Lonely ride

Sir — Tech workers in India are known to pursue side jobs to supplement their incomes. However, a Microsoft engineer based out of Bengaluru recently became famous on social media after he was spotted doing a second job as a Namma Yatri auto-rickshaw driver during weekends. This moonlighting, though, was a strategy to address increasing feelings of isolation. While burnouts in demanding IT jobs have
become common, one wonders whether moonlighting as an auto driver could really be a stress-buster given the odious traffic conditions in the tech city.

Debdyuti Sinha, Calcutta

Exit from the race

Sir — Joe Biden, the president of the United States of America, seems to have taken a pragmatic decision by bowing out of the presidential race and endorsing the vice-president, Kamala Harris, in his place (“Biden pulls out, backs Kamala against Trump”, July 22). This comes after his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate against the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. Biden’s decision will significantly change the contours of the presidential race. Instead of digging his heels in and staying in the race which could have resulted in a Republican victory, Biden has now presented Trump with a challenge. This marks Biden as a true statesman who puts his party’s interests above his own. But given the surging popularity of Trump, Democrats must stay united and render their unanimous support to Harris.

M. Jeyaram, Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

Sir — It is too early to say which way the Democratic Party is headed after Joe Biden announced his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. However, his decision could potentially galvanise those voters who may not have felt motivated by his candidacy. For instance, the swing states in which Biden trailed in the recent opinion polls may now be in the play for the Democrats. This is certainly not the way Biden would have wished to end his decades-long political career. It is not common for presidential candidates in America to drop out from the election cycle this late. But this was unavoidable given the loss of support for Biden.

Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai

Sir — Joe Biden quitting the presidential race does not come as a surprise. He has been under pressure from both fellow Democrats and donors to quit the race owing to a string of failures of his administration — high inflation, record immigration at the Mexico border, a flawed withdrawal from Afghanistan and so on. It is Biden who steered the Democratic Party against the divisive campaign of Donald Trump and achieved a victory in the 2020 polls. But concerns about his advanced age and his disastrous performance in the debate put a stop to his campaign.

Jayanta Datta, Hooghly

Notable absence

Sir — While the Samajwadi Party, the second-largest constituent of the INDIA coalition, was invited to the Martyrs’ Day rally of the Trinamool Congress, the Congress, which is the largest component of the coalition, was conspicuous by its absence (“From martyrs’ stage, a dirge on Modi govt”, July 22). Both Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav delivered speeches that signalled the collapse of the Narendra Modi-led Union government in the future. The political dynamics at the rally were interesting.

Birkha Khadka Duvarseli, Siliguri

Sir — It was noteworthy that Abhishek Banerjee, the general-secretary of the TMC, assumed the pivotal role in portraying a unity between the second and the third largest INDIA parties at the Martyrs’ Day rally.

Samaresh Khan, West Midnapore

Sir — The huge turnout of supporters during the Martyrs’ Day rally reveals the massive support that Mamata Banerjee enjoys. She rightly stated that Narendra Modi’s days in power are numbered.

M.C. Vijay Shankar, Chennai