King of hearts

Sir — Shah Rukh Khan’s birthday last week witnessed a flurry of activity. Social media reels dedicated to his filmography showed women that their own partners were sorely lacking, prompting a spontaneous wave of break-ups across the country. Indeed, each of the fictional characters that Khan has played is so much better than real-life men that the women could not help themselves. The birthday event is now being perceived as a matter of national importance for more than just celebratory reasons: it could, unwittingly, instigate a mass boycott of men themselves. That is until they learn, at the very least, to open up their arms in a mustard field for the women they love rather than climb into the arms of their mothers at every mild inconvenience.

Sohini Saha, Calcutta

Doublespeak

Sir — Karan Thapar’s article, “An unlikely embrace” (Nov 6), has systematically exposed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s hypocrisy when it comes to paying lip service to B.R. Ambedkar. The latter had envisaged the way Hindutva would reshape the nation and tried to set up safeguards in the Constitution. Ambedkar felt that the majority has a duty to look after the minorities. The BJP should pay respects to Ambedkar in practice rather than in rhetoric.

Amit Brahmo, Calcutta

Great loss

Sir — It seems unlikely that the West Bengal government will be able to recover funds from the Centre to pay workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (“Rural funds unease in poll run-up”, Nov 5). Given the allegations of misappropriation of funds, the state government is unlikely to push the topic further owing to the upcoming panchayat elections. It is the poor who lose out always.

Jahar Saha, Calcutta

Steep price

Sir — Between 2015 and 2019, the Indian government received 6,094 complaints from women duped by their non-resident Indian husbands who ditched them after getting their hands on the dowry money they need to fund their solo futures abroad. Dowries have been illegal since 1961 but remain a common practice. In fact, the World Bank found last year that dowries are still paid in 95% of marriages in India, and dowry disputes lead to the deaths of thousands of Indian women every year, according to the country’s National Crime Records Bureau. Unless the idea of marriage is delinked from monetary benefits for the groom, this situation will not change.

Prerna Poddar, Calcutta

Brain fog

Sir — For a section of people who get Covid-19, symptoms continue for months or even years after the initial infection. This is commonly referred to as long Covid. Research has now found that the virus that causes the disease wipes out synapses — connections between brain cells — which aid in retaining memories. People who complain of brain fog and forgetfulness after Covid-19 will hopefully be taken seriously instead of their concerns being brushed off as imaginary.

Bidisha Goswami, Calcutta

Back to the movies

Sir — In the analogue days, the measure of a film’s popularity was a board outside a cinema declaring ‘Houseful’. In the digital age, one way of figuring out if a film is doing well is to go to BookMyShow and see how many seats have been sold in various theatres. If numbers are to be believed, the most popular films these days seem to be those from the South which have been dubbed into Hindi. One wonders why Bollywood stories are not appealing to the audiences. Could it be that since the pandemic, people are only interested in watching films as far removed from reality as possible?

Shivam Singh, Ujjain

Lopsided deal

Sir — The $2.175 billion acquisition of the publisher, Simon & Schuster, by the market leader, Penguin Random House, announced in 2020, has been stalled by the Supreme Court of the United States of America. The merger would have created a huge publishing conglomerate which, its opponents argued, would reduce competition when publishers bid for the rights to publish a book. This is absolutely right. Such a monopoly in the publishing market can be very dangerous for the freedom of speech.

Kakoli Das, Calcutta

Worthy effort

Sir — The report, “A dream admission to IIT” (Nov 5), was heartening. Chhoton Karmakar, the son of a poor hawker, Kanai Karmakar, should be lauded for cracking the IIT-JEE examination by fighting all odds. The authorities at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, too, deserve praise for taking in the boy even though he has not been able to organise the entire sum of 1.7 lakh rupees for the first semester.

Kajal Chatterjee, Calcutta

Sir — The hard work and determination of the Bankura boy, Chhoton Karmakar, must be praised. Those trying to raise money to fund his education should be lauded too.

Romana Ahmed, Calcutta

Festive time

Sir — Jagatdhatri Puja is a big affair in Krishnanagar and Chandannagar. While this festival is unlikely to get an intangible cultural heritage tag from the United Nations, it should be celebrated with equal pomp and splendour.

Saikat Kumar Basu, Calcutta

Parting shot

Sir — While all eyes have turned to Delhi’s air quality, Calcuttans are choking on foul air too.

Rima Roy, Calcutta