I was astonished to read your article on my candidacy for the UN secretary-generalship.Given that it is so obviously malicious and single-sourced, I would not have reacted, butI realise my not doing so would be unfair to a journal that I hold in high regard.I’ve never been remotely ‘petulant’ on my candidature. My conversationswith Nick Burns in particular have been entirely pleasant. The insinuation that heconsiders me a ‘political lightweight’ is without foundation. Worse, yourcorrespondent’s statement querying my remaining in the race is bizarre, because hisargument would make any election unnecessary, since apparently only the ultimate winnershould compete in any race.
Shashi Tharoor, New York, Oct 30, 2006
In Vinod Mehta’s optimistic overview of current trends in India, I emerge as adoleful hand-wringer who "laments" that India has "fallen prey" toconsumerism. Not so. Lamenting was something I was careful not to do. Who am I, cosilyensconced in north London, to start tut-tutting about richer ways of living in India?
Ian Jack, former editor, Granta, Jan 15, 1997
You have published more than a dozen readers’ letters about my recent book Libertyor Death, describing it variously as ‘blasphemous’,‘Pak-sponsored’, ‘dumb’, and ‘filth’. I, meanwhile, am foundto be a shallow-minded attention-monging [sic] idiot’ with a ‘perverted Westernmind’ suffering from ‘colonial bias’. Although I have no complaints aboutthe way Outlook chose to serialise my book, the use of my brief charactersketches of Gandhi and Jinnah has perhaps been a distraction from my central purpose. WhatI have attempted to do in my book is to analyse events of the 1940s, and to examine thedecisions which led to India’s independence and the creation of Pakistan.
Patrick French, London, Sep 8, 1997