Closing remarks to Dr. Vassilkov (& Mr. Agarwal)

[Robert Zydenbos]

Vishal Agarwal wrote:

> Dear Dr. Vassilkov,
> By dismissing your opponents as ' diletanti', you have unwiittingly mocked
> the Engineers and Scientists in this list like Dr. N. Ganesan and
> Vidyasamkar Sunderesan who are not professional Indologists either, but
> whose posts are highly informed, and well researched. I must admire your
> ability to judge a book (and its author as well) by reading a mere 25% of
> the review and without exhibiting any signficant knowledge of this issue.

Mr. Vassilkov: is it really true, as scientist (sorry, Mr. Agarwal, I
see no reason to use a capital letter) Agarwal says, that you have
seriously read a full 25% of that item? If that is so, then I am
amazed. You will have read far too much.

The readers may wonder what makes me say this. On Sun, 29
Aug 1999, Mr. Agarwal sent our list something that contained
these words from a review, said (by scientist Agarwal) to be by
scientist N.S. Rajaram:

<<A certain Robert Zydenbos (or his ghostwriter) compared this
reviewer to Hitler for questioning the Aryan invasion, and even
exhorted him to accept responsibility for the Ayodhya
demolition!>>

I knew immediately that this review had to be trash, because I have
never made such a statement.

Let us assume that Agarwal did post that message (and not that
Agarwal has a ghostwriter, who posted it) and that Rajaram did
write the above words (we must be careful here: these days, all
sorts of things happen. You see, Agarwal, despite his presumed
scientificness, did not give the bibliographical reference to that
piece of trash. He apparently has a few *very* basic things to learn
before he lectures to others about what is academic). What does
this tell us about Rajaram?

I challenge anyone here (Rajaram; Agarwal; anyone) to provide us
with the evidence that I made the quoted comparison. If Rajaram
indeed wrote the above quote, then I have not the slightest
hesitation in hereby declaring him a pathetic liar.

Of course everyone has permission to quote me on this. This is a
public statement. My only request is that I am quoted truthfully.

Perhaps Agarwal can give us the address of the publisher of the
review by 'scientist' Rajaram, and the precise bibliographical data.

Rajaram (if we assume it really is him) grossly overestimates me
and my importance by mentioning me in one sentence with Romila
Thapar and Shireen Ratnagar. My only claim to fame is that 6
years ago he wrote a miserably xenophobic article in the Indian
Express newspaper, and I replied to it in that same newspaper
(and with that, to my knowledge, the matter ended in that paper). I
believe there is only one reason for his special ire towards me: that
I had the guts to talk back to him from his own back yard in India,
and that too in that widely read newspaper. The average mleccha
does not do that.

I hope that these remarks of mine shed some more light on the
obscurantist ways of Rajaram (assuming that he wrote that
grotesque, mendacious sentence in that review). They may give his
admirers something to think about.

RZ