Letters to the Editor: Head and Shoulders

Recently, by luck, I came across an interview on the Republic TV channel conducted by Arnab Goswami, who interviewed Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma before a distinguished gathering. All throughout the interview, Arnab Goswami, in his usual style, tried his best to corner Dr. Sarma on some sensitive issues, like UCC, madrassa, law and order, minority appeasement, eviction drives, etc., to name a few. But never in any moment throughout the hour-long interview was the anchor able to catch the Assam CM on the wrong foot, and on many occasions, Dr. Sarma was able to put the ball in the interviewer’s court, drawing huge cheers from the distinguished crowd.

I sometimes wonder if the same can be expected from our other CM aspirants like Bhupen Borah, Ripun Bora, Debabrata Saikia, Akhil Gogoi, Gaurav Gogoi, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, etc., to name a few, who can handle an intelligent journalist like Arnab Goswami in chaste Hindi or English. Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma is head and shoulders above the rest.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Strange bedfellows

In today’s politics, everything is possible. An entire election scene can or may change overnight, as we have seen two sworn enemies with ideologies poles apart become allies overnight, even catching a super poll analyst like Prasant Kishore off guard.

Strange bedfellows, a rarity in bygone days, have become almost routine, as we have seen in the last assembly election in Tripura. I, as a lesser mortal and novice in modern-day politics, can predict that in the coming parliamentary election in Assam, both Congress and AIUDF will join hands together, even though at this moment they are behaving like sworn enemies.

Even Chanakya would have cut a sorry figure in today’s Indian politics.

Lanu Dutt Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Animal cruelty

Research on elephants over the last few years has proven that they are among the most intelligent and emotionally sensitive creatures on the planet, rivalling humans in their need for companionship and a comfortable environment. This research offers clues as to what caused the death of 17-year-old Noor Jehan at Pakistan’s Karachi Zoo two weeks ago.

The elephant was separated from her parents at a very young age and was raised in captivity. This is on top of the poor conditions she was forced to live in. A fundamental problem is our perception of our relationship with animals in general and zoo animals in particular. We see zoo animals as a source of our entertainment, a notion that robs animals of their dignity and a lifestyle conducive to their needs.

Jubel D’Cruz,

(jubeldcruz@yahoo.com.)

Monkey menace

Nowadays, dogs are in the news for their bites and assaults on children, and there are discussions about ways to control them. However, monkeys are not the ones to be left behind. Recently, a three-year-old child in Tamil Nadu was crushed to death after a couple of monkeys rolled a boulder from the roof on the child’s head. Only a few days before, citizens of a locality in Bengaluru were in the news for complaining to the municipal authorities about the severe monkey menace in the area. Municipal officials expressed their helplessness because monkey control involves perfect coordination between civic and forest authorities. There are strict standard operating procedures to be followed, which entail trained rescuers. Most simians migrate from the forest due to habitat loss and a decrease in prey base.

The biggest attractions for them are left-over materials from improper garbage disposal, which they devour. Parallely, people are amused as well as sympathetic towards them. What the people do is overfeed the monkeys, which is quite dangerous because such animals will never leave the areas where they are fed. Sterilization, both tubectomy and vasectomy, according to the latest guidelines, should go some way towards controlling the monkey population. Fruits, which are another enticement for the monkeys, should be kept away from them; they can be plucked wisely so that the apes are not enticed by them. Proofing the windows and avoiding using plastic bags can also keep the monkeys away from human beings. The amount of havoc caused by monkeys on agricultural crops is another story altogether.

Dr Ganapathi Bhat,

(gbhat13@gmail.com.)

Super-heavy bags are still a problem for kids

The weight of school bags that children carry on their backs has always been a problem in India. The bags, with a truckload of books and notebooks and supplementary materials, pose them with a lot of health issues and can particularly cause a permanent deformity of the spine. Studies have revealed that carrying a school bag that weighs 10 per cent more than the child’s body weight has led to chronic pain in the lower back, shoulders, and hands. Unfortunately, not much attention has been paid, both by parents and by the schools, to the link between the weight of the school bag and the child’s growing muscles, backbone, and spine. The most disheartening sight that can be seen on a weekday morning is that of little kids bent forward, bearing the crushing weight of their school bags. Books are never supposed to be a burden that students and parents grow to resent. Yet parents have to helplessly watch their wards carry the burden of the whole world on their fragile shoulders. Living in the digital era, when education can be imparted through digital means, kids carrying this burden every day is brutal. As for kids studying in kindergarten and pre-primary sections, the presence of school bags itself is a needless millstone. For them, these are the days when they race with each other, hop, and jump on their way to school freely and joyfully.

In a country like ours, which has huge intellectual potential, it is a shame that much of the students’ energy gets wasted carrying tonnes of papers on their shoulders rather than channelling this productive energy into creative pursuits, sports, and hobbies. Today, students in developed nations carry their texts and notebooks on a 10-gram USB stick. But, sadly, in our country, the age-old practice of students carrying super-heavy bags is still in vogue.

Ranganathan Sivakumar,

(siva19kumar@gmail.com.)