Sir — Revenge is not only a dish best served cold, it is also the dish that gives most comfort. A study by The Ohio State University has found that people enjoy seeing bad guys in stories get their punishment more than witnessing them being forgiven. Could this be because real-life power hierarchies do not always allow revenge or even justice to be served? But there is nothing that stops fiction from applying the soothing balm of revenge on those who feel they have been wronged in real life and would like to see the wrongdoers suffer. What is fiction if not a chance to live vicariously?
Kaveri Raj,
Ernakulam
Brihadeeswara Temple Flickr
Pride and joy
Sir — Language is an important marker of identity. It is thus not surprising that a batch of petitions were filed seeking direction from the Madras High Court regarding conducting the consecration ceremony of the Brihadeshwara temple in Tamil language. After all, it cannot be denied that the hegemony of Sanskrit was meant to solidify the hold of upper caste Brahmins over society. It is more than time for this hegemony to end. Moreover, few people understand Sanskrit anymore. If religious rituals are performed in Sanskrit, their true significance will be lost on ordinary people. This lack of understanding of religion opens up a gap that is then filled by political parties with narrow, bigoted definitions to brainwash people and fan communal sentiments.
Ragini Das,
Calcutta
Sir — Recently, there was some controversy about whether to conduct the consecration of the 1,000-year-old Brihadeshwara temple as per Tamil customs as opposed to the popular practice of performing such rituals in Sanskrit. But such pettiness pales into insignificance in light of the majesty of the temple itself.
The monument has withstood a millennium of nature’s depredations and catastrophe. The temple, which is a Unesco heritage site, is proof of the excellent workmanship and skills of artisans who had none of the marvels of modern technology to aid them. More than 1,30,000 tonnes of granite blocks are said to have been used to build it. Further, other unique features like the huge Nandi carved out of a single block of stone, exquisite murals inside the temple depicting the history of the Chola dynasty, the massive vimanam, underground passages leading to the king’s palace, depiction of dancers practising the 108 karanas all add to the splendour of this temple.
Ranganathan Sivakumar,
Chennai
Tall tales
Sir — The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, is notorious for presenting facts out of context to suit his purpose. He is also well known for sparing no chance to denigrate Jawaharlal Nehru. It is thus no surprise that he omitted a particular portion of the Nehru-Liaquat pact clearly stating that both India and Pakistan must grant citizenship to minorities irrespective of their religious identity while claiming that Nehru would have supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Of course, the controversial CAA has mischievously omitted the Muslims (“Johny, Johny”, Feb 11). No one — not even the prime minister — should forget that suppression of facts is liable to punishment.
Sukhamay Biswas,
Calcutta
Sir — It is difficult to defend the indefensible without resorting to evasions, distortions, misinterpretations, half-truths and falsehood. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, used all these tactics and some rhetorical bluster to defend his government’s bungling of the citizenship issue. He invoked Jawaharlal Nehru 23 times in just one section of his speech to justify the CAA, quoting selectively from a letter written by the first prime minister, wilfully ignoring that the latter clearly stated on many occasions as well as in the Nehru-Liaquat pact that citizenship should be “irrespective of religion”. A prime minister should not resort to deception, misinformation and fake news to talk to people, but unfortunately Modi employed all of these tactics in ample measure in his speech.
S.S. Paul,
Nadia