[Reader-list] What's pain got to do with it?

[Gargi Sen]

My dear M. Ray,
I am getting exceedingly fond of you and so you merit a separate reply. I
hope all is well in your world? Health, wealth, stealth?

M. Ray, one of the problems with language is that it is not Santa Claus. You
can¹t simply wish and conjure up meaning, like perhaps you can produce toys
(with some help from conspiratorial parents of course. Are yours called
ARKP?)  Especially not for words that already mean something ­ otherwise why
have dictionaries? - lets replace those with wish-lists. So you can not wish
meaning onto words that mean different things than what you wish, or wish
away their meaning either. Wish lists can not be that long/ wrong/ strong/
whatever. So you can not
 believe in no religion and [...] use the term 'secular' in  Indian context
[to] mean the pro-islamic pseudo-seculars only .
However desperately you may wish it were so, secular is just not a synonym
for pro-Islamic. Likewise Hindu isn¹t a synonym for anti-Islamic.

Awfully sorry to disappoint.

But don¹t get me wrong. I love the notion of a wish. It has a happy
connotation. A bit like whistling while cleaning shit. In my mind it is
closely connected to another I love: imagination. Because for me a wish
without imagination is like decaffeinated coffee or fat free ice-cream.  Why
bother to indulge if not for the kick? Otherwise you may as well abstain.
And between these two words ­ indulge abstain -  my personal vote always
goes to indulge. So I simply can not understand people who drink decaf
coffee or accept fat free ice cream and live to tell the tale with no shame.
I do not understand but can allow for taste. Even though Bordieu has argued
that taste is a social construct I can accept that taste is also an
individual¹s choice. Only, if I allow that I must in turn be allowed to be
bored. So I am bored with decaf coffee, fat free ice cream, and lack of
imagination. The last invariably leads to bad arguments. And then you are
left with no other option but to repeat the same thing, over and over again,
in the hope that the mantra of repetition will magically make your wish come
true. 

Awfully sorry to disappoint about that too.

Still, I like the pseudo-secular bit. See I don¹t fully understand what
secular really means. Its a shadowy word for me.
Not-completely-in-the-light-as-yet word. So to add a pseudo has interesting
possibilities. Pseudo as in not genuine, or shady (shadowy?):
Shady-shadowy. Or shadowy-shadowy. Take your pick.

Gargi shady-shadowy Sen

Sen
On 9/3/07 10:03 AM, "MRSG" <mrsg at vsnl.com> wrote:

> Dear Gargi,
> I have read your long letter but I do not want to argue here. I mentioned
> the reasons in my earlier mail. Personally I believe in no religion and when
> I use the term 'secular' in  Indian context it means the pro-islamic
> pseudo-seculars only. However  my only point was that everyday hindus are
> crossing the border and entering India  from Bangladesh because of islamic
> onslaught. This is simple fact. Enough data on this is available in net. And
> you and others can decide your/their course of action on that. You may
> ignore, rejoice, take up some action or simply carry out intellectual
> acrobatics. That's your choice.
> Thanks
> M Ray
> 
>