Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:55:23 -0800
From: Madhulika Singh
To: toieditorial@timesgroup.com
CC: readers.grievances@timesgroup.com, pranav.bhatnagar@timesgroup.com

Dear Editor:
Times of India has long been a mouthpiece of the Congress Party but even by that standard, this is a heavily biased article. Haven't read anything quite so dumb in a long, long time. There has been zero efforts on the part of Percy Fernandez in writing this piece of armchair journalism. Perhaps one of the brilliant scholars, opposing the textbook edits, has written it and Percy has just taken "credit" for it.

Why is it that everytime Hindus raise their voice to protect whatever shred of dignity is left for them, that everyone, including those with Hindu-sounding names but loyalties towards a South-Asian entity, whatever it is, scream foul? scream Hindutva?

No wonder for decades, the books and publishers have got away with such negative and inaccurate contents about Hinduism. The textbooks openly mock Hindu beliefs like the Law of Karma. One book mocks Lord Hanuman, "The monkey king Hanuman loved Rama so much that it is said that he is present every time the Ramayana is told. So look around-see any monkeys?"

The God of no other religion has had adjectives like terrible and blood-thirsty used for Him/Her but Goddess Durga and Kali are called terrible and blood-thirsty. With regard to Indian diet, there's a "joke" made in very poor judgment, "Where's the beef?". Would the publishers have the guts to make a frivolous comment like, "Where's the pork?" with reference to the diet of Muslims? NEVER. We all know what the result of such a comment would be as we have seen in the recent Danish cartoon incident.

Where were these "secular" non-Hindu-supremacist groups like FOSA, FeTNA and CAC for the decades during which our children have been reading the garbage dished out by these books? Now they are hailing some of the glaringly negative and inaccurate changes that have been brought about by the efforts of HEF, VF and hundreds of concerned Hindu parents.

Fernandez should read the story about the birth of Lord Ganesha. No amount of edits could make the story acceptable to any self-respecting Hindu. The cookbook writer's, Madhur Jaffery's, story that gives readers the impression that Parvati was having extra marital affairs while Shiva was roaming Kailash mountains is not fit for 6th graders at all!!

The so-called scholars of "elite universities" played the caste card by trying to assemble Dalits to request the State Board not to remove the term Dalit from textbooks when this word was not prevalent during the times covered in the textbooks, that of Ancient India ending in 650 A.D. The same group has labeled us, Californian Hindu American parents, Hindu supremacists and Fernandez was very quick to jump on the bandwagon. Even American journalists have done their groundwork better that this reporter.

I'm sure Fernandez has not heard about, read nor knows about the framework and guideline of the California Department of Education (Code 60044) which states that "Religions and cultures of minority groups be taught in such a manner as to instill a sense of pride in every child in his or her heritage and to remain secure in any religious beliefs he/she may already have."

It's a shame that the edits of Californian textbooks was transformed into such an acrimonious, international, name-calling, politically-involved circus by the so-called scholars in the USA. However, the process has begun.... the process followed by the followers of other religions for decades; the process to have positive and accurate presentation of India/Hinduism in American school textbooks. In fact, our children are now raising their hands in classrooms and correcting the misinformation in their textbooks. We are very proud to be a part of that process.

Madhulika Singh
Milpitas, California

US rejects 'Hindutva lessons'
Percy Fernandez
[ Monday, March 20, 2006 07:13:47 pmTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1457074.cms?headline=US~rejects~'Hindutva~lessons'