M A I L B A G

Master Madan: A great legend

Pran Nevile has presented a comprehensive review of Master Madan in “The Forgotten Voice” (Spectrum, Oct 1). Geetanjali Korpal’s comments that Master Madan’s memory and others of his ilk must be resuscitated is noteworthy.

The present generation has no interest in real music. The radio and the TV are partly responsible for this. Very few have knowledge of classical music. People listen to Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali and others because their ghazals betray hidden emotions and desires in beautifully composed Urdu couplets, rendered in semi-classical tunes.

If we compare the present little champs of TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa with the likes of Master Madan, the contrast is obvious. What is the remedy? It is indeed a million-dollar question. Very soon I am going to hand over to All India Radio, Chandigarh, a CD of Master Madan’s songs who was my maternal uncle.

A.J. Kanwar, Chandigarh

II

The author is correct that there is neither any road, park nor an auditorium has been named after the child singer who was a contemporary of K.L. Sehgal. I used to listen Master Madan’s ghazals and songs from All India Radio, Jalandhar, till the mid-1980s. Since then there has been a blackout of his songs.

It would be a befitting tribute to the child artiste if an award is instituted for the recognition of achievements of the emerging child artistes in music. The All India Radio and TV Channels ought to have a time slot in weekly or fortnightly programmes for child artistes.

R.S. TAGGER, Gurdaspur

Time to bow out

Abhijit Chatterjee in “Time to go” (Saturday Extra, Oct 7) is right that it is time for Saurav Ganguly to bid adieu to cricket gracefully. Of course, he is obsessional about the game but he will have to reconcile to the fact that he has lost a place in the team for ever. Ganguly’s contribution to Indian cricket has been commendable. His futile efforts to stage a comeback will belittle his accomplishments. He should understand that his performance with the bat in the domestic cricket and his county stint do not merit a favourable mention.

Ganguly should concentrate on his academy in Kolkata. To give back something to Indian cricket, he should either groom budding talent or become a commentator. It is no use groping in the dark.

Tarsem S. Bumrah, Batala

Party time over

With reference to Smriti Kak Ramchandran’s “Campus elections: Party time is over” (Saturday Extra, Oct 14), the Lyngdoh Committee has given very apt suggestions to reform the electoral process of the students’ council. The influence of political parties, money and muscle power can be kept off the students union elections.

Campus politics has become notorious for money, muscle power and even murder. In Ujjain, the death of Prof Sabharwal is still a raw wound. In colleges or universities, there is a great need to eradicate criminalisation. The criminal-politician nexus must be broken.

L.K. MAnuja, Nahan (HP)

Dishonest ads

This refers to Amita Malik’s piece “The tyranny of ads” (Saturday Extra, Oct 7). The TV ads are mostly misleading and make exaggerated claims to deceive the viewers. We often see a notice in the Press by some government department promising action against the “misleading ads” and another one proclaiming “If an ad is dishonest, we will set it right”. But the matter seems to end there.

C.L. SEHGAL, Jalandhar

Caste into a mould

I refer to “Caste into a mould” by Khushwant Singh (Saturday Extra, Oct 7). While the writer feels aggrieved with the legacy of the caste system, he endorses the demand for inclusion of Dalit Christians in the list of reservations in institutions.

Missionaries have been luring and converting the Dalits into Christianity by promising no discrimination on the basis of their castes but even after conversion, the Dalits remain Dalits i.e. they are not treated on a par with the original Christians. If the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic minorities concedes, the Pandora’s box would open — there would be similar demand from the Dalit Muslims and other religious minorities.

LAJPAT RAI GARG, Hisar

Ghalib on Ramadhan “Ghalib on Ramadhan” (Saturday Extra, Oct 21) by Khushwant Singh reminds me of a qatah (four-line stanza). Iftaar-e-Saum kee kuchch agar dastgaah ho, Us shakhs ko zaroor hai roza rakha karey, Jis paas roza khol ke khaane ko kuchch na ho, Roza agar na khaae to noachaar kya karey. (If someone has the wherewithal to buy victuals to break his fast with, he should certainly observe a fast. But a hapless person who can ill afford to have something better to break his fast with would be left with no alternative other than to forgo his fast). Regarding this stanza, Mirza Ghalib wrote in one of his letters that once during the holy month of Ramadhan, he recited these lines in the royal court before his majesty Bahadur Shah Zafar. On hearing this all the courtiers and the king himself broke into spontaneous laughter. Bilal Ahmad Shamim, Qadian