Main factor behind NDA victory

THE return of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee to the office of Prime Minister will be widely welcomed at least for two reasons. One, he is a veteran of five decades, free from the obfuscations of mere politicking but ripened with service to the people. Two, he is not burdened with encumbrances like fawning sons and daughters which can blur one’s image with charges of corruption and nepotism. Let us wish him godspeed in his efforts to meet the many challenges facing the country.

The Congress party led by Mrs Sonia Gandhi had a dismal showing at the hustings but it will be presumptuous on our part to write it off as one without a future; not yet.

Let us remind ourselves that the NDA’s victory is not on account of any BJP wave as such which, even if present, was hardly perceptible, but largely due to the charisma of one man who stood tall — Mr Vajpayee. He may not be able to serve longer than the current term in office, age being a deterrent and at that point of time the BJP may find itself rudderless. The Congress may then get another chance, if....

Of course, there will be many ifs and buts. First, the Congress must pause, reflect and acquire the humility to function as a responsible opposition in Parliament without developing an uncontrollable itch to dislodge a lawfully-elected government before its term runs out. Second, it must rid itself of associates of doubtful merit like the AIADMK and the RJD and try to lead a life of Spartan political purity taking itself back to the days of Gandhi, Nehru and Kamaraj.

Third, the party should be alert and active, without developing bed-sores in the opposition benches. For this to happen, Mrs Sonia Gandhi will need the help of other younger associates like Mr Madhavrao Scindia and Mr Rajesh Pilot, and she may have to treat them as her equals if she wants to get the job done. She will, of course, be sorely missing Dr Manmohan Singh, who would have invested whatever she does with the credibility factor which he alone is capable of doing. Let us earnestly hope others will fill the vacuum soon.

Kangayam R. Rangaswamy
Madison (Wisconsin)
(Received in response to the Internet edition of The Tribune)

Controlling dengue in Ludhiana

This has reference to “Number of dengue cases rises to 112” (October 5). Obviously, the epidemic of dengue fever is at its peak in Ludhiana. Surprisingly, even at this stage the district health authorities do not seem to reconcile to the number of cases being reported by the hospitals in the city from time to time.

One wonders how does it matter whether the actual number of cases are a bit less or more when the dengue epidemic is known to have assumed alarming proportions already, and, moreover, the control measures are going to be the same. In fact, the district health department and the municipal authorities should make concerted efforts to contain the epidemic instead of worrying about the actual tally of cases which will never be known.

If prompt measures had been instituted at the very outset when a few cases occurred in certain localities, the situation would not have deteriorated to such an extent in a matter of a few days. Unfortunately, the authorities concerned somehow allowed the opportunity to be lost. It appears the health providers at various levels have not learnt any lesson from the outbreak of plague in Surat and dengue in Delhi in the recent past, where attempts to hush up early stray cases had to be paid for heavily in the long run in the form of huge morbidity and mortality.

Incidentally, now as the monsoon has retreated in the region and the atmospheric temperature has fallen, the vector-density (aedes-aegypti mosquitoes) will be reduced appreciably. As a result, the current epidemic is very likely to decline in the next few days. A sudden spurt in the number of fresh cases these days may be attributed to those who had acquired infection earlier and were passing through the incubation period of the disease.

Needless to emphasise that all district health organisations should strengthen their epidemiological-cum-surveillance units for detecting the cases of communicable diseases at the earliest and launching prompt remedial measure. The preventive measures initiated at the right time are always more effective and cheaper than those undertaken for the management of a crisis (epidemic) at a later stage.

(Dr) S.S. Sooch
Jalandhar

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The voice of history

I read the article with the above headline by Dr Mulk Raj Anand published on September 24.

Dr Anand very appropriately, alluding to the recent offensive remarks by Mr Fernandes and Mr Bal Thackeray on Mrs Sonia Gandhi and that of Morarji Desai on Indira Gandhi (“I won’t be ruled by a woman — certainly not by a widow”) in the post-Emergency period, felt that insinuations of this kind seem to be unworthy of our culture.

He also communicated in a subtle way how alien Annie Besant, “who was loved and adored by the masses and the intelligentsia”, was different from Mrs Sonia Gandhi, whom perhaps the masses came to see rather than to hear her.

Had Mrs Sonia Gandhi listened to the “voice of history” and some of her party’s intellectual leaders like Mr P.A. Sangma she could have earned the gratitude of the masses as well as the intelligentsia. This means she should have canvassed in the present election as the party President making it explicit that she would never aspire for the Prime Minister’s job. This would have made the life and youth of Priyanka and Rahul more fulfilling with assured places in the history for this family of three in the years to come.

K.L.Malhotra
Chandigarh

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Translating Ghalib

There are many glaring spelling mistakes in the couplets quoted in Khushwant Singh’s write-up “Subtlety of Ghalib’s poetry” (October 2). His translation is loose rendering.

Mirza Ghalib wrote verses in the ornate style of a Persian poet, Bedal, and said: Tarz-e-Bedal mein rekhtaah likhna/Asadullah Khan qiyaamat hai (It is extremely difficult to write Urdu verses in Bedal’s style).

A contemporary poet, Agha Jan Aish, said at a “mushaairah” in his presence:

Kalaam-e-Meer samjhey aur Zubban-e-Meerza samjhey/Magar inka kaha ye aap samjhey ya khuda samjhey.

(We comprehend the verses of Meer Taqi Meer and Mirza Rafi Sauda. But what he says either he or God understands). Consequently, some people dubbed his verses as meaningless.

He retorted:

Na sitaa’ish ki tamanna na silaah ki parva/Gar nahin hain merey ash’aar mein maa’ni na sahi

(I do not hanker after praise or prize. If my verses are devoid of meanings, let them be so).

At the end of a quatrain, he declared: Goyam mushkil vagarnaah goyam mushkil (It is difficult for me to write poetry in a simpler style. If I do not do so, it will be difficult for others to understand it).

Apparently, from Umesh Joshi’s incorrect interpretation of this line as “What I say is complicated, what I write is complicated”, cited in the article, Mr Singh has inferred that the poet “conceded that (some of) his writing was very obscure”.

His statement that Ghalib started writing poetry entirely in classical Persian very early in life and began couching verses in Urdu after his migration to Delhi is not correct. As is evident from his own writings, the poet started writing verses in Urdu much before he switched over to Persian. He was about nine when he wrote an Urdu “masnavi” (a verse genre) on kite-flying at Agra. He migrated to Delhi at the age of about 20.

Bhagwan Singh
Qadian

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Service of the suffering

The medical care or treatment is perhaps one service which is ever in demand, for the present civilisation which claims various achievements to its credit has also added to human ailments and diseases. That a competent doctor should selflessly dedicate himself to alleviate human suffering these days when there are unlimited opportunities for him to earn or make money is really something laudable.

Dr M.L. Kataria, who retired in 1973 as a Brigadier with a distinguished record of service, set up at his place in Sector 11 a consultation room. But soon he realised that his restless spirit would find satisfaction in service outside his own house. Believe it or not, at present he is associated with some eight social organisations of Chandigarh and its suburbs that provide free medical care. He has also adopted half a dozen villages. He goes out at 9.00 in the morning and returns home after 2.00 p.m. all through cheerfully attending to patients. His professional competence, the congeniality of his temperament, his genuine interest in the well-being of others and his tireless selfless service attract a large number of people to the health centres/clinics he visits.

In spite of his heavy schedule of work, Dr. Kataria finds time for his professional growth. Through regular study of current literature on medicine and participation in seminars and symposia,he keeps himself abrest of the latest developments in his field. Writing for the medical journals is yet another pursuit with him.

A man of varied interests, Dr Kataria is, interestingly, a postgraduate in several social sciences, something unusual for a medical man. He is always keenly involved in various healthy human activities. His spiritual quest that frequently takes him to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram and other serious centres of philosophy and religion further strengthens his belief that work is worship. Besides being a man of vast knowledge, he is a very convincing and effective speaker.

This man who was honoured by the Chandigarh Administration in 1995 for his outstanding social work is basically averse to publicity. He does not want that anyone should limelight the social service he is doing so silently for his own fulfilment.

(Dr) P.S. CHANANA
Chandigarh