Save Tagore146;s vision

8226; Professor Amartya Sen has rightly opined that the preservation of Tagore8217;s ideals is more critical t...

8226; Professor Amartya Sen has rightly opined that the preservation of Tagore8217;s ideals is more critical than preservation of artifacts associated with him. In that regard, the rapid degradation of the Santiniketan ecosystem is possibly the most blatant desecration of Tagore8217;s vision, that could have happened. Nature, to Tagore, was the greatest source of creative inspiration, immortalised in his songs and festivals. Nature was the great teacher, continuously reinforcing values of life in an otherwise utilitarian and rigid education system. In less than 60 years after his demise, that pristine creation stands utterly violated. Callous inefficiency of the authorities, heartless amorality of politicians, and the bottomless greed of builders have turned Santiniketan into a concrete jungle. If we don8217;t resolve to arrest this, all the breastbeating about stolen medals would be utter hypocrisy.

8212; Purnima Dutta Gupta New Delhi

Biased media

8226; The 8220;best8221; part of the secular English press media is devoted these days to the Best Bakery case. This is quite natural for self-proclaimed secularists! Manoj Mitta misses no opportunity to take Gujarat government to task for its alleged role in instigating communal riots 8216;Best case scenario8217;, IE, April 15. He claims that over 2000 wretched Muslims were burnt alive in Gujarat and that it is by far the biggest death toll in any communal outbreak in the past 20 years. The 1984 riots in which the Congress goons killed more than 3000 Sikhs were technically not communal8212;though it was against one community 8212;but nonetheless more gruesome! But then the culprits were not 8220;communal8221; Hindus but Congress goons and that is not condemnable by the spurious secularists! How many 8220;killers8221; have been brought to justice in that case so far and how many NGOs fought for their cause? What about the Human Rights Commission? Would Mitta throw light on that subject in his next piece?

8212; Shreeram Paranjpe Mumbai

8226; The retrial of the Best Bakery Case may have delighted some and disappointed others but, being a Barodian, I have been saddened by communal incidents that have taken place over the last two or three years. Baroda was known for the peaceful coexistence of its diverse communities. But the situation has changed after the communal flare-up following the Godhra carnage. This Best Bakery episode could cast more doubts in the minds of the people living here, about impartiality of judiciary system and, most important, about the notorious nexus between the police and politicians. The landmark judgment of the Supreme Court has added another black chapter to Baroda8217;s history.

8212; Gaurav Kumar Vadodara

STD from Porbandar

8226; Before you again print my photo/on your party book and pamphlet/before you again meet your helmsman/who rules from the place that carries my name/before you again drum up morphing my ahimsa/to cut-fit your designs/ before you read the next Supreme Court order/similar to the one in the Best Bakery case/ before you again invite my sisters to your next sari distribution function/ but please, definitely before you begin your next journey/do come to my place of birth./Come to my old house/on the pavement outside sits an old hawker/ please ask him for a moral compass/it costs only eleven rupees/It is a very good compass/it shows you the direction you are heading/you can see it even in the dark/you see, it has radium on its needle. You will like it.

8212; Suhas Borker New Delhi