Men outperform women in most activities
Pope Francis is very smart in not practicing the skewed advice he is preaching to his flock. When it comes to priests, women are not equal to men (“The Pope has finally declared that Adam was wrong to blame Eve for his sin”). If, as he says, women are complementary to men, they are not equal. Except for childbirth and milk production, men outperform women in every activity. Women are not designed for hunting or working in the field. It is only natural that a bus will earn more money than a car. This does not mean that a woman is less important than a man. A man is complete only with a woman.
The man's job is to earn money and woman’s is to carry his child and feed it. If either of them tries to do the other's job, they both will earn less money. The Pope should not try to change God's plan and design. – Tony Francis
Missed a few great Nepali musicians
Nate Rabe may have missed the following geart Nepali musicians on his admirable Sunday Sounds article (“After a week of terrible events, some music from Nepal in honour of its proud and gentle people”).
1. Night – They call their music "New Nepali Folk". It's the best music to come out of Nepal in many years.
2. Diwas Gurung – Musician based in the United States, playing genres Rock/Folk/Electronic.
3. Kutumba – Arguably the most popular folk band in the country. Created a new folk sound that fuses instruments and styles from Nepal's various ethnic groups and communities.
4. Yama Buddha – Heralded the current wave of Nep-Hop.
5. Nepathya – Legendary Nepali folk-rock band. Probably the most popular band in the last 20 years.
6. Finally, Bipul Chhetri – Indian Nepali. His songs have become classics in a short period of time. – Nishant Dixit
Make in India does not want to simplify anything
The Make in India article gives very good suggestions (“What is missing from Modi’s Make in India plan: it’s not thinking small enough”). Unfortunately, the government knows them well. If they simplify everything, who will genuflect before them? – LK Kandpal
Waiting to happen
Children will be sent back to exploitive labour when you pick any chaiwallah from the street and make him the Prime Minister of India (“Government set to send millions of children back into exploitative labour”). – Sanjay Singh
Unfortunate that godmen get asylum in our system
After going through your article about Sakshi Maharaj, I remembered his atrocities on women and men that I read earlier (“Controversial MP Sakshi Maharaj has a trail of rape and murder charges behind him”). It is very unfortunate that such godmen get political asylum very easily in our system. Most of the leaders and parliamentarians have a criminal background. Politics has become the business of criminals, rapists, looters, murderers, land mafias and private money lenders. Farmers are committing suicide because are in debt to private money lenders. These money lenders loan money at 10% interest per month. Our government knows this very well to but it does not dismantle their network because most of them are either MPs or associated with a political party.
Farmers, poor people and the middleclass are hopeless. They have no alternative. The leaders of various parties are befooling them and coming to power one after another. The leaders divide the people on religious lines using hate speeches just to garner majority votes. How long will it continue in our country? When bad elements come to power, what will they serve the nation. Nation does not mean a piece of land but people living on the land. – M Ilyas
Another Gujarati book also points out flaw in Ramayana
Reading this article about how Ramayana may have been set around Afghanistan reminds me of a book I read in Gujarati many years ago , which also points out historic flaws in the popular notions in the Ramayana (“Was the Ramayana actually set in and around today’s Afghanistan?”).
The book – Ramayan ni Antaryatra by Nagindas Sanghavi, a historian and a popular columnist. A widely circulated Gujarati newspaper serialised this book, but the serial had been discontinued because the paper started receiving threat calls from the culture police. This book too came to the conclusion that Lanka as known today was not the same as mentioned in the Ramayana. It did mention, however, that Ayodhya was the centre of the story. – Ramesh Vora
***
The story is interesting, but it is unbelievable to think that the Ramayana did not occur in the area of present Ayodhya. Saying that the present river Sarayou is not the original and that it is elsewhere is purely Imaginary. The article tells that there is no mention of River Ganga, in Ramayana, whereas it is told in Ramayana that the divine couple crossed the river Ganga with the help of Guha. – Narahari Rao Kanala
***
There are some basic facts I learnt from a few versions of Ramayana, and your article contradicts them. They are-
1. Ravan was said to be powerful through boons from Shiva.
2. Hanuman brought a hillock from Himalayas to bring the sanjeevini plant.
Further, I have read articles that say some tribals in Odisha have rituals as they were cursed by Sita in captivity. Your version, on the other hand, says that Ramayana predates Hindu Triad and that all this happened west of Indus. I have read Kochar's Vedic People long ago and do not recall it mention the Ramayana, though I can't say you must be wrong.
In fact, I consider it quite possible that "Ram Janmabhoomi" is not the Ayodhya of Ramayana. If you’ve read A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology & Religion Geography, History, Literature published in 1800 by John Dowson, it says that Ayodhya “is yet to be found”. This means by 1880, Ram Janmabhoomi did not have the name "Ayodhya". – R Ravisundar
***
There are some issues with the author’s assumptions. He mixes the Rig Veda with the Ramayana. Also, Ram Chandraji went to Chitrakoot and lived in the forest for a number of years. There are hardly any forests in Afghanistan unless there were forests and Islamists cut them down. – Atul Thakur
***
Valmiki Ramayana does not tell the story of Shravana as we know. According to Valmiki Ramayana, the young man who was killed by the arrow of Dasharatha was a son of Vaishya father and Shoodra mother. At the time of his death, he was not travelling with his parents in Kaanwar.
Also, you will not find in Valmiki Ramayana the story of Hanuman bringing the whole mountain because he could not recognise the plant required to bring Lakshmana back to life. But then, it is people who wrote Ramayana (“Five other Ramayanas: Sita as Kali, Lakshman as Ravana's slayer and more”). – Dipak Dholakia
Jadeja should be dropped from CSK immediately
Well, MS Dhoni did contribute 'substantially' to the score of Chennai Super Kings (“Why Chennai Super Kings should worry about Dhoni, and why Dhoni should worry about CSK”). A few days back, he scored 53 runs off 29 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, I agree that Jadeja should be dropped immediately. Irfan might perform better. – Ashish Anand
Enlightening
Wonderfully enlightening (“The changing map of India from 1 AD to the 20th century”). – Eddie Ray
Must follow US medical residency admission process
Vacant seat problem exists in most educational institutes that conduct national-level entrance exams or take an interview (“How one software could help fill up hundreds of vacant seats at IITs and NITs and make life easier for aspirants”). In the US, medical residency and subspecialty fellowship application and matching process is very streamlined. It does not involve an exam per se but an online application to desired programmes, manual selection of interview candidates by the program, and ranking following the interviews. The candidates rank the programs in their order of preference. The programmes rank candidates in their order of preference.
A software is used to finalise results so that one aspirant is matched to one seat and one seat is matched to one aspirant. Seats do go vacant, for which there are other arrangements to fill them, but they are small in number and the overall process is generally very smooth.
If intent on part of the institutes is not the limiting factor, then something like this should be practicable in India too. – Kumar Satya
OK was ‘Only Kerosene’
The "Horn OK Please" piece was a good read on one of the many pop culture aspects of our society. You have taken effort to flesh out the story (“'Horn OK Please': a crowdsourced, entirely dubious history of India's iconic truck slogan”). – VV Kadam
***
OK was on British vehicles for "Only Kerosene". It got replicated by the Indian trucks without understanding what it means – Aparna Jain
Stop polluting the world
Stop mining, stop polluting the world with coal emissions (“Australian aboriginals vs Adani Mining: 'We reject any land-use agreement'”). – Rakesh Maharaj
Congrats for restoring the Apu trilogy
Congratulations on restoring Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy (“The long road to restoration for Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy”). Wonderful work. – Dr Sunil Kothari
Modi’s actions are being devoured
The goodwill of Narendra Modi's actions in Nepal is being devoured by his own over-the-top online supporters – his primary support base, the bhakts, whom the Indian media increasingly tries to cater to. I think this sums it up. Issues of media insensitivity are frankly, secondary (“'Your media are acting like they are shooting a family serial': Nepalis trend #GoHomeIndianMedia”). – Danish Khan
Go north or south, reformist renegade priests are out
It is almost a win-win situation for Bombay Parsi Punchayet, who bravely fought for such downgraded priest who are bent upon destroying our age old tradition commanded by Asho Zarthustra, and specifically also mentioned in our Avasta scriptures to be followed with due sincerity and faith, till our next Rainidar Saheb Behram Varzavand comes as saviour in near future for all human beings (“Mumbai's Parsis indignant and baffled as case of 'renegade' priests comes to a controversial end”).
These two din priests should be taught a serious lesson for not obeying our traditions. They are Zohaks puppets dancing under reformists’ tunes to gain their monetary benefits by showing to the community that they are something. I am proud to state that the BPP trustees are worthwhile to fight such radicals.
Go east or west Zoroastrians traditions are the best. Go north or south reformist renegade priests are out. – Yazdan Panahbaad
Maoists don’t fight for religion
I want to point out a major lopsided argument by writer Aakar Patel in his piece about how most extremists in India are Hindus (“Most extremists in India are not Muslim – they are Hindu”). Either he has not understood the public perception or he wants to pose himself as secular (read anti-Hindu). I think he has wits enough to understand what the common man of this country understands.
1. The Muslim terrorists are fighting in the name of religion, for the religion and to establish their religion. You can see it in the countless videos and statements they release on a day-to-day basis. Nowhere are they fighting for the developmental cause.
History has shown that any amount of development or economic wellbeing will not change their attitude towards other religions or tolerance. You cannot find people from any other faith in their terrorist network but for the likes of Aakar Patel.
2. Other terrorists in India are not fighting on the basis of religion, like Maoists. They are fighting for equality, against land acquisition, etc., or on principals.
Stop misleading people with selective interpretation of statics. – Shrinivas Bhat
***
Who is this Aakar Patel? Does anyone care what he says? Have you heard his expert comments on talk shows? Every other statement is a contradiction. – Deepak J Kulkarni
***
True Indian, a large majority of them, are tolerant by impulse and instinct. Secular without knowing the word, but in spirit. They cease to be so often after the politician introduces them to this word, as used by him to project an agenda and as stratagem. - Naiyer Razzaqui
***
Nepalis have long harboured resentment towards India
There are three points I’d like to the make for the #GoHomeIndianMedia article (“'Your media are acting like they are shooting a family serial': Nepalis trend #GoHomeIndianMedia”). First, the media in other countries too – the Beeb, for example – also plays up their "national" efforts. The Indian media is more crass and crude but that is just a matter of degree.
Second, Nepalis have long harboured resentment towards India and Indians. There is a history of Indian political interference and patronising attitude adopted by Indian tourists. The media coverage undoubtedly provided a trigger but it is likely that any media coverage of Indian aid effort would have triggered off Nepali resentment. Third, how quickly we forget our own prickly attitude towards coverage of our own poverty. We label it "poverty porn". Is it so difficult to imagine that others are equally touchy about being dependent?
The entire episode should cause us to re-examine our own attitudes towards Nepalis. For that matter, we need to change our attitude towards all our neighbours. Of course, that's not going to happen: all we'll get is more outrage about the "ingratitude" of the Nepalis. We forget that this is exactly what many Westerners think about us. – M Suresh
India must change mindset towards Nepalese
Your article about the hidden agenda of India and China in Nepal is clearly tented with an advocacy for the Indian advancement in response to whatever China is doing (“China’s and India’s charity in Nepal has a hidden political agenda”). The problem with India, in respect to Nepal, is that it never thinks Nepal is an independent country. What Indians think is that in Nepal, they should have paramount hand in all fields compared to anybody, and they don’t like others, especially China, to do something for their development. History is rife with this mindset, which unfortunately has by default helped the other countries have a good impression on Nepalese.
The article mentions in an alarming way the involvement of the Three Gorges company to build a hydro power in Nepal, whereas it misses to mention that an Indian company has been awarded two biggest project recently and many more are in the pipeline. Why do Indians have to raise their eyebrows if somebody is doing some good work in Nepal? Unless India changes its mindset and honours the Nepalese sentiments, they will not be able to win the hearts of Nepalese and this is the greatest paradox that a country so culturally and economically near is to lose its ground in comparison to China and other countries. I hope India would retrospect their policy towards Nepal and try to build a relationship based on the respect to others sentiments. – Surya Nath Upadhdyay
US too can learn from Nepal
As someone who has worked closely with Nepal MP Sunil Babu Pant since 2001, I'd say the only error in your article about what India can learn from Nepal is one of omission (“What India can learn from Nepal”). You could readily include the US in your assessment of nations that could learn a lot from the wonder of that beautiful nation of Nepal.
Here's to a fast, strong and resilient recovery from this horrific earthquake. – George M Carter
No talk about benefit of using human waste
I understand that there is a big need of behavioural change to get people to change their toilet habits and awareness campaigns to convince not only men but women too to use toilets (“Toilets are urgently needed in rural India, but don't imagine they'll reduce rape”). However, no one has talked about how the economic benefits of using the human waste like generating electricity out of it, using urine as fertiliser and using waste as compost hasn't been talked about.
Also, involvement of the community members in construction of the toilets, which provides unskilled labourers a chance to get training in important skills that increases their employability, hasn't been considered to incentivise the use of toilets. – Ankit Chugh
It’s RSS time
It is the RSS time. They can do anything they want (“Why the RSS believes that sage Narada was the world's first reporter”). – Rashid Jamil
North India has a lot to learn from Mizoram
The blog on Mizoram is extremely interesting (“The Rovering Correspondent”). Each post is very well-written and paints a visual portrait of this pretty hilly region.
I have been to Mizoram, stayed in Aizawl and completely identify with the descriptions of life posted here. One thing that was really striking about Mizoram was the matriarchal set-up. It was women all the way – from shopkeepers to vegetable sellers and vendors to even the security persons at malls and markets. It speaks a lot about the modern way of life here. Women here are held in high esteem and very well respected.
The north needs to learn a lot from this little town. Look forward to more from Mizoram. – Dr Deepa Gupta
Everything you wanted to know about Narendra Modi's 100 smart cities
In my opinion, smart cities should be really smart in the real sense (“Everything you wanted to know about Narendra Modi's 100 smart cities”). The cities should be able to self-sustain in terms of power generation. This can be done by mandating solar power for every building and bringing mechanism to tap the excess power by the government. Smart cities should also be self-sustainable in taking care of the waste generated. Since we have this vision, we should use this opportunity to make garbage (wet waste) recycling mandatory in every building, and even centrally by the government. The manure generated out of it can be sold, thereby generating revenue too.
Even smaller things like self-sufficiency in terms of drinking water by harvesting rain water in every building would help. – Sachin Sharma
Media fans communal violence
It is the Indian media and politicians who fan communal hatred in the Hindi heartland (“It wasn't #GodhraAgain. So what exactly happened in Uttar Pradesh?”). A simple and common case of alteration was snowballed into communal colours. No newspaper writes there that a person is injured, but instead say a Jat, Muslim, Gurjar, Dalit is injured, so peoples are divided there itself on communal or caste basis from which politicians benefits. – Tomar Ajay
Appreciate clarity in Jayalalithaa’s case
I read your report about the Jayalalithaa case (“Anxiety grips Tamil Nadu as deadline approaches for verdict in Jayalalithaa's case”). I really appreciate the clarity, quick and easy summary of the case and information on the timeline set by the apex court for the final verdict. I noticed that no other media organisation has provided the info in such a clear manner. Hats off! Thank you for the same as I was searching for the latest update and was unable to obtain such clear info from even from TV channels. - Lakshmi Subramanian
Pope Francis is very smart in not practicing the skewed advice he is preaching to his flock. When it comes to priests, women are not equal to men (“The Pope has finally declared that Adam was wrong to blame Eve for his sin”). If, as he says, women are complementary to men, they are not equal. Except for childbirth and milk production, men outperform women in every activity. Women are not designed for hunting or working in the field. It is only natural that a bus will earn more money than a car. This does not mean that a woman is less important than a man. A man is complete only with a woman.
The man's job is to earn money and woman’s is to carry his child and feed it. If either of them tries to do the other's job, they both will earn less money. The Pope should not try to change God's plan and design. – Tony Francis
Missed a few great Nepali musicians
Nate Rabe may have missed the following geart Nepali musicians on his admirable Sunday Sounds article (“After a week of terrible events, some music from Nepal in honour of its proud and gentle people”).
1. Night – They call their music "New Nepali Folk". It's the best music to come out of Nepal in many years.
2. Diwas Gurung – Musician based in the United States, playing genres Rock/Folk/Electronic.
3. Kutumba – Arguably the most popular folk band in the country. Created a new folk sound that fuses instruments and styles from Nepal's various ethnic groups and communities.
4. Yama Buddha – Heralded the current wave of Nep-Hop.
5. Nepathya – Legendary Nepali folk-rock band. Probably the most popular band in the last 20 years.
6. Finally, Bipul Chhetri – Indian Nepali. His songs have become classics in a short period of time. – Nishant Dixit
Make in India does not want to simplify anything
The Make in India article gives very good suggestions (“What is missing from Modi’s Make in India plan: it’s not thinking small enough”). Unfortunately, the government knows them well. If they simplify everything, who will genuflect before them? – LK Kandpal
Waiting to happen
Children will be sent back to exploitive labour when you pick any chaiwallah from the street and make him the Prime Minister of India (“Government set to send millions of children back into exploitative labour”). – Sanjay Singh
Unfortunate that godmen get asylum in our system
After going through your article about Sakshi Maharaj, I remembered his atrocities on women and men that I read earlier (“Controversial MP Sakshi Maharaj has a trail of rape and murder charges behind him”). It is very unfortunate that such godmen get political asylum very easily in our system. Most of the leaders and parliamentarians have a criminal background. Politics has become the business of criminals, rapists, looters, murderers, land mafias and private money lenders. Farmers are committing suicide because are in debt to private money lenders. These money lenders loan money at 10% interest per month. Our government knows this very well to but it does not dismantle their network because most of them are either MPs or associated with a political party.
Farmers, poor people and the middleclass are hopeless. They have no alternative. The leaders of various parties are befooling them and coming to power one after another. The leaders divide the people on religious lines using hate speeches just to garner majority votes. How long will it continue in our country? When bad elements come to power, what will they serve the nation. Nation does not mean a piece of land but people living on the land. – M Ilyas
Another Gujarati book also points out flaw in Ramayana
Reading this article about how Ramayana may have been set around Afghanistan reminds me of a book I read in Gujarati many years ago , which also points out historic flaws in the popular notions in the Ramayana (“Was the Ramayana actually set in and around today’s Afghanistan?”).
The book – Ramayan ni Antaryatra by Nagindas Sanghavi, a historian and a popular columnist. A widely circulated Gujarati newspaper serialised this book, but the serial had been discontinued because the paper started receiving threat calls from the culture police. This book too came to the conclusion that Lanka as known today was not the same as mentioned in the Ramayana. It did mention, however, that Ayodhya was the centre of the story. – Ramesh Vora
***
The story is interesting, but it is unbelievable to think that the Ramayana did not occur in the area of present Ayodhya. Saying that the present river Sarayou is not the original and that it is elsewhere is purely Imaginary. The article tells that there is no mention of River Ganga, in Ramayana, whereas it is told in Ramayana that the divine couple crossed the river Ganga with the help of Guha. – Narahari Rao Kanala
***
There are some basic facts I learnt from a few versions of Ramayana, and your article contradicts them. They are-
1. Ravan was said to be powerful through boons from Shiva.
2. Hanuman brought a hillock from Himalayas to bring the sanjeevini plant.
Further, I have read articles that say some tribals in Odisha have rituals as they were cursed by Sita in captivity. Your version, on the other hand, says that Ramayana predates Hindu Triad and that all this happened west of Indus. I have read Kochar's Vedic People long ago and do not recall it mention the Ramayana, though I can't say you must be wrong.
In fact, I consider it quite possible that "Ram Janmabhoomi" is not the Ayodhya of Ramayana. If you’ve read A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology & Religion Geography, History, Literature published in 1800 by John Dowson, it says that Ayodhya “is yet to be found”. This means by 1880, Ram Janmabhoomi did not have the name "Ayodhya". – R Ravisundar
***
There are some issues with the author’s assumptions. He mixes the Rig Veda with the Ramayana. Also, Ram Chandraji went to Chitrakoot and lived in the forest for a number of years. There are hardly any forests in Afghanistan unless there were forests and Islamists cut them down. – Atul Thakur
***
Valmiki Ramayana does not tell the story of Shravana as we know. According to Valmiki Ramayana, the young man who was killed by the arrow of Dasharatha was a son of Vaishya father and Shoodra mother. At the time of his death, he was not travelling with his parents in Kaanwar.
Also, you will not find in Valmiki Ramayana the story of Hanuman bringing the whole mountain because he could not recognise the plant required to bring Lakshmana back to life. But then, it is people who wrote Ramayana (“Five other Ramayanas: Sita as Kali, Lakshman as Ravana's slayer and more”). – Dipak Dholakia
Jadeja should be dropped from CSK immediately
Well, MS Dhoni did contribute 'substantially' to the score of Chennai Super Kings (“Why Chennai Super Kings should worry about Dhoni, and why Dhoni should worry about CSK”). A few days back, he scored 53 runs off 29 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, I agree that Jadeja should be dropped immediately. Irfan might perform better. – Ashish Anand
Enlightening
Wonderfully enlightening (“The changing map of India from 1 AD to the 20th century”). – Eddie Ray
Must follow US medical residency admission process
Vacant seat problem exists in most educational institutes that conduct national-level entrance exams or take an interview (“How one software could help fill up hundreds of vacant seats at IITs and NITs and make life easier for aspirants”). In the US, medical residency and subspecialty fellowship application and matching process is very streamlined. It does not involve an exam per se but an online application to desired programmes, manual selection of interview candidates by the program, and ranking following the interviews. The candidates rank the programs in their order of preference. The programmes rank candidates in their order of preference.
A software is used to finalise results so that one aspirant is matched to one seat and one seat is matched to one aspirant. Seats do go vacant, for which there are other arrangements to fill them, but they are small in number and the overall process is generally very smooth.
If intent on part of the institutes is not the limiting factor, then something like this should be practicable in India too. – Kumar Satya
OK was ‘Only Kerosene’
The "Horn OK Please" piece was a good read on one of the many pop culture aspects of our society. You have taken effort to flesh out the story (“'Horn OK Please': a crowdsourced, entirely dubious history of India's iconic truck slogan”). – VV Kadam
***
OK was on British vehicles for "Only Kerosene". It got replicated by the Indian trucks without understanding what it means – Aparna Jain
Stop polluting the world
Stop mining, stop polluting the world with coal emissions (“Australian aboriginals vs Adani Mining: 'We reject any land-use agreement'”). – Rakesh Maharaj
Congrats for restoring the Apu trilogy
Congratulations on restoring Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy (“The long road to restoration for Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy”). Wonderful work. – Dr Sunil Kothari
Modi’s actions are being devoured
The goodwill of Narendra Modi's actions in Nepal is being devoured by his own over-the-top online supporters – his primary support base, the bhakts, whom the Indian media increasingly tries to cater to. I think this sums it up. Issues of media insensitivity are frankly, secondary (“'Your media are acting like they are shooting a family serial': Nepalis trend #GoHomeIndianMedia”). – Danish Khan
Go north or south, reformist renegade priests are out
It is almost a win-win situation for Bombay Parsi Punchayet, who bravely fought for such downgraded priest who are bent upon destroying our age old tradition commanded by Asho Zarthustra, and specifically also mentioned in our Avasta scriptures to be followed with due sincerity and faith, till our next Rainidar Saheb Behram Varzavand comes as saviour in near future for all human beings (“Mumbai's Parsis indignant and baffled as case of 'renegade' priests comes to a controversial end”).
These two din priests should be taught a serious lesson for not obeying our traditions. They are Zohaks puppets dancing under reformists’ tunes to gain their monetary benefits by showing to the community that they are something. I am proud to state that the BPP trustees are worthwhile to fight such radicals.
Go east or west Zoroastrians traditions are the best. Go north or south reformist renegade priests are out. – Yazdan Panahbaad
Maoists don’t fight for religion
I want to point out a major lopsided argument by writer Aakar Patel in his piece about how most extremists in India are Hindus (“Most extremists in India are not Muslim – they are Hindu”). Either he has not understood the public perception or he wants to pose himself as secular (read anti-Hindu). I think he has wits enough to understand what the common man of this country understands.
1. The Muslim terrorists are fighting in the name of religion, for the religion and to establish their religion. You can see it in the countless videos and statements they release on a day-to-day basis. Nowhere are they fighting for the developmental cause.
History has shown that any amount of development or economic wellbeing will not change their attitude towards other religions or tolerance. You cannot find people from any other faith in their terrorist network but for the likes of Aakar Patel.
2. Other terrorists in India are not fighting on the basis of religion, like Maoists. They are fighting for equality, against land acquisition, etc., or on principals.
Stop misleading people with selective interpretation of statics. – Shrinivas Bhat
***
Who is this Aakar Patel? Does anyone care what he says? Have you heard his expert comments on talk shows? Every other statement is a contradiction. – Deepak J Kulkarni
***
True Indian, a large majority of them, are tolerant by impulse and instinct. Secular without knowing the word, but in spirit. They cease to be so often after the politician introduces them to this word, as used by him to project an agenda and as stratagem. - Naiyer Razzaqui
***
Nepalis have long harboured resentment towards India
There are three points I’d like to the make for the #GoHomeIndianMedia article (“'Your media are acting like they are shooting a family serial': Nepalis trend #GoHomeIndianMedia”). First, the media in other countries too – the Beeb, for example – also plays up their "national" efforts. The Indian media is more crass and crude but that is just a matter of degree.
Second, Nepalis have long harboured resentment towards India and Indians. There is a history of Indian political interference and patronising attitude adopted by Indian tourists. The media coverage undoubtedly provided a trigger but it is likely that any media coverage of Indian aid effort would have triggered off Nepali resentment. Third, how quickly we forget our own prickly attitude towards coverage of our own poverty. We label it "poverty porn". Is it so difficult to imagine that others are equally touchy about being dependent?
The entire episode should cause us to re-examine our own attitudes towards Nepalis. For that matter, we need to change our attitude towards all our neighbours. Of course, that's not going to happen: all we'll get is more outrage about the "ingratitude" of the Nepalis. We forget that this is exactly what many Westerners think about us. – M Suresh
India must change mindset towards Nepalese
Your article about the hidden agenda of India and China in Nepal is clearly tented with an advocacy for the Indian advancement in response to whatever China is doing (“China’s and India’s charity in Nepal has a hidden political agenda”). The problem with India, in respect to Nepal, is that it never thinks Nepal is an independent country. What Indians think is that in Nepal, they should have paramount hand in all fields compared to anybody, and they don’t like others, especially China, to do something for their development. History is rife with this mindset, which unfortunately has by default helped the other countries have a good impression on Nepalese.
The article mentions in an alarming way the involvement of the Three Gorges company to build a hydro power in Nepal, whereas it misses to mention that an Indian company has been awarded two biggest project recently and many more are in the pipeline. Why do Indians have to raise their eyebrows if somebody is doing some good work in Nepal? Unless India changes its mindset and honours the Nepalese sentiments, they will not be able to win the hearts of Nepalese and this is the greatest paradox that a country so culturally and economically near is to lose its ground in comparison to China and other countries. I hope India would retrospect their policy towards Nepal and try to build a relationship based on the respect to others sentiments. – Surya Nath Upadhdyay
US too can learn from Nepal
As someone who has worked closely with Nepal MP Sunil Babu Pant since 2001, I'd say the only error in your article about what India can learn from Nepal is one of omission (“What India can learn from Nepal”). You could readily include the US in your assessment of nations that could learn a lot from the wonder of that beautiful nation of Nepal.
Here's to a fast, strong and resilient recovery from this horrific earthquake. – George M Carter
No talk about benefit of using human waste
I understand that there is a big need of behavioural change to get people to change their toilet habits and awareness campaigns to convince not only men but women too to use toilets (“Toilets are urgently needed in rural India, but don't imagine they'll reduce rape”). However, no one has talked about how the economic benefits of using the human waste like generating electricity out of it, using urine as fertiliser and using waste as compost hasn't been talked about.
Also, involvement of the community members in construction of the toilets, which provides unskilled labourers a chance to get training in important skills that increases their employability, hasn't been considered to incentivise the use of toilets. – Ankit Chugh
It’s RSS time
It is the RSS time. They can do anything they want (“Why the RSS believes that sage Narada was the world's first reporter”). – Rashid Jamil
North India has a lot to learn from Mizoram
The blog on Mizoram is extremely interesting (“The Rovering Correspondent”). Each post is very well-written and paints a visual portrait of this pretty hilly region.
I have been to Mizoram, stayed in Aizawl and completely identify with the descriptions of life posted here. One thing that was really striking about Mizoram was the matriarchal set-up. It was women all the way – from shopkeepers to vegetable sellers and vendors to even the security persons at malls and markets. It speaks a lot about the modern way of life here. Women here are held in high esteem and very well respected.
The north needs to learn a lot from this little town. Look forward to more from Mizoram. – Dr Deepa Gupta
Everything you wanted to know about Narendra Modi's 100 smart cities
In my opinion, smart cities should be really smart in the real sense (“Everything you wanted to know about Narendra Modi's 100 smart cities”). The cities should be able to self-sustain in terms of power generation. This can be done by mandating solar power for every building and bringing mechanism to tap the excess power by the government. Smart cities should also be self-sustainable in taking care of the waste generated. Since we have this vision, we should use this opportunity to make garbage (wet waste) recycling mandatory in every building, and even centrally by the government. The manure generated out of it can be sold, thereby generating revenue too.
Even smaller things like self-sufficiency in terms of drinking water by harvesting rain water in every building would help. – Sachin Sharma
Media fans communal violence
It is the Indian media and politicians who fan communal hatred in the Hindi heartland (“It wasn't #GodhraAgain. So what exactly happened in Uttar Pradesh?”). A simple and common case of alteration was snowballed into communal colours. No newspaper writes there that a person is injured, but instead say a Jat, Muslim, Gurjar, Dalit is injured, so peoples are divided there itself on communal or caste basis from which politicians benefits. – Tomar Ajay
Appreciate clarity in Jayalalithaa’s case
I read your report about the Jayalalithaa case (“Anxiety grips Tamil Nadu as deadline approaches for verdict in Jayalalithaa's case”). I really appreciate the clarity, quick and easy summary of the case and information on the timeline set by the apex court for the final verdict. I noticed that no other media organisation has provided the info in such a clear manner. Hats off! Thank you for the same as I was searching for the latest update and was unable to obtain such clear info from even from TV channels. - Lakshmi Subramanian
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