Dear Newslaundry Team,

Please may I request you not to reveal my identity if & when you read this or publish this mail. Thank you!

I have been a regular Hafta-listener since January, when you did the episode about the “Superintendent of Police who visited a Pir Baba ka Mazhaar at the midnight of new Years’ eve, with a jeweller and a cook” 😉 Chalo, let bygones be bygones…

Let me begin. I am a proud subscriber. I say “proud”, because I want to let all the mufatkhors know that NLHafta sounds even better when you’ve ‘joined the team’ as a subscriber. Your news-model has a certain ‘team’-feeling that it gives subscribers & I thought I’d put this out there!

I have been meaning to write to you guys for a while now, but never really got around to doing it. I think you people make an amazing team & each of you brings something unique to the table.

Let me start with Manisha – I think she comes across as a very well-informed journalist & yet a very relatable person. She gives a very mature perspective to every discussion she participates in. She’s a total fauji kid – the use of the term ‘rogered’ in NLHafta-98!

Madhu – I feel a little uncomfortable addressing her by her first name – simply because of her stature. With her in-depth knowledge of everything that has happened over the past few decades, she brings history to life in the way she narrates incidents. Her recollections of her interaction with people over the years truly adds life to the podcast. Thank you, ma’am – you are amazing. I especially like the way you are the “authority” on all things medical (just like how Air Force Fighter Pilots’ kids – I am one myself – behave as though they’ve designed the planes the Air Force bought!). I have to admit, I had no idea who Doctor Trehan was, till I started listening to the Hafta. As for Mrs Trehan, however – I happen to have grown up in Dehradun, watching NewsTrack (on VHS Cassettes) – of which my grandfather (a retired Army officer – sardarji “burrrrrah”) – was a subscriber. I can still recall the music that used to play while the reel would run in the opening graphics.

Deepanjana comes across as such an interesting person. I love the Awful & Awesome podcast as well & I hope they continue doing amazing episodes. I especially enjoyed the one where Mr Bhagat talked with her & Rajyasree – in October, among others.

“Doctor” Ranganathan is great – I love his references to pieces that he’s written. His scientific take on most issues is very interesting. I just have one small complaint – I feel he went just a little too far with his vocal criticism of Mother Teresa. I absolutely agree that the “miracle of that beam of light coming out of a locket” is a load of b******t, I feel her work with the poor could have been recognised – especially since she’s dead, and can’t defend herself. I may be wrong, but this is my opinion. I found Ranga sir’s flagging of the ‘head of the foetus + caesarean delivery = super human race’ concept really cool! I hope he continues to irritate Abhinandan on-and-off – it keeps the show very lively. Thank you!

Abhinandan is my favourite chap in the room! I ran into him at the mall once – he was there with his similarly-haired nephews – and when my wife asked him if he was Abhinandan Sekhri – he took a step back, as if she was going to smear ink on his face! What I find most professional about Abhinandan is the way he chooses his words – and I mean that in the most serious sense (I am NOT referring to the ‘burrrrrahs’ & the expletives he throws in for our entertainment). He manages to say things in the most interesting & straightforward way, without offence that a mature listener can take of. I wish him all the energy in the word to continue in his pursuit of subscribers. God speed to you!

I have a lot to tell you guys, but I’ll keep it short. I just have one recommendation – whenever you have guests who aren’t speaking in English (for example, Ravish in NLHafta-98), may I recommend a voice-over-version of the episode (where you could ‘dim’ his/her voice and have an English voice-over) – for your listeners who don’t understand Hindi/any other language your guest is speaking. It could be a separate audio file (released alongside), for those who choose to download it.

And in closing, may I add that like a good Indian – I can’t wait for your pay-wall to come up and everything good to get hidden behind it!! (now that I’m a subscriber)!! Please don’t listen to anyone who suggests shortening the length of NLHafta episodes.

God bless you guys! Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Mr. X

Hi my name is Gk ( Gurkeerat )

I am a physician doing my critical care fellowship in the US. I am a hafta addict and like many am not able to complete my week without my dose of the hafta.

Your debate regarding the late CM of TN I must say has been very informative and I must congratulate you guys for having an inclusive debate on the events after the cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrests and its management is not very easily understood to the layman but I must say your teams attempt to simplify and read out emails from physicians shows your commitment to high-quality reporting and debating.

Now coming to the criticism on the indian health system

Medicine is an imperfect science which is often misrepresented to the ” consumers ”  by corporate interests. There unfortunately, are not many answers for majority of serious medical conditions we face in the intensive medical units Why does one patient develop ARDS ( Acute respiratory distress  syndrome ) after getting a pneumonia while another patient recovers with a short hospital stay, no one knows. Yes we have some theories and we sound smart by quoting studies and journals but, how much of that translates to real actionable and implementable interventions ? We do not know.

Many of such unkown unkowns most likely are related to ones genetic makeup and we will for sure have more answers in the next 50 years. But the important question is what can we do to prevent all this.

Now I am a critical care specialist by training and interest but am humble enough to say that the real challenge is implementing ” simple ” preventable conditions to prevent complications in the long run.

Yearly physical exams, screening for cancers by getting PAP smears, mammograms and colonoscopies, routine labs to check for cholesterol and blood sugar levels are some of the prevetable measures which can save people from chronic disease which lead to heart attacks, strokes ect. We have reached the moon when it comes surgeries and transplants and ECMO but have failed to realize how to prevent chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes. This is especially true for India.

Here in the US, primary preventive medicine has lead to decrease in chronic conditions over the last 50 years. Obesity management, screening for cancers and chronic condition management have saved tons of lives.

Premiums for medical insurance are lower for people who are non smokers and have good cholesterol control, here in the US. This gives incentives to people to get their annual physicals and move towards a healthy life style.

I hope we in the future can have a NL health podcast were we talk about these important preventive measures and have the NL family move towards a healthy lifestyle for a start.

Again I love your hafta. Special mention to Mr Nikku. Buurrrraaaaaaa. Kehda jampea soorma!.

Gk

Hi NLHafta-panel

I’m also batman (that I don’t want to be named on the Hafta). Let me first tell you that this letter is long overdue and I hope it gets read. I always wanted to write to NLHafta but didn’t yet because I wanted to mention the next line. Not only am I a subscriber for quite a while now, but recently also got two of my friends to subscribe.

I was surprised that nobody ever mentioned John Oliver’s piece on journalism (if you did, I may have missed that mention). Not that I am the biggest fan of the show, but this particular piece was very relevant for Newslaundry model. It underscores the importance of independent journalism and why the public should pay. I urge all the listeners to watch it (if they haven’t already).

It’s probably not enough that you, the listener, subscribe to Newslaundry, but also try to bring your friends/relatives onboard the NL subscription wagon. I know it’s not very easy, but let’s try.

Foremost, I must say that it warms my heart at times to listen the kind of engaging discussion that takes place in Hafta. To be very honest, I didn’t like Abhinandan and Anand much when I started listening to Hafta. But I have to rather unwillingly admit that over the Haftas and their write-ups (especially Anand’s), I have grown to admire their point of views. Also I was really expecting to hear about their misadventures if they would have been beaten up for not standing up to the national anthem in the theatre, but disappointingly that did not happen. My favorite though is the award winning journalist Manisha. Belated congrats! I absolutely love her pieces and the point of view she brings to the Hafta table.

I have one question for Abhinandan, if you have time on Hafta to cover this. I know you have a different opinion on Kejriwal (perhaps because of loyalty, as Madhu suggested earlier); and I think a lot of people supported him in the initial days for his ideas and developments initiatives. But why do you think he has gone into such anti-Modi rant instead of focusing on his governance for which people elected him. I don’t understand how this is helping him politically, he’s probably losing more and more followers over his bickering and irrelevant accusations.

Most of the letters you receive have mentions of the Hafta panel, but I also want to mention a few Hafta listeners. I don’t remember their names though. I think Hafta also gives us a strong sense of a community of people who perhaps agree that a different point of view is just different and not necessarily right or wrong.

It was nice to know about the possibility of a counterfeit detection app for new notes from one of the listeners. Though I don’t know how much to believe of that. The NewYork times article ‘Fractured Lands’ was an amazing recommendation by another listener. The doctor’s writeup about Amma’s situation was spot on. The guy who compared Newslaundry and BJP/GOI, it was an interesting analogy. But this is like comparing Google with a tech startup. With a big establishment like Google or Government of India, there are huge scopes of planning, taking risks, etc. but with smaller/newer companies it’s always a chicken and egg problem of whether to improve one’s product/service to get more revenue OR get more funding to be able to improve that product/service. And I think Newslaundry still has this problem, so mufatkhors, please subscribe and the subscribers, please get your friends to subscribe.

I like the guests on the panel who bring in a different perspective on certain issues. My favorite is TS Sudhir. Thanks for having him again. I love his work and the way he presents facts and opinions on Hafta. Ravish and Chetan were also good choices of guests. I hope they brought you more followers.

I also love the recommendations on Hafta and would like to request for more recommendations, perhaps twice a week from Hafta panel, that can be emailed to subscribers like a newsletter.

Please do not reduce length of Hafta. I think brief and concise way of news consumption is what is killing good journalism. Personally, I don’t mind when the Haftas get stretched sometimes. Also special thanks to Kartik and Anil for producing the Hafta.

If you are coming up with Deep-Dive sooner, I would suggest coverage of upcoming UP elections and politics there in general. For the NL Sena, is it possible to contribute smaller sum in a recurring manner.

Promotion idea : share some podcast snippets (some interesting discussion on any topic) as video on Youtube/FB/Twitter (something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zOBXYwrbuI). I know it’s a little extra effort, but I think these platforms have wider reach than Soundcloud/Stitcher and people are more inclined to share videos than an article. The reason why I suggest this is because I followed many other things on Newslaundry (especially Clothesline) but never Hafta. But then I read so much in user comments how amazing Hafta was but was just lazy to sit through an hour of podcast. But once I started, I got hooked up. And that’s why I think a podcast snippet will encourage the uninitiated users to follow Newslaundry.

Cheers!

Mr. Y

Hi NL team,

Just finished listening to the Hafta 98 and I am glad to know that Abhinandan misses me. I am alluding to the remark he made at the end about cricket not being a sport. AGAIN! But thanks to that, he has made me write to you guys once again. And I won’t harp on our views on cricket again. As the saying goes, ‘Bhains ke aage been bajane ka koi fayda nahi hota.”

I had actually tweeted to you guys about bringing Ravish on for your 100th episode, and although I know it has nothing to do with my tweet, but thanks for bringing him in the last episode itself. His is the only TV news show that I watch. And your idea of bringing 6 subscribers in for a NL critique sounds like a really good idea and I am looking forward to that episode. I wish I could send you my 2 minute recording and be a part of it but I have too many things going on right now and I assume that episode will be recorded around December 29 which unfortunately will not work out for me. Today, I have a few points to make and I hope you find time to address or at least give a minute or two to each of them.

1.) On the Hafta 98, it was really nice to listen to that one subscriber who has offered you guys money for the Reliance / Reddy Brothers stories. I would also like to contribute to the NL Sena someday and will watch out for that in a few weeks (as I am traveling currently). But there is a cynical part of me which brings me to this point. What makes you feel that the people who are contributing towards a particular story might not be politically motivated? Will the same anonymous subscriber had offered you Rs. 50000 had the story been about people connected to AAP or Congress and not connected (or alleged to be connected) to the BJP? What if these political parties start planting subscribers just for political reasons? This might seem far fetched and is coming from someone who knows nothing about journalism but I would really like to know the panel’s views on this.

2.) I totally disagree with Madhu mam when she says she wonders about people who would not like to stand up for the national anthem in cinemas. As far as I know from reading about Rabindranath Tagore, he would have been the first person to raise his voice against this absolutely nonsensical decision by the SC judges. And they have stooped really low when they said that the center should come up with guidelines for differently abled people to perform actions to show respect to the flag. Here is my suggestion: All the differently abled people who have at least one hand, should show the middle finger in the direction of the parliament whenever the national anthem plays. For a country where almost all of our public places are not even accessible to people in wheelchairs, this is the most inhumane it can get.

3.) This has been in my mind for weeks now and I am not sure I understand the NL revenue model. Abhinandan has repeatedly said that you need 4000 subscribers and correct me if I am wrong he also said that the average subscription is about Rs. 250. This would make a total of Rs. 10 lakhs per month. And if you burn out Rs. 20-25 lakhs per month, the numbers don’t seem to add up. Or am I missing something? I am curious because I care about independent media like Newslaundry and I really advertise you a lot to my friends and family.

I hope I will get some comments from all of you.

And at the end I will try to play the ‘Been in front of the Bhains again’: Cricket is a beautiful sport and Mr. Sekhri, stop comparing different sports. I could also say that football is not a sport but theater because they fake injuries like that, but I won’t because I like seeing good football as well.

Keep up the great work. Cheers!

Nishant