Obsessed with love

THIS refers to the article: "Obsession for love, a sickness" by Harender Raj gautam (November 27). Obsession for love which was glorified by poets through their love poems is now being described as a sickness. Is this not an effort to degrade the sublime feeling of ‘love’ around which great novels and the script of many hit movies have been written. If we go by this article, then legendary lovers like Laila and Majnu, Heer and Ranjha, sasi and Punnu and Romeo and Juliet suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) — needing care, attention and treatment of psychiatrists.

ONKAR CHOPRA
Abohar

Ghazal as geet

This refers to "Ghazal presentation as geet" by Rekha Surya. I appreciate the efforts of the writer in highlighting the state of ghazal — singing in India. The standard of ghazal singing has degenerated in this decade because singers do not understand classical music.

After the demise of Begum Akhtar, there are some genuine ghazal singers like Shanti Hiranand and Rita Ganguly in India and Begum Iqbal Bano and mehdi Hassan in Pakistan.

KUMAR KAPIL
Hoshiarpur

Of dog haters

This refers to Khushwant Singh’s ‘Dog haters & Astrologers’ (November 13). The writer says that he dislikes two types of people — dog haters and believers of astrology.

St Bernard of Clairvaux’s said: "Who loves me will love my dog".

An English maxim is, "Every dog is entitled to one bite".

Mark Twain said, "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the principal difference between dog and a man."

Swift said, "Every dog must have his day."

Even Sufi saint Bulleshah places a dog higher than a man because of his unshakable loyalty towards its master.

HARKULDIP SINGH BHATIA
Jalandhar

An evil practice

‘Worshipping false gods’ by V.N. Dutta and ‘Is widowhood the end of the road for women? By Vrinda Naber (November 20) were thought-provoking articles.

Even the blessing given to a married woman is sada suhagan raho while to a man lambi umar hoye. Indeed the road to dignity and happiness for a woman lies in being a suhagan — the state of being married, definitely not a widow.

Crying hoarse over sati incidents is not the answer. A revoluntionary change in thinking is needed. Severe punishment should be meted to those who instigate sati as well as to local authorities for allowing it to happen.

Despite being on the threshold of the millennium and providing education and rights to women, barbaric acts like sati killing of female foetus, burning of brides, are being committed. Termed as ardhangini, women still remain the unequal halves, being possessions and not persons in their own right.

ROSHNI JOHAR
Shimla

II

Despite enactments against sati the obnoxious practice still continues. The state and central governments should banish this evil practice.

We are approaching the new millennium. Can India afford to be seen as regressing to medieval ages? Indian society is still a heterogenous complex of communities belonging to different religious faiths governed by their respective personal laws, though a vast majority of Indians are Hindus.

Some fundamentalist Hindus cite Manu who prescribed a code of conduct for widows which provided, that on no account can a ‘virtuous woman’ ever marry again. But Manu is not the last word on Hindu law.

Ancient Hindu law recognised eight forms of marriages, none of which ordained a widow to burn herself on her husband’s pyre. It can be safely inferred that in the ancient law of the Hindus,the remarriage of a widow was permitted.

After Lord Bentick’s enactment of 1829, Hindu Widow’s Remarriage Act was passed in 1865 to give a touch of legality to the remarriage of a Hindu widow which was opposed by the orthodox Hindus of Bengal. In post-independence India the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, provided for the first time a uniform law of marriage for all Hindus. Monogamy has been made a rule for both men and women. There is no room for sati now.

Failing to stop a woman from jumping into the burning pyre of the husband should be made a legal offence. All fetters on widows such as not wearing coloured dresses, keeping away from auspicious occasions like marriages etc must end.

S.S. JAIN
Chandigarh

Unfair to parents

Apropos of Ravina Gandhi’s article "Do parents get a fair deal?" (November 27), it is a fact that on private public schools, there is an unprecedented fee hike every year and exorbitant building funds are being levied. A majority of the private public schools are affiliated to the CBSE and are governed by the rules of the CBSE which disapprove the commercialisation of education. These rules lay down clear cut guidelines with regard to fees/funds, revision of fees, examinations, school buildings and arranging special remedial teaching of the children belonging to weaker sections of the community.

O.P. SHARMA
Faridabad