It was with great interest that I read the article alluding to what is perceived as the Arabisation of Indian Muslims (“Why are Indian Muslims using the Arabic word ‘Ramadan’ instead of the traditional 'Ramzan'?”). While it is true that Muslims in the non-Arab world are being made to conform to the Arabicised version of Islam, I would like to remark that:
1.The months of the Muslim calendar are in Arabic, and have been in that language long before the revelation of the Quran.
2. The month of Ramadan is written as r-ma-daa-n in the Arabic alphabet.
3. Since Persian/Farsi has been the lingua franca for centuries, and Urdu being a composite of Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit/Prakrit, people have chosen, probably at random, words from each of the languages to represent Urdu.
4. In the Persian alphabet, the letter ض is pronounced as zad, hence Ramadan became Ramzan.
5. Since the word Ramadan is in reality an Arabic word, we Muslims of the Indian sub-continent have been pronouncing this particular word wrong. There is nothing wrong in correcting this.
6. New phrases like Allah hafiz, and Ramadan kareem, etc. are certainly an invasion by Arab influence. – Iffat Khan
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Why? One word answers that – riyals. Riyals are buying mullahs, semi-mullahs, and fake mullahs who say everything that was done for 1,500 years was wrong, and whatever the new version of Islam from Nejd is the correct one. – Hassan Farooqi
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The reason Indian Muslims say Ramzan over Ramadan is the same as why Indians call Abu Dhabi as Abu Dhaabi instead of Abu Zabi – ignorance.
There are four forms of the sound ‘z’ in Arabic, whereas there is only one in English. When the Arabs write ‘dh’ they do so because they feel it's different from ‘z’, but it does not mean the Hindi sound ‘dh’. Between the two sounds, ‘dh’ is definitely closest to ‘z’, so one must use ‘z’ for saying words like Ramzan, Abu Zabi, etc.
Hope that clarifies what's wrong in your article. – Bassam Mahmood
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I praise your efforts in searching the real name of this month. But I regret to see that you are going in the wrong direction. For your kind information, we are not copying Arabs but we are making corrections of what we pronounce.
Saudi Arabia is the birth place of Islam and it spread to the whole world in an era when there was no means of communication. It means that the Arabs had to travel far and verbally communicate with the people there. It took centuries to reach many parts of the world, and in this period many new languages came into existence and many original Arabic words changed to the local accent.
In India, it came through the Persian route thus mixing it with Hindi, Urdu came into existence. But the language of the Quran has not changed. So to read the Quran, we have to learn Arabic. The majority of us don't understand its meaning. Arabic is not an easy language, nor as typical as Korean, Russian, Tamil, etc.
In the 20th century, travelling between countries has dramatically increased. People came closer and closer. Communication developed. People got to know the correct pronunciation of words like Ramadan from Ramzan. Even Ramadan is not correct in English, but it is closest to it. – Saqib Ajaz
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The author needs a serious dose of readings on how languages have developed over the centuries. Why is the influence of Arabic in India (read Indian Muslims) a problem? Why doesn’t anyone have a problem when English words are littered around in Oriental languages? And why do we rejoice every time when Hindustani/Hindi word makes it to Websters/Oxford/ Cambridge dictionary? I can see this article is an attempt to sound "more loyal than the king".
Extinction of languages is nothing new. Some languages have been around longer but not without changes. The English, written and spoken today, is not the same as was during or before the times of Shakespeare. And to talk of Urdu as a language, where did it come from? Which civilisation spoke Urdu? The Arabic one gets to hear in Cairo is not the same as spoken in Jeddah and once in Baghdad, you will neither get the Egyptian flare nor the Saudi eloquence.
The author will be better off by coming out with his true intent, and may be apprehensions as well, that led him to write this piece. My response to him is: Call it Ramzan or Ramadhan, you may even call it a Vrat (Hindi for fasting), but do not use the lexicon to divide. – Inayat Jenhangir
True ‘Himmat’
Thanks, Kalpana Sharma, for the insightful and inspiring article about the behaviour of the press during the Emergency (“'Himmat' during the Emergency: When the Press crawled, some refused to even bend”). I'm a Swiss-German filmmaker with strong links to Mumbai. Have you ever considered writing a more detailed account of those days? I would love to hear more about your recollections of those times. It sounds like there might be a subject for a movie ready to be explored. – Lutz Konermann
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Wonderful article and strong words. Your article holds significance not just on the occasion of the anniversary of the Emergency but also in the backdrop of where the media crawled in front of Indian democracy for the sake of "yoga". – Sreeush Sreenivas
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Such a nice article by Kalpana Sharma. Shame on the present press on many counts. But the general order of the day is irresponsibility, and they are a part of this irresponsible society we are making, most of us that is.
I would love to have the names of the people in the photo mentioned with a brief description of what they did, or wrote and what they are doing now. Thank you so much, you are all the heroes we need today. – Nilakshi Roy
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Congratulations to Kalpana Sharma on an excellent article, and for her brave journalism in what sounds like a very intimidating time. If a lie is 'around the world before the truth has got its boots on' it is very important that we can rely on journalists to be the 'valiant for truth'. – Judy Lean
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I am proud of your efforts to keep the people's voice alive during the Emergency. That was indeed a dark period in our democracy.
My father, Mohan Dharia, was also behind bars for supporting Jayprakashji and for being outspoken. It was everyone's faith and crusade to restore democracy. It helped our nation and brought the people together.
It was the past. Let's believe in the future and act too! – Sadhana Shroff
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I was one of those Rs 5 contributors (by skipping the meal that day – out of my monthly stipend of Rs 150). – Gopi Maliwal
More bookstores
Sayoni Basu's piece about booksellers who are bucking the trend of chain stores doesn't mention Giggles – better known as the biggest little bookshop in Chennai (“Eight indie booksellers in India who are bucking the trend of chain stores”).
Run for more than four decades by Nalini Chettur, she still brings the personal touch to book-selling that you will rarely find. It's worth a separate story some time. – Sashi Nair
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If you wanted to write about the true experience of a booklover in Bangalore going to a store that serves them what they want, you should cover Blossoms or maybe even Bookworm on Church Street. Blossoms has a wide collection of books and when you talk to the person at the front, he will know if he has any book available! I had once mentioned a barely heard Italian writer called Giovanni Guareschi to him, whose English translations are no more published, and you know what? The first time he said, that's a very difficult book to get (knowledge). The next time around, he had a second-hand copy available for me to buy.
They know practically every book and author and whether they have it or not, and the beauty of it is that they offer you both first-hand and second-hand options. What else can someone ask for? Blossoms has a smaller collection, but is lovely as well. – Deepti Ravi
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Thank you very much for this lovely article. As one of the (very few) people who still buys books, I appreciate the value of having a bookstore where the owner knows you and pulls out exactly what will be to your taste. One such book store which I wanted to mention, which is not in the article, is Midlands, a bookstore in Delhi and Gurgaon.
As a former resident of Gurgaon, the Midlands store in Arjun Marg in Gurgaon has been a lifesaver. Even today, regardless of the length of my visit to Gurgaon, a visit to MQ at Midlands is a must-do, particularly as it takes me very little time to buy many, many books, since he knows exactly what I read. Much more fun than a big, impersonal chain, or, for that matter, Flipkart. – Yamini Pande
That F-word
Regarding the article about Father's Day celebration at Bengaluru, I think it is a bit short-sighted by feminist organisations for attributing it to a single incident (“Bengaluru Father's Day event draws ire of women's groups for advancing 'patriarchal agenda'”). Apart from that, it is very natural and desirable even, to have fathers wanting to contribute towards raising a child. I consider myself to be a feminist, and I feel that patriarchy is oppressive to men as well.
The so-called feminists who are denying such a resolution are, in fact, downplaying the concept of equal right to parenting. True, in most of the cases separated and divorced women have singlehandedly raised children, but it is a welcome step if fathers too want a share in parenting. After all, the dispute is between the parents and not the children. A shared custody would make it easier for the child to cope up with the change. It would also bust the myth that only mothers are responsible for raising the child.
Feminism is not about women getting an upper hand. It is about equality and freedom for everybody, after getting rid of the oppression. – Sanika G
Agitation politics
I don't see the agitation politics and the right to collectively bargain for one's rights as essentially bad (“Born of agitation politics, Aam Aadmi Party feels the sting of dharnas once in power”). The fact that workers' rights and safety are often overlooked has been seen time and again. It is essential and perhaps a long-standing need that workers resorted to strikes and disrupted the sheltered lives of the middle class. We take the services of the poor for granted and fail to respect the dignity of labour, yet imagine that we are the ones being oppressed by the 'wasteful' economic subsidies that the poor mainly depend upon. This is the kind of shock that the entire country needs right now in order to redirect itself on the right path. – Aishik Saha
Business ethics
It is obvious that Mukesh Ambani and his company are kingmakers (“The story of Mukesh Ambani's loss-making private firm that just got public banks to restructure its loans”). They used the corrupt Congress to the hilt. Now they will try to do the same with the BJP and any other party that may come to power. The dynamics of business ethics followed by the Tatas and the Birlas ended the day Dhirubhai entered the Indian business scene. - Arvind Kumar
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If the income tax department can go after people who purchase houses to enquire where the money came from, why not Mukesh Ambani and his likes? Loss of Rs 20,000 crore in taxes.
That’s how political parties exist – the laws are not made for the corporates but for the common man so they become poorer and poorer. We had to remember the fall of the powerful Roman Empire which existed for centuries, which collapsed because of high taxes of the middle class and below.
Of course, history repeats itself. – Ossie D’Souza
Ignoring Assam
It is a commendable job by team of Scroll to highlight the Assam floods (“While we obsessed over Mumbai, floods in Assam hit three lakh people”). Really, there is need of news of those areas which are not important for the Indian media.
No doubt Mumbai got disturbed by the rains, but Assam is a natural and national disaster. – Amit Jindal
Fun yoga
One of the best pieces of fun in the recent times (“Bespoke yoga for celebrities: The Moral High Horse asana and nine other customised poses”). My sincere regards to the author. – Sre
Culture of freebies
What debt and what obligation? Why don’t you start contributing for ten fellow downtrodden citizens? Before you give anything for free, understand that the culture of freebies has ruined the incentive to earn in most of our population since several millennia (“Modi’s social security schemes are an eyewash – the poor will be the last to benefit from them”).
Have patience before you pass judgments. – Sujith Prabu
More sports, please
The article about Manchester United was wonderful (“Manchester United: the long way ahead, one step at a time”). You should have more sports columns. – Divji Joshi
Lasting impression
Thanks for the lovely article on my mother’s aunt, Dr Janaki Ammal (“Remembering Dr Janaki Ammal, pioneering botanist, cytogeneticist and passionate Gandhian”). I was fortunate to have met her when I was little and back then she left a lasting impression of a great and loving person.
She was so humble and unassuming and did not like publicity of any kind. Thanks again! – Sreelatha Sreejit
Funding MQM
It is very true and well-known that MQM gets funds from India (“BBC story alleging that India funds Pakistani politicians and militants gets a roasting on Twitter”). I wish the BBC could provide credible evidence.
It is well known that India poured money into Pakistani (traitor) leaders to oppose Kala Bagh dam. – Nasir Khokhar
Playing white
Shashi Tharoor is absolutely right, Bobby Jindal was never an Indian and neither is he now (“Should we really be proud of Bobby Jindal?”). He is a perfect example of an Indian playing white. It is sad to read that we in India are so fixated and extremely proud of Jindal's Indian heritage. Jindal will never acknowledge that his roots are from India. – Murali Gopal
Interesting interviews
Ajaz Ashraf should turn his interviews into weekly/fortnightly political podcasts. The DL Sheth interview was entertaining and incredibly sharp (“BJP is mythicising its anti-Emergency role ‒ it did not face the brunt: academic DL Sheth”). So was the one with Ashish Nandy, in fact. Look forward to many more. – Bharat Suri
Mysterious India
Yes, the travel writers of colonial India did leave us with remarkable images (“The travel writers of colonial India left us with remarkable images”). Even now, one never finds India uninteresting. She has been and will always remain mysterious. – Nita Kapadia
Minority report
Now you know how Christians and Muslims feel in India (“We are proud Pakistani Hindus. Why are we treated like second-class citizens?”). – Michael R Angora
Clearance rights
I think the ‘right to clearance’ is a great experiment in making the governments effective and accountable (“Telangana has given industrial projects ‘right to clearance’. But is it really a right?”). I am sure this programme will be adjusted as they learn more in the years to come. India has to try new creative ways to attract investors, for they have many options.
Clearly the old 'babu' days did no good for India, lacking a sense of urgency, depriving the poor of their jobs and ultimately losing out to India's competition. – Sunil Erraballi
Labour situation
Thank you for a well written article on factory workers (“Workers get more militant as space for unionisation shrinks”).
1. Unions have to grapple with forces, that is, governments and employers, who appear to be far superior to them, in their attempts to organise workers.
2. Riots and mayhem by unorganised workers will give the government and employers further excuses to suppress workers.
3. It'll be good to know of any new strategies mentioned in the article so that would inspire workers and unions to organise precarious workers.
4. Workers vote for governments that suppress them. What about starting a campaign amongst them on the theme 'No Rights No Vote'? – Nimal Hapuarachchi
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The three-part report is interesting. I learned quite a bit about the labour situation in India. I am more convinced the situation in China is somewhat better, if only because the state is stronger and wants to keep a balance between labour and capital, though of course leaning to the latter. – Anita Chan
Wage crisis
This informative piece (“There’s a wage crisis in Delhi’s factories – and the Modi government’s new labour laws won’t help”) about the wage crisis in Delhi factories is something I wouldn’t expect in most exclusively online news platforms. I wonder if my reaction is "convenient" to this report of so many being exploited in factories by the current regime’s lack of will to regulate the labour laws.
Why? Well, because there is a reaction we have – pity (this is India, what can one do?) or sympathy (how exploitative!) and also (maybe) because we consume a lot of the products that are being manufactured from these factories and never really engage and do something. I can keep on wearing those clothes or reading those magazines manufactured in Okhla but never will I know the cost to individuals (financial and psychological). – Priya Talwar
Face the facts
My heart goes out to those children and their parents who were attacked in Peshawar. Muslims need to face the facts regarding Islam instead of trying to deny its violence and intolerance or trying to make it into something that it isn't (“Today, for us young citizens, Pakistan feels like a country empty of dreams”). The vast majority of Muslims are good people, however, their unwillingness to join in violent Jihad makes them what Muhammad referred to as hypocrites, and therefore infidels. The greatest threat that Islam poses is not to non-Muslims, it's to those who think they are Muslims. – Vic M
Getting personal
I have read your article where it just shows your interest to drag down Dr Zakir Naik (“Why a Saudi award for televangelist Zakir Naik is bad news for India’s Muslims”).
I have listened to Dr Naik many times. His purpose, as I understand, is to spread the message of Quran among Muslims, and he is able to raise awareness even among non-Muslims, unlike many Muslim scholars who only address the Muslims.
For that purpose I suppose he is to be appreciated. If you are talking to a large crowd with Q&A sessions, among audience from every walk of life and beliefs, there has to be some adaptation, otherwise many will walk out with no satisfaction and less understanding of the message and may never go for any such lectures again.
Morever, many of Muslims have their perceptions and understanding of Islam and that translates down in their writings and speeches. But that is natural, and that could be the case even if we are lecturing. Now based on such instances, one cannot completely reject the person.
You could have mentioned the differences rather than reject the person and degrade a Muslim scholar in public. And that’s wrong. – Ahmed Tharik
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The most recent one I heard is that if you dye your hair, it should not be black. What’s the difference with colour? I wonder where he got that one from. Is there nothing meaningful to discuss? This homespun version of Islam ends up making us a laughing stock. – Lalljee
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The article produced was simply dumb and showed clear signs that you were trying to get attention by negative publicity. – Usama Khan
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The writer of this article displays his ignorance about Zakir Naik. About the burqa, if worn the right way, will protect women from rape for it covers the obvious parts. Also about 9/11, there are research organisations in the US and the world and most people there believe it was an inside job. However, I wouldn't agree on being with bin Laden. I have used his ideas and silenced some nuns of a convent school in the US. Now my children are given time and a clean space to pray at school.
It’s fashionable now to take a dig at Islam and India for sure has taken every possible shot. But a lot of people are converting to Islam. Learn about Islam from the Quran, not CNN. – Ali Sultan
Extreme reactions
With reference to your article about Hindu extremists, I would like to thank the writer for such a valuable and much-needed article (“Most extremists in India are not Muslim – they are Hindu”). You carry the right enthusiasm. All the best to you. – Junaid Vikar
Wonderful Waterloo
The article about how India would be different if Napoleon did not lose at Waterloo was wonderful (“June 18, 1815: Had Napoleon won the Battle of Waterloo, how different would India have been?”). Really enjoyed reading it. Thank you very, very, very much for writing it. – Iqbal Choudhury
Admission advice
Very good piece written for admission seekers (“A word of advice for college admission seekers: Be more than the sum of your marks”). It's something that I found close to me. Simple, yet important. Keep up the good work! – Harsh Vardhan
Ouch!
Very badly written article about the IIT (“I sacrificed my health and teenage years to study at the IITs – but was it worth it?”). – Dilip Rokade