Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sftri.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mhuxn!mhuxm!sftig!sftri!rajeev From: rajeev@sftri.UUCP (S.Rajeev) Newsgroups: net.nlang.india Subject: Re: Comments on Sri Rajeev's message on "Jewel in the Crown" Message-ID: <386@sftri.UUCP> Date: Fri, 22-Mar-85 18:20:51 EST Article-I.D.: sftri.386 Posted: Fri Mar 22 18:20:51 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 24-Mar-85 03:57:26 EST References: <133@Navajo.ARPA> Distribution: net Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Summit N.J. Lines: 80 My dear Angry Young Man: Your anger does you credit; your lack of taste does not. And how unfortunate that your note is essentially content-free: that for all of your sound and fury, you do nothing but display your own prejudices! Next time you feel the urge to express yourself, I suggest you think a bit before shooting your mouth off. However, since you have chosen this public forum to vent your spleen, I suppose I have to dignify your harangue with a response. You obviously did not read what I had to say: you tacitly admit this -- > I just got a chance to read.... I guess yours is a knee-jerk response. If you had time to reflect, maybe you would understand. Maybe you'd even spell my name right. You quote me, and thereafter say nothing whatsoever that agrees or disagrees with anything I said. You devote your energies to attacking an image you have formed of me, the accuracy of which you presume with no real evidence. You obviously have an inferiority complex regarding "public school types"; but why on earth drag me into this quarrel between yourself and your Maker? You display another big chip in the shoulder regarding British rule. Most of us view this short period in its proper historical perspective: as a period of 90 years in a 5000-year continuum, it is relatively unimportant. When I think of Indian history, I think of the Guptas, the Pallavas, the Moguls, not the minor episode of the British. I too have read a good deal of Indian history, but, unlike you, I have gained something from this exercise. (Since you seem to be into lists of books, here's one: History of India by Majumdar, Indian History by Romila Thapar and Percival Spear, The Wonder that was India by Basham, Sardar Panikkar's Memoirs, Nehru's Discovery of India, Hinduism by R.C. Zaehner...) As I said before, it's pointless getting emotional over what the British, as all conquerors do, did: everything appropriate to extending their reign. I'm sure that the Aryans did perfectly ghastly things to the conquered Dravidians; so perhaps did the Mauryas and the Moguls to their subjects. But all this is in the distant past. What struck me about 'Jewel' was that the things portrayed there happened within living memory. But for Gandhiji and a few dedicated patriots, we could very well still be in the same situation. It is a thought that humbles one, and makes one realize how much one really has to be thankful for. So my advice to you is: stop getting hung up so much on the British, and try to acquire a sense of proportion. You then trot out a few pious and vacuous homilies: > ... Next time you hear some > comment, `Oh what else do you expect from a Bihari' don't just sit > there. Next time ... you hear some statement like > `All Muslims are dirty' - fight back- .... Yeah, and motherhood and apple pie, too. Kindly refrain from sanctimonious posturing; it's quite tedious. Your "suggested reading" list was most amusing, specifically Dilip Hiro's book. You presumably lived in India for many years, yet you need to regurgitate somebody else's opinions on "contemporary India". And that, someone whose main claim to fame is a couple of mildly titillating novels. Excuse me, but some of us prefer to keep our eyes and ears open, and to form our own views of the world, not acquire them second-hand. > I'd like to apologise to all who may find this message pedantic. "Pedantic" (Merriam-Webster: narrowly, stodgily and often ostentatiously learned) is hardly the word to describe your effusions. Inane or offensive might be closer. This being the net, I have read lots of nonsense, but yours, dear fellow, ought to be framed and hung on a wall. Sincerely, Sri Rajeev. -- ...ihnp4!attunix!rajeev -- usenet ihnp4!attunix!rajeev@BERKELEY -- arpanet Sri Rajeev, SF 1-342, Bell Labs, Summit, NJ 07901. (201)-522-6330.