they fear that their profits will fall; contrast this approach with those of Bay Area "start-up" companies which took high risks not bothering about profits. Today they are big names. It is nothing but hypocrisy to talk about IISc, IITs, etc. and contrast these institutions with MIT and UC.
It is time to act, Mr Narayanan, not sermonise. – Narasimhan Parth
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letters@scroll.in.
Thank you for this post. Interesting title – Malhotra as a modern Rand. (“Plagiarism row: How Rajiv Malhotra became the Ayn Rand of Internet Hindutva”) Yes, Rajiv Malhotra is iconic and is shaking people out of their comfort zone. I thought your coverage, a Westerner's gaze at Malhotra, is predictably problematic. For example you fail to tell us why Malhotra finds the work of Wendy Donigar and her "children" works objectionable. It’s because they apply Freud's psychoanalysis to Indian deities.
For example, they apply the Oedipus Complex to Shiva, his wife Parvati and their elephant-head son Ganesh. In this way, Lord Ganesh's elephant trunk is analysed by Wendy to be a "limp phallus". Can anyone disagree that this idea is extremely objectionable to Hindus? – Ragini Sharma
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So what exactly has this got to do with Ayn Rand? - Dawsonjg on email
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Just saying that someone has plagiarised is not enough. Swiftboating Rajiv Malhotra will not work. I'm sure a bunch of people have already sent you a response to the plagiarism charges.
Rajiv Malhotra has done more rigorous research on the topics he writes about than all of your writers combined. Certainly Shoaib Daniyal has no credentials in this matter. All he can do is go by the word of Martha Nassbaum. Has he tried to read Malhotra's books? They're so chock-full of attributions and sources that you could get dizzy. It is a challenge getting through them because every few paragraphs he cites specific sources. Anyone who has read his books knows that he is very meticulous and rigorous about citing sources.
Your calling "Yankee Hindutva" an "admirable" phrase itself gives you away. You're doing a good job of playing to the gallery.– Raj
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It is said that Rajiv Malhotra's own children have converted to Christianity. Perhaps this is the reason for his angst against the West. Wonder why his so-called 'scholarship proof' had no impact on them, perhaps his blatant 'Fekugiri' put them off too. – Pradeep Gop
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It is amazing that so much has been written by Shoaib Daniyal because he seems to want to show his objectivity. If that is so, Shoaib, can you please respond point by point to the rebuttal given by independent readers? Why are you defending the Left leaning, India and Hindu-bashing bunch? If you are a journalist, irrespective of your own religion or bias otherwise, you should be objective in analysing the issue at hand point by point. Richard Young Fox is a silly troll on Twitter, and raises frivolous objections. Please respond point by point to the rebuttal, and we will see how balanced you are! – Krishna Kumar Pillalamarri
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I'm pretty sure "Yankee Hindutva" was not "Gita Ramaswamy’s admirable phrase”, as the article has it. In his letter dated May 21, 2007, to a young American Hindu, Vijay Prashad, he wrote: "More than a decade ago, I used the term 'Yankee Hindutva' to describe the way Hindu chauvinism came into the United States." That would put the coinage back to at least 1997, long before the May 23, 2011, Outlook India article your piece links to.
I happen to know this as I was checking out Prashad's work several years ago, and have a great interest in the subject. – Chris Locke
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Chetan Bhagat should next write a psychoanalysis of Rajiv Malhotra. Hatred sometimes makes you lose your mind. – Kalpesh Sharma
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Why can't Nicholson understand and accept that we Indians are basically good at "jugaad." We do not produce original stuff, this is in keeping with our cultural tradition of which Rajiv Malhotra is a proud guardian. Nicholson should learn the word Jugaad to describe Malhotra or maybe Chor and Feku will also just be fine. – M Srinivasa Rao
Tight-fisted Indians
This is with reference to your article on Azim Premji and philanthrophy (“Azim Premji aside, why are India’s ultra rich so tight-fisted when it comes to philanthropy?”). The Paranic paradigm of Hinduism is Brahmin-centric and Devata-centric. It is not Manavata-centric.
Hence, we find religious activities such as construction of temples, patronising Brahmins et al, are central to the core of Hindu tradition, followed blindly without question, as being the immutable truth. This of course, it isn't. The vested interested of Brahmins to protect their interests and those of their progeny, lies foremost in this paradigm.
Hence, people will donate to temple causes rather than for humanitarian ones. This has been evident through centuries, when with the fall of Buddhism, Brahminism in its obscurantism, never created centres of learning for the aam aadmi.
Much has been said by scholars such as Dr BR Ambedkar, Swami Dharmateerth in The History of Hindu Imperialism and works by Dr K Jamnadas such as Tirupati Balaji was a Buddhist Shrine, Decline & Fall of Buddhism - A Tragedy in Ancient India and Devadasis Ancient to Modern among others. Various other works of Buddhist scholars are extant. – Lama Shree
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As someone who raises funds for a not-for-profit hospital and school for disadvantage children in Chhattisgarh, I can tell you that trying to get Indians to donate money or time (whether they live in India or abroad) is like extracting a juicy bone from the maws of a wolf.
I'm glad you've written this article but I think you could dig deeper.
A global survey done by the Guardian showed that Indians and Chinese have the least charitable citizens, while Sri Lankans are the sixth most generous with time and money for volunteer purposes.
The 2% for CSR is the biggest fraud there is. As you rightly pointed out, the process is not transparent, the websites do not convey the company's current funding interests, how they go about selecting causes to fund, how an organisation can apply for funding, or how they measure the social impact of their donations. NGOs, on the other hand, are required to jump through hoops to prove transparency in their actions and that money spent has measurable social impact.
I recommend you do a follow up study looking at various companies, their CSR pages and their responses when you try to write to them introducing your NGO. – Gayatri Ganesh
Question time
Fantastic interview of Rajdeep Sardesai by Akash Banerjee. Way to go ("The Rajdeep Sardesai interview: 'Today, you are expected to be a bhakt or a permanent critic'"). – Ajay Arora
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Good interview. But one question that ought to have been asked is how deep the malaise of 'paid news' is and what effect it would have on the society? – Shishir Dholakia
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Rajdeep Sardesai, you stand tall amongst your peers . – Rohini Bhola
Indian democracy
The military dictatorship article is not only amazing but very revealing as well (“Why there has never been a military dictatorship in India”). We take freedom for granted. We are indeed in a lap of luxury when compared to several nations all over the world. Every reaffirmation or rejection of political masters is smooth despite low literacy and awareness. The changing environment will only strengthen the process. – Ajit Agharkar
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It is a fact that people have been losing faith in the democratic system irrespective which political party forms the government at the Centre.
People have not been given a transparent people-friendly and accountable administration. So, hatred towards democracy may create unpleasant situations. This is the reality. – Amaranth Rengachari
Planning woes
It was interesting to read Rishi Aggarwal's article about Mumbai's coastal road, especially his institutional take on the issue rather than a project-specific critique (“Mumbai’s coastal road: A case of putting the cart before the horse”). Having worked with non-profits and citizens' groups around planning advocacy projects in Mumbai for a few years, this holistic view of what is good planning seems to be a rare commodity among government agencies and citizens' groups and that is truly heartening to see. What the article misses though is as interesting as what it includes.
Rishi calls the "(dis)proportionality of enthusiasm" – why we do not show enthusiasm in building better planning institutions – he does not define who constitutes the collective 'we', and therein lies the rub: the reason why this disproportion exists is that it reflects the disproportion we (which I would define as the well-to-do in our city) want to sustain in this increasingly unequal city. It appears the city has approximately 750,000 private vehicles in a population of close to 20 million.
Transportation planning in particular has focused on making these people somewhat satisfied even if it leads to ridiculous contradictions. The Sea Link built without the Peddar Road flyover comes to mind, because taking away access to the sea for hundreds of fisherfolk in Mahim is not considered as important as maintaining nice views for Peddar Road's residents. – Siddharth Nadkarny
Fact and fiction
You are contradicting your own great findings (“Rani Padmini and four other Hindutva history myths exploded”)! You have mentioned that Sanskrit was a language founded somewhere near the Black Sea together with other languages like Greek and Latin and they were some 6,000 years old.
In the other sub item, you are denying that Ayurveda, etc. are not 5,000 years old whereas they are all written in Sanskrit. This shows how shallow your knowledge is. – Omprakash Ramkrishna
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I think the whole history of the world is a probability. This article has been written by anti-Sanatan Dharmi sentiments. God bless the poor author. – Bhaskar Sharma
RIP, Aruna Shanbaug
I have just read Pinki Virani’s Aruna’s Story and it was very hard (“Aruna Shanbaug, the focus of India's euthanasia debate, finally dies a natural death”). I had to put the book down several times. Poor, poor Aruna. So pleased that she has been released from her deep misery.
May she find peace in heaven. I can't believe she was left in a vegetative state for 42 years, which only prolonged her agony. – Sheila Parkes
Bobby Jindal doesn’t care
No Bobby Jindal. If he can't honour his family or his roots, how he will honour and care for the citizens (“POTUS Palooza 2016: There's another candidate who is much more Indian than Bobby Jindal”). – Neelima Pradhan
Wonderful paintings
Wonderful paintings of an ethereal quality (“A ticket examiner captures the beauty of Indian Railways in these colourful paintings”). – SB Mishra
Physicians, heal
The situation in Madhya Pradesh is pathetic and aspiring students are subject to unfair competition. Agreed that a Vyapam-like situation is scandalous (“Vyapam's hidden costs: Broken dreams and a health system staffed by dodgy doctors”).
There is another situation caused by the 69% reservation given in Tamil Nadu, and the talented brainy people belonging to so-called upper caste do not have any chance to get in to medical colleges at all. Besides, the relentless pursuit by the political class and exploitation by the selected candidates who can never be questioned due to the immunity given by constitutional amendments has resulted in candidates of questionable knowledge becoming doctors. These people graduate after many attempts, do not improve the competence as they don’t make any attempt to upgrade their knowledge and take every possible route to garner government jobs.
They use the position to get the patients to their private clinic for the treatment and make money. The condition of patients is pathetic as they are treated by mildly incompetent doctors. I would like to call them quack doctors with a degree.
The entire Indian medical system requires a thorough overhaul to bring about quality and maintain its pride of place. – Rajan
Unfair comparisons
Most citizens tend to favour the first leader after Independence (“Thought Modi was popular? Wait till you see how much citizens 'love' these Central Asian leaders”). All the countries that were mentioned in the article have a higher percentage of vote base because all are new countries formed after splitting from Russia (USSR). So, a fair comparison of these central Asian leaders should be with Nehru or Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and not with the present leaders. – Muthuraja
Teesta's defence
Teesta Setalvad does not refute the allegations regarding the purchase of booze, shoes, and other expensive sundries from around the world to the tune of crores of rupees as reported (“Modi government's hounding of Teesta Setalvad is a message to all dissidents”). She claims that they were paid for from her "personal income".
Pray, how do "dissident" human rights campaigners in India such as Setalvad and her husband generate this kind of 'income'? The obvious answer appears to be by siphoning off gobs of money put under their charge for humanitarian (and other) purposes. On the surface at least, Setalvad's explanations appear extremely doubtful and self-serving. So why not let the courts settle this before you give space to motivated journalists to spout vitriolic against Modi and his government? – Amit Sinha
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We often wonder why such stories did not appear when the Congress was ruling. Funding of these NGOs is always under question. The West did not want the Russians to set up the Kudankulam nuclear plant. These days no one buys you free lunch. We fail to understand why these NGOs are funded. Please do not forget what the Congress has done in the past. We would like read about them too. – Murali Iyer
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It should be evident to anyone as is to a near nonagenarian like me that, first the Gujarat government, and now the Centre is harassing Teesta Setalvad and her husband, trying to hamstring their efforts to help people who have suffered in Gujarat in 2002.
India is going through dark times. We should be grateful to those who battle on and support them in whatever way we can. I am cowardly enough to be pleased that I may not last out the first five years of this government, but sad to think of the millions who will have to bear with it. – Maggie Thomas
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All citizens fighting for justice, secularism, freedom and liberty must take serious note of the harassment towards Teesta Setalvad by the State (“Modi government's hounding of Teesta Setalvad is a message to all dissidents”). It is shamelessly using its power to crush her voice for justice.
Kalpana Sharma's article is eye opening. It reminds of the person who did not speak when his neighbour was taken away by the fascist forces. Next day, another neighbour was picked up and he remained silent. This way one by one all the neighbours were taken away to jail. Then when the fascist forces came to arrest the person who was merely a silent spectator, there was no one to oppose his arrest.. – Yusuf Shaikh
Manipur protests
Nice article. It gives a clear insight about the indigenous sections present in Northeast India (“Inner Line Permit protests in Manipur are one community's bid to retain its predominance”). I am one of the few against ILP but not for the reasons you cited. I feel it’s not correct to say that Meiteis enjoy unrestricted political power. In the past, we had tribal chief ministers and still have many political leaders and even in the police forces that have strong political hold in the administration.
Reservations were given in order to uplift members of backward and unrepresentative sections of people so that they could get better opportunities and enhance their social and educational status. It is not a permanent status to be enjoyed for an indefinite period. We want to utilise our rights at the maximum but fail to exercise our duties. Fifty years after independence, we still want to enjoy reservation status. None of the already uplifted individuals has discussed exclusion from reservations and utilising funds for other upliftment programmes. The creamy layer, the property owners and professional class all try to find ways to gets reservations although they are not constitutionally entitled to it. – Sophia Rajkumari
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Is Richard Kamei Manipuri? Please don't write any story about the ILP issue blindly not knowing anything. The ILP demand is for all indigenous Manipuri communities and people. – Thawal Yumnam
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Since there is a prohibition that no outsider shall be domiciled in the hill areas, including Meitei and residents, the hill areas are fully secure. Likewise, if the people of Manipur demand the implementation of the ILP spearheaded by Meiteis to secure Manipur, all communities should support the agitation. – Gyanendra Raj Kumar
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Why spare the Congress?
When you attack the BJP at everything possible, then why spare the Congress? (“At Sonia's iftar party, the shifting Congress power balance becomes apparent”) In this article and even in a few previous ones, there seems to be a positive bias towards Congress and Rahul Gandhi. We all have seen his interviews and speeches so we all know how stupid he is. By using phrases like “his new aggressive avatar”, you are just trying to show him as a leader fighting the BJP. Why not be neutral to all parties in praise and criticism? – Abhishek Sharma
The golden period in Kashmir
There is only one genuine point in the BJP's argument which cannot be refuted (“Who owns the memories of July 13, 1931? In J&K, it is a divisive question”). The Dogra rule, though unjust, could definitely be considered as the period of golden rule in the modern history of Kashmir compared to the Indian rule, represented by the successive regimes in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
There were no custodial killings, no involuntary disappearances, no mass killings and no bloodbaths, except the one in 1931, during the entire Dogra period. What Kashmir has seen during the past 25 years can never be effaced from the minds of future generations. The brutal killings and bloodbath which took place from 1990-2000 onwards are unparalleled in history. Such sacrifices only get eclipsed by commemorating July 13.
Going back to 1931, it was Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the July 13 carnage. History is full of such incidents when autocratic rulers suppressed protests through brutal methods. – Rafi Punjabi
Just do it
It pains me to read such requests made by girls openly in public (“Please provide sanitary napkins for detained protesters: An open letter to Delhi police”). Therefore, with due respect to our police department, I request them to provide the girls with sanitary napkins.
It is like a punishment if this type of help is not provided to them. Let us see that they will not be made to request for such things openly, as it is a very delicate issue. – Srilaxmi Mylavarapu
No comparison
The comment about the Emergency and the comparison between Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi betrays the bias of the author (“In media's Emergency analyses, Indira stood as proxy for anxieties about Narendra Modi”). He seems to suggest that the personality cult began and ended with Indira Gandhi and has resurfaced with the electoral victory of Modi. Nothing can be farther than the truth.
The cult of personality is embedded in the politics of "leaders" such as M Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav. – S Venkataraman
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Once upon a time, Indira Gandhi was even depicted on a magazine cover as Bharat Mata. Was she also on posters in this avatar? - gok-8@spro.net
Undemocratic raids
The action and its timing of the CBI raid on Teesta Setalvad's residence is undemocratic (“CBI raids Teesta Setalvad's home two weeks before Gujarat high court hears case against Modi's 'clean chit'”). – Prakash Burte
The sprit of Mumbai
An excellent example of coexistence beating the man-animal conflict (“A Mumbai Victoria horse-carriage builder sees the end of the road for him in the High Court ban”). Whether it is a terrorist attack or a carnivore living nearby, Mumbaikers take it on their stride positively. Long live this spirit of Mumbaikers. – KH Gopalakrishne Gowda
Spare the deities
I see that you have made use of the Google Deep Dream images with religious iconography, including Hindu deities (“See how terrifying India looks once it has been run through Google's trippy Deep Dream engine”). India has a splendid diversity and has got many picturesque locations and there are many other images related to India that you could have experimented on.
Please do refrain from experimenting on images of deities as well as making related posts, because you could be hurting the sentiments of many Hindus across the country. – Chukku R
Song sung true
The problem with music listeners is their low perceived value of the "song" and high desirability of ‘songs’ (“Streaming may suffocate the music industry – or save it”).
We all talk about music but forget that at any given point in time, the listener is dealing with 4-5 minutes of an entertainment module which is the singular song. The perceived value in such a short duration of entertainment goes up only when it is a chartbuster song. Otherwise it is the collection of songs that is valued. It is a double whammy of sorts that the short duration of song also lends it to easy piracy.
In the near future, streaming should help us understand the final demand-supply-price equation for ascertaining the value of a song. Hopefully, from there business should realign investments for viability. – Gangaraju SS
Out of context
Comparing pro and anti-Modi feelings to Atticus Finch's attitudes toward race totally out of context and poorly informed (“Why Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set A Watchman’ cuts close to the lives of many Indians”). People were tired of six decades of rule by a single family that treated entire India as its fiefdom, and wanted someone to take a wrecking ball to the Gandhi-Nehru family and its extensive power structure. I don't believe Indian attitudes toward caste changed as much as American attitudes toward race in the past fifty years. – Janaki Ram Ray
Need good translators
Arunava Sinha’s article bemoans the absence of regional-language writing in foreign markets and asserts that "quality – either of the original works or of the translations – is not the issue” ("Indian literature must look beyond English to go global").
The quality of the original works is not the issue, but the quality of the translations – with respect to Sinha, a prolific translator – certainly is. The vast majority of translators translate from their mother tongue into English. As a rule, they have an excellent knowledge of the original language but are poor stylists in English. Translation of fiction is much more than the literal reproduction of meaning. The fallacious assumption – one propagated by Sinha elsewhere – that a translator needs to be embedded in the literary culture of the original work – rather than be an accomplished writer in English – has doomed any prospect of regional-language fiction going global or even national.
Look at the literary authors who do find a global audience in translation – Knausgaard, Ferrante, etc. Their translators are typically British or American, translating into rather than out of their mother tongue. The best translators of Indian-language fiction at present are Jason Grunebaum and Daisy Rockwell, both of whom learnt English as adults.
Until Indian language writers find better translators, no amount of publicity from publishers is going to get them anywhere. – Prapanch Kulkarni
Look beyond sweet words
So news writers can go to any length to create sensation because the accused belonged to a particular community that is already living under threat? (“The many wrong messages that hanging Yakub Memon would send”). This is the serious problem with Indian media that every time a Muslim convicted of brutal crimes is being hanged, media starts writing that it will send out a wrong message. The media needs to look beyond the some emotional words written by Yakub Menon. – Manoj Saini
Contacting Shirin Dalvi
Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the challenges Shirin Dalvi faces (“Six months since she published Charlie Hebdo cover, Urdu editor struggles for work and money”). I was relieved to read of the efforts of the human rights collective – Hum Aazaadiyon Ke Haq Mein – but was disappointed that you had not provided any additional information. How can one donate to the organisation and contribute towards the collection? I think this information ought to be shared with your readers. – Mukti Khaire
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I read your article on Ms Dalvi. Would like to help her in a small way. Could you send her address? – Varun Arora
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I wanted to contribute. Can you let me know where to send the money. The Scroll story does not mention this. – Manjari Katju
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Would like to help. Grateful if you forward Mrs Dalvi's email. – Deepak Bhaagt
Please publish a link or address for the group that is trying to help this brave and persecuted person. Many, like me, would like to contribute from abroad. – CM Naim
– Ms Dalvi can be contacted via Ms Hasina Khan of Hum Aazadiyon Ke Haq Mein at this email address: nj_hasina AT yahoo DOT co DOT in
Remembering Rembrandt
Bravo. Superb article (“Move aside 'Night Watch' – Rembrandt painted Mughal miniatures too”). – Jyoti Pande
Childhood days
What a beautiful piece. It was the same feeling I got while taking part in Hindu festivals of Diwali and Ugadi (Telugu New Year’s) celebrations (“Ramzan nights, not just days, have their own rhythm and soundscape”). The early morning wake-up calls, the nadaswarams blaring out of the radio, cousins and brothers lazily getting up from their beds after repeated pleadings from my parents and Chachas, the ambience reminded me of my school days.
Nothing like having an oil bath and that shikakai (a herbal shampoo) powder which produced more surf than the present-day shampoos, and that new pair of clothes followed by steaming Pongal energised our morning by that customary firecracker. If it was Ugadi, the chutney made up of neem flowers, jaggery plus tamarind, was the star item of the day. Going to the temple in the morning with the new trousers was always a tradition which we four brothers maintained to this day.
Festivals in childhood had their own place and those traditional practices have been overtaken by modern methods. I salute Taran Khan for her nostalgic piece which revived my childhood days. – Veturi Sriharsha
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As a non-Muslim, I found this memory piece a fascinating evocation of an important spiritual and cultural holiday in which the writer shared her personal experience of Ramzan in her Aligarh home and then in other, more foreign places. It’s beautiful and informative.– Vibhuti Patel
Failing students
A well-written overview of what goes on in the IITs (“Why IIT Roorkee's expulsion of students to improve academic quality is unfair”). It seems like some students will always fail because of average CGPA.
No matter what, to admit the cream of the crop (a few thousand out of 1.25 billion population) and then failing them is ridiculous. – Purnima Gupta
Vegetarian terror
Kudos on a very interesting article written from a perspective I had never considered (“Reality check: Vegetarians, there’s more animal blood on your hands”).
I am a non-vegetarian and have never understood the rampant modern vegetarian terrorism that has been unleashed in the last decade or two. Not to mention the sly taunt that non-vegetarians are in some way unethical and murderers. This puts the ball right back in the court of the vegetarian fanatics.
Maybe, just maybe, now they'll live and let live. – Dr Kurush F Dalal
No state patronage
Good to see the mainstream media take interest in the RSS (“An unnoticed fact: the RSS, India’s biggest NGO, gets foreign funding too”).
First, some facts: The RSS is not a registered organisation. It does not enjoy any state patronage nor can it raise funds even from the general Indian public, let alone foreign entities. The RSS runs on the selfless sacrifice of its millions of Swayamsewaks. Many Swayamsewaks have formed organisations in the service of society. The RSS has no legal or economic standing in such organisations. Chief among them being the running of schools, numbering about 30,000, and providing quality education at minimal cost to lower middle-class and poor families.
True to RSS character, they do not take a penny from any government, even the BJP government. The same is with more than 150,000 service projects that work among the poor, unlettered and downtrodden.
We all know that the lion's share of relief activities in any calamity, natural or manmade comes from the Sangh, and to set the record straight, here again there is not a penny of government support. Wherever issues of foreign funding are involved, organisations run by Swayamsewaks are probably among the best in complying with every norm.
We would expect educated criticism of any public work and not propaganda from esteemed agencies like you. – Venkata Raghava
Better than Federer
I was quite pleased when I came across the piece about Serena Williams on Scroll.in (“The real question: Is Serena Williams the greatest athlete of our times?”). The author, Oindrila Mukherjee, has very clearly pointed out how Serena Williams is getting better with age as she exhibited at SW19 by winning her sixth Wimbledon crown. Despite facing a barrage of sexist and racist slurs, Williams is dislodging her competitors with ease and is inching closer towards matching the grand slam tally of Steffi Graf and Margaret Court.
In the contemporary era, there is only one player who can compete with Williams for the title of the “greatest tennis player ever” and that is none other than Swiss maestro Roger Federer. Considering her impressive tally of 21 grand slam singles and 13 grand slam doubles titles, we can easily state that Serena has the upper hand when compared with Federer who has won 17 grand slams in the men’s singles category.
Add to that Serena’s Olympic singles gold medal in 2012 as also three Olympic doubles gold medals and Serena is comfortably above Federer who is yet to win an Olympic medal in the singles category. Serena is a proven talent in twin categories of tennis but Federer’s class is primarily restricted to singles tennis. – Saif Ahmad Khan
Persian paradox
Well-written article. I support India’s relation with Iran (“Why Iran's rise holds huge potential for India (but conditions apply)”). – Harold Lutchman
Unfair credit
As far as I know, the dragons in Game of Thrones were worked upon by what is left of the RnH LA outfit (“This Indian company made Khaleesi’s dragons in 'Game of Thrones'”). This is just a case of taking undue and unfair credit by some obscure studio that managed to purchase this once awesome studio. – Raphael Fernandes
Idiotic, bhai
Almost all Hindi movies are not-well researched (“Film review: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ has two stars, neither of whom is called Salman or Kareena”). They just tend to gloss over or give a comical colour to hide the utter lack of knowledge of the writers, directors and actors. There'll be rhetoric but that's about it. Salman Khan's movies are all idiotic and juvenile, to put it nicely, with no sense of coherence and logic. – Binod K Gurung
Please don't preach
It is really amusing that a company like Infosys founded and run by Narayan Murthy for several years, has hardly gone beyond the "body shopping" model (“Full text: Narayana Murthy questions the contribution of IITs and IISc in the last 60 years”). Has Infosys or for that matter other IT companies made attempts to innovate and design a product?
The obvious answer seems on the negative side as they fear that their profits will fall; contrast this approach with those of Bay Area "start-up" companies which took high risks not bothering about profits. Today they are big names. It is nothing but hypocrisy to talk about IISc, IITs, etc. and contrast these institutions with MIT and UC.
It is time to act, Mr Narayanan, not sermonise. – Narasimhan Parth