M A I L B A G

The essence of Indianness

The letter “What makes Indians so special” (December 2) by Gaurav Julka reveals perceptions that are onesided. These don’t truly highlight “Indianness” in its entirety. Indianness is an amalgam of composite culture; commonality of interests; and accommodation of divergent viewpoints.

It is solely marked by the oriental and occidental outlook and thought. Indian identity epitomises religion, race, culture, ethnicity, shared history and common memory. Its other hallmarks are liberalism, humanism, self-reliance, truth, non-violence and supreme sacrifice. Ego, and slander have no room in it.

Our strength lies in being “Indian” in letter and spirit. We have won laurels everywhere. But we are still struggling to articulate, discover and debate what it means to be an Indian. We must appreciate our unity in diversity.

Jarnail Singh Brar, Bathinda

Second coming

According to M.L. Dhawan, films based on the theme of reincarnation dawned with the movie Madhumati (1958). Mahal (1949) was the forerunner in the genre of re-births. Directed by Kamal Amrohi, produced under the banner of Bombay Talkies, with Ashok Kumar and Madhubala, as the lead pair, it unfolded a saga of three births and was a boxoffice hit. To Madhubala, it bestowed the image of the screen Venus. In films revolving around reincarnation, Nagin (1954) was the second, followed by Madhumati.

V.I.K. Sharma, Jalandhar

Dogged by misery

“Dogged by misery” by Lt-Gen Baljit Singh (retd) (Spectrum, December 2) was thought-provoking and informative.

Paleontologists and archaeologists have determined that about 60 million years ago, a small mammal like a weasel lived in the environs of Asia and was called Miacis, the genus that became the ancestor of the animal known now as canid: dogs, jackals, wolves and foxes. Miacid did not have any direct descendant but dog-like canids evolved from it about 30 to 40 million years ago. Miacis had evolved into the first true dog, namely cynodictis, with a long tail and brush coat. Over the millennia, cynodictis gave rise to two branches, one in Africa and other in Eurasia. The Eurasian branch called Tomaretus is the progenitor of wolves, dogs and foxes.

P.S. Bhatty, Amritsar

Detached observer

The review “Vignettes of life” (Spectrum, November, 18) by Ramesh Luthra of Khushwant Singh’s Collected Stories made good reading. Khushwant Singh might have earned fame as novelist-columnist but in reality it is his short stories, tragic-comic and acerbic, that best illustrate every phase of Indian life with truthfulness.

A brilliant observer of life, Khushwant Singh challenges our political, social, religious and cultural beliefs with wit and empathy. Structured with lively satire and humour, Singh’s stories expose the typical hypocrisy of Indian society in treating the topics of religion and morality and invariably prove the point that there is whatsoever no correlation between the two.

His stories are interesting not just because they expose embarrassing contradictions in our established social mores and challenge widely held assumptions on various subjects, but because they assimilate the facts of life and portray emotions — love, lust, jealousy and hatred in raw form.n

Gaurav Julka,  Ferozepore