This has reference to R K Srivastava's letter ('Typically Indian', Sep 30) in which he says that the 'detoxification drive' in Gujarat has reached absurd proportions. Srivastava's contention is that one has to show a 'giani' in traditional clothes, but I think he has missed the point. The issue here is not about showing a man in Indian gear but showing a Brahmin as a 'giani'. Such an illustration reinforces the straitjacket of India's traditional caste system where jobs were stratified according to caste, not capability. Such traditions should be discarded, not drilled into a child's subconscious mind.

Karishma Jamwal, via e-mail