Dear NL Hafta Team,

Introduction and how I got addicted to NL- My name is Adithya Vadapalli. I first came across News Laundry when I saw Karan Thapar’s interview on “Can You Take It”. However, I really good hooked on it during my masters. (oh… I forgot to mention I hold a masters from the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science and am now pursuing a PhD in Theoretical Computer Science at Indiana University, Bloomingtion, United States; thought it was customary for readers to flaunt their degrees :P). In any case, one of my lab mates would keep laughing in the lab watching some YouTube videos. It was of course disturbing and annoying, so asked him what it was. He then told me about this show by Madhu Trehan called Clothsline. I thought if someone instead of working in the lab is watching this online show then it must be worth a try. After that I got hooked on it. I watched every episode of Clothsline, Can You Take It, I Agree and a couple of episodes of the Cleaners (I loved the one on section 377); of course I am regular for NL Hafta! I have been listening to it since the 30th episode. Now about the subscription part – I recently subscribed to NL through Paypal (payed in USD). However, I have a complaint. I did not get any confirmation from you guys yet. I am not really sure what the problem is.

News Laundry and the Aam Aadmi Party : An interesting parallel – As I had stated earlier in the e-mail, I started following NL in 2013 – it was about the same time the AAP was formed. During that time I used to observe a very interesting parallel between the AAP and NL and I think and hope Abhinandan would appreciate this parallel. Like AAP was giving an alternative to the ‘dirty’ politics, I felt that NL was giving an alternative to the ‘dirty’ news. People in AAP would call every other party a’dalaal’ or a ‘chor’ and in NL, shows like Chothsline would make satirical comments about other news organizations – I agree no one in NL used the kind of crass and uncouth language the AAP guys used. AAP was fighting for funds, so was NL and so is NL. Both AAP and NL seemed to be against big corporate houses, especially the Ambanis and the Adanis. Thus NL for me was AAP of News Media. However now I don’t see it so much that way and I feel AAP and NL have now taken divergent paths. While NL has kept away from the temptation of being a ‘yet another media outfit’, probably that cannot be said about AAP anymore. I wonder what did NL do right and AAP wrong. Probably the biggest difference is that becoming the number one news organization has never been the goal of NL which keeps it away from treading the path of other traditional media. The thirst to win every election at any cost is killing the very idea AAP. It is important to remember that just like the kind of food people love to eat need to be the best for them, the kind of party maximum people vote need not be doing the best for the nation and the kind of news maximum people consume need not be the best form of journalism. Secondly, NL unlike AAP never had the holier than though attitude. Finally in AAP there was a personality cult and gradually AAP and Kejriwal became equivalent. NL could have also fallen in this trap. However, NL seems to have produced many capable people and there is no dearth of independent opinion; Hafta is big proof. There is no one face/ideology of NL which is amazing. This is my reading of why AAP and NL are now in divergent paths. Does this parallel make any sense to you guys or is it just in my head? What do you think, Abhinandan?

Madhu – My Hero! – Madhu, you are my hero – (I am not your fan; just an admirer, I know you don’t like it when people become fans!). There is no doubt Madhu Trehan is my all time favorite. Madhu should go down as one of the great journalists India ever had. The fact that she has not won a single Padma award despite being so accomplished is a testimony to her journalistic greatness. In the last week’s Hafta there was a reader who said that he for a very long time knew Madhu as Dr. Trehan’s wife who happened to be a journalist. Call it my ignorance, but for me it has been an opposite experience. I got to know about Dr. Trehan as Madhu’s husband and only later did I find out that he is such a great and well renowned Heart Surgeon.

In fact I YouTube search “Madhu Trehan” so many times just to see if some new interview or talk by her is online. I thus found her interview with RS TV; Her interview along with Naresh Trehan with Karan Thapar, etc. etc.. The reason I admire her so much is that she has thought so deeply about journalism. Her interview with her namesake Kishwer was an excellent example. That interview had so many lessons about professional journalistic ethics. I also loved her interview with Kuldip Nayar. She is typically not afraid to ask the so called ‘politcally incorrect’ questions. For instance – she asked Nayar about his old Muslim friend for whom Nayar had tatooed a muslim symbol on his hand, but that friend refused to have Om tatooed. In that sense she is a true liberal where she attacks the bigotry residing in Hinduism about also calls out other religions (example with Arun Shouri). My views almost every time (in fact every time align with hers)!

Her recent interview with Amitabh Bacchan was a bit of disappointment though. I would have expected her ask about what he thought about people calling out his open letter for inherent misogyny but that was missing in the interview.

Manisha – she seems to have the potential to be the next Madhu Trehan. I am a cricket nut. So – I can’t stop myself from giving this analogy. If Madhu is Sachin Tendulkar, Manisha is what Virat Kohli was a couple of years back. 😛 There are many occasions when I don’t agree with her views but I like the cogent arguments she gives. She like Madhu seems to think very deeply about journalism and about journalistic ethics and is always committed to them. This is what I truly love about her.

Abhinandan – No doubt the best interviewer in the country. In fact Madhu and Abhinandan are the two best interviewers in the country. But both are good for different types of interviews. Madhu is outstanding when the conversation is broad and it is about something in the past. For instance her interview with Chitra on Bofors is absolutely fantastic – The breadth for her knowledge is amazing and that’s her strength. Abhinandan on the other hand is brilliant on issue specific interviews. He really goes into the depth of the issue, gives complete time for the interviewee to respond and nails him on this answers in a very polite yet stern manner – that for me is genius. Example: his interview with Dinanath Batra, the Lawyer in Nirbhaya case Manohar Lal Sharma, the Mullah in Cleaners episode on 377 and also Ashish Khetan. I think the only aberration is his interview with Tavleen Singh.

Anand – It is fantastic to have a person from Science in the panel. I loved his piece on the Chemistry Nobel Prize. He should really write more science related articles.

Dipanjana – Initially I did not like here too much. She came across as a bit snobbish. Over time I got used to her presence and now I actually like her in the panel. They way she hosted the previous Hafta was amazing. I especially loved the way she read the letters (I hope if this letter is read, it is read by her).

A few word of praise for the concept – For me the purpose of NL Hafta has never been to get the news. I think it is not a great source for news per se. However, where it is absolutely amazing is that it is a platform where everyone puts their biases on the table. Now I know Abhinand is not a left-wing loonie as I thought he was once upon a time. In fact, he is almost center and sometimes even centre right (especially when the topic is Pakistan). And conversely Anand is not a complete right-winger as once I thought he was. When the reader knows the biases it is much easier for him/her to read the articles without getting exasperated and calling them names! I really think all the so-called celeb journalists like Rajeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Karan Thapar, Rahul Kanwal, Ravish Kumar etc. should be invited to your show sometimes and we should know what they think about some really specific issues.

The discussions on the NL Hafta are top-rate. Yes, it is like a drawing room conversation – but top rate drawing room conversation. It is fantastic to have a diverse panel with different opinions. In this regard the concept of NL-Hafta is brilliant. I am not aware of any other news organisation in the world where all the editors and the people involved sit together and put their views and biases on the table. In this respect it is a pioneering idea. Because unbiased journalism is a myth. What one needs is biased journalism with un-hidden biases.

Finally, it would be really cool if you could start a Hindi version of your website and incentives some very good Hindi journalists in print to write for you. I am sure, there are many who would be willing to do so – given that there are so many stories which main stream media would be unwilling to publish. Try roping in Ravish Kumar – my 2nd Hero after Madhu Trehan!! 😛

with kind regards,

Adithya Vadapalli

Hello hello to you all from a double subscriber (I hope Dipanjona reads in her Awful-and-awesome style).

I wanted to write so many times to the nlhafta team specially whenever I happened to strongly disagreed with the views expressed but every time my anger subsided and procrastination took over and I even missed the golden chance to participate in your 50th episode simply out of laziness.

But this time it’s not the anger or disagreement which motivated me but the fear that Dipanjana’s job depended on at least one subscription, therefore although I already am a subscriber for past many months I subscribed once more from a different account.

Needless to say I really loved Dipanjana’s sophisticated and classy presentation of nlhafta and it was a fresh change from raw and youthful style of Abhinandan, I suggest you both should take turns, Dipanjana’s voice and style really suits nlhafta and this week the discussion was very mature, meaty and with very few diversions and  attempts at humor which many a time derail the tempo.

Now to the criticism which I wanted to convey for a very long time

Regarding Madhu, I really love her interviews specially the one with another Madhu and Katju, clothesline is one thing for which I wait desperately apart from game of thrones episodes. But it’s disappointing that she has been taken in by pseudoscience specially when it comes to homeopathy and other such loony ideas, I suggest she read few books by The Amazing Randi and Michael Shermer. Also please read Better Angles of our Nature by Steven Pinker.

Professor Ranganathan is my obvious favorite since I am also a fellow scientist (recently submitted my thesis in field of  protein biophysical chemistry from IISc) and a classical liberal (not the left loony regressive type). Even though I sometimes think he deviates from classical liberalism due to widespread PC culture. And also many a times when he gets cornered by  Abhinandan’s arguments ( for example on use of data and free enterprise) he doesn’t realize Abhinandan is using strawmen.

I wish there could be mosaic of Prof Ranganathan and Dipanjana where her nerdiness, class and wit combines with scepticism and classical liberalism of Professor.  Also at the risk of being called sexist, Depanjana is really beautiful I hope you do some video content also.

Abhinandan reminds of my younger self (I am just 30 years old), and really loved his roast by Tavleen Singh, I implore you all to call her on hafta. I agree on many issues with Abhinandan sometimes even when they are related to Kejriwal. I especially admire his understanding of Islam, freedom of speech, conflict of interest and death penalty but I think on merit he is not only wrong but doesn’t even know how misguided is he; I suggest he read works of Thomas Sowell.

I like the refreshing opinions of the younger one of the nlhafta team but I think the naivety of Manisha comes from emotional and Marxist bias, I hope as she grows up she realizes the importance of data and real world, as the saying goes If you’re not a socialist in your 20s, you have no heart; if you are a socialist after your 20s, you have no head.

In the end would like to thank Kartik Nijhawan who makes this hafta possible, he has done a remarkable job.

Once again thank you all for creating such novel content I am waiting desperately for your subscriber only content, I also suggest please give all the references and source material you would use for in-depth program I am sure many people including me would even pay separately for that content.

Likhesh Sharma

Molecular Biophysics Unit
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore

Hello NL team (minus Mr. Sekhri),

It was refreshing not served an overdose of ‘mufatkhoro’ due to the absence of the almighty Mr. Sekhri (though the song selection was obviously below the set standards, again due to the absence of the same member).

Yes, I am a subscriber (mentioned in my last email, which was conveniently skipped due to its critical content, I suppose). Anyway, I hope you read this one, regardless of whether it will be read on the Hafta or not.

Firstly, Abhinandan was away attending a meeting held in Spain by your ‘Primary Investors’, you mentioned. Who are these primary investors? I thought its us- the common Janta, not the Aam Aasim, who pay for the news (though still not enough). Are there some corporate sponsors behind the curtains that we are not aware of? I really hope not.

Secondly, a suggestion for your upcoming show- let’s talk about. If you think it’s important- please do a show on the doctors’ life in Indian hospitals- especially the ones not at the top. I am not saying to go for health sector in general- which will take up an entire new show (not just an episode). For some reason (most likely of not being a vote bank), we are never shown in a good light. Always treated as a greedy blood sucking pest.
Their never-ending education, its depressive phases, their first witnessed injustices at work (against patients and against themselves), the ‘compulsory’ rural job and their exodus from the country with such lack of doctors.
My 2 cents (I can give more info/ people’s contacts) go like this:
– Why are the govt trained MBBS are the only ones required to go to rural areas (with terrible infrastructure and support staff) and why shouldn’t the IITs and IIMs (also the govt trained engineers/lawyers or even the sloganeering JNU people) be asked to do a compulsory rural stint?
After all, these are the ones who can create a supporting milieu in the rural India for a good healthcare system to flourish. We are just flogging a dead horse the present way.

– No one whosoever (including you guys) talk about any assault on a doctor/nurse/ wardboy unless a backward class or a pregnant nurse is at the receiving end (or unless it’s to bring down a politician).

– There’s a lot of talk about communication skills between a doctor and a patient. And we doctors get blamed for faring poorly in that area.

I agree that it’s critically important but sometimes it’s not feasible (e.g communication can’t happen between a blood-thirsty crowd, mostly angry towards the healthcare system in general, and a cowering doctor trying to find a way to save his life).

I am in no way justifying my own exit from this system (I have dutifully served my rural service, btw). I really hope that somebody someday covers it- before the profession officially goes bankrupt of minds due to the mounting negatives stacked against it in the present day India.

Another advise will be to not go and talk only to the seniors in this field- it’s mainly the juniors who bear most of the brunt here.

Thanks,
Rahul Pandey.

(P.s. Do I need to get a second Game-Changer subscription within a month to be able to convince you guys to cover this topic? I really won’t mind since the common people are totally unaware of the entire scene and behind the scenes of this matter.)