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May 25, 1998
SPECIALS
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Pritish Nandy How Readers responded to Pritish Nandy's recent columns
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 13:33:15 -0700 I don't agree with your idea of adopting the technology of the US. Today, the USA doesn't even manufacture their national flag; everything is made in China. Also, just following the West and their culture is not going to do any good to India. Today we say we want technology. But how important is that to us? It can definitely help us in earning dollars and thus reducing our fiscal deficit. But we need technology along with infrastructure. We need to give basic education in Hindi to our people. It should be marked as the national standard for education. We all should learn and respect our national language. All the schools should have the same standard and same structure. We give a lot of freedom to individual in the name of democracy. Why do all the schools have different holidays and different standards? It has to be one standard -- the Indian Standard. There should be no religion in schools. America may sound as the greatest power on earth to us. But we see only one side of the coin. Here schools are in a bad condition. 44% of the school children have tried drugs and 20 % are addicts. There are lots of teen mothers. Most of the students start having sex from the age of 12. They can't stop it since that's the way their society is. So they advise them to use condoms, they keep vending machines for condoms in the bathrooms of schools. Most Americans almost have had sex with 30 people by the time they turn 30. What is the definition of a standard American family? It is somewhat like this: "This is my kid, that is my wife's kid and this is our kid". Is this the way we want to go about? Definitely not. We have the best culture in the world . We are very intelligent and hard working people, but we still have lot of fear in our heart while talking to these people. I have been working in the software industry in the USA for the last 3 years and I have felt that we are definitely the best bunch of people. But we lag behind in self confidence. I definitely agree with you that we should also invest in technology and take risks in doing creative work -- but not at the cost of not having infrastructure. Chetan
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 19:41:37 -0400 Has anybody witnessed a recent 'phenomenon'??? Pritish Nandy was hit by a Hindutva lightening and has been talking sense in his last two columns! Bravo... Continue it in this (right) direction.
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 14:05:04 PDT Last week when I read 'Defending Thackeray' I thought 'good heavens, this guy has changed... changed for good'! That was quite a sensible article. But I was mistaken. With this article, he proved once again that he says something sensible only once in a blue moon.What else can be said about him? When the whole nation is discussing India going nuclear, this man comes out with some aimless article! What makes him choose such topics? Write on current issues, burning topics -- people will appreciate. And Rediff, don't waste your disk space by publishing such 'filler' articles.
Kiran Pillarisetty
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 12:00:30 PDT Whether Harshad Mehta is right or wrong doesn't matter that much. But, yes, I was impressed by the contents and timing of this article. Pritish nicely articulated the point: 'The problem is not opportunity. Or the lack of talent. It is the attitude of our rulers.' I think this attitude problem is general and the society needs to change its attitude. Rulers can help in bringing, to be precise leading, the change but it will need effort from other sectors too. The economy will be the driving power. India has creative talent and resources. Unfortunately these are forced to stagnate. Something needs to be done about it. It's high time to change attitudes, accept reality and progress. A lot can be said or written about this but the bottomline will remain the same: THIS AGE-OLD ATTITUDE NEEDS TO CHANGE, RULERS NEED TO CHANGE, SOCIETY NEEDS TO CHANGE. Devendra
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 20:23:15 -0400 (EDT) I wonder if Pritish realises that America's current software boom is happening only because past leaders recognised the importance of good infrastructure. The importance of roads cannot be written off -- how else is man and materials to travel from one place to another? A good transportation system will ensure that capital movement takes place in response to supply and demand.
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 08:23:43 +0700 He writes well and logically. We need more writers like him to change the thinking of the folks in power. R Chandrasekaran
Date sent: Tue, 19 May 1998 08:21:34 -0700 Great column, Pritish. I strongly support your views. Keep it up. It's time the world realises that we Indians can do a lot many things.
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 23:43:45 -0700 Pritish Nandy has hit the mark, but not the bull's eye. There should be balance between the hardware factories and software creation. It is like body and soul, or rather the mind. A mind without body or a body without mind is useless. It is like form and content. If a product is content, the packaging is form. Typically, Indians neglect packaging, which has ultimately led to poor contents because of the lack of critical mass volume. It is the infrastructure of the USA which threw up Bill Gates, and it is the lack of infrastructure that is grounding hundreds of Bill Gates in India. So it is like the age-old question: Which came first? The egg or the chicken? If Sushma Swaraj wants to solve the puzzle, India will have to overcome its complacency and pursue the solution to its logical end. Rasik Sanghvi
Date sent: Mon, 18 May 1998 23:28:04 -0400 Pritish has put forth the idea of improving the economy in a very good manner. Hmm... is anybody out there to hear his suggestion? Hellowwww!! anybody there??
Date sent: Wed, 20 May 1998 22:20:58 -0400 India is a secular country because it is a Hindu country!! Pseudo-secularists and leftist parasites abound in India. Your article is a welcome one, time to call a spade a spade, if not a ruddy shovel!!
Date sent: Wed, 13 May 1998 17:24:51 +0800 I entirely agree with your Defending Thackeray. Shielesh Damle
Date sent: Wed, 13 May 1998 14:43:49 +0400 I totally agree with Pritish. We should open a national debate on this and build opinion to wake up the dormant patriotism amongst Indians.
Date sent: Tue, 12 May 1998 23:03:06 -0400 If M F Husain is so much engrossed with this kind of art, why can't he draw something which relates to his own religion?
Date sent: Tue, 12 May 1998 15:55:12 +1000 I appreciate the efforts made by Mr Nandy and Mr Anupam Kher to come out with the truth which millions of Indians are unable to unveil. Pakistan garlands our citizens by bombs -- then why the hell should we welcome their artists? India should snap all her diplomatic ties with Pakistan till Pakistan resolves the issue of the ongoing terrorism. Pakis, don't try things. I hope you remember the defeat of 1971. Sidharth Mehta
Date sent: Tue, 12 May 1998 11:54:00 -0500 You are not defending Thackeray, you are defending all Hindus in India. You are defending all Indians in India. In fact, you defended the Muslims who think they are Indians. People never think the way you thought. By attacking Husain's apartment (I don't care who did it) Indians showed others (whoever the others are) that one cannot offend millions of believers. Let it be Husain or Rushdie -- the lesson if same. They cannot be heroes, and they will never be. About other things -- disruption of Ghulam Ali's concert, banning of Jansher Khan etc -- let them convey their concerns to their government and let them advise their government to stop ISI activities in India. Till then disruptions will continue. Rajamohan Kartha
Date sent: Mon, 11 May 1998 11:10:27 -0700 The sound of the nail hitting the head! You have articulated very lucidly what "communal" people like me have been saying all along; is it proper to hold cultural exchanges with Pakistan when it is only ready for an exchange of bullets? Is there any ghazal or any squash game which will wash away the pain and anguish of the victims of terrorism? Is Ghulam Ali ready to do a concert to raise funds for the widows of all the soldiers killed by terrorists in Kashmir? It is time India went to the UN and asked for South Africa/Iraq kind of sanctions against Pakistan. Perhaps now that a "Christian" bishop has laid his life down as a protest against Pakistani communalism, the West will listen what thousands of disfrancished Hindu pandits have been saying all along. And shame on Vajpayee and Advani who have proved no different from other politicians, mouthing the same inanities, fighting amongst themselves and making pompous statements about countering Pakistani designs while thousands of Indian citizens are dying. You can explode as many nuclear devices as you want, but if you don't have the will to fight and the courage to take a stand it will not make a whit of difference. Shame on the government and intellegentsia -- our Pakistani ghazal-listening squash playing heros -- which treats the deaths of its own soldiers and citizenry so callously. By taking this stand, Mr Nandy, you might stand alone amongst your journalist brethren -- but rest assured you stand tall.
Date sent: Mon, 11 May 1998 12:16:23 -0600 Normally Pritish writes bullshit, but for the first time he has written something sensible and I fully agree with him.
Date sent: Mon, 11 May 1998 14:38:21 -0400 Boy! When did Mr Nandy turn logical and intelligent? Did Varsha Bhosle give him a crash course on secularism and nationalism? Whatever the cause, it seems to have had a 'Deep Impact' on him! Rajee
Date sent: Mon, 11 May 1998 12:52:42 -0700 Quite so. And if Ghulam Ali, Junoon and Jamsher were worth their salt they would speak out against the atrocities committed by their countrymen in Kashmir. While our exposure to the Pakistani press is very limited, I doubt there is any "secular" criticism of the terrorism unleashed in India by the ISI.
Date sent: Mon, 11 May 1998 11:10:52 -0700 Mr Nandy makes a fundamental error: Is M F Husain not an Indian citizen? If so, what he does as an artist constitutes a very different argument, and should not be tied to this issue of Pakistani artistes and sportsmen. No matter how one may disagree with his "art", he has the freedom under the Indian Constitution that Mr Nandy, Mr Husain and all Indian citizens implicitly swear to live by. We are all free to completely ignore his works, to not give them a moment of thought. A completely different issue is that of the Pakistani art/cultural "exchanges". There is a proper and dignified way of doing this. The GOI should share with Parliament, and the people of India, as much of the evidence as possible of Pakistan's hand in the terrorist incidents -- even one incident is enough.
Date sent: Mon, 11 May 1998 15:52:01 -0500 I think Pritish Nandy is losing his cool this Indian summer. He asks "...That Pakistani artistes must be welcomed with open arms but Pakistani-trained terrorists must be fought back?" The answer is YES! That's the prudent thing to do. As far as I know, Ghulam Ali and Jansher Khan are not subverting India's security or integrity. Nor are they representative of Pakistan's political enmity with India. And if people are willing to pay and listen to Mr Ali or watch Mr Khan play, whose right is it to disrupt? It is not up to the RSS or Bajrang Dal to make policy decisions on whether India should allow Pakistani performers to perform in India. Whatever happened to the civilised ways of protesting against the government?!
Date sent: Mon, 11 May 1998 17:05:25 -0400 Mr Nandy sure has voiced the opinions of millions in our country. All these ridiculous so-called cultural and sporty exchanges can take a back seat for the time being. The government should concentrate on the job they have on their hands right now. Venkat Gopal |
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