From: Mario Goveia > > When I posted a speech made earlier this year in Hyderabad by Abdul > Kalam asking Indians to improve their civic sense, which was widely > circulated in India but not widely reported abroad, there were some on > Goanet who took umbrage and insinuated that the speech was a fraud, > which was a shocking response to this rare call to Indians by a > respected national leader. > Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:37:59 -0400 From: "Bosco D" <bos...@canada.com>
#1) Please advise the date, time and location in Hyderabad where this speech was delivered. #2) If this was a speech, why does the webpage of the link you provided state "A Letter to Every Indian - APJ Abdul Kalam" [1] #3) Surely you know the difference between a letter and a speech. Mario responds: Bosco is absolutely right. I used "letter" and "speech" interchangeability. However, I wonder if he knows that THE CONTENTS of a widely circulated open letter to the country by an ex-President is tantamount to a speech. Maybe not. One of India's biggest problems is the utter lack of civic senseby the vast majority of Indians. When Abdul Kalam lectured Indians earlier this year urging them to improve their civic sense his comments received widespresd coverage in India. However, Bosco who does not even live in India has taken umbrage and has been nitpicking this issue ever since, as we can see above, questioning it authenticity, and quibbling over whether it was a "speech" or a "letter". My initial post on this subject was titled, [Goanet] Abdul Kalam's Letter to every Indian: http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-August/182239.html If I referred to Kalam's comments elsewhere as a speech, does it make any difference to THE CONTENT that the speech was in the form of a letter? After all, THE POINT I was making was as follows: Quote: As the lone voice of reason, truth and peace on Goanet, while recognizing India's remarkable economic progress after they dumped extreme socialism on the thrash heap of history where it belongs, I have also made several references to the deplorable civic sense of many Indians in India and wished that someone in a leadership position would campaign to raise the civic consciousness of the country. Now I find a speech by the brilliant but tonsorially-challenged ex-President Abdul Kalam that did just that back in January, 2009, which somehow none of our Indian Goanetters found of enough interest to post here: http://randomthougts101.blogspot.com/2009/01/letter-to-every-indian-apj-abdul-kalam.html Unquote. Wouldn't a Goanetter of goodwill be able to tell that it was THE CONTENT that was important and what I was referring to, and realize that THE CONTENTS of an open letter to all Indians is little different from a "speech" in terms of the message it is trying to convey? Bosco wrote: #4) Suggestion: Please follow Santosh's advice and check your weblinks at the Quackometer website: http://www.quackometer.net before forwarding them to Goanet. Mario responds: Here we see Bosco posting misleading information of his own suggesting that I should check my weblinks with Quackometer.net before forwarding them to Goanet. If Bosco had taken the time to visit Quackometer.net himself, he would have discovered what this web site is all about, and avoided embarrassing himself: Quote: WHAT IS THE QUACKOMETER ALL ABOUT? The quackometer is a project based around the automation of debunking quack medicine on the web. The web is full of pages supporting dubious medical claims and inflated capabilities for cures. The freedom that the web gives us to express our views, entertain and do business also gives quacks a way to make a living by promoting nonsense treatments to unsuspecting people. Unquote. Bosco wrote: #5) On Aug 27/09 you stated: *** This "Letter to every Indian" by Abdul Kalam MUST be a hoax. I mean, think about it. Why would any Indian leader point out the abysmal lack of civic sense among Indians? *** [2] You are making contradictory statements. You also alleged the same hoax speech was posted by a Goanetter, Radhakrishnan nair, on Facebook. This was proven to be false. You are yet to withdraw your false allegations. Mario responds: There must be something in the water in some sections of Toronto. This is the second time recently that a Goanetter from Toronto has truncated my comments to completely change the meaning of what I had said and then responded to the distortion as if it were true. Here is the actual exchange that Bosco is referring to in his comments above: Bosco wrote the following [Note he acknowledges the "publication of this piece"] about the Kalam letter, which I had referred to as a "letter" and as a "speech": Quote: This is another hoax article unless the date and location of the original publication of this piece is provided or if this was a speech, the date and place where it was made. Another bout of hollow jingoism!! I doubt the thorough gentleman, Abdul Kalam would address his fellow citizens as above. Unquote. My complete response is shown below. See if it is a "contradiction" as Bosco has described it as after truncating it and deleting all the smileys that I used in punctuating my remarks as well as all the THIRTEEN URLs in India that had reported the Abdul Kalam letter/speech, including one by Dr. V. S. Acharya who lists himself as Home Minister, Government of Karnataka: Quote: Nothing gets past Bosco keen sense of accuracy - except the REAL condition of the Canadian health care system:-)) Bosco is absolutely right. This "Letter to every Indian" by Abdul Kalam MUST be a hoax. I mean, think about it. Why would any Indian leader point out the abysmal lack of civic sense among Indians? That would be un-Indian, would it not?:-)) Here are all the Indian sources who were also fooled by this hoax. Note the author of the first link in the following list, as well as the author of the last link, one of our own Goanetters who has been MIA for awhile: http://drvsacharya.blogspot.com/2008/11/most-forwarded-mail-of-year.html http://randomthougts101.blogspot.com/2009/01/letter-to-every-indian-apj-abdul-kalam.html http://www.scribd.com/doc/10961950/A-Letter-to-Every-Indian-by-A-P-J-Abdul-Kalam http://schools.papyrusclubs.com/kv1uppal/voice/a-letter-from-dr.-apj-abdul-kalam http://itsdawn.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/10/a-letter-for-every-indian-apj-recd-through-email.htm http://www.uttishthata.org/category/apj-abdul-kalam/ http://blogs.ibibo.com/darshak/a-letter-to-every-indian-apj http://blogs.ibibo.com/Tanublog/very-touching-dr-a-p-j-abdul-kalam-s-sp http://your-contribution-to-the-society.learnhub.com/discussions/12408-dr-abdul-kalams-speech-in-hyderabad http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/laughter-accelerated-just-chill/613-letter-apj-abdul-kalam.html http://aspiration.rediffiland.com/blogs/2008/10/11/Speech-By-APJ-Abdul-Kalam-1.html http://forum.santabanta.com/showthread.htm?t=92518 Hey, look at this. I also found a reference to this article by one of our own Goanetters on Facebook: Fwd: Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's Letter to every Indian Posted by: "Radhakrishnan nair" vprnair1966 at gmail.com vprnair1966 Sat May 16, 2009 4:32 am (PDT) http://te-in.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=47891397782&topic=9361 Unquote. Yes, I referred to Radhakrishnan Nair as the Goanetter, which he has since denied. All this means is that there is another Radhakrishnan Nair who made the post on Facebook, not the Goanetter. Does it change the essence of the discussion as we see Bosco crabbily insinuating above, adding irritably that I should have "withdrawn" my observation that it was the Goanetter, which the person concerned had already done on Goanet? Make up your own mind. If Bosco wants to know more details about the Abdul Kalam "speech in a letter", I have provided him above with THIRTEEN sources in India that he can communicate with, all of whom published the letter in various internet communications in India. I suggest he start with quizzing Dr. V. S. Acharya who lists himself as Home Minister, Government of Karnataka in the first URL in my list. Bosco wrote: Say NO to plagiarism !! Mario responds: NO to plagiarism! Say NO to pots calling kettles black!! Say NO to the Goan crab mentality!! Say NO to false information about the Canadian health care system!! Say NO to false information about Quackometer.net!!
