Here's a letter I just sent to the editor of The Hindu:
Sir,
Given the increased coverage given to film world celebrities I've long felt that the Religion column in The Hindu is redundant at best. On Friday the 13th, 2012, it also became morally repugnant. The column on this day carried the story of a guru who asks his disciple to name his pet cat Ego. When the cat becomes troublesome, he asks the disciple to leave it in a forest. The cat returns and the guru tells the disciple to put the cat in a sack and dump it in the forest. Here is the link containing this inane anecdote: http://www.thehindu.com/
This story is a parable, but even so the form of the parable is unacceptable. A domestic animal, reared as a house pet does not have the skills to survive in a forest. Your notional guru is making his disciple practice animal abuse on the pretext of teaching him what is really a very trite lesson. I don't find this especially edifying; actually as someone who works in animal welfare on a voluntary basis, dealing regularly with people who raise animals in their homes and then dump them, helpless, on the streets, I find it disturbing that your writer thinks that a guru, a dispenser of wisdom, would not only condone but demand such behaviour. I am told that compassion is a keynote of most religions, but being an atheist myself I have no first-hand knowledge of this. Still, I request you to be a little more sensitive about the content of this column in future.
Regards,
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Sir,
Given the increased coverage given to film world celebrities I've long felt that the Religion column in The Hindu is redundant at best. On Friday the 13th, 2012, it also became morally repugnant. The column on this day carried the story of a guru who asks his disciple to name his pet cat Ego. When the cat becomes troublesome, he asks the disciple to leave it in a forest. The cat returns and the guru tells the disciple to put the cat in a sack and dump it in the forest. Here is the link containing this inane anecdote: http://www.thehindu.com/
This story is a parable, but even so the form of the parable is unacceptable. A domestic animal, reared as a house pet does not have the skills to survive in a forest. Your notional guru is making his disciple practice animal abuse on the pretext of teaching him what is really a very trite lesson. I don't find this especially edifying; actually as someone who works in animal welfare on a voluntary basis, dealing regularly with people who raise animals in their homes and then dump them, helpless, on the streets, I find it disturbing that your writer thinks that a guru, a dispenser of wisdom, would not only condone but demand such behaviour. I am told that compassion is a keynote of most religions, but being an atheist myself I have no first-hand knowledge of this. Still, I request you to be a little more sensitive about the content of this column in future.
Regards,
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
2 comments:
Cheezus.
(You actually read the religion column? I think of it as one more corrigendium/tender notice type piece of writing.)
Wonder if they will publish it.
Someone has to keep an eye on the theistards.
And no, they won't. But writing is my only means of self expression so...
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