Loved the piece (“An Adivasi scholar’s death and the myth of casteless Bengal”). Not only for the empathy and objectivity but because if exposed a grave fault-line in West Bengal society at large. Here, as in the rest of the country, political discourse makes much of the Hindu-Muslim issue and it is a very big issue, but the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe dehumanisation by the savarnas, is to my mind a deeper, more invasive and destabilising kind of problem for the society at large.
This we do not talk about openly, we do not regret, nor do we wish to atone publicly. I have worked as a school teacher both in rural and urban Bengal and have seen this cycle of hatred work in a very perverse downward-filtration method as well. Kudos for the story, more so as none of our publications in Bengal had thought of doing such a piece. – Ayan Chakrabarti
Muslims in UP
A good trap for Uttar Pradesh Muslims to shut their mouths on Hindutva (61 Muslims won Uttar Pradesh urban polls on BJP tickets. What does this mean?). A fooling picture to all Indians to show that the Bharatiya Janata Party is on Muslims’ side. When the real hidden agenda of BJP comes out I wonder where these 61 Muslims will be seen. (Not against BJP, but their acts made me write). – Deva E Prasad
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I come from Lucknow where we have lived in harmony for ages. Extremely sad to witness such a time as now (“Jailed, suspended, fired: How teachers in UP have paid a price for Hindutva campaigns against a song”). I find myself reciting “Ishwar, Allah tero naam...” and what we used to hear in childhood, “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai, Aapas me sab bhai-bhai.” Never imagined would see this day. Times will, of course, change as they inevitably do. But the social fabric of harmony that is being torn will take a long time to mend. – Brij Misra
Rain fury, death
Referring to (“After 23-year-old’s death, Bengaluru civic body admits absence of rain safety audits in underpasses”), the death of a 23-year-old Infosys employee in Bengaluru’s rain fury is upsetting. Given the upcoming monsoon season, it is high time the civic body prioritizes the city’s crumbling infrastructure to fix the mess. Every year, a plethora of videos over social media showcase the grim situation of the IT hub of the country, but there has been little improvement so far. It is the need of the hour to improve the city’s drainage system and address the governance deficit. – Akash Kumar
Preserve languages
Every language needs to preserved (“Drumming up love for Kashmiri language, through Insta reels and YouTube videos”). People like Ashraf are doing very important role. Surely all scripts need to be preserved too. Government also must archive written material. Timely article. – Manmohan Mehta
Musical concert
Interesting walk down memory lane (“Remembering the first major Carnatic music concert in the United States”). By the way, Shelton did not get the names mixed up. The fifth member of Sangeetha Madras was Veena repairer and melam expert Natesan who my father Sundaram Balachander took on the tour to play the Tampura (see LP album sleeve photo) and take care of the instruments. – Raman SBS
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