The Bloomsbury Club — comprising British intellectuals of the early 20th century — had Mulk Raj Anand as a member. His fellow traveller, a minister in Clement Atlee’s cabinet was the fabian socialist John Stratchey. In ’56, Stratchey visited and I had occasion to accompany him when he visited Mulk Raj Anand in his spartan Cuffe Parade flat. It was scintillating to listen to these two giants from ‘the land of the ruled and the rulers’. I recall this incident only to let readers — especially those in the Left — know that the ‘Marxist’ Anand had welcomed Stratchey, who was there at the invitation of the then Planning guru, Dr P.C. Mahalanobis. He was advising us on our first Five Year Plan. — Mukund B. Kunte Delhi Appalling treatment • We are appalled by the media’s coverage of the ‘Gudiya-Taufiq-Arif’ case and strongly resent the growing instances of trial by media in its self-appointed role as resolvers of conflict. This is a use of people’s personal tragedies to raise network ratings. The terms of the ‘debate’ were backward, with Arif, Taufiq and the ‘public’ at large — which has no locus standi in the case — being asked for their opinion. Gudiya was given no voice. This image of women as mere property was reinforced by headlines like ‘Kiski Gudiya?’ In posing the question of who should keep the child, Gudiya’s primary right over it as mother was completely ignored. Far from displaying any sense of social responsibility, the media have reinforced the idea that women should have no control over their fertility, bodies and lives. The coverage was also communal, in that Muslim women, more than others, were seen as having no choice. We believe that Gudiya must be given the space to make her decision, away from the media and the contending families, clerics, and so on. — Sujata Patel and others On e-mail Encourage FDI • This is a ridiculous scheme (‘Coming up: law to ensure jobs’, IE, Sept 28). Out of this amount, 85 per cent of the money is sure to be siphoned off by corrupt officials The need of the hour is to generate more jobs by encouraging FDI on massive scale as in China. India cannot be a welfare state as our ruling castes and industry elites are just too corrupt. — Ram Tal Mumbai Self delusion? • This refers to the piece, ‘US boost for civilian space programmes’ (IE, Sept 27). I wonder why sanctions against ISRO should bother us. After all, the government has been telling us innumerable times how self-reliant we are. Is this yet another case of self-delusion on the part of our leaders? — Harsh Vardhan Mumbai Savarkar and Sonia • It pleased me to read the piece, ‘Sonia as Savarkarite Hindu’ (IE, Sept 27). It should end the useless controversy whether Sonia Gandhi is a Hindu or not, particularly her children. The author quotes Savarkar as writing, “.Any convert of non-Hindu parentage can be a Hindu if bonafidely he or she adopts our culture and thus adopts our land as Punyabhu. The children of such union .be most emphatically Hindu”. — S. Thakur Delhi Thumbs down • I am sorry to say our cricketers don’t deserve that much (‘It’s official, big money for our cricketers’, Sept 27)! — M.V. Chilukuri On e-mail
