Sir — The revelations of Richard Swannell, the development director of the Waste and Resources Action programme — he said that if all the wasted food in the world were packed into 40-tonne container trucks parked end-to-end, they would circle the earth seven times — are shameful, especially when global hunger has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The amount of food thrown away by households, retailers and the hospitality industry in 2019 was far more than previously suspected. The suffering wrought by the pandemic requires governments to tackle several serious problems deftly. Will the problem of food wastage be given the importance it deserves?

Pranav Ganguly,
Calcutta

Immense show

Sir — I would like to draw attention to the six sixes scored in the same over by the West Indies captain, Kieron Pollard, off the Sri Lankan spin bowler, Akila Dananjaya, in the first Twenty20 match between the two teams in Antigua. Ironically, in the same match, before being hit for six sixes, the same spinner had become the 15th player and fourth Sri Lankan to take a hat-trick in a T20 international. This goes to prove that cricket is a game of uncertainty. Pollard’s performance in that over changed the course of the game in the West Indies’s favour.

There are many such instances of a match being turned around; the latest instance is the Indian team’s performance against England in the ongoing Test series. Joe Root and his boys, after their fruitful 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka on the latter’s soil, seemed to have been dreaming about repeating the same against Virat Kohli and his team. They succeeded in decimating the Indian team during the first Test, taking a 1-0 lead in the series. Root was in his prime, and celebrated his 100th Test with a double tonne; the rest was taken care of by James Anderson and Dom Bess. However, as was the case in Australia, our boys bounced back during the second Test at Chepauk to inflict a humiliating defeat on Root’s team to level the series 1-1. They also won the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad to take a 2-1 lead in the series. It remains to be seen what comes of the third Test.

Vinay Mahadevan,
Chennai

Sir — It was thrilling to watch Kieron Pollard hit six sixes off Akila Dananjaya in what was a frenetic chase in the T20 match played at Antigua. He became the second player after Yuvraj Singh to score six sixes in an over in T20 international cricket. His first six went high over long-on, the second straight into the sight screen and the third over long-off. The fourth six was sent to the mid-wicket region, well over the fence. The penultimate six went over the long-on region. It was nerve-wracking to watch, so one can only wonder what must have been going through Pollard’s mind as he prepared himself to go for a final big hit. His efforts paid off as the sixth six went flying over the mid-wicket boundary.

Ashwika Raj,
Calcutta

Unkind words

Sir — I am a PhD research scholar specializing in children’s literature. As such, the article, “Booked young” (March 2), was of some interest to me, since it was ostensibly about young, published authors. However, upon reading it, I was taken aback by the condescending and demotivating approach it took towards its subject matter. The actual focus on young writers and creators, who are confidently carving a place for themselves in an arena where adults have traditionally exerted control, was minimal and cursory, barring a few perfunctory mentions. The bulk of the article is unfortunately focused on the comments of two men — one is a publisher, the other an author — who seem to be using their positions of privilege to disparage the efforts of these children.

It is unfortunate to witness adults adopt such discouraging attitudes towards the child authors they talk about. Articles such as these can have terrible repercussions on readers — children and adults alike. In order to get perspectives on child authors that are unbiased and encouraging, the views of smaller publishing houses and authors might prove to be valuable.

Ritwika Roy,
Calcutta