True resilience
Sir — Allergic reactions can send a person into life-threatening anaphylactic shock if not treated right away. However, avoiding allergens can also be strenuous, especially when they are hidden in certain food preparations or are a part of the surroundings. For instance, urushiol, found in poison oak, ivy and sumac that are native to America, triggers allergic reactions in about 10-50 million people annually. However, Jeff Horwitz was so fed up with poison oak growing near his North California home that he started consuming poison oak leaves by blending them in fruit smoothies. While it is yet to be ascertained whether Horwitz has developed immunity against the allergen, he seems to be a believer in the maxim, ‘what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.’
Shatabisha Dhar, Calcutta
Death knell
Sir — The article, “Death of an ideal” (May 27), by Prasenjit Chowdhury was thought-provoking. It is disheartening that political leaders have been mixing religion with politics to reap electoral dividends. As a result, religion dominates over bread-and-butter issues during elections.
India is a secular State. We need to rise over narrow divisions and ensure the separation of politics from religion in every sphere. Chowdhury’s concluding sentence in the piece in which he attributes the demise of secularism in India to the failure of the Indian State to “distance religion from politics” is both accurate and poignant.
Melville X. D’Souza, Mumbai
Sir — In “Death of an ideal”, Prasenjit Chowdhury views secularism as an ideology initially rejected in the Constituent Assembly debates but incorporated into the Preamble with the 42nd amendment in 1976. Among the several arguments put forth by Chowdhury to prove the end of secularism in India is the State’s failure to confine religion to the private sphere.
Competitive religiosity is marked by the eagerness of political leaders across the spectrum to participate in religious activities — be it the prime minister, Narendra Modi, leading the consecration of the Ram temple or the late Pranab Mukherjee, conducting Durga Puja rituals at his ancestral village while holding the post of the country’s president. Such antics have further damaged the secular ethos.
Sukhendu Bhattacharjee, Hooghly
Historic win
Sir — The Calcutta-born, Anasuya Sengupta, has done India proud by becoming the first Indian to be honoured with the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard segment at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in the film, The Shameless (“Friends rejoice as city girl wins best actress at Cannes”, May 26). This is one of the most significant milestones in the history of Indian cinema.
In the film, Sengupta portrays the central character of a sex worker who kills a police officer and then escapes from the brothel and takes shelter with a community of sex workers. It is heartening that Sengupta dedicated her award to queer and marginalised communities who have to struggle for their rights.
Samaresh Khan, West Midnapore
Sir — The success of Indian films in award functions and film festivals in the West highlights how independent films, distanced from the cacophony of the box office, are being appreciated by a global audience. For instance, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix and Anasuya Sengupta clinched the Best Actress honour for her role in The Shameless at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Further, the recognition of non-Hindi films, such as RRR, in Hollywood indicates that the scope of Indian cinema is widening.
Vijay Singh Adhikari, Nainital
Sir — Anasuya Sengupta and Payal Kapadia clinching the Best Actress and the Grand Prix honours, respectively, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is historic.
The films, RRR and The Elephant Whisperers, were recognised at the 95th Academy Awards last year. India has an incredibly rich talent pool, which is yet
to be fully harnessed owing to unequal opportunities.
Subham Pradhan, Calcutta
Triumphant knights
Sir — Kolkata Knight Riders deserve plaudits for winning their third Indian Premier League title after a gap of 10 years (“Cyclone KKR blows away Sunrisers for third IPL crown”, May 27). The final between KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad was a one-sided match in which the former triumphed over the latter on all fronts.
KKR’s bowlers like Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora and Andre Russell ripped through SRH’s batting line-up, thereby restricting it to 113. Gautam Gambhir, who had led the team to victory in 2012 and 2014, has done a remarkable job this time as the mentor of the current IPL champions.
Jayanta Datta, Hooghly
Sir — The one factor that is common to KKR’s three IPL victories is Gautam Gambhir. KKR had won the IPL title in 2012 and 2014 under Gambhir’s captaincy; he served as the team mentor in the recently concluded edition. His exemplary leadership successfully united the team towards the common goal.
Tapan Dutta, Calcutta
Sir — After giving lacklustre performances in consecutive IPL matches, Mitchell Starc rose to the occasion in the final, blowing SRH’s top order in no time. SRH could not recover from that shock and managed to score a meagre 113 runs, which is the lowest total ever recorded in an IPL final. Even though the individual performances by Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Harshit Rana were impressive, it is the backroom efforts of Gautam Gambhir and the assistant coach, Abhishek Nayar, that catapulted KKR to victory.
Bal Govind, Noida
