Violent dissection

Sir — The details of the murder of a 27-year-old woman by her partner shook the nation. The news predictably inspired shock and, as these stories often do, became a cautionary tale. In dissecting parts of her personal life after her death, the narrative around the murder repeats a form of violence on the victim even in death. The case has become a narrative device to reinforce middle-class mores of respectability. The victim’s body, unsurprisingly, has become a site for inscribing the ‘codes of honour’ that she violated in her life — she was in a live-in relationship and had a lip-piercing. The violence does not stop with death.

Shraddha Saxena, Calcutta

Striking picture

Sir — The picture of Tushar Gandhi walking in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul Gandhi was a sight for sore eyes. The former’s humane appeal was encouraging too. One wonders if Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru could ever have imagined that 75 years after Independence from foreign powers, their great-grandsons would have to march side by side to save India from internal assault upon its democratic and secular ethos.

Kajal Chatterjee, Calcutta

Strong message

Sir — The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has said that countries that support terrorism in any way should be made to pay. The Union home minister, Amit Shah, has stated that terror funding is more dangerous than terrorism. It is evident that India means business when it comes to fighting terror. It is thus concerning that those convicted of assassinating the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, have been released from prison. Had the assassinated leader been from the Bharatiya Janata Party or someone from the army would they have been forgiven as easily?

M.C. Vijay Shankar, Chennai

Bon voyage

Sir — Vikram S, India’s first privately-developed rocket, took off from Sriharikota recently, marking the first foray of the private sector in Indian space technology. This inaugural journey includes scientific instruments from Space Kids and N Space Tech from India and BazoomQ from Armenia. This is one of the cheapest rockets in the world. Its makers should be lauded.

Dattaprasad Shirodkar, Mumbai

Novel idea

Sir — Although the concept of a ‘family doctor’ has almost disappeared with the advancement in medical facilities and the building of super speciality hospitals, most patients still go to the same doctor for all their needs (“Doctor left the house”, Nov 20). In this context, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh must be lauded for sensing and filling an essential gap. Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has recognised the need for a trusty doctor in rural areas and planned to introduce ‘family physicians’ in parts of Andhra Pradesh. The trial run of this project has been underway for sometime and has shown promising results.

K. Nehru Patnaik, Vishakhapatnam

Honour them

Sir — The demand of the chief minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann, to confer the Bharat Ratna — India’s highest civilian honour — on Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, Kartar Singh Sarabha and Lala Lajpat Rai, all of whom laid down their lives in the freedom struggle, deserves serious consideration. This would be a fitting tribute to mark the 75th anniversary of Indian freedom. The current dispensation should honour these freedom fighters.

Vijay Adhikari, Nainital

Exciting times

Sir — Qatar is calling and football fans cannot keep calm. Be it far away from the action in front of a television or a smartphone or physically at the games, fans across the globe live every moment of the excitement and vibrancy of the matches. While it is impossible to ignore the charges of abuses levelled against Qatar, this cannot taint the game itself.

Chanchal Nandy, Durgapur

Sir — It will be interesting to see how spectators respond to the sale of beer being banned at the Fifa World Cup 2022 being hosted by Qatar. Perhaps they will be so high on the sport that they will not mind.

Fakhrul Alam, Calcutta

Expensive trash

Sir — One person throwing garbage on the streets may think that it won’t make a difference, but the sight of his litter will give other people the licence to do the same. Littering is not just an eyesore and a health hazard but it also causes an oft-ignored economic drain. Besides the cost of cleaning up the litter and the money needed to pay for treating ailments caused by garbage accumulating, there is also the loss of crucial tourism money. Surveys show that fewer tourists visit cities known for littering. There is also something to be said about the habit of people to not litter when they are travelling to a foreign country but thinking nothing of dirtying where they live.

Jubel D’ Cruz, Mumbai