Labour of love

Sir — Men going overboard to give outlandishly expensive gifts to their beloveds is not unheard of. Be it the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the Fabergé eggs, history itself bears testimony to such instances of romantic overtures. But most people can ill-afford such items that usually cost a fortune. Recently, the girlfriend of Alexander Sway, an American real estate agent, wanted a luxurious Hermès Birkin handbag — its minimum price is a whopping $10,000 — from him on their anniversary. Determined to impress her, Sway slogged for over 60 hours to make her a replica of the luxury item on a shoestring budget. Fake or real, like the gift of the proverbial Magi in the O. Henry story, it is the thought that goes into gifting that counts.

Smita Nandy,Calcutta

Watery grave

Sir — It is unfortunate that the submersible, Titan, which was carrying five people on a voyage to the century-old, deep-sea wreckage of R.M.S. Titanic, was destroyed in a catastrophic implosion (“All five on Titanic sub ‘are lost’”, June 23). Although adventure tourism can be a captivating endeavour, safety should always remain the top priority. The accident is a stark reminder of the unpredictability and the formidability of the ocean.

It should serve as awake-up call for putting in place robust mechanismsto prevent similar accidents. The companies catering to adventure tourism should strive to improve safety standards and emergency preparedness, while adopting advanced technologies to mitigate the loss of life at sea.

Hamza Qasmi,Mumbai

Sir — Stockton Rush, an American aerospace engineer, founded OceanGate in 2009 to not only expand access to the deep sea but also to make a profit by roping in wealthy passengers for adventure missions (“OceanGate was warned of Titanic tours”, June 22). Since then, the company has conducted more than 200 successful dives.

One of its submersibles, Titan, sank in spite of being designed to dive to a depth of about 13,000 ft —the Titanic wreckage is located at about 12,500 ft deep in the North Atlantic. The accident showed that Titan shared R.M.S Titanic’s doomed fate.

Tausif Qamar,Bihar

Sir — Expeditions have enriched human knowledge. But they are not immune to failures. While R.M.S. Titanic, hailed as the largest ship in the world, sank on its maiden voyage, Space Shuttle Challenger, scheduled to study the Halley’s Comet, disintegrated within seconds into flight. Perhaps, the implosion of Titan can provide answers that will boost scientific knowledge.

R. Narayanan,Navi Mumbai

Fresh perspective

Sir — Walter Fernandes’s article, “A land in trouble” (June 25), provided a fresh perspective on the ongoing Manipur conflict. The article traced the origins of the violence to the fallout of the Anglo-Kuki War. Fernandes also rightly described the violence as a “three-way conflict” among the Kukis, the Meiteis and the Nagas.

The author also cited the Manipur High Court order, which directed the state government to consider tribal status for the Meiteis, to highlight how judicial pronouncements can also lead to unrest. This argument was insightful.

Sukhendu Bhattacharjee,Hooghly

Sir — The ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur can have far-reaching consequences for the entire Northeast. Worse, there is a possibility that China could utilise the situation to provoke tensions among the communities. Therefore, both the Centre and the state government should work together to douse the flames at once.

Aranya Sanyal,Siliguri

Sir — The situation in Manipur is the result of a decades-old conflict. The Opposition is thus wrong to solely blame the Bharatiya Janata Party-led dispensation for it.

M. Singh,Imphal

Join ranks

Sir — The recent meeting of the leaders from 17 Opposition parties in Patna signals a new urgency to align their campaigns in order to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the next general elections (“First step”, June 26). However, Opposition parties would need a broader consensus on their diverse ideological strands to forgea united front against the BJP.

In this regard, the principles of federalism and secularism can be the glue binding the Opposition together. But before attacking the saffron party, the Opposition parties must introspect on their own shortcomings and take corrective measures.

S.S. Paul,Nadia

Vindictive move

Sir — The Union government has refused to provide the additional 2.28 lakh metric tonnes of rice to the Congress government in Karnataka for the latter’s Anna Bhagya scheme (“Rice scheme hold-up”, June 25). This puts the state government in a fix as it will not be able to launch the scheme on the scheduled date.

The free rice programme was one of the five guarantees promised by the Congress in its election manifesto. It is evident that the saffron party has not been able to accept its rout from the southern state and is indulging in vendetta politics. This will only increase the suffering of the poor.

Khokan Das,Calcutta

Popular agenda

Sir — There has been a marked rise in propaganda-laden films in Bollywood which adhere to the agenda of the ruling dispensation — Uri, The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story are a few examples. The credit roll of Adipurush even mentions the names of chief ministers belonging to the ruling party. This is deplorable.

Md Imdadullah,Muzaffarpur