Letter of the WEEK

: The breakthrough that has come India’s way in Abhinav Bindra’s performance at Beijing has a subscript to it that challenges our set notions about excelling in and promotion of sports. Farzana Nigar from Ranchi in a letter earlier this week points out that Bindra in that golden moment offered a glimpse of the cast of mind an achiever commands, and looking deeper, we would find a different ethos which makes such success stories possible.

• It has been a success story with a difference. As the gold medal was bestowed on him, Abhinav Bindra stood calmly, without the exultation that goes with such moments. His equanimity had stood him in good stead. In the last round, he literally came from behind and overtook China’s world champion. Bindra’s story has another aspect to it. His achievement is almost exclusively his and his close-knit family’s, away from governmental patronage. In his victory India is celebrating the success of private enterprise, which is thriving in India in every walk of life.

• The twin nations, which over sixty years ago separated at birth, today find themselves at cross-roads in their political journeys. It is paradoxical that in Pakistan two bitter political opponents are finding a common cause to restore democracy, while in India the Congress and the BJP are toying with democracy and democratic values, creating conditions for lasting political mayhem. It is time the Indian polity sharply corrected itself, else the gains of two generations of our democratic existence will be lost beyond redemption.

— R. Narayanan

Ghaziabad

Patriots by far

• Excellent article by Bibek Debroy. How true that we are not proud of being Indians. Time and again during my travels around the world, I have argued with expat Indians as they criticise their own Motherland to score brownie points with the locals. Possibly also to justify their own flight to greener pastures. I feel that it is time for popular talk-show programmes to stop post-mortems of events and start a series of small steps that concerned citizens can take to improve things in the country in which we have consciously decided to reside.

— V.P. Bhakta

Mumbai

Patil poser

• On the face of it, your suggestion to have an “energetic junior minister” in the Home ministry to take care of the “nuts and bolts of internal security”, seems to be a good idea. However, Patil’s widely acknowledged incompetence and warped mindset are not the deciding factors. The obvious unwillingness of his patrons to move him out seems to be the real hurdle. We urgently need a relentless campaign for change in the leadership of this sensitive ministry.

... contd.