APR 6
New significance for April 1
Sir, April 1 is Fool's Day. Odisha celebrates it as a state foundation day postMughal rule (thanks to many noted Odias including Madhubabu, Odisha became an linguistic state on April 1, 1936). However, I feel this April 1 should be celebrated as day of implementation of Right to Education. After all education is the only way to empowerment.
-Biranchi Narayan Acharya, Cuttack
APR 8
Unfortunate stand
Sir, It is very unfortunate that the Express is supporting the government decision on Nalini's release. This stand has damaged the paper's image. The reasons given by the government for not releasing her are not strong. It looks like the Express has also joined the group of biased media houses in the country.
-Manoharan I, email
APR 9
Symbol of slavery
Sir, Kudos to Jairam Ramesh. I feel proud of the minister of environment and forest, who disowned the convocation gown. This coloured robe is symbol of our slavery to our preIndependence ruler. Nobody to this date had dared to defy this practice. He has done it boldly and openly with a clearcut message: "Shed the mindset of a slave."
-Pratap Keshari Naik, Bhubaneswar
A cruel joke
Sir, This refers to the frontpage photograph of a weirdlooking child under the caption 'Could this be SaniaShoaib's baby?' (TNIE, April 8). Although the fun was reportedly inspired by US TV host Conan O'Brien, Express, on its part, could have desisted from publishing the picture.
-P G Menon, Chennai
APR 10
Use a blog for ranting
Sir, Apropos V Sudarshan's 'PC - Pandora Centauri' (TNIE, April 9) my advice to the author is to use a blog for ranting and not on an editorial page of a decent national newspaper.
-Kannan, email
APR 15
Tharoor seems to have little work
Sir, Shashi Tharoor is in the news again and as many of us would have guessed it is not for what he has done as MoS. First it was the news about his third marriage and now it is his nexus with the Kochi IPL team franchise. It seems like the ministry of external affairs is a place where there is little work to be done.
- Anand Prabhu, Chennai
APR 22
Buttering the PM
Sir, Apropos Justice V R Krishna Iyer's 'Liberate India from the lethargy of Victorian jurisprudence' (TNIE, April 20), the open letter reads like an application for employment, right down to buttering up the PM.
-K Vijayan, Chennai
MAY 8
Govt's Brahmastra
Sir, This is with reference to Neerja Chowdhury's 'Coalition of compromises' (TNIE, May 5). As pointed out by the author, coalition governments are always under pressure. However, so long as the coalition parties' demands are fulfilled, the government would survive its full term. Moreover, there are no permanent enemies in politics and as a final straw, they have the CBI (the Brahmastra) which can be used when required.
-N Mahadevan, Chennai
MAY 14
Pathetic apathy
Sir, While we admire the Express front page coverage and a fitting edit on Viswanathan Anand's historic victory, the complete apathy shown by both the government and our otherwise vociferous politicians in this matter is disgusting.
-Parasuram Sharma, Chennai
MAY 19
Aam aadmi is neglected
Sir, The death of two people in a stampede in New Delhi railway station is proof that the amenities used by the aam aadmi are still stuck in the bygone years and haven't been upgraded. One shudders to think that the same city is planning to host the Commonwealth Games later this year.
- Pradeep Devaraj, email
MAY 21
Celebrity fatigue
Sir, There is a lot of media coverage on the small things famous people do. The news now is that Sachin Tendulkar has spent money for the treatment of an old friend of his. When Dalbir Singh met with an accident in 2002, what was holding Sachin back from helping? Is it fair to choke the public with every small thing celebrities do?
-Anuj Sood, Chennai
MAY 25
UPA's style statement
Sir, I cannot understand why civil aviation minister Praful Patel offered to resign after the Mangalore Air India Express tragedy. It would have made sense had the minister tendered his resignation after an enquiry report. It seems like offering to resign in UPAII is a style statement.
- Thomas Philip, email
MAY 31
Frivolous media hype
Sir, The Express front page picture on May 30 showing Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni eating a snack is frivolous to say the least. It is a typical example of how the media hypes anything and everything done by the cricketers. This is not in benefit for other sports and the country.
-Y S Kadakshamani, Madurai
JUNE 2
Plight of majority community
Sir, Subramanian Swamy's 'How to Wipe Out Islamic Terror: The Moment of Truth Has Arrived' (TNIE, May 31) is an excellent article. When everyone, including media czars, is busy highlighting the atrocities the minority community face, it is voices like this that highlight the plight of the majority community.
- Jagdish Sharma, Bangalore
JUNE 4
The Left has lost its last bastion
Sir, Trinamool Congress' victory, under its leader Mamata Banerjee, is a sign that the Left has lost its last bastion in India. Factionalism ruined the chances of the communists in Kerala long ago. Experts have started polishing the epitaph to be placed over the Left's tomb.
- Shankaran Unnikrishnan, email
JUNE 7
Poor storytelling
Sir, The Karnataka police seem to have consulted scriptwriters from the Kannada film industry (who are infamous for their logic and style of storytelling) to come up with the bizarre explanation for the shooting at a gathering where Sri Sri Ravishankar was giving a talk. Next time the police are advised to consult the Kollywood and even Bollywood for similar explanations.
-Rahul Saxena, email
JUNE 10
After 25 years
Sir, Quarter century court verdicts have become common in our country. I wish that the final verdict in the case of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive in the 26/11 Mumbai massacre does not break the Bhopal record of 25 years.
-E R Arulanandham, Palayamkottai
JUNE 12
Crippling Manipur
Sir, It was nice to read Prasanta Mazumdar's 'Blockades cripple Manipur' (TNIE, June 10). It is nice that Express has written about extreme hardships faced by the Manipuris because of blockades that have been in place for more than two months.
-Vishal Navekar, email
JUNE 26
Wimbledon marathon
Sir, No doubt the Wimbledon match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner was an epic one. While it would have drained out both the players, umpire and linesmen, it would have been a real feast for the spectators, who have witnessed a great match from close quarters. I am sure the records created would remain for years to come. At the end tennis is the real winner.
-N Mahadevan, Chennai
JUNE 29
Family unions
Sir, Aditya Sinha's 'Kalaignar's Vuvuzela' (TNIE, June 26) is a bold and accurate article. In these days of paid news reading such articles is a relief. The deterioration in governance is nobody's concern as the underprivileged still are denied a chance to redeem their lives when public money is wasted on family unions.
-Shankar, email
July 1
Do not push Saina the Sania way
Sir, While we hail the rare feat of Saina Nehwal, the media has to be cautious not to overdo and shower superfluous praise on her. Let us remember the same thing was done for Sania Mirza. Hope the media and public expectation do not push Saina the Sania way.
- Nalini Raghunathan, Chennai
JULY 2
Civilisation myth
Sir, It is a shame that barbaric acts such as 'honour' killings occur in some areas with alarming frequency. These are premeditated and coldblooded murders and do not deserve to be termed as 'honour killings'. Killing the members of one's own family under the pretext of protecting the honour of the family is intolerable. Are we living in a civilised world or is it only a myth? If we do not root out this social evil, many precious young lives will be lost.
-N V S Praveen, Kurnool
The cycle of life
Sir, The government has raised the price of petrol. The opposition parties have seized the opportunity to stage rasta rokos and dharnas and add to the misery of the public. Then the farce stops. Nothing substantial happens. The aam aadmi continues to suffer. This seems to be the cycle of
Indian life.
-C Ramamurty, Hyderabad
JULY 3
Five days of brightness
Sir, Rural Tamil Nadu was brightened on all the five days of the World Tamil Conference due to uninterrupted power supply and with restoration of threehour power cut, after the conference, these places have plunged into darkness. Promoting Tamil as classical language should not meet with the same fate.
-R Krishnaswamy, Tiruchy
When Manmohan speaks
Sir, When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaks, the world listens, says US President Barack Obama. In India, unfortunately, when our prime minister speaks no one listens, including our MPs, and many doze off.
-N Nagarajan, Secunderabad
JULY 10
Trivial IndoPak talks
Sir, Apropos V Sudarshan's 'Rejoice, it is talking season!' (TNIE, July 9), instead of consuming writeups every time there is an IndoPak telephone call (or cricket match), why don't the media start a column similar to the weather report, or Sensex/Nifty levels, and the like. Sudarshan's analysis would have been: TTPT (Talk To Pak Today) column. IndoPak meeting No 13(FM's). Result index D.
-Chandran Nair, email
JULY 16
Inflation puzzle
Sir, I was surprised to note that food inflation has fallen from 16 per cent to 12 per cent. But, I see no evidence of it in the price of the foodstuff I buy.
-M M Kale, Kakinada
JULY 23
Threeday week
Sir, Political parties are making it a habit of declaring bandh (or hartal) on a Friday or a Monday. The government can declare Friday and Monday as 'Hartal day' for the convenience of parties to
observe bandhs. Officially India can declare itself as the first country in the world a observing a threeday week.
-N Nagarajan, email
JULY 24
Breaking the glass ceiling
Sir, Bihar MLC Jyothi Kumari has broken through another male bastion by brazenly smashing flower pots in the full glare of TV cameras outside the Bihar Legislative Council.
-K R P Gupta, email
JULY 26
Sherlock Banerjee
Sir, Hats off to Mamataji for her uncanny ability to decipher that the Sainthia accident for what it is: An act of sabotage. Apparently the driver of one train and the guard of the other train were in cahoots with each other: They must have been in touch continuously and orchestrated the 'accident'; the guard must have been feeding the movements of his train and the driver adjusting the speed of his train to have the maximum impact. A wonderful piece of deductive reasoning making her worthy of being hailed as Sherlock Banerjee.
-Indira Chaganty, Secunderabad
JULY 28
Old Indian tune is WikiLeaks hit
Sir, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange has opened a can of worms by releasing the 92,000 documents on the Afghanistan war. While the world is taken aback by the revelations, India is sighing in relief as it has been trying to draw world attention to the clandestine nexus between Pakistan's ISI and Taliban.
- Raghu Vamsi, email