True that Kipling portrayed the times in which he lived vividly.But those beleifs are unacceptable and by criticising him we are condemning the racism, parchialism and politically incorrect beliefs and behaviour of that era. Mandeep Bajwa On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 2:12 PM, Andrew Sellon <andrew@sellon.vispa.com>wrote: > Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar wrote: > > <snip> they are perpetually in need of the coin of the > > realm - cash, the moolah, dough! <snip> > > > Aren't we all? > > OTOH, diehard Kipling-bashers, specially in India, are likely > > to feel far from gruntled, if such a plan does materialize ... > True enough, but however hard they may be they seem to be a dying, (or > at least a shrinking), breed. It now appears less fashionable to bash > his works; people are now accepting that he portrays the feelings of his > times - however unacceptable some of them seem today. > > His: > > When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, > And the women come out to cut up what remains, > Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brain > An' go to your Gawd like a soldier. > > suddenly took on a new relevance some few years ago. > > Yours Aye Andrew Sellon. > A just and necessary war costs this country about one hundred pounds a > minute; whipcord fifteen thousand pounds; red tape seven thousand > pounds; lace for drummers and fifers, nineteen thousand pounds; a > pension to one man who has broken his head at the Pole; to another who > has shattered his leg on the Equator; subsidies to Persia; secret > service money to Thibet; an annuity to Lady Henry Somebody and her seven > daughters – the husband being shot at some place where we never ought to > have had any soldiers at all. Rev. Sydney Smith 1771-1854, Canon of St. > Paul's. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Mandeep Singh Bajwa wrote: > True that Kipling portrayed the times in which he lived vividly.But those > beleifs are unacceptable and by criticising him we are condemning the > racism, parchialism and politically incorrect beliefs and behaviour of that > era. Mendeep - I sympathize with your sentiments, but in this, as with other historical practices by many peoples that are now thought to be totally unacceptable, I find difficulty in condemning the populace of those times, when such thoughts and actions were certainly not considered as politically incorrect. It is the old problem of applying today's thoughts, feelings and expectations to the past, which I believe should not be done. We are approaching deep waters here that perhaps should not be navigated on this list. Yours Aye Andrew Sellon He [Pythagoras] was the great father and inventor of common sense, as Ceres was of the plow (sic), and Bacchus of intoxication. Rev. Rev. Sydney Smith 1771-1854, Canon of St. Paul's.