Sunday Magazine Mail Bag

July 09, 2011 04:13 pm | Updated 05:10 pm IST

Signature style

This is with reference to K. Hariharan’s article, “The Rajini mystique” (July 3). The fan clubs of Rajinikanth have no boundaries. He has die-hard fans all over the world. In Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, Rajini represents India as its filmworld ambassador. Since the days of the Tamil film “Apoorva Ragangal” there has been no looking back for the superstar in the tinsel world. His style is his signature. He is India’s Clint Eastwood. Rajini is a demi-god for his fans. The abhishekams they performed on the “Enthiran” cut-outs stand testimony to their reverence for the hero. Rajini should continue acting in films without throwing his hat in the political ring. This is what his legion fans want from him.

K. Pradeep

Chennai

In simple terms, “The Rajini mystique” lies in the actor reflecting the fantasies of a generation.

Jacob Sahayam

Thiruvananthapuram

Time to heal

Harsh Mander has done it again in his column (“Some paths to forgiveness”, July 3), handling a socio-emotional issue on a psychological plane without sacrificing the historical and ideological contexts. The activist is right in being critical about people telling their children convenient parts of history instead of passing it on to the next generation in whole.

He deserves appreciation for his thoughtful and befitting quotes from Gandhi in the matter of forgiving. The feudal foundations of our society being so strong, gender, caste and religious diversities exhibit themselves in unthinkable fashion depending upon which of these three matters the most in a given situation which should explain, for instance, women of the majority Hindu community shamefully abetting their men’s sexual crimes against hapless Muslim women in the post-Godhra scenario.

The wounds of communal violence like the one that our nation suffered during partition, the post-1992 Babri Mosque demolition mayhem and the 2002 Gujarat pogrom take time to heal precisely because of the continuing hostile environment and hatred embedded in the perspective. Moral acceptance of injustice and mutual acknowledgement of mindless attacks should start somewhere at some point for the sake of posterity.

S.V. Venugopalan

Chennai

Harsh Mander’s article once again advocates peace and reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims. There is no doubt that there exist bitter experiences and memories between the people of different communities as a result of events like Partition, the Shah Bano controversy, Babri Mosque demolition, Gujarat 2002 etc., but that does not mean that there should be no effort at peace and reconciliation between them because if people of the same country continue to live without mutual trust, and with hate and suspicion it will result in the increase of incidents of terrorism and communal violence which will lead to more blood shed, loss of dignity and property. The overall development of the country and its image in the world will be tarnished.

Dr. Aman Mohd. Khan

Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh

Evaluation norms

The article “A travesty of education” by Vikram Kapur (June 26) was really thought provoking. The 100 per cent cut-off in marks introduced by a Delhi college recently for admissions is indeed a travesty. Education is a continuous process. Hence it’s imperative that parameters used to evaluate the students in schools and colleges are continuous and coupled with, of course, pragmatism. Also, the teaching faculty/fraternity must be qualified and proficient enough to make students wholesome personalities. Not without reason is it said, “A nation’s destiny is shaped in classrooms”.

S. Ramakrishnasayee

Prinicipal, DAV-BHEL School

Ranipet

The article “A travesty of education” was timely and apposite . The mad rush to grab seats in the top-notch colleges of our country has begun, and amid this frenzy Vikram Kapur’s article, laced with subtlety and good sense, should act as an eye-opener for many people. Why are people saying that the “very best” in our country are vying for top slots in colleges? Do the “very best” habitually go for such farcical higher academics at all? We can get the answer if we recall the lives of gentlemen like Vishwanathan Anand , Rabindranath Tagore , Dhirubhai Ambani , Sachin Tendulkar and others who have won laurels for our country time and again! As for colleges indulging in this farce of setting 99 or 100 per cent as their cut-off requirement, isn’t it an open secret that most of those who score such marks these days are only slightly better than duds (most secondary and higher secondary level toppers, briefly but ecstatically celebrated in the media, are never thereafter heard of again, as I have personally checked time and again: at the most they become faceless managers in banks or power plants, working 12-hours a day for a pittance)?

Debotosh Chatterjee

Durgapur, West Bengal

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