Sunday, December 1, 2002		Feedback

Beauty in brevity

I went through the review by Gen V.P. Malik (retd) of Bharat Karnad’s book "Nuclear weapons and Indian security" (Nov 17), but was disappointed to learn that the book contains as many as 724 pages. Despite the interesting topic, I am afraid, very few people may be patient enough to go through the voluminous book.

I often find lengthy articles in the papers, which though being informative, fail to hold the reader’s interest. In contrast, a precise and to the point write-up has an instant appeal. There is immense beauty in brevity.

C.L. Sehgal, Jalandhar

This refers to "Carrying the baggage of retrogressive attitude overseas" by Mandira Bannerjee (October 20).

All of us know that change is the law of nature. But this change is slow. In this male-dominated society the role of a woman is changing. In the present scenario she is not merely a housewife but also a bread-earning hand of the family. But at times this change is not acceptable to society. Today, one is confused whether to preserve and adhere old traditions or go the way of the West. People living abroad face this problem daily. The basic problem lies in the fact that they are neither Indian nor western and the practices of both the societies are just opposite.

RAMANDEEP KAUR, Ludhiana

Choice of mate

Apropos of "Women’s choice of men cyclical" November 10. Darwinian theory of evolution does not seem to hold true in case of higher life forms. The ‘noble beast’ is sufficiently evolved as a social animal and to try to explain his (or as in this case study, her) mating instincts in terms based on Darwin’s observations in less developed animal and plant life, would be too simplistic, perhaps naive! The veracity of this theory becomes immediately suspect if one considers that in context of a contemporary social set-up individuals are constrained to modify their behaviour in consonance with mutually agreeable set of values in a society. I think the basic animal instinct of being able to produce offsprings who have better chances of survival and perpetuation gets essentially repressed to an extent. I am in agreement with Dr Paula Nicolson, the psychologist with the University of Sheffield, that evolutionary psychology is not the answer to everything. Decisions about choice of a life partner are made on a whole range of issues, not just facial preferences along.

VIVEK KHANNA, Chandigarh

This refers to Mina Surjit Singh’s article "Men are not brutes and women are not angels" (September 22). Her observation that theoretical feminism is elite-centric is very apt. The main problem with this kind of theoretical stance is that it does not address the ground realities or real problems of women. They also fail to generate a consensus, which is necessarily for a meaningly mass movement. This brand of feminism exists within a very restricted, institutionalised circle.

PARSHANT , Chandigarh