The Hindu : New Delhi News : Hello, India Post….

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Monday, Mar 17, 2008
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Hello, India Post….

The Indian Postal Department should have a common national tariff of Rs.15(inclusive of service tax) for items mailed through Speed Post, instead of the present dual tariff of Rs.12 for local Speed Post and Rs.25 for Speed Post to other parts of the country.

Speed Post at a reduced rate of Rs.15 for sending outstation mail will attract more people to the service than to the private courier services. People will also not mind paying a few extra rupees for local mail because the service is more reliable than the courier services.

Multicoloured commemorative stamps usually issued in denominations of Rs.5 and Rs.15 will also make Speed Post more attractive.

Madhu Agarwal,

1775, Kucha Lattushah, Dariba, Delhi – 110 006.

Not cricket….

The recent cricket series Down Under has revealed the ugly face of what is known as the gentleman’s game. It all started with poor umpiring decisions in Sydney, then the `monkey’ business between Symonds and Harbhajan, and Hayden’s recent attack on Harbhajan added fuel to the fire. Finally the media did its bit by blowing the issue out of proportion.

What is missing in the whole saga is the real spirit of the game. The spirit which made earlier Indian players like Gavaskar and Vishwanath stand out in the field. The spirit which stopped Courtney Walsh from running out a Pakistani batsman at his end, costing the West Indies a spot in the final. True, without a healthy competition no sport in the world is complete. But competition must not degenerate into bristling rivalry as it did this time. The players must understand that cricket battles must be fought on the pitch and not on television channels.

Cricket is not about verbal or physical aggression; it is about mental aggression. It is about how a team mentally dominates the other on the field. Normally the Australians are masters of this art, but during this series they lost their way and resorted to mean sledging. The manner in which Ponting succumbed to Ishant Sharma’s brilliant spell in Perth was an indication of how much pressure the Australians were under. Instead of returning the compliment in the field, they decided to do it in the newspapers. As a result, the papers were full of allegations against our team. But Dhoni’s men didn’t lose their cool; instead they went about playing their cricket in a calm and collected manner. The way they finished the two finals proved their commitment and dedication towards the game.

Indian cricket needs more men like Dhoni and Praveen Kumar who can keep their cool both in success and failure. Still it’s not time yet to uncork the champagne. Reports about Australian cricket crumbling are nothing but trash. They have just suffered a minor setback and are still numero uno. It remains to be seen if the Indians can repeat their giant slaying act in future or was this young and dynamic team a candle that burned out too bright and too fast!

Hari Nair,

27, Teachers Flats, Miranda House, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110 007.

Calling Delhi Metro….

Over the past two months construction work on the upcoming new Anand Vihar-Vaishali line of the Delhi Metro railway has begun. The line, which is to have two stations at Kaushambi and Vaishali, is planned to run along Dr. Burman Marg and Link Road up to Ambedkar Park in Vaishali. There are trees lined up on the sides of both these roads and these leafy green belts help in controlling pollution and improving the aesthetics of the area which is home to a number of heavy industries as well as residential projects. However, it is distressing to see that the pillars of the metro line along Dr. Burman Marg have been built right over the road’s green belt. This means the entire green belt will be replaced now by a metro corridor running parallel to the road. This is being done despite this road being wide enough to accommodate elevated tracks on the central verge or cut-and-cover underground rails. I fail to understand why this line must run alongside a road instead of over it or under it.

Ironically, while on the one hand the trees are being cut down for the metro line, the Ghaziabad Development Authority is busy planting more trees in the same belt under its “Operation Green” programme, knowing well that within a few months an elevated metro line will pass straight through it!

One of the primary purposes of the metro railway is to protect the environment from vehicular pollution. Yet if this is to be achieved by cutting down dozens of trees, it does not reflect too well on DMRC. Since the project is still in its early days, I hope DMRC considers shifting the elevated line to the central verge of the road (as has been done on Vikas Marg in East Delhi) or perhaps even try constructing an underground line.

Nikhil Singh,

R-10/157, Sector 10, Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad – 201 002.

Reader’s plight

I went in for an “India Today” magazine subscription for five years in 2003. They offered me a cordless telephone as a free gift which was found to be faulty. I promptly returned it and they sent me another phone. This one too was faulty. I threw it away. In June last year I changed my address and requested them to send my copies of the magazine to the new address.

Despite repeated requests and reminders through e-mail they took no action. I have not received the magazine since last June. My subscription No. is 161098.

Dr. Sarat Ch. Talukdar,

House No. 35, By-Lane 1, Near Laxmi Mandir, Beltola, Guwahati – 781 028.

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