Even as I grasped the dangers of a computer-dependent life, I was impressed with the subtle message your cover story Tales From Mouse Ward (Oct 22) sought to convey: let not the rat race for a few thousand rupees more snuff out your youth. It’s high time the new generation realised that health and family happiness are no less important than making money. In fact, it’s not just physical injuries that your comp inflicts on you, prolonged working with the mouse and keyboard drains away your interest in life itself. You lose your social circle, and exist as a zombie.
Col R.D. Singh, Jammu
Agreed, long hours in front of the computer harms you in many ways, but most often I’ve noticed they happen because the worker isn’t skilled enough. The person doesn’t have the flair or interest necessary for him or her to finish off assignments in time. Software courses have become a huge craze in our country, not because the seekers are genuinely interested in the subject but merely by virtue of being in big demand in the job market. No wonder, most of our techies are no better than techno-puppets.
Parthasarathy, Chennai
Too much of anything is poison. But since the dangers you mention are so ill-appreciated, techies are playing their own doctors, getting by on self-prescribed lines of treatment. In an era where the computer is itself an employment generator, you cannot dump it. So I guess it’s up to each one of us to find a fine balance between work and personal life.
Brij Bhushan Vyas, Jodhpur
Your story itself must have come as a medicine for those not caring much for the ill-effects of jobs that require long hours of sitting. In fact, it pertains to all of us leading a sedentary professional life, only that it gets another dimension for those working in bpos and call centres. With headsets attached and always talking, they should know they are into an abnormal lifestyle.
Abhishek Jain, Bangalore
How ironic that computers that are meant to ease our lives are themselves making life difficult for mankind. I think we erred once we ended the dichotomy that existed in offices: the higher-ups would think and plan things, the others would merely execute. Today, we see all in an office working madly in front of computers. Hence the problem.
Chidanand Kumar, Bangalore
Thanks for those remedial tips you gave to computer professionals (Blink, And It’s Gone).
Girish Karadalli, Gulbarga
The tragedy with Manmohan Singh is that never having taken part in electoral politics, his knowledge of democracy and parliamentary functioning is only skin-deep (Polls, Apart, Oct 22). He should have taken a cue from George Bush himself. The US president had taken the Democrats on board to get the nuclear deal through. Dr Singh too should have realised that on issues of national importance, a broad political consensus is necessary, not just Sonia’s blessings and the support of a few hand-picked diplomats.
Harshita Choudhary, Jaipur
Why does Manmohan Singh think that without this deal, India will have to use kerosene lamps after nightfall?
Dipak Bose, Calcutta
A Leftist he is, but can’t Prakash Karat, for once, look at the practical side of things (Books, Oct 22)? Ninety per cent is the output loss our nuclear-based establishments suffer, be it due to power, research work, or nsg and US restrictions. If Karat and his reviewer are interested, answers are available to their rhetoric(al) questions—if only they could cast their tinted glasses aside for a while.
K.S.C. Nair, Fremont, US
Brain drain is not peculiar to the nuclear establishment (Exodus of Protons, Oct 22), it happens in all skilled areas. Unfortunately, the government has not woken up to the effects this can have on growth. They should bring out a list of specialisations, including all jobs that fetch more than Rs 30,000 within two years of a degree. The seats in these areas must be doubled every two years till there is enough talent to work in the country. Sponsored seats must be encouraged in government colleges. Brain drain is what’s keeping China ahead of us.
G.P. Sarathy, on e-mail
Karnataka’s politics in the last 40 months has revolved around its first family, the Gowdas (Stink of Ferment, Oct 22). No party could have formed a government on its own without sufficient numbers, hence the Gowdas played power politics as only they can. They sacrificed the party’s secularism and ideology, and development took a backseat. All that mattered is the 1-2-3 principle of coalition politics, where No. 1 represents the party of the CM, No. 2 the party of the deputy CM and No. 3 the party of the Opposition leader. This is what they needed to see them through their five-year term. After all, they’ve to complete the five-year mandate they have been given, they cannot face people before that for an election!
George Olivera, Mysore
Oh, the tangled web they weave—of deceit, blackmail, and betrayal. First Gowda betrayed the Congress, then the bjp, and now, in the name of secularism, he’s once again courting the power-hungry Congress. He knows they’ll willingly bed any crook inclined to share power with them.
B. Ramdeo, Springfield, US
I strongly feel India ought to take a strong stand against the junta in Myanmar (Telephone to Rangoon, Oct 22). As the world’s largest democracy, we can’t be mute spectators to a people’s uprising.
Arun Ravindran, Chennai
Nonsense! If we can deal with an unhelpful military dictator in Islamabad, why create a fuss about Myanmar? At least the junta is helping us control terrorists in India’s Northeast.
A.N. Banerjee,Newcastle, UK
In addition to the factors the article Hell Has Five Rivers (Oct 22) mentions, one crucial reason for the present pitiable state of agriculture in Punjab is the adoption of hybrid, high-yielding varieties of wheat in the 1960s. As against local varieties, these required a heavy dose of fertilisers instead of organic manures and irrigation. They led to high yields and incomes in the initial two decades but sucked the life out of the soil. The downward spiral was inevitable.
Dr Vidya Sagar, Delhi
Thanks for your timely article. A Durga Puja has just passed; Bengali liberal ‘bhadralok’ would have hopped pandals with gusto, but a bereaved Muslim mother will have wept in a Calcutta bylane with a false consolation that those responsible for her son Rizwan’s death will be punished (Run, Rabbit Run..., Oct 22). The bhadralok has always thought their state was a safe haven for minorities and have-nots. What’s the status now?
B. Chatterji, Mumbai
Thanks for devoting three pages to the Rizwan murder case. I hope the police will soon nab the culprits. However, it is sad that if a Hindu boy suffers in a like manner in a similar case, there would be very little sympathy for him from the so-called liberal and secular circles.
S. Sreenivas, Bangalore
Shahrukh Khan’s interview was interesting (Films Are For Entertainment..., Oct 22). Here is an actor who is undoubtedly the biggest star of his generation, but still extremely frustrated. Frustrated that people are making better movies than him, frustrated that people are no longer praising his every move, and worse, that they have started questioning the silly stuff he does on screen these days. The current six-pack obsession is probably an effort to show the world that he can be Shahrukh, John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan all in one. Talk of insecurities! Can we not see the Shahrukh of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman ever again? I was also disappointed that Outlook wasted some print space promoting what looks like another typical candyfloss Bollywood movie.
Hemanth Raj, Gloucester
Even though I don’t like Shahrukh’s acting, I like his attitude of speaking his mind.
Raj Verma, Leipzig, Germany
Urvashi Butalia’s column was on the mark (Terms of Atonement, Oct 22). When some poor police constables shake hands with Sanjay Dutt, they get suspended, but our great home minister is not bound by any such ethics.
B. Phani Babu, Pune
Butalia’s piece was banal, nondescript and very unscholarly. She ironically fails to notice her own choice of subject in the first place. Had Sanjay been so commonplace or over-idolised in her opinion, why would she trouble herself and the readers by writing a dull write-up on him? Apropos Zaibunisa Kazi, in whose house weapons "were stored for just three hours", Butalia should know that in an act of crime, it’s involvement that counts, not the duration of the act.
Rupesh Bhandari, Amritsar
If we go by the logic propounded by Outlook columnists, no one is guilty of terrorism.
Rajeev, Delhi
I am tired of the apologists for the Left, whose leaders put self-interest ahead of the nation (18-Karat Light, Books, Oct 22). They are insincere people with the knack of making life difficult for people. Right from Karl Marx, none of them has been able to put into practice one pathbreaking idea that has helped the development of any country. Yet, in India, they have succeeded in making the media believe that anything the Left says has intellectual merit. The reality is that they are masters of an obscure language and stick to cyclical arguments to cloud issues to their advantage. This is exactly what the Brahmins of ancient times used to do—obfuscate information and make things appear in a sacred haze. Shame on you, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, for buying into this claptrap.
Sunil Ithikkatt, Ponnani, Kerala
