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Last week’s letters:
Weekends are bonanza with Hafta and Charcha. Create something to stay connected throughout the week. BBC Hindi Dinbhar could be a good example.
Shikhar Ranjan
This week’s letters:
In the last episode of Hafta, Shardool had an opinion about RG’s speech. Manisha voiced her approval as well. He opined that RG shouldn’t talk about religion as this was supposedly the ‘turf’ of the BJP. Why is this line a constant refrain I hear from a lot of Hindu liberals? He agrees that the spread of hate and violence in the name of Hindutva has become mainstream in India, mainstreamed by the BJP and the media. Yet the mainstream opposition must not call this out? Calling out hate by Hindus should be left only to the dwindling minority MPs? The voice of the average minority who sees the constant venom spewed must not be voiced in the House of the people? It’s only a privileged Hindu who can keep saying ‘let’s only talk about the economy’ as they aren’t directly affected by the hate that is spread imo. Hindus need to pry away their faith from what the Sangh has been doing. It’s important to call it out and it must be done by mainstream Hindus leading the way. Keep up the good work. Love you all!
Jayan Cherian
Hi NL, kudos on election coverage and special thanks to Manisha and the Newsance team.
A point I want to discuss is how the media covered Imran Khan’s visit to Russia amid the beginning of the Ukraine-Russia war and then how they covered Modi’s Russia visit while the children’s hospital was bombed. If you can keep the visuals of the media coverage side by side, it will be a sight to behold. On NL Hafts’s 500th anniversary, you should have someone from Manipur or discuss its issue and its current status.
Sarath
One thought that kept lingering in my mind about the Ambani wedding ceremony was whether it was bait for the opposition to bite and to give a message to the country that irrespective of the political party one belongs to, it’s the cronies who call the shots. In a way, they were successful in getting most of the leaders from the opposition parties. Although the Gandhi family didn’t turn up, most of their allies and many from their own party leaders were in attendance. What’s the panel’s take on this?
Chetan Bhaskar
I listened to the first episode of Hafta to see if Abhinandan started saying “Angrez apna lagaan…” from the very beginning. But it turns out he didn’t. Now, I've decided to listen to all the Hafta episodes to find out when this catchphrase was introduced. I must admit, being born in 2003 and not being familiar with the politics of 2012, the earlier episodes of Hafta have captivated me deeply.
Noaman
Thank you Abhinandan for acknowledging my point and for disagreeing. I am not an Indian citizen, so quite far from being a babu. I agree that some babus do horrible things in the name of orders, but the solution to a genuine problem cannot involve making judgments on other people’s lives.
If giving up on material things was so easy then Bapu wouldn’t be revered so much and Hazare wouldn’t have swindled all. Some of these babus sacrifice everything to reach where they are, so asking them to give up on their hard earned life is not easy. Doing horrible things is not that difficult when we “other” people and their problems. I will bring your example of street dwellers here: when we see an issue in front of us and learn to look the other way then doing horrible things becomes easier. I believe most of these babus get taught to look the other way. The target in this system is not the babu, but I do not have the knowledge to communicate what the actual target is.
Not a babu (babulal)
After the reservation law, the Karnataka government came up with an extension of the work hours law. When the BJP does stupid things (in the view of some of us), at least they are responding to their base and they are happy. Who forms the voter base for these idiots? I can really see the appeal in becoming a BJP voter.
Anuni Nonymos
It’s great to have Manisha and Abhinandan back. Shardool’s monologue in the past two weeks was the only part which I fast forwarded across my 1.5 years of Hafta consumption.
If Ambani’s wedding expenses were spent across many people who are not as rich or probably very poor, this event could have made many people rich. IMO the rich should be extravagant, that's how money is shared.
One of my friends from UP says that in his state, the houses of all criminals are destroyed, irrespective of their religion, but only the ones from a certain community are getting highlighted in the media. Is it true?
Also, can we have TNM content in the NL app?
Thanks guys…Great job!
Anonymous
Anti-Hindi movements were pioneered by Tamil Nadu long before Kannadigas caught up. But English wasn’t something opposed by TN. The understanding was that prioritising English would bring employment opportunities while learning Hindi has no significant gains except pleasing the centre. As a result, the majority of the IT jobs in Chennai are held by Tamils, and also a significant portion of jobs in Bangalore. That’s where Kannadiga resentment towards the Tamils began, and spread towards the rest of Indians as more north Indians moved in.
The resentment comes from their own inability to capitalise on the success of Bangalore. It’s crazy they still can’t get their basics right, forcing businesses to make sure Kannada text is the biggest instead of building skills to be more employable. I find it hard to empathise with them here.
Srinivas
Hi. I have been a keen listener of the Hafta for sometime now. Keep up the good work. I have always been interested to understand how cities get tagged as “boring” or “interesting”. Can you list the top/bottom five cities in India (boring/interesting) and what makes them so.
Anonymous
Hi there,
Just wanted to say I love listening to your podcasts – both Hafta and Charcha – while cooking. Makes cooking fun.
This time, I got no complaints. Just some recommendations. I wanted to recommend a novel series to Shadool sir if he liked House of Dragons, it’s called Malazan book of fallen. A very beautifully written saga, it’s about military campaigns of an empire in a world where gods fall at human folly.
Unlike most fantasy novels, there are no protagonists, just a lot of people on different continents finding their way through a world that is falling apart. It’s long but worth it. And Abhinandan, Jayashree, and Manisha, you have to Watch SHAMELESS (US) if you have not watched it. Almost like The Bear, the show breaks every misconception that life is fun in America (not even for white people). Even a single season will do.
Thanks.
Love from Canada.
Navraj Singh
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