Unusual companion
Sir — Owning a pet is getting more expensive by the day given the rising cost of living. A survey has shown that the average cost of keeping a dog or a cat ranges from several hundred to thousands of dollars annually. Interestingly, the Chinese may have found a cheaper alternative to pets. According to a recent trend, youngsters there have been raising mango pits as pets, grooming their sprouting hair and maintaining diaries on them, charting the changing colour of the seed. But given the dearth of quality mangoes around the world, perhaps sowing the seeds and caring for the plants could prove to be a more viable option.
Disha Mehra, Mumbai
A rejoinder
This is in response to the article, “At Bapu school, all-faith prayer axe”, by Mehul Devkala that was published in The Telegraph on August 14. On August 4, the Sarva Dharm Prarthana was sung in the prayer assembly at the Upasana Khand of M.D. Samajseva Sankul, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, by the students. Nobody interrupted them. The Sarva Dharm Prarthana of Gujarat Vidyapith consists of verses from the Vedas, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Sikhism and Christianity, among others.
Professor Bharat Joshi, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad
Mehul Devkala responds: The incident of the stopping of the Sarva Dharm Prarthana took place on August 4 at the Gujarat Vidyapith. Three girl students were interrupted by the dean and Hindi professor, Ramgopal Singh. The girls were scolded publicly. Nimisha Shukla, an economics professor at the Vidyapith, had an altercation with Professor Singh regarding the incident. A video of their argument is in the public domain and was also broadcast by the news channel, VTV.
If the prayer was not stopped and the girls were not scolded as claimed by the Vidyapith authorities, why did more than 200 students boycott the Prarthana the very next day, August 5? Why did the students organise a sit-in protest on the campus with black ribbons on their arms and spin charkha on August 7? This incident has been reported by many prominent Gujarati newspapers and television channels. There is plenty of such evidence in the public domain.
Three professors had been appointed recently to administer the proceedings of the Prarthana and other activities. Professor Singh is one of them. They have also stopped the tradition wherein students would speak freely after the Prarthana.
The incident brought shame to the institute founded by Mahatma Gandhi. If the authorities reinstate the earlier tradition, it would be welcomed by everyone.
Sinister design
Sir — Hate speeches calling for the boycott of minorities were allegedly made during a recent religious procession organised by various right-wing groups in the Palwal district of Haryana. This comes about a fortnight after communal violence broke out in the nearby Nuh district following a similar religious procession. The fact that the administration granted permission for both events suggests its complicity. Worse, law enforcement officials have also been reluctant to take action against the hatemongers
or the organisers of the event.
Clearly, few lessons have been learnt from the administrative failure that led to the communal flare-up in Nuh. It is evident that with the elections approaching, fringe elements are determined to polarise the atmosphere further in order to reap electoral dividends.
Mohammad Taukir, West Champaran
Sir — Religions are reduced to mere rituals when they are devoid of spirituality (“A new erosion”, Aug 16). The ruling dispensation’s tendency to demonise minorities for any historical wrong committed aeons ago is not justifiable. Divisive elements that are responsible for communal conflict, which takes a disproportionate toll on the nation’s women and children.
Anthony Henriques, Mumbai
Sir — Incidents of communal strife taking place in Haryana within such short intervals show that there is a sinister design at play to divide the masses before the polls.
Dhruv Khanna, Mumbai
Seize the day
Sir — The current slowdown in China’s annual GDP growth has severely impacted investors across the globe. India should utilise this opportunity to attract more investments by implementing investor-friendly policies. Policymakers must focus on sectors in which India has a competitive advantage.
Anmol Porwal, Ujjain
Parting shot
Sir — Even though India dominated the longer format against the West Indies, they took a drubbing in the Twenty20 series. The team should take lessons from this for the upcoming World Cup. For example, resting Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the second and the third ODIs was imprudent. Further, key players, such as Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and K.L. Rahul, missing from the ranks affected the team’s composition.
Tauqueer Rahmani, Mumbai
