SUPRIYO writes:

I discovered your blog quite sometime ago and have come to really admire what you have to say.

I am a 30-year-old man living in one of the bigger cities in India. I sit and watch in despair as I see many of the ills which seem to affect your society (irreversibly?) gradually come to haunt ours.

Mindless popular culture delights in taking the worst the West has to offer (e.g. I am talking reality shows, the vulgarization of newspapers), increasing divorce rates (divorce was unheard of a generation ago), adolescents engaging in promiscuous behaviour, you name it ! Something of our ancient culture still exists though but we stand as it were on the brink.

You may be surprised that even though we may be so culturally different, many of the values that you hold so dearly are exactly what we seek and idealize too. They are indeed the “common good.”

Laura writes:

Thank you for writing. I am glad you have found affirmation for your own observations here.

Modernity has crushed Hindu traditions in much the same way it has crushed the Christian West. We are battling some of the same forces. I have never traveled to India. But I have some familiarity with the changes you describe through my close women Indian friends, with whom I have always felt free to discuss the spiritual dimension of life in a way that is embarrassing to my American friends. I have one Indian woman friend in particular who is my neighbor. We have cried with happiness that we found each other. There should be a word to describe this special bond between mothers.

It has been sad to see how feminism and hyper-mobility have affected Indians in this country. It’s a subject I have pondered often. It must be utterly depressing for you to see Indian men and women abandon their traditional roles.

Thank you for your kind words. I hope you will keep reading.

Jesse Powell writes:

I first happened upon your blog a year ago – March 10, 2010 to be exact- and I was immediately mesmerized and enthralled. Never before had I seen a blog such as yours that advocated openly and in public what America and the world needs to hear so much and that furthermore seemed accepting of me as an atheist.  

I very much appreciate that you speak up for children like me (for the child I used to be), for children neglected by society whose cares and needs never seem to matter to anyone because concern for the well-being of such children might prove bothersome or inconvenient. 

It must be remembered, feminism is a crime against children, against the next generation, more than it is a crime against anybody else. So, I thank you for caring about the child I once was. 

In addition, I am now a man, a man who hopes and seeks to do right by women and the children of the future. I thank you for caring about my concerns and needs as a man and most of all in holding me up to a high standard of moral behavior, by imposing demands that help me to live up to my calling and my potential as a man. Furthermore, the loyalty and gratitude you show to the men who strive their best to be good men is something I find very heartwarming and endearing and makes me feel a bit better towards the women of this world. 

Thank you for your blog and the feminine warmth and kindness it exudes. It provides a comforting feeling to visit your blog and read all the many, many articles on subjects of human relationships, everyday virtues, and the many interesting and subtle ways that things are not quite right in this land of ours; as a man I would not notice such things myself. It is nice for this softer and gentler side of life to be pointed out to me by a woman of kind heart and firm morals. 

Most importantly, from a selfish point of view, I thank you for allowing me to contribute to your blog. It has helped me greatly in developing my sense of identity and allowing me to learn so much about the world I live in. I am aware that not everyone who reads this blog shares such kind sentiments towards you; with that in mind, I say you are “like a rose, trampled on the ground; you took the fall, and thought of me, above all.”  There are certain truths that transcend “the ways of man.”

Laura writes:

Thank you. It is thoughtful of you to take the time to express this. At the risk of unleashing a storm of contempt, I like to post these words of praise not to bask in public adulation but to show others that it is not shameful to think or say the things I have thought or said.

I am grateful for your excellent contributions to this site and for the time you have devoted to them. I think of this as a place where men and women stand up for men and women. Thank you for helping me achieve that goal. We do not always agree, but you argue your positions with civility and respect. I appreciate that.

   — Comments —

Peter S. writes:

 With respect to your reader from India, perhaps the best book I know of that gives a flavor of  traditional Hindu life (particularly Saivism) is Joseph M. Dye’s Ways to Shiva: Life and Ritual in Hindu India (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1980). [1,2]  Stephen P. Huyler’s Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion (Yale University Press, 1999) is also excellent. [1,2]

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