Also, I append below a few comments by my Bengali friends upon their reading of this presentation of SR's worldview.
(Indrajit Dutt, Kolkata)
These articles are just nasty pieces written by people who have hardly any sense of India, nor do they have the slightest regard for its history and civilization. The author writes-"They eat with their hands, not knives, forks and spoons.". To these shallow remarks of semi-literate foreigners, Swami Vivekananda has given replies fittingly in his essay- The East and the West. SV writes-To the European mind, it is inconceivable that anything good can possibly be amidst such dirt, such slavery, and such degradation. This write-up of Ruskin doesn't deserve much comment. However, a letter could be written to the Editor of Counterpunch, in protest.
(Sandeep Mitra, Fairport, NY)
(1) Monish: (Garbage like) this is hardly surprising. Irrespective of whether the individual concerned (usually of the Caucasian race) is ideologically to the left or right mindset insofar as the issues of the Euro-zone (and its satellites in North America and Australia/NZ are concerned), their Euro-centric mind shines through very frequently. Their inherent racism becomes apparent - to us - if confronted with it, they (i.e., the Caucasian individuals concerned) will deny it heavily. If you point out the miles of homeless (living in cardboard boxes, yes) that you see as you go to return your rental car in LA, they will say - especially if they have more "leftist" inclinations - "yes, true -- and in the right forum I would mention that". But you will find that they never will - but will not miss the first opportunity to indulge in what some people call "poverty porn" when a country populated by the "darker races" is concerned. And India is the prime target - they will never miss an opportunity to degrade the country. Reasons: like it or not, it is a huge entity - diverse, deprived, but still functioning, and achieving in ways that make these Eurocentric types go "how can they do that?" - whether it is going to Mars, or building the fifth largest economy in the world.
(2) (To my assigning a "D"): Monish- D- in my opinion.
(3) (On SR the prolific author, and on the topic of what he correctly describes as "Poverty Porn"):
Monish: Also, it is interesting to see that you mention this article on the same day that I re-read a story written by Satyajt Ray himself - a Feluda story published posthumously, called "Robertson's Ruby". If you are not familiar with it, in the story there is a visiting Englishman called Tom Maxwell, a photographer by profession, who refuses to take pictures of Uttarayan in Shantiniketan, and the beautiful terra cotta temples of Birbhum, but instead focuses on taking pictures of a woman bathing a naked child under a tap. This character turns out to be a descendant of Reginald Maxwell, who was an indigo planter in 19th century India, an oppressive racist. Ray's views on such types are clearly delineated in this story, and are on the same lines as ours.
(Raju Roychowdhury (Sao Paulo, Brazil)):
" very underwhelming article, ami to bhabchilam Marie Seton ba Andrew Robinson er moton kono western scholar likhechen".
(the Bengali written in English script says that the reader thought this would be at the level of noted SR scholars Marie Seton and Andrew Robinson- MRC) ]
(Article changed on Jun 20, 2021 at 1:25 PM EDT)
(Article changed on Jun 20, 2021 at 1:27 PM EDT)
(Article changed on Jun 20, 2021 at 1:55 PM EDT)
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