Hey,

If you want a balanced view of cultural India, may I recommend Kit Patrick? He runs a long-form history of India podcast. What I like about it is that he gets and gives a sense of culture. And info about what’s out there culturally. Please don’t have him on Hafta, interview instead. Or maybe even a Let’s Talk About?

Same with Amit Varma actually. If you’ve heard his podcast, you’d know he’s a depth guy. At Hafta, you’d have had to give him three hours I think. Instead, have him for a Can You Take It … His views are libertarian, therefore different from yours.

Re Sushruta Samhita, I’ve heard this sort of thing about the pushpaka vimana, the head transplant, the cloning, etc., talked about by public intellectuals even at school functions. I must say I never thought they were to be taken literally. Nor even that they’re smart metaphors. Believe me, this sort of thing is staple content even at medical colleges, where the  introduction to anatomy would have a pro forma hat tip to the wonder that is India. Does the panel actually think the scientists at the Science Congress were being serious? Or that anyone in the audience took them seriously?

My feeling is that these are media creations. Please set me straight on this? You’ve probably spoken to more politicians than I have

Vijay Krishnan

***

Hey guys,

This is me again with my tub of congratulations and cusswords.

So, Abhinandan, thank you for being so gracious and reading out my points in your last Hafta. It was a good one.

I wanted to pick your brain on what exactly is a liberal? I am almost done with Sagarika Ghose’s ‘Why I am a Liberal’ and I for the life of me, cannot still understand why she is a liberal as she is equally confused and I must say, a bit shifty about the entire concept. She has taken the good parts out of both ends of the spectrum: welfare state, minimum government, individualism, Gandhian philosophy and the works. The liberal is everywhere, splattered on her pages like a demented goody-two-shoes wallflower. I get it, there is a particular brand of politics that is an anathema to liberals but nowhere in her 400 page tome was I made clear as to what the hell is a liberal.

Second point is regarding the NL Charcha. Don’t you think its a bit too Sanskritised, in the sense that sometimes I feel the language goes beyond common usage. You keep listening and then suddenly run around wondering what the actual fuck is ‘aavatan’. Totally personal opinion.

I have this perverse sense of guilt-indulgence when I listen to the Entertainment wrap as its fiendishly and arrogantly elitist, and I love it. Both Abhinandan’s jesting and jousting with Rajyasree, and especially her whistling (wheezing?) laugh. But guys, please do be a bit careful about facts. Last time you said that Saudi Arabia is a bad regime because they killed Khashoggi and that somehow the Michel thing was in exchange for the Saudi princess which India gave up. It was actually Princess Latifa, daughter of the ruler of Dubai or an Emirati if you need to be technically correct, and not a Saudi princess. Maybe you will need to visit your Michel exchange theory a bit.

Lastly do you have any good recommendations about what to read about gender. I am still confused with respect to the third gender. Is it a spectrum? Is it choice or obligation or helplessness? I mean I get it that sex and gender are two different things and people tend to conflate the two but since there is such a lot of information thats floating around, maybe you guys can help solve this puzzle.

Thanks and regards

Akshat