Outlook – June 29, 2019

ON E-MAIL Babu Verghese: This

ref ers to your cover story (India’s Best

Professional Colleges, June 17 ). While

the routine effort is commendable, the

honesty behind the effort is questiona­

ble. Some very deserving instituted are

not visible in your list of top profes­

sional colleges. NIT Calicut does not

figure anywhere in the top 100 engi­

neering institutions. Surely, that can­

not be the case.

BANGALORE Rahil Shankaran:

Refer to What Youth Think (June 17).

Your survey reveals a great sexual rep­

ression among the youth: 22 per cent

of them think that pornstars are more

dangerous to society than terrorists

and 66 per cent of them have reserva­

tions about pre­marital sex. Compare

this with the stat that India is the third

biggest porn­watching country in the

world. Who knew that in this time of

great political turmoil, the revolution

we are actually waiting for is sexual!

NEW DELHI Sangeeta Kampani:

Refer to Ladies First. Not Exactly (June

17). It was encouraging to read about

courses on women’s studies as a career

choice. It’s about time we had a makeo­

ver in terms of how we think and dev­

elop an ecosystem for such courses to

go mainstream. Gender studies need to

be read regardless of gender, and stu­

dents should be as objective as possi­

ble. Shiva and Shakti are the perfect

connection between men and women;

equal, yet splendidly different. Some

very small vignettes from even the ani­

mal world can go a long way in show­

casing the peculiarities and strengths

of women. One such example is that of

the deep sea octopus mother who

spends four­and­a­half­years atop her

eggs after hatching them in order to

protect them from predators. Most

amazingly, during the watch, she

doesn’t move, not even for a meal,

dying herself in the effort to keep her

babies alive. There is no dearth of exa­

mples that can go a long way in demol­

ishing prevalent stereotypes of women

as the weaker sex. The subject needs to

be read from a humanist angle.

Wither Congress?

NEW DELHI Abhimanyu K.: In your

issue dated June 17, I could spot no

meaningful article on the Congress. In a

one­liner, the Congress should urge att­

ention and sing Apna time aayega!

Street-Fighting CM

KOCHI George Jacob: Refer to

Bugles Before Round Two (June 17).

The general elections 2019 are done

and dusted, but Mamata Banerjee

seems to be nursing a hangover. The

‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan has her all shaken

up. It is true that communal slogans

must be fought in the national interest.

But there’s a way to do things. Being a

politician with street­fighter instincts,

is it foolhardy to expect decorum and

fin esse from Mamata?

PUNE Anil S.: After the successful

electoral ambush in the Lok Sabha

polls, the Shah of divisive politics has

made Bengal his new battleground.

The symbolic mischief of ‘Jai Shri

Ram’, the vitriolic slogan from the

Babri days, has been launched in the

streets of Calcutta. General Mamata,

recognising the recent aggresive and

communal history of Jai Shri Ram,

wants to have none of it in her still sec­

ularly imagined state. But her fortifica­

tion against the naara is pushing her in

a frenzied corner in the era of neo­Hin­

dutva, which is constantly pushing the

masses to embrace hardline saffron

symbology which act ually gains its

strength from standing stubbornly

against historically contextual criti­

cism. What will she do when the bhad­

ralok get baited into chanting a soft but

resonant Jai Shri Ram?

Chemical Brothers

CHENNAI M.Y. Shariff: There has

been perfect cohesion in the relation­

ship between PM Modi and Amit Shah

for over two decades and the perfect

chemistry between them has yielded

perfect results in the Lok Sabha polls

(Applied Chemistry, June 10). In 2014,

Modi fought on his own, riding on peo­

ple’s displeasure over a series of scams

during UPA II. But in 2019, it was the

Modi­Shah jugalbandi and the BJP’s

hard work at all levels that fetched

them an unbelievable second land­

slide. After this, Shah has moved to No.

2 in the cabinet; consequently the

power centre will shift and be confined

to these two, with all others—though

holding important portfolios—rele­

gated to the background. People have

plumped for consistency and stability

letters

Thus Spake The Youth

ON E-MAIL Ram Avadheesh

I am quite interested in learning the names of these radical pornstars destroying our society.

one-liner

June 17, 2019

4 OUTLOOK 1 July 2019