L E T T E R S    T O    T H E    E D I T O R

Correct portrayal of Maya

In “The arrogant Mayawati” (Saturday Extra, July 18) Khushwant Singh has depicted Mayawati’s real character. She is not only arrogant but also greedy, crafty, shrewd, manipulative, fickle-natured, over-confident and loves flattery. Success has gone to her head and as a matter of fact she has become overambitious.

She has nothing to do with the liberty, freedom and rights of the Dalits. Her sole motive is to amass wealth and wield power by exploiting the sentiments and emotions of the Dalits who can be easily swayed emotionally. To ameliorate their lot and plight is not her aim at all. But she must understand that she can fool some Dalits some time but not all of them all the time.

She has erected her own statues to glorify her own persona. Her brazen act at the cost of public money smacks of narcissism. She is using her cunning to make hay while the sun shines. She has amassed huge wealth. If she is a well-wisher of the Dalits, why doesn’t she distribute her innumerable crores among them? Why doesn’t she throw open her mansions to the Dalits? Obviously she is selfish, self-centered and self-indulgent. Breathing out fire is not the only trait of a leader who should possess the qualities of head and heart to command the respect of the masses through commendable deeds but not through hollow words and platitudes.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH, Batala

Sad memories

Khushwant Singh’s description of the days of insanity (Saturday Extra, Aug 15) revived the memories of those days. As a nine-year-old I was flying a kite on the roof of a house near Muslim-dominated Katra Jaimal Singh in Amritsar, when suddenly the slogan raising started. Soon it was night and we had boiling water and red-chilli powder ready to be thrown at the people if they tried to harm us.

We shifted to my maternal grandfather’s house in Gali Upplan, Guru Bazaar, which was a much safer place for Hindus. Months of murder, arson and torching of men and property followed and a number of times we were given “chapatis” to carry along in case it became necessary to flee our homes.

Much later, a community kitchen was set up where women prepared thousands of chapatis for the refugees while we children collected half-burnt doors and windows as fuel from the burnt house in the Nijjaran-Wali Gali. We returned to our house to find that Katra Jaimal Singh had been completely gutted.

From the window of my house I remember having seen Jawaharlal Nehru negotiate the mounds of rubble. Later, when I returned to school I found that “alif, bay, pay” had been replaced with ‘ka, kha, ga’. Punjabi appeared next leading to a lot of confusion.

Even today I see my grandson learning three languages while his counterparts in other developed countries learn just one. Perhaps, this is because language has been used as a political and not an academic, tool in free India.

Dr L. R SHARMA, Jalandhar

Precious princess

Everyone who comes to this world has to make an exit one day or the other. But some leave their indelible mark and people always cherish their loving and sweet memories.

Gayatri Devi was one such person, a paragon of beauty, full of grace and charm. She had sterling qualities and was not arrogant. Her sitting at the feet of Jayaprakash Narayan showed her humility. Her large-heartedness is evident from the fact that she never uttered a word against Indira Gandhi, who had imprisoned her during the Emergency.

The departure of such a beauty is indeed heart rending. People will miss her in the times to come. May her soul rest in peace.

RISHAM, Rajpura

Genius of Madan Mohan "Aphoenix called Madan Mohan” (Spectrum, Aug 16) was interesting. It is quite common to hear music lovers speak of him with awe and reverence. But he was a misfit in show business right from the word go. Composing for him was never a commercial proposition as he was a musician with a mind of his own. Maybe some films let his music down but it was never vice versa. The producer of Jahan Aara, Om Prakash, wanted Mohd. Rafi to sing for Bharat Bhushan while the composer Madan Mohan felt that Talat Mahmood would be more suitable. There was a deadlock. Om Prakash talked to the composer Roshan who promised to use Rafi for Bharat Bhushan. The producer was on the verge of replacing Madan Mohan by Roshan when Madan Mohan resolved the issue by offering to pay Talat Mahmood from his own pocket to sing for the film. That is how Talat’s ghazals Phir wohi shaam..., Teri aankh ke aansoo pee jaoon..., Main teri nazar ka ..., Aye sanam aaj yeh kasam khayen..., Tum juda ho kar..., etc came to be recorded. Madan Mohan had to spend as much as Rs 50,000 from his own pocket for this. Music lovers will find it difficult to hear a Madan Mohan song where the music and the instruments do not match perfectly. He almost always made the instruments subordinate to the voice. Listen to Asha singing Aye dil-e-nadaan... in the album Tere Bagair, where the instruments are kept at a respectful distance from the vocalist. This is because for Madan Mohan, his music is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Moreover, it had to enhance the thought and take it forward. M. L Dhawan forgot to mention in this write-up that the composer himself had recorded a Lata number Mere ashkon ka gham na kar ay dil... in his own voice as well. One finds a striking resemblance between the voices of Madan Mohan and Talat Mahmood and may be this shows his preference for Talat Mahmood. LALIT MOHAN JAIN, Panchkula II It was a rich and befitting tribute to the legendary composer. Madan Mohan had a distinct style. He mesmerised audience with his music. In Haqeeqat and Hindustan ki Kasam he crafted such magic that one could get a real feel of the “war”. His unforgettable numbers like Woh bhooli dastaan ... (Sanjog), Lag ja gale ke phir yeh hasin raat ho na ho... (Woh Kaun Thi), Zara si aahat hoti hai... (Haqeeqat), etc are a testimony to that. Madan Mohan was producer-director Chetan Anand’s’ favourite. The duo gave blackbusters like Haqeeqat, Hindustan ki Kasam and Hanste Zakhm. HARBANS SINGH, Ambala Cantonment