LETTERS

Dominance and dilemmas

The Cover Story essay "Dominance and its dilemmas" (November 21) by Noam Chomsky clearly brought out the fallacy of the concept of "preventive war". Perhaps in Iraq it was a pre-determined war, a grand imperial strategy to gain control over the strategic West Asian region and its resources. The strategists are not worried about the suffering of others. Violence may be an instrument of control but not of governance. It is here that Bush has miscalculated.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Thiruvananthapuram

Semmangudi

The obituary on Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer ("The Pitamaha of Carnatic music", November 21) is at once poignant, well written and brimming with details about the great singer.

I wish to mention two personal experiences I had with him. It was February 16, 1999. Semmangudi, who had turned 90, was being felicitated in the prestigious Y.B. Chavan Auditorium in South Bombay. Kishore Amonkar was there to adorn him with a gold bracelet - a Veera Sringala. The hall was jam-packed. After the bracelet was presented to him, the artist of that evening, Sanjay Subramaniam, requested Semmangudi to sing at least one or two songs. He demurred initially. But later he did sing and with such tremendous grace that the audience was spellbound. After this, he was led to a seat in the front row. During a short interval when arrangements were being made on the stage I dived to the front row and prostrated before him and said: "Sir, I am one of your million unknown admirers and have heard you for over five decades. I want your autograph." He said: "O.K. What is your name? Where should I autograph?" I pulled out a copy of Frontline dated November 6, 1998, which carried a wonderful article "Semmangudi looks back - at 90" with several valuable photographs. He saw the entire article commented that I had brought a very good photo and signed on a colour picture. I thanked him. Then he gave a toothless smile and said, "Ramachandran, there is a charge for the autograph. Rupees Fifty." I gladly gave the amount. He said, "Don't think this goes to Semmangudi. I collect money for an orphanage in Thanjavur."

The second experience: The Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai was overflowing and the occasion was the centenary celebrations of Kalki. Among the speakers was Semmangudi. Even as he stood before the mike someone sent a chit. He read it and told the audience: "Do you know what this is? I am advised to restrict myself to three minutes!" With feigned anger, he said: "I have come all the way from Chennai to speak about my good friend Kalki and no one is going to short-circuit me." He spoke for full 10 minutes, with wit and humour. "Kalki taught me the history of the kingdoms of South India but I taught him and Sadasivam how to play rummy!"

P.P. Ramachandran
Mumbai

The obituary took many Carnatic music lovers down memory lane. Having learnt the art of Carnatic music from luminaries like Gottuvadyam Sakharama Rao and Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Semmangudi achieved prominence in 1947 when he was conferred with the title of `Sangeetha Kalanidhi' by the Madras Music Academy, the youngest to receive the coveted award, just a year after his guru, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, received it.

Although a traditionalist, Semmangudi introduced many novelties in the works of composers ranging from Swati Tirunal to Ambujam Krishna. He also popularised rare ragas such as Bhavapriya, Salaghabhairavi and Narayanagowla. Thanks to the intensive training given by his gurus to his voice acquiring a razor sharp, velvet smooth quality. Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer, also taught him many Tyagaraja kirtanas. Uncompromising in values, Semmangudi never approved of `adulteration' of pure Carnatic music with any other musical form.

With the demise of this great soul, a link between the past and the present styles of the traditional classical music of South India has been lost, indicating the end of an era. His death is not only a great loss to the Carnatic musicians like M.S. Subbulakshmi, K.J. Yesudas, Lalgudi Jayaraman, T.N. Krishnan and Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan, just to name a few, who hold him in great reverence, but also to Carnatic music lovers.

It was a touching obituary on a legend. I am reminded of Frontline's August 22, 1997 issue, which carried Semmangudi's views ("Music then & now") and the November 6, 1998 (Semmangudi's 90th birthday) issue which contained an extensive interview he gave to the Chitravina exponent N. Ravikiran and Frontline's Special Correspondent Asha Krishnakumar. Semmangudi has won numerous awards, including the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan (by the Government of India), Isai Perarignar (by the Tamil Nadu government), the Kalidas Samman (by the Madhya Pradesh government) and the most prestigious award of Carnatic music, the Sangeetha Kalanidhi (by the Madras Music Academy). It is time the `Pitamaha' of Carnatic music was honoured with the Bharat Ratna.

S. Balakrishnan
Jamshedpur

It was fitting tribute to Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, which portrayed well his personality. The singer took Carnatic music to dizzy heights. He had a complete mastery over his profession. His achievements were indeed awe-inspiring. His sad demise certainly marks the end of an era in Carnatic music.

Abhijeet D. More
Nashik

Mauritius

This has reference to the article "Mauritius as a tax haven" and the interview with S.K. Jha, former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax.

I agree that it is a fraud to have treaties without parliamentary approval. It is also easy to talk about "rampant poverty in India", "two sets of people when it comes to taxation", and so on. But one should understand the importance of foreign exchange. India has a lot of foreign exchange reserves now but not so five years ago. The situation was different then: India was short of foreign exchange and had to do these things to attract investment. Even now, NRIs are allowed to deposit money in India and the interest is not taxable. This is done basically to attract foreign exchange and contain the fall of the rupee. The government has always had a strategy to attract and manage foreign exchange reserves. The strategy includes measures such as discriminatory taxation and income tax exemption for money made from exports. The question may arise: How could you exempt a wealthy exporter from paying income tax when there are a whole lot of people below the poverty line?

But, by the same logic, one can ask why farmers are given free electricity, when a large number of agricultural labourers and landless people are struggling for food. It is wrong to say that poverty exists and hence nobody should be given subsidy/tax exemption. There has to be an all-round effort.

I agree with the argument that the Mauritius route cannot be justified. At least we can change the treaty so that foreign institutional investors are forced to pay tax either in India or in Mauritius and make the benefits of the treaty applicable to only companies that own and operate property/factory in Mauritius.

Another thing to be understood is that there is no loyalty when it comes to making money. As soon as interest rate goes up in the U.S. all NRIs will pull their money out of India. If you let Indians invest abroad and if the interest rate is attractive, most of the Indians will invest in foreign countries. That is the reality. There is no point in being emotional about it. It is basic human instinct to create and sustain.

Parthiban Krishnaswamy
Received in e-mail

Ayodhya

This is with reference to the Column "Between despair and hope" (October 10) by Praful Bidwai. The blame for the December 6 `act' lies squarely with the RSS, the VHP and the BJP, with the leader of gang being Advani himself. Hence exonerating him in the Babri Masjid demolition case is unfair and will dent the image of the CBI (guilty of diluting charges against him). But, like most other columnists Bidwai refers to riots in Gujarat as "pogrom" and "genocide", apparently forgetting the "Godhra train" episode. Were those burnt alive not human? Was that not a dastardly act?

Vijay Singh
Bhopal

This refers to the Cover Story, "Flop shop in Ayodhya" (November7). The tactical handling of the VHP programme by Mulayam Singh deserves appreciation. These habitual offenders warned us of national violence if they are not allowed. It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister asked the people to trust these hooligans despite their arms-twisting. Deputy Prime Minister was in constant touch with the Uttar Pradesh Government to help the VHP.

Hari
Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu

The Cover Story feature gave an exhaustive account of the VHP's latest campaign in Ayodhya. The various propaganda methods and terminology (chetna, balidaan, shauraya, shila pujan, shila nyas, and so on) used by the VHP over the years have misled the people. For instance, the term `kar seva' denotes construction in a religious context. But what was done in the name of kar seva in Ayodhya was quite the opposite. The whole world was witness to the drama enacted by them on December 6, 1992. People who converged on Ayodhya on October 15 were called Ram Bhakts. But they turned out to be a frenzied mob.

Mahesh Inder Sharma
Delhi

The `Jewish' lobby

This has reference to the article "The myth of the `Jewish lobby' " (October 10). Reference to the "Jewish" lobby rather than the proper terms "Zionist" or "Israeli" lobby exposes the person who uses it as a bigot. In truth, the number of right-wing Christians who blindly support Israel is significantly larger than the number of Jewish citizens in the United States; although the figure given for that by your columnist is probably low.

The Israeli lobby is then a consortium of right-wing Christians and Zionists. The disproportionate influence of Israel on the American political scene is owing primarily to two factors: fundamentalist Christianity, whose literal interpretation of the Bible designates the Jews as God's chosen people, and the original confines of ancient Israel as their rightful homeland ("Galilee"); and money from both Christian and Jewish sources. To a smaller extent, the blind spot of almost all Jewish politicians in America towards any even-handedness when dealing with Palestinians and Israelis also is a contributing factor.

The pro-Arab lobby, or even groups which favour working through the United Nations to arrive at political solutions, have no such leverage. Nor will they. The landscape has already been formed and crystallised. Every U.S. administration and every U.S. Congress will be in the pocket of the Israeli lobby now and in the future. If any solution is arrived at in West Asia concerning Israel and Palestine, it will be on Israeli terms. And it will not be equitable. The only possible arrangement, which is fair, must involve complete withdrawal of Israel to pre-1967 borders, establishment of a fully functional Palestinian state (including self-defence capabilities), and payment of reparation to those Palestinians or their descendants who wind up being permanently displaced. And that will never happen, because the U.S. will never put economic pressure on Israel to do so.

Richard Bentley
Arizona, U.S.

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