Bittersweet
Sir — When it comes to Bengalis, the proverbial sweet tooth would not suffice. Nothing less than a sweet tusk can capture the love that Bengalis have for mishti. It is thus not surprising to find a sweet shop at every corner of the city. While big chains keep innovating with flavours — chocolate and butterscotch now rub shoulders with nolen gur on sandesh trays — not much is done with the shape of sweets. Besides round and square, traditional shapes like taalsansh, shnaakh and poddo still dominate most sweet shops. Perhaps innovation in the way sweets look could save those who carefully craft sandesh’er chnaach with their hands from a life of penury.
Koyeli Das, Calcutta
Green games
Sir — The Paris Olympics may be a pathbreaking one. Not because of its grand opening ceremony or the sporting contests it will witness but because of its attention to climate change. With Paris, the Olympics is finally acknowledging and addressing the climate crisis. While recent editions of the Olympic Games in Rio and London released some 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, Paris plans to halve these emissions to 1.75 million tonnes. Tokyo had shown the way for this by reducing carbon emissions and compensating more than the remaining emissions through an excess reduction credits scheme. Events of this proportion need to be aware of their environmental impact. Ignoring it would be akin to letting Nero play the fiddle while Rome burns.
Shantaram Wagh, Pune
Sir — The Olympic Games, like most other sporting events of this scale, usually accompany a construction boom in the host country. Paris is setting a trend by using existing buildings and temporary structures to host 95% of the events. Further, the athletes’ village will generate electricity from sources such as geothermal and solar power, while stadiums will be connected to the public electricity grid. What is more, although the famous French cuisine is not known for being vegetarian, the organising committee of the Olympics announced that it was committed to serving more plant-based, sustainable food. With 1,000 kilometre of cycle lanes introduced for the Games, Paris has signalled that a low-carbon lifestyle is eminently achievable and also fun.
Jayanta Datta, Hooghly
Cornered leader
Sir — Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, recently made his fourth address to the US Congress. In the run-up to his speech, families of Israeli hostages told the media in the United States of America that they hoped their prime minister would announce a deal to end the violence and return captives. To the disappointment of those hoping for an end to the war, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel was striving for “total victory” and asked the US for more aid and arms. But America’s political class has never been more divided on its near-unconditional support for Israel.
Israel faces increasing diplomatic isolation and the International Court of Justice has offered a damning indictment of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, finding multiple breaches of international law. National interest, if not humanitarian concern, demands that Israel works urgently towards a ceasefire.
M. Jeyaram, Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu
Sir — The many standing ovations that Benjamin Netanyahu received in Washington last week must have rung hollow even to his ears. Almost half of House and Senate Democrats boycotted his address to Congress. The Congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi, described his speech as the worst by any foreign dignitary at the Capitol. Another legislator, Rashida Tlaib, who is of Palestinian origin, held up a sign labelling Netanyahu a “war criminal” and “guilty of genocide” during his speech. But all this criticism seems to roll like water off a duck’s back for Netanyahu.
Samaresh Khan, East Midnapore
Sir — In the US, the vice-president and Democratic nominee for the presidential election, Kamala Harris, struck a very different note from Joe Biden, insisting that she “will not be silent” on Palestinian suffering in Gaza. Democratic concerns about vanishing voters point towards a rethink, but it is unclear whether Harris would be substantively as well as rhetorically tougher if she won the presidency. Benjamin Netanyahu is counting on Donald Trump’s return to the White House, although he has singed even that relationship’s bridges. But the underlying trend in public opinion will not change unless Israel itself does.
M.N. Gupta, Hooghly
Stalled wheels
Sir — Earlier this month, the Supreme Court wasted an opportunity to improve the lives of autorickshaw commuters by turning down a request to lift the cap of 1,00,000 autorickshaws in the national capital imposed in 2011. If the cap is removed, riders will gain from more choices, competitive fares, and shorter waiting periods. But the interests of riders are scattered among a large number of people who are hard to organise and there is no organisation to represent their interest.
Kumar P.C., New Delhi
