Cloudy Prospects

Letters

"Unless junior officers get dignified status and quality life, campaigning cannot attract talent for the officer cadre in the defence forces." Sadhna Upadhyaya, on e-mail

Given the ominous weather looming large over the globe, countries should focus on fighting this natural threat rather than indulge in skirmishes over region and religion ("What's Wrong With the Weather?" August 12). The global weather waft will annihilate life on earth if this deterioration is not curbed.

K. Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore

Rather than fighting among ourselves, we would do well to reduce our contribution to the environmental crisis before it overwhelms us. Each of us has the responsibility to make this planet a decent legacy for our children. It requires 625 sq ft of green surface area to produce one's daily requirement of oxygen. If you do not have this much in your garden, you are using someone else's oxygen.

V. Venkataraman, on e-mail

The effects of global warming will have to be borne by the people and politicians alike. The Kyoto Protocol will probably get drowned in the melting of polar ice and the rising sea levels around the globe. Since the developed countries seem to be paying lip service to the problem of global warming, India should devise a meaningful long-term strategy for combating the monsoon's erratic behaviour.

Suja Nambiar, Karaikal

Mahatma Gandhi's words ring true: "There are sufficient resources to satisfy everyone's need but there's not much left for anyone's greed." To satisfy our greed we have exploited nature to such an extent that nature has now decided to retaliate. It will not be long before Homo sapiens cease to exist.

Diptansu Sharma, Guwahati

What is the purpose of sending rockets and satellites into outer space in search of extra-terrestrial life when our own planet remains unexplored and our people live in danger? To save the earth, Indians have to control population growth since overuse of natural resources is beginning to wreak havoc. Either we mend our ways or prepare to vanish from the face of the earth. Politicians, too, should relinquish petty politics and work collectively to save the earth.

Bhupinder S. Parmar, Jalandhar

Bad Karma

No one can deny that Sanjay Dutt has been reckless and self-destructive in continuing his relations with the mafia after getting a second lease of life ("Bollywood's Bad Boy", August 12). He has displayed immaturity and a tendency to run after the forbidden like an uninformed child. This time though, there does not seem to be any way out for Bollywood's ill-fated child-man.

Sowmya Rajaram, on e-mail

What inspires Dutt in repeated trysts with the underworld-fame, money or power? In a country like India where filmstars are revered as demi-gods, Dutt has lost the moral right to play the hero.

Sushant Ssachdeva, on e-mail

For Dutt, the thin line between life and art got blurred when he played the role of a mafia leader in one film after another. But he is only a victim and not a perpetrator of crime.

B.K. Bhattacharya, Delhi

I have often wondered what people who sympathise with Dutt's "hard life" mean when he has always had everything going for him-a caring family, an affluent background and a flourishing career. His so-called misfortunes have been a result of his own actions.

Radhika Oltikar, Mumbai

After all that he went through for his alleged connections in the 1992 Bombay blasts Dutt should have had the good sense to maintain his distance from the underworld even if he could not completely cut off connections with them. At least now he must learn for the sake of the people who still have faith in him.

Keerthi Meher Alloji, on e-mail

Talking Point

In an era of recession the only industry that seems to be flourishing is the cellular one ("Unlimited Mobility", August 12). With rate cuts, alluring deals and affordable handsets, the one beneficiary, apart from the industry itself, is the subscriber. No wonder mobile mania has gripped even smaller towns.

Amit Partap, Solan, Himachal Pradesh

Mean Machine

If Children show ruthless behaviour, it has to do with the media depicting violence as a way of life ("Rage of Innocents", August 12). While the moral police is worried about the portrayal of sex in movies, they miss out on one point: domestic violence, wife-beating and bullying scenes also affect the young viewer adversely. Parents too fail to see how aggressive, selfish and reckless their children become playing violent computer and video games.

J. Varghese, on e-mail

It is unscientific to say that behaviour problems are on the rise in the present generation of children by quoting a figure from one or two current studies without providing a reference point for comparison. A few decades ago the figure based on a few quick-fix surveys used to be 20 per cent-far worse than the 12 per cent figure quoted now. Every generation tends to have a negative view of the younger gene-ration although the world has evidently changed for the better.

Dr Prem Lata Chawla, Delhi

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