LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

"Is it easier to love or hate?"

APTOPIX India Shooting A mourner gives a final emotional salute during the funeral of Hemant Karkare, the chief of Mumbai's Anti-Terrorist Squad who was killed by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in 2008 Mumbai attack | AP
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EVERY PHILOSOPHER TELLS me that hate is difficult, and love is easy. Hate is like lugging a stone around. Like an eternal flame inside you, consuming you from within. Like maggots under your skin. The analogies are endless. But, I have a contrarian view. It is difficult to love.

I don’t mean lip-service love or Valentine’s Day love. Pure, unadulterated love. It is even said that one does not love anyone more than one’s own self. Be as it may, love is a difficult animal. When you love, you are expected to forgive, to forget, to share, to sacrifice.... Is all that supposed to be easy?

My father’s first book was a tribute to my mother. My maternal grandfather was a doctor in Tamil Nadu, and, so, Amma did her schooling there. Syrian Christians use surnames or family names; Tamilians prefer initials. So, shortly after she joined school, Amma realised that she was different. She was Annamma Philip. She went home and cried, begging her parents to change her name. Girls have a grip over fathers’ hearts, don’t they? My grandfather visited Amma’s school, and she became P. Annammal for the rest of her school life. My father wrote that a major factor of my mother’s success was a father who was willing to shrink himself to an initial, just to see his daughter happy. The things that we do for love.

This issue of THE WEEK is our Anniversary Special. A two-headed issue; like the god Janus, who lent his name to January. The first volume ‘looks back in anger’, at the year behind us. Through representative faces, the volume explores the areas in which anger bubbled over. The second volume updates you about the growing tribe of standup comedians in India.

Last year, we had an additional volume of photographs from the Himalayas. This year, three photo-features take its place. Deputy Photo Editor Bhanu Prakash Chandra’s project on recording abuse against women in public places is world-class, if I may say so. Then, we have Chief Photographer Sanjay Ahlawat’s visual essay on a lesser-known reptile, Hardwicke’s spiny-tailed lizard. Photographer Vishnu V. Nair gives us a peek into Kuran, Gujarat’s last village on the road to Pakistan.

While Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan writes for us, we have an interview with Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda. We have tried to keep a good mix in the columns, as well. Our varied voices include that of Dr Prathap C. Reddy of Apollo Hospitals, environmentalist Janaki Lenin, Marico’s Harsh Mariwala, director Alankrita Srivastava, poll guru-politician Yogendra Yadav and Lt Gen (retd) C. Satish Nambiar.

Coming back to where I started: is it easier to love or hate? Both require the same effort, I think. But, the difference is the outcome. Why climb a mountain to look down upon a garbage dump? Climb mountains which offer you endless vistas, and the opportunity to look into yourself.

While you chew on that, let me wish you a merry Christmas and a blessed new year.

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