The Hindu : New Delhi News : Too taxing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 01, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Too taxing

Sir, -- The Union Budget that Mr.Chidambaram presented in his second incarnation as Finance Minister has caused an endless trauma for a large number of taxpayers. For every morsel they now eat, they have to give an account of the ingredients used in terms of money spent. It is a gross violation of fundamental human rights enshrined in our Constitution.

The present political ambience is very suffocating. Dr. Manmohan Singh is more interested in keeping the little grandson of Ms. Sonia Gandhi in good humour than the common man. To the latter, he is causing sleepless nights with his inflationary policies.

Unfortunately, in violation of the sermon by a host of eminent economists the world over that an economist should not be given a political post, Ms. Sonia Gandhi installed an economist as Prime Minister. His Government's economic policies have proved a bed of thorns for the middle class.

Kamal Gupta,

AB/14, Kalkaji,

New Delhi.

New menace

Sir, -- Anjali Dhal Samanta in her "Inside Delhi" write-up (October 19) points to drivers on Delhi's roads with mobile phone held close to the ear and digital television set playing full blast on the dashboard of the car even as they drive around with not a care in the world.

This is part of the larger problem of our increasing fixation with gizmos of all kinds as a fall-out of the IT revolution which is causing us to become computer nerds, internet freaks, calculator addicts, email-dependent, TV couch potatoes and, above all mobile phone maniacs.

In the process, the reading habit has suffered, brains have atrophied, the power of the pen has ebbed, and, of course dangers on Delhi's roads have multiplied.

The use of modern technology to promote promiscuity -- including pornography and paedophilia -- and the increasing amounts of junk mail cannot be discounted either as the Internet heads for what some regard as its own version of "Apocalypse Now".

Vinod Chowdhury,

Head of the Department of Economics,

St. Stephen's College,

Delhi University,

Delhi-110 007.

To Pakistan

Sir, -- During Mr. Advani's tenure as Deputy Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, Pakistan all along had only ill-will for him because of his branding Pakistan a cross-border terrorist State. In fact, Mr. Advani was the man Pakistan loved to hate. So the love letter now for him from Pakistan inviting him to visit the country comes as a surprise.

In sharp contrast, my thoughts voiced in "Pray for Peace" (Readers' Mail, September 27) and "Home Thought" (Readers' Mail, March 29) have had no echo. Evidently there is no one in Pakistan with a soft corner for an ordinary peace-loving Indian.

Both Mr. Advani and myself are "Pakistan-born migrants to India" and happen to sail in the same boat. Then why the discrimination between the VVIP and the non-VVIP?

To quote Mr. Advani, "I told the Prime Minister that I would be happy to accept an invitation from Islamabad as it will also be an opportunity for my children to see the place where the family came from."'

I, too, wish such an opportunity comes my way sooner rather than later -- I am in my 70s now!

Man Mohan Sethi,

A-777, Avantika,

Sector-2, Rohini,

Delhi-- 110 085

No short-cuts

Sir, -- These days there is an increasing trend of fat people going on crash diets or rushing to slimming centers. Both are harmful. These people end up ruining their health as also wasting precious money. May I share my personal experience?

I am an Army officer and my wife is a teacher at the Army School. We have always been regular with our daily exercise routine -- games, swimming, cycling and long walks. We are absolutely fit. But we decided to go on different diets on the 1st of August this year just to have a first-hand experience so that we could share it with others with a touch of authenticity. I decided on an Israeli diet and my wife on the much talked about Atkinson's diet.

For me, the eight-day diet promised a loss of 5 kg. The diet was: for the first two days only apples; next two days only cheese; fifth and sixth days only raw vegetable salad; and the last two days only boiled chicken. Nothing else at all.

Eating only apples the whole day can be miserable. By the second day I was starving. By the fourth day, weakness had set in. Somehow, with sheer will power, I completed the prescribed diet. At the end of it all I had lost 3 kg and felt extremely famished. I had to resume my normal balanced diet. Lo and behold! I was back to square one within a week.

My wife's diet was for one month and even tougher -- only proteins (mainly through chicken and cheese) and absolutely no carbohydrates and fats. It promised loss of 10 kg in one month. What an imbalanced and unhealthy diet! She started hating chicken after three days. But she went through the torture for one full month just to prove the point. She lost 8 kg. But she also lost the lustre in her skin, developed black circles under the eyes, and her skin began sagging.

She returned to vegetables, daal, chappatis and fruit which she was missing badly. She soon started putting on weight. Within two months she regained what she had lost.

So, it is our humble request to all fat people not to go on crash diets or throng the so-called slimming centres. You will only lose health and money and not your fat. Positive thinking, along with a balanced diet, and regular exercise is the only sure way of keeping physically and mentally fit. Short-cuts don't help in the long run.

Colonel R D Singh,

P4, Patterson Square,

Staff Road, Ambala Cantt (Haryana) - 133 001.

`Bride and....'

Sir, -- This refers to Gautaman Bhaskaran's "Classic made trivial" (The Hindu Friday Review, October 15).

The latest Census reveals that Punjab has the most adverse sex-ratio in the country. Therefore it is becoming difficult for parents to find a suitable groom for their daughters. If a parent has four daughters to marry, as in Gurinder Chaddha's "Bride and Prejudice", and none of them is a working one, the problem gets acute. People of Indian origin taking advantage of this situation find India a rich hunting ground to seek domesticated brides. In the film, such a serious issue has been presented in a trivialised manner. Imagine a mother (Nadira Babbar) displaying her daughters for the prospective groom to pick and choose. This is a regressive presentation from a woman director.

The film never rises above the ordinary Bollywood masala film. Music is insipid and lyrics unclear. The only saving grace is that Aishwarya Rai has not succumbed to the temptation of the smooch and skin show as is evident in any Hollywood film.

Looking at the treatment by the director, the film should have been titled "Desi Brides and Videshi Grooms".

Film-makers should ensure that in the guise of freedom of expression they do not lose sight of sensibilities, Censor or no Censor.

D. R. Gulati,

Reader in Economics, Satyawati College(E),

Ashok Vihar-Phase III,Delhi.

MTNL acts

Sir, -- We regret the inconvenience caused to Mukul Dube, D-504, Purvasha, Mayur Vihar Phase-I, Delhi, in accessing e-mail registration through CLI on access code 24880011 as reported by him in these columns ("MTNL tamasha") on August 16.

Instructions have been issued now to the concerned staff to ensure a proper reply to callers on telephone. On receipt of the complaint from Mr.Dube, the field engineer was sent to the site and he found the subscriber's observations correct. The problem of 24880011 traffic was checked with SDE (Tandem) LN who informed that traffic of 24880011 was routed to EIR2 of 24880000 to Internet Kidwai Bhawan instead of routing to Janpath Tandem. This was corrected, and 24880011 traffic was routed to Janpath. After half an hour the subscriber was able to get through.

The esteemed subscriber is requested to make any Internet complaints in future to our Internet Helpline on Phone No.1504.

S.C. Goel,

AGM (CS&A), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, Office of General Manage(Marketing), First Floor, Eastern Court, Janpath,

New Delhi 110 001.

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(Letters for this column may be sent by e-mail to wsins@thehindu.co.in. They must carry the full postal address of the writer

and should be marked "Readers' Mail".)

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