Dear Editor
Dear Editor India As I read with pained interest "The Myth of Indian Progress" by Jonathan Kwitny (NL. September 21), I was reminded of two books which appeared some 30 years ago. One of these was...
...Walter A. Sheldon...
...Janice Wright False Prophets...
...In particular, I found Kwitny's description of the Indian education "system," with its mail-order Master degrees, at the same time amusing and harrowing...
...Classes having as many as 40 pupils...
...Philadelphia, Pa...
...Long Beach, N.Y...
...It may be impossible at present, but this does not rule it out for all time...
...Each of these books caused much pain and bitterness and neither was helpful...
...The result of the recent fighting in Jordan is open to serious question...
...We have heard so much lately about the "green revolution" and the growing self-sufficiency that our natural inclination is to dismiss India's truly profound problems as no longer meriting our precious concern and time...
...This is not so much because of what is said but rather because of what is left unsaid...
...Both title and content of Kwitny's report on the Indian scene seem rather less than fair as seen from the point of view of one who has spent more than 40 years in India and Pakistan...
...How can the visitor "get inside" and develop a sympathetic understanding of a foreign people and culture...
...I believe the only way for Israel to attain an enduring peace is by negotiating with the Palestinians...
...Martin Benade I think Jonathan Kwitny does us a service by disabusing us of some of our complacent, pious notions about the degree of India's progress...
...I suggest to Herbert Dorfman ("Correspondents' Correspondence," NL, October 19) that not every Israeli--not even a Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry--is, by the fact of his residency in the Holy Land, a prophet...
...One of these was by Katherine Mayo, a technically competent photographer who effectively used her camera to document a very sad story of India's degradation...
...This sounds appallingly like my own classroom...
...Miss Mayo told the truth as she and her camera saw it...
...A retort in kind was not long in coming...
...Kanaya Lal Gauba documented his book "Uncle Sham" with ample quotes from the American press showing the dark side of life in the United States...
...but in so doing she gave a false picture of India...
...Which brings me to the possibility of a guerrilla government...
...I think I hear a voice from ancient India: "Those whose lives are narrow, looking at others, say 'they are not of us' but those whose lives are broad-based say 'all men are brothers.'" Chicago, III...
...I also suggest to Dorfman that he read The New Leader...
...who] frequently sit on the floor and do not have textbooks...
...rather than the government being "strengthened vis-a-vis the terrorists," as Shimon Amir predicted, I would think that the commandos, though losing much blood, came out the winners and gained considerable political strength...
...I refer to the articles by Eliahu Salpeter ("After Ten Days of Turmoil") and Donald R. Shanor ("Reporting Jordan's Civil War") in the same issue, which made me question the value for Israel of engaging in peace negotiations with the governments of Egypt and Jordan...
Vol. 53 • November 1970 • No. 21
