Letters To The Editor

Tragic isolation• The tragic end of the 15-year-old boy pained me a great deal (‘Boy commits suicide on learning parents HIV+&#146...

Tragic isolation

• The tragic end of the 15-year-old boy pained me a great deal (‘Boy commits suicide on learning parents HIV+’, IE, June 3). There are thousands of such families where parents are living with this condition and their growing children are made to suffer great social stigma and isolation thanks to attitudes within mainstream sections of our conservative society. It is a high time to concentrate on the lacunae in the system and ensure that HIV awareness programmes are taken to the hinterland. The incident should serve as a pointer for NGOs and government bodies working in this field.

— Dr Nagesh Tekale, Mumbai

Tremors in Lanka

• Sri Lanka is on the verge of a civil war thanks to the short-sightedness of both the parties to the dispute. Meanwhile LTTE spokesman and ideologue Anton Balasingham has accepted that the assassination of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was a monumental tragedy “of which we deeply regret”. He called upon the Indian government and people to be magnanimous and put the past behind them. Reactions to Balasingham’s regret from both government and politicians in general have short-sighted. The US and the Europeans have no stake in Sri Lankan Tamils. But India cannot be indifferent and allow a fratricidal war to flare up in its backwaters.

— N. Kunju, Delhi

Cup snippets

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• This is with reference to the report,‘Hosts send best guests home’ (IE, July 1), by Jayaditya Gupta. It contains some inaccuracies. He writes: “And Oliver Kahn hugging Lehmann. Actually, I made that last one up but it may yet happen in this unseasonal time of general goodwill”.

Before the penalty shootout Kahn did talk to Lehmann, and prodded him on. At the end of the shootout, both the goalkeepers hugged as Lehmann walked into the players’ room. The writer then goes on to describe Angela Merkel walking in with “a broad grin on her face as though she’d just convinced the US to leave Iraq.” Angela Merkel is a football fan, and she has attended all the

German matches thus far. The writer also also failed to report the incident in the aftermatch involving Heinze and the other Argentinian players and Schweinsteiger with Bierhoff from Germany.

— Prabhu Ram, Munich

Moily’s plan

• It felt good reading Moily’s comments on the reservation issue (‘I am not here just to fill potholes…’,IE, June 27). He has a sound plan. India is at such a stage in its development that politicians cannot ignore the circumstances we face as a nation. The economic drive has now become bigger than any person or political party, and no party which is serious about its future can afford to antagonise the very sections of the society which are steering the economic progress we are witnessing today.

— Vidya Ramanathan, Delhi

The question

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• A bit of verse to express what I feel about politics today: Soul stirring question is: Law is law. News are news. Views are views. All in abundance. But where is the devotion to take bold action, without differentiation?

— Mool Chand Gupta, New Delhi