[Reader-list] Dirty Ditty/Saint Pandey de Sarai

[slumbug]

Sisters and Brothers and Mothers and Fathers and 
Aunts and Uncles and Teachers and many more 
. 

And my friends in love and hate
.

I am amazed at the egos on this list. Such bright 
people, anyday I would like to be free people like you. 
And, now you guys close off? 

I have been a lurker almost all through the time I 
have been a member of this list, a very short time 
too. But, Sarai has been known for some time, I 
heard about it, read printouts of discussions, and 
heard so much of your cafeteria and the way lives 
are getting changed. I am sure you work in a really 
fascinating space, some place out of the blue, where 
I would like to be there with you. 

I have always used the list as a source of 
information, to learn what bright people do, what they 
think of, what they will do to change our lives. I 
suppose a guy like me always looks for the guru, the 
sant, a sort of salvation-master who will bring me out 
of the gloom into joy. 

I never felt the need to write, but today I feel I do, hey 
really, I do. I am upset with the guru. 

The list administrator has probably never been 
under such pressure before, I presume, since she 
never sent us a mail like the one she has done today 
(4/10/2002 6.24 PM). And why may that be? Since a 
little boy (sorry, ‘puny and frustrated intellectual’) has 
written a dirty little ditty? [Remember your nursery 
rhymes?] 

I have a few questions, ‘doubts’ as we were taught in 
school and college. [Before examination 
week/month, during the last day of class the teacher 
would ask if we had ‘doubts’. Never had one. Never 
learned anything, not at least in college filled with 
‘puny and frustrated intellectuals’] 

I address my queries to specific individuals, but I 
hope we all talk, at least some of you will with me, so 
that my ‘doubts’ as to what really constitutes 
freedom, the civil society (the papers are full of it), the 
‘limits’ of free speech and so much more could get a 
little clarified. 

Professor Saint, I do agree that little piece by Mr 
Pandey (a pandy,
cal, [probably one of 
the many, now with literary aspirations] and attempts 
to engage with the poet Jyotsna Kapur, and uses a 
lot of hard terms which I do not understand and I 
have to buy a special dictionary for them. Maybe you 
can explain them, or rather he should. He does 
seem derogatory, and the poet is not there to defend 
herself, which you do ably, and very rightly. What right 
do we have as individuals to presume such 
familiarity? 

Sir, when you say that somebody has been 
engaging “in the egregious posturing and 
self-promotion that has been on display on this list 
for some time”, I presume you have been referring to 
the same smutty poet, Mr Pandey. I understand very 
well why you say that his ditty is smutty and 
semi-pornographic, because so many of us have 
pornographic dreams all (actually) all the time, at 
least once in a lifetime. 

I also read that our pornographic poet has displayed 
“pretentious attempts to display familiarity with 
serious academic debates” and that this “renders 
his attack suspect in any case” However, you seem 
not to have told us how his familiarity with academic 
debates is at default? Is it not an innuendo in itself? 
Correct me if I am wrong. 

I have one request of you Sir, and I maybe echoing 
Monica, you must not withdraw from the list. Such 
slander will only get fodder if not crushed completely. 
One can always get this guy off the list, but he can 
bring out his dirty ditties elsewhere. So, Sir, 
dialogue. You are a teacher, Sir.

I would also like to know what constitutes the 
university, how it extends into the community, and 
who are the ‘worst sort of elements’ in the university. 
So Mr Pandey is in the university? So, there are 
actually a lot of people in the university who write with 
a ‘smutty tone’ and ‘quasi-pornographic drift’? 

Monica, your posting as list administrator is that of a 
tired being. You seem to be tired of us. It is an 
unmoderated list. But, now, we have to notify what is 
the good and the bad. I do not understand. How 
does o
‘puny intellectual’ shake up a huge 
“intellectual’ community, throw us into disarray? 
Then, this writer of dirty ditties is a revolutionary? I 
think it is valid to think of these questions? So, do I 
find the guru in him? 

So, we close off, we worry about that lick of flame 
burning us all. Hellfire? 
Is Code No 6 a threat? 

[6> The following kinds of posts are not suited:

* Announcements (send to 
announcements at sarai.net)
* Flames
* Unannotated URLs/forwarded articles
* Promotional material

Reader-list is an unmoderated list, so we rely on 
subscribers 
following these guidelines to keep the list dynamic 
and active. The 
facilitators may send reminders to anyone not 
following the 
guidelines. Posters who repeatedly ignore these 
guidelines and 
reminders may be removed from the list.]

I have a funny fear that lot of people who know each 
other on the list are settling personal scores. Sarai 
can always organize a wrestling championship, no, 
rather a cockfight or dogfight like in those Westerns. 
No, rather the Roman arena, with gladiators. Oooh! 
Wow.

And yes, none of us have actually discussed some 
of the points that Mr Pandey has raised. Not all of it is 
jargon, you know.

Anyway, I am tired too, it is late, I will try to sleep. I do 
not need a guru, I am not asking for salvation. All I 
am saying, come my beloved friends, let us chat, 
have fun. Can we, we the people, in love and hate 
get hijacked by one puny intellectual?

So, let us follow Code 7:
[7> Most of all, enjoy yourself! The Reader-list has 
been a fantastic 
forum for the exchange of ideas, and it continues to 
grow in size and 
diversity. But it can only do so while new members 
come in and 
contribute.]

Let me know,
Neel