Emerging truths

The article by Manini Chatterjee is brilliant and very factual 8216;The Kala Pani story8217;, IE, Sept 21. I visited Port ...

The article by Manini Chatterjee is brilliant and very factual 8216;The Kala Pani story8217;, IE, Sept 21. I visited Port Blair in August just before the present controversy started. As a student of the Indian freedom struggle, the visit to the Cellular jail was a very memorable experience and I will now certainly go through the books the writer has cited.

8212; Hem Kolachina On e-mail

8226; Thank you, Manini Chatterjee, for giving us information on the actual history of Cellular Jail and its convicted people.

8212; Vrunda Mumbai

8226; How come the writer learnt the history of Cellular jail only in order to run down Savarkar? Savarkar defied the British in England itself like some others. After his arrest, he escaped by leaping off the ship that was deporting him to India and took shelter in France where he was arrested by the French at the instance of the British and sent to the Cellular jail.

8212; M.N. Singh Kolkata

8226; I agree with the writer that the Port Blair airport should be renamed 8216;Tyagi Nagar8217;. But I do not agree that Savarkar8217;s statute and name should be removed. Instead all the names of those who were in Cellular jail should be noted and their statutes erected at the jail premises.

8212; Gajanan On e-mail

8226; Today glorifying Savarkar or blaming him has become fashion. I don8217;t disagree that many of the other Cellular jail inmates were as zealous patriots as Savarkar. But their sacrifices don8217;t make Savarkar8217;s sacrifices worthless.

8212; Manish Kesarkar Mumbai

Left and right

8226; I feel our country is unique in more ways than one. Apart from many significant diversities, what is most obviously glaring is the politics of governance. While at state level, a set of policies are followed by a particular party in power, it has no compunction in opposing the same policies at the Centre just because a different party is ruling there. The Left8217;s objection to the appointment of international consultative agencies to the Planning Commission is a perfect examp- le of this 8216;What Bengal does today8217;, IE, Sept 21.

8212; Bobby Sharma Delhi

8226; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be a good man, but he has fallen among some very undesirable persons. No one can walk straight who has to lean upon others. The Communists are exercising power without responsibility. They are more interested in finding fault with others than in doing their own duty.

8212; S.R. Mehrotra Shimla

Inviting Dan Brown

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8226; Apropos of Renuka Narayan8217;s view of Dan Brown8217;s bestseller IE, August 5, The Da Vinci Code is no doubt a rivetting tale well told. But it has been reported that officials at St Sulpice a church in Paris brought into the story is annoyed at the book8217;s distortion of history. They are unhappy at Brown8217;s way of linking the Priory of Sion a secret society to the church and have hung a notice on a side wall which says: 8216;Contrary to the fanciful allegations in a recent best-selling novel, this is not the vestige of a pagan temple8217;. Navratri is close upon us. Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati would all be with us. It might not be a bad idea for Brown to visit India, the land of pagans, then.

8212; S. Narayanan New Delhi