Letters to The EDITOR: Love, War and Politics

We understand that everything is fair in love and war. Now, as a layman, yours truly wants to add another word to politics, alias ‘Rajniti.’ It should be ‘Everything is Fair in Love, War and Politics’ as seen in today’s national politics. In our childhood, we were told that water and oil never mix together. But now that very chemistry doesn’t hold true in the current state of murky politics prevailing in the country. In Bihar, we all know that there were two bitterest enemies or rivals, namely ex-CM Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, the present CM of Bihar. At the current juncture, they are very close allies, like brothers in the Bihar government. This simply proves that oil (Lalu Yadav) and water (Nitish Kumar) can mix together, as power is a big cementing force. In the coming days, many such dynamics will emerge in national and state politics as the general elections are just knocking at the door. Ex-jailbird Lalu Yadav and chameleon Nitish Kumar are the leading contenders for the PM post. May God bless them both and Bharat.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

New preparation for the Olympics

India has not hosted the Olympics. Yes, the country hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010. At that time, New Delhi was the host city. If India's bid for the Olympics 2036 goes ahead with Ahmedabad, the city will have to invest heavily in sports infrastructure, including sports venues, training facilities, and residential parks for athletes. This effort will boost urban and sports infrastructure and enhance India's engagement in athletics excellence in particular, besides boosting economic activity and tourism. There needs to be detailed planning on where to hold the Games and how to integrate the accommodation, offices, and sports facilities built for the event into India's infrastructure. Overall, it can be said that if India hosts the 2036 Olympics, it will be a big success at the international level.

Nawaz Ashraf

Guwahati

Tickets at PVR Cinemas

I would like to bring to the urgent notice of the management of PVR Cinemas and government authorities about the “bad” practice in PVR Cinemas to compulsorily and forcefully take the mobile numbers of cinemagoers and forward the movie tickets electronically on their mobile phones. Mobile numbers are personal details and should remain in the domain of data privacy. Mobile numbers are used as passwords. Many financial transactions take place using mobile numbers. For example, many mutual fund houses use mobile numbers as part of passwords for transactions and statements.

Customers are also giving away, unsuspectingly, mobile numbers to shopping establishments, etc., without knowing the adverse implications, thus making it easier for fraudsters to do wrong and illegal transactions using the mobile numbers. Recently, there were media reports of Aadhar details of about 81.50 crore Indians being put in the Dark Web. I urge the management of PVR Cinemas to issue physical tickets in their cinema halls and request that government authorities intervene in this matter and take corrective measures.

D Bhutia,

Guwahati

India's victory over England

India recently emerged victorious by 100 runs against defending champion England. It was the sixth victory in a row in the ongoing World Cup. Rohit Sharma-led India will be buoyed by the fact that the hosts are the only team in the tournament without a defeat so far. As far as England is concerned, India's dominating victory over England indicates their fallibility. The 2019 world champion failed to counter India's bowling attack. Even their best batsman, Joe Root, was out of touch. Perhaps it is time for England to better organize the team and recruit more young blood.

Jahangir Ali,

Guwahati

Vigilance Awareness Week

‘Say no to corruption; commit to the nation’ is a brilliant theme for this year’s Vigilance Awareness Week of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), to be held from October 30 to November 5. Ensuring integrity in public administration through transparency and accountability in governance is the aim of the CVC. Broadly, integrity is defined as adherence to moral and ethical values and possessing the right moral character and level of honesty. The willingness to do what is right and not what one thinks is right is the keystone of integrity. Analysts vouch for the fact that integrity is in the ‘mind,’ and it encompasses a whole gamut of human emotions. This is in corollary to the origin of the word integrity, from the Latin ‘complete’. Corruption is so rampant in India that it is no longer considered a vice but is actually perceived as a ‘habit’, a ‘way of life’.

Being in the dark on ways and means of reporting corruption has led to a vicious cycle from which the country is struggling to break free. What we need is a ‘virtuous cycle’ with positive results, and it is in the fitness of things that one of the salient features of the ‘integrity pledge’ of the CVC is exhorting people neither to ‘take nor offer’ bribes. While personal and professional integrity are seen as the broad ingredients of integrity, political and public integrity are the cornerstones that determine a nation’s path to glory. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is an old phrase but nonetheless too crucial to India’s fortunes because there cannot be anything more sacrosanct than steadfast political integrity.

Dr Ganapathi Bhat,

(gbhat13@gmail.com.)

Messi, king of modern era football

Many congratulations to soccer legend Lionel Messi for winning the Ballon d’Or, football’s most prestigious award, for a record-making eighth time, which clearly puts him three ahead of his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the all-time standings. The award reaffirms the fact that Messi is unquestionably the king of modern-era football. Perhaps what separates Messi from other greats is that he has an inherent advantage over every other player, thanks to his superior technical ability, which gives him an immediate edge because he can manipulate the ball in ways that others simply cannot. Can anyone forget Messi mystifying the world’s best defender, Jasko Gvardiol of Croatia, into the shadow realm with a whirling dervish of a run and providing the assist for Argentina’s third goal in the World Cup semi-final last year? The Argentine superstar is not just a prolific goal scorer but an absolute machine when it comes to finding the back of the net.

For Messi, life turned a full circle at the very young age of 13, when he was offered the chance to train at FC Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia. Had Messi not grabbed that opportunity gleefully with both hands, today we would not be witnessing the world’s greatest footballer in the modern era, whose name and fame have reached dizzying heights.

Ranganathan Sivakumar

Madipakkam, Chennai