M A I L B A G

A voice for the voiceless

Ambarish Dutta’s article “The story of cycle sister” (Spectrum, Feb 12) is a success story full of struggle and hard work of a woman who devoted her whole life for the empowerment and uplift of women from the most backward communities of rural Bihar.

What programmes like Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan could not achieve despite heavy allocations and spending, a woman could achieve single-handedly. She has given a voice to the voiceless.

Those who could not dare to raise their voice against social and physical exploitation and were married off in childhood have saved and generated funds for running schools. Only such dedicated efforts can bring empowerment of the poor and the marginalised sections of society.

PURAN SINGH, Rewari

Hard fact

“In search of truth” by Reeta Sharma (Saturday Extra, February 11) was a thought-provoking article. It is a hard fact that all want that Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev should be born time and again but only in others’ homes. It only exposes our selfishness.

SUBHASH C. TANEJA, Rohtak

Self-styled historians THIS has reference to Gurpreet Maini’s book review boldly titled “Mahatma’s pivotal failure” (Spectrum, Feb 26). Maini’s opening observation, “A nation has evolved or developed in absolute terms, if its history has moved forward, essentially when hagiography is shunned and objectivity surfaces in historical analysis of prominent leaders” is indeed pertinent in the Indian context and pregnant with wisdom and historical perspicacity. A nation cannot grow into a strong and united power if its history has been distorted and culture vulgarised. Unfortunately, both these wrongs have been inflicted on India, first by the white Raj historians and later on, by our own self-styled, self-congratulatory “secular and progressive” historians with a distinct ideological slant. Resultantly, the prominent leaders and parties of our freedom struggle have either been deified or demonised to suit their ulterior designs. SUBHASH C. SHARMA, MDU PG Regional Centre, Rewari

False note

M. L. Dhawan in “To the manner born” (Spectrum, Feb 26) states that in Bandini, Kalyani (Nutan) sings Jogi jab se tu aaya mere dware when she sees her long-lost lover Bikas Ghosh (Ashok Kumar). On the contrary, Nutan sings the song when she sees Ashok Kumar for the first time in the movie and experiences love at first sight. The song is a spontaneous rendering of this ecstatic emotion shadowed by guilt as she is Vaishnav by religion.

Prof SURJEET MANN, Sangrur

II

M. L. Dhawan has depicted the great portrayals by Nutan in many classic movies. No doubt, she left her indelible mark due to her talent in epoch-making films like Seema, Sujata and Bandini. Those were the times when emotions were expressed through eyes and face rather than voice and body. Nutan’s acting duel with Asha Parekh in Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki is an unforgettable episode in cinema.

It is not only serious cinema where Nutan excelled. She was equally at ease in lighter roles. Her film Anari with Raj Kapoor and films like Paying Guest, Baarish and Manzil with Dev Anand were great musical hits. In these otherwise male-dominated movies, she displayed the same histrionics in different shades. Lastly, she was also the first heroine to be seen in a swimming suit in Dilli Ka Thug.

Brig H. S. SANDHU (retd), Panchkula

Maharani’s ashes

In his write-up “The last princess” (Spectrum, Feb 12), Harbans Singh Virdi has mentioned that Prince Dalip Singh had married Bamba Muller in London and his daughter, Bamba Jindan carried the ashes of Maharani Jindan to Lahore.

The Maharani died in London on August 1, 1863. Her last wish was: Meriyaan haddiyaan is nirdei dharti vich na rul jaan (My bones should not be allowed to rot in this heartless land). Her remains were temporarily kept in a cemetery. Maharaja Dalip Singh cremated her body at Bombay and cast the ashes into the waters of the Godavari at Nasik on the Panchvati side, in the spring of 1864.

While en route to India, he had selected for his marriage Bamba Muller, daughter of a German merchant, Ludwig Muller, and Abysenian-Egyptian mother, Sofia, at American Presbyterian Mission School at Cairo. On his way back, he married her at Alexandria in Egypt at the British Consulate on June 7, 1864.

BHAGWAN SINGH, Qadian

Cricket mania

I refer to Khushwant Singh’s write-up “Cricket mania” (Saturday Extra, Feb 25). Test matches are dull and boring though ODIs are relatively thrilling. Live telecast disrupts work in offices and studies in schools/colleges.

I offer two suggestions. One, do away with the test matches and play only ODIs. And two, stop live telecast and broadcast only the score in the hourly news bulletins.

C. L. SEHGAL, Jalandhar