The spiritual angle
The article “What difference did Darwin make?” (Magazine, February 15) invokes Bergson’s creative evolution. Bergson’s own original impetus came from his revision and restatement of biological evolution, one of the all-absorbing subjects of his time. Darwin attempted to explain the origin of species only in terms of mechanistic action and interaction between rival competitive forces. Bergson, on the other hand, thought in terms of creative evolution. Evolution to Bergson meant a creative process taking place between forces inside living beings meeting their own counterparts from the outside world. In creative evolution the interaction between the inside and the outside of a thing takes place on the levels of instinct and intelligence. Both these factors participate intimately in the process of evolution and finally results in emancipation. Darwin missed the spiritual side of evolution. Therefore Darwin’s theory is incomplete.
Swami Advaitananda,
founder and head, Agrahya Gurukula
Palakkad
Catering to the West?
The article “Orientalism for a global market” (Magazine, February 15) by K. Hariharan made excellent reading. This is one voice that is not taken in by all the awards and adornments heaped on the film by Westerners. The film is really the most gratuitous fantasy to be created about India. Compared to the original novel Q&A, the script of the film clearly appears to be a mischief intentionally played on Indian viewers. Starting with the change of the title to change in the name of the protagonist and change in the 12 questions asked, the film clearly caters to the prejudices Westerners have about India.
Kasturi Murali Krishna,
Hyderabad
Tyranny of the majority
Apropos the article “Sense and sensibility” (Magazine, February 15), the democratic model of governance itself is being misused by the rulers who are elected based on about 40 per cent of the recorded votes of about 70 per cent of the electorate (i.e. 28 per cent of the votes) to impose their ways of thinking in governance as well as sociological issues. This principle of ruling by minority groups at the expense of the silent majority is now being practised by homogeneous fringe benefit groups like MNS, the Gujjar agitationists or Sri Ram Sene, not for a public cause but for ventilating their jealousy or hatred for the wellbeing of others. The irony is that responses to these issues by the Governments of the day are governed by vote bank politics rather than equitable governance. We should take a stand of voting against the fringe groups or their supporters.
P. Esakki Muthu,
Udangudi
The article was really thought provoking. As a teenager and a responsible citizen of this country, I shudder to think of parties like the Sri Ram Sene getting elected to power. Ours is democratic country and every citizen has the right to do what he wants unless he disturbs or interferes in the lives of others. The attackers spoke of “Indian Culture”. What culture are they speaking of? A culture in which women are subdued and men have the right to do as they please? The attackers were the ones who had no inkling of culture.
Jason Kumar,
Visakhapatnam
Still relevant
Ramachandra Guha’s write up on Sharada Prasad (Magazine, February 15) made interesting reading. The values for which Sharada Prasad lived are quite relevant in the present Indian situation where religion and region are given more importance than humaneness and heritage/history consciousness. Present day India needs people like Sharada Prasad who have a pan-Indian outlook that is cultured and informed. For the evolution of such catholic and broad-based vision, it is necessary that the teaching of arts, languages and humanities be given more importance. At least at the school level the excessive importance that is given to science and technological subjects must be replaced by prominence to subjects like history, geography and history.
Dr.K. Parameswaran,
Coimbatore
Smart customer
There is truth in what P. Shyam has tried to convey to the readers through his simple but impressive write-up, “Have you been cross-sold?” (Magazine, February 15). Naive customers fall an easy prey to the cajoling tactics of the new breed of clever sales personnel and make spot commitments which, many a time, land them in avoidable trouble.
K.D.Viswanaathan,
Coimbatore
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