Us and them• I HAVE been closely following your reports and comments on Fulbright scholars facing problems of getting visas to travel to India for academic purposes. I would like to share with readers my experience during a trip to the US embassy in Mumbai to obtain a business visa. Except for the conduct of the interview, all the tasks in the embassy are being performed by the Indian employees of the embassy. They and the security guards are absolutely rude. An old couple, waiting in the sun, was admonished rudely by the officer managing the queue when they asked for some information. The security guards had an extremely supercilious attitude and the manner in which instructions were being shouted out made everyone in the queue feel outraged. The first whiff of courtesy was extended by the American gentleman sitting behind the counter and collecting our documents. Thereafter, we were treated with equal courtesy by the officer (American) of the embassy who interviewed us. The mere fact that they are being employed by the US government bloats the egos of these pathetic Indians. Is it that most Indians, when empowered with authority, end up being monsters? Maybe it is not surprising that Fulbright scholars are finding it difficult to obtain visas. — Ketan R. Patel, Ahmedabad Patently touching • R.A. MASHELKAR’S prompt withdrawal of a report on patent law, submitted by a panel headed by him for plagiarising a crucial paragraph in the report (IE, February 22), elevated him from being a mere scholar to a Robin Hood. Had the report been accepted, multinationals like Novartis would have greatly prospered and strangled indigenous research for a cheaper variety of drugs for the world’s poor. The manner in which he expressed his regret is touching. Once I read a brief life sketch of his from where I came to learn that his mother used to work as a maid in Mumbai when he was a schoolchild. Why do we not see more of such great men in India?— N.K. Das Gupta, KolkataCongress question• THIS refers to the PM’s letter to CMs asking them to help curb inflation (‘Manmohan sets up inflation cell’, IE, February 23). The inflation rate has touched a two-year high of 6.73 per cent, notwithstanding an economist of world fame being in the driving seat. One doubts whether Dr Singh can contain price rise if vested political interests continue to abet unscrupulous traders and businessmen. The Congress government over the decades has been known for its own malpractice of running the country, known as ‘inspector-licence raj’. So long as the party’s own sharks are not taken care of, expecting the ‘anti-social’ businessmen to shun “malpractices, profiteering and hoarding”, is to merely beat the muddy water, which is no good. Dr Singh needs to ponder why, every time there is a Congress government at the Centre, essential commodities become scarce and prices go up?— Ved Guliani, HisarAce nationalist• KUDOS for publishing the article, ‘Rescue Golwalkar from the secularists’, by Rakesh Sinha (IE, February 23). Every Indian needs to know more about ‘Guruji Golwalkar’ for a stronger India. I feel that The Indian Express could do a yeoman service to its readers and the nation if it could publish a series about the great national personality from the pages of ‘Shri Guruji, pioneer of a new era’ by C.P. Bhishikar. — Kedarnath Aiyar, Mumbai
