Letters to the editor

RIP, good Bob 8226; THE triple tragedy that has struck the Asian cricketing fraternity has come as an absolute shock to all cricket lovers ...

RIP, good Bob

8226; THE triple tragedy that has struck the Asian cricketing fraternity has come as an absolute shock to all cricket lovers 8216;Bob Woolmer dead after Pak crash out8217;, IE, March 19. India8217;s humiliating loss to Bangladesh followed by Pakistan8217;s exit from the World Cup may be described as upsets, but the death of Pak coach, Woolmer, is shocking. His meticulous approach was widely appreciated. Surely the premature exit of the mighty Pakistan must have weighed heavily on his mind and triggered such an extreme effect. The planning and hard work that he put in to prepare his wards was enormous and to see such efforts reduced to cinders within the very first week of the World Cup must have shattered him completely. May his soul rest in peace.

8212; S. Chattopadhyay, Mumbai

Active on Babri

8226; IF a Gandhi was active, Babri wouldn8217;t have fallen says Rahul Gandhi. I disagree with him totally although I agree that the Babri demolition was unfortunate. More than one Gandhi is active today and see the level to which our country has fallen. Corruption rules the roost everywhere, rapes and molestations are on the rise, as are murders and killings. India would soon be the AIDS capital of the world. Our country8217;s biggest problem is its politicians. They are 8216;bol bachchans8217; great orators, who, after the elections, disappear until the next poll. Rahul Gandhi should let his work do the talking rather than his mouth.

8212; S.N. Kabra, Mumbai

Baseless allegation

8226; I WAS appalled to see an item, entitled 8216;Stargazing8217; in Coomi Kapoor8217;s column, 8216;Inside Track8217; IE, March 11. In that item, Ms Kapoor claims that Tara channel, which I head, has been backing Mamata Bannerjee8217;s position in the Nandigram case, in exchange for a Rajya Sabha ticket for me. It is a shockingly baseless allegation 8212; I have never met Ms Bannerjee in my life, nor do I have political ambitions. It8217;s also a malicious allegation as it affects the credibility of my channel8217;s reports on Nandigram, which were fair and objective.

Apart from getting the major facts wrong, Ms Kapoor also got the minor facts wrong: I was never secretary, I038;B.

8212; Rathikant Basu; Chairman, Broadcast Worldwide, Kolkata

Coomi Kapoor replies:

Mr Rathikant Basu was not secretary, I038;B. He was, nevertheless, director-general, Doordarshan.

Letter of the Week Award

We write to be read. When you write in, we read you to know what you think about what we publish. The 8216;newspaper-active reader relationship8217; is of enormous significance for a serious publication. A good letter, especially a good letter that critiques us, is of immense value. It is to recognise this and to encourage quality reader intervention that The Indian Express is instituting the 8216;Letter of the Week8217; award. Beginning with the issue dated March 31, we will announce and publish every Saturday the reader intervention our editors deem most substantive, well-thought-out, sharp and cogent. Selection will be from letters received that week.

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The winner receives books worth Rs 1,000 and his letter gets pride of the place in the letters column as well as on our website.