Cracker of a grandma
Sir — There will be few Bengalis who have not heard of Burima’r Chocolate Bomb — it is an inseparable part of our childhood. But with growing air pollution and bans on polluting crackers, Burima Fireworks, a company that was once a household name, is now struggling to survive. The eponymous Burima, Annapurna Devi, was an East Pakistani refugee, who struggled to raise her children before carving out a niche for herself in the thriving market for crackers. Her story is a lesson in adaptability. Surely, the company she started, too, can adapt to the times and switch to making green crackers?
Sanjana Sanyal, Calcutta
Dangerous game
Sir — The Madras High Court’s refusal to strike down the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022 — poker and rummy have been exempted as games of skill — is shocking. Instead, the court has asked the government to regulate these games by imposing restrictions. Card games like rummy often involve financial transactions and hardly require any skill. The court should have taken into consideration the suffering of the families where addiction to such games has led to massive financial losses. The Centre’s unwillingness to impose a blanket ban on applications that host such online games could be the result of hefty political donations.
M.C. Vijay Shankar, Chennai
Sir — It is unfortunate that despite the efforts of the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, the Madras High Court has not completely banned online games, an evil that plagues the youth in that state. The state government should now consider putting aside funds to financially compensate the families of those who incur huge debts on these gaming platforms.
N. Mahadevan, Chennai
Justice delayed
Sir — The failure of Jadavpur University to take action against those found guilty by an internal committee of ragging a first-year student to death has understandably left the father of the dead student aggrieved (“3 months on, no action against JU accused”, Nov 10). The report has been shuttling back and forth between the university’s anti-ragging committee and the anti-ragging squad. This kind of lacklustre attitude will lead to the recurrence of such ghastly events.
Jahar Saha, Calcutta
Sir — The proceedings against the death of a JU student owing to suicide
have stagnated. No action has been taken against the culprits named in the report of an internal probe. The media should look into such cases in which justice is yet to be delivered and highlight them.
Avinash Godboley, Dewas, Madhya Pradesh
Leading lady
Sir — The legendary cricketer, Meg Lanning, who led the Australian women’s team to five World Cup victories in one-day internations and Twenty20s, has unexpectedly announced her retirement from international cricket (“Captain of 5 World Cup triumphs retires”, Nov 10). She is one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket. Fans of cricket across the globe will surely miss seeing her play.
Sourish Misra, Calcutta
Sir — Meg Lanning’s contribution to women’s cricket is colossal. She had scored 8,352 runs in 241 matches and was a part of the Australian team during seven World Cup victories. She may be retiring but her career will remain an inspiration.
Jayanta Datta, Hooghly
Sir — While she may be retiring, Meg Lanning still has a lot left to give to cricket. Women’s cricket would benefit from her guidance.
Aranya Sanyal, Calcutta
