Free publicity

Red letter day
February 10 was indeed a red letter day in the annals of Indian sports history. On this Super Sunday Indian sportsmen achieved a hat trick by winning three laurels: MS Dhoni’s ‘young turks’ trounced the seemingly invincible Aussies on the cricket field; Prakash Amritraj clinched the decider match in the Davis Cup; and SSP Chaurasia beat all the top players in India Masters Golf championship. Looks like India has really started shining at last.
—Raji Mani, Mumbai

Terror networked
Not a single day passes without the state police of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu unearthing some terror module and exposing the terrorists waiting to strike (‘Mumbai was the target’, DNA, February 11).

One shudders to think how widespread the Islamic terror network is in this country. What makes this more disturbing is that the ISI of Pakistan is making use of Muslim youth born and brought up in this country.

These are not just illiterate youth brainwashed in the ‘hate factories’ of the Madrassas. They are young professionals who have received the best education the country can offer.

All this is a sad commentary on how the UPA government has neglected the security of this nation in the last few years in its relentless pursuit of minority vote bank politics.
—V Venkatasubramanian,  Mumbai

Panic attack
I read Sathya Saran’s take on the probability of the freefalling satellite ‘visiting’ us and may I say, it was a very succinctly written column (‘Deciding when not to panic’, DNA.Sunday, February 3).

I enjoyed her ‘signature’ on it! While Mumbaikars may have developed the right kind of attitude to deal with any ineptitude, the inclusion of a subject like disaster management in the school syllabi has, to a small extent, prepared Gen Next for dealing with natural catastrophes.

While a freefalling satellite may be beyond the scope of the visionaries in NCERT, what it may help do is create little Angels (like the little girl on the beach at Bangkok on the day of the tsunami) in hamara Hindustan. Kudos to you and your thoughts.
—Aparna, via email

Free publicity
The MNS got its share of free publicity by bashing up the non-Marathis and now its time for the Shiv Sena and the Bajrang Dal to get their share on Valentine’s Day.

If only Bal Thackeray or Raj Thackeray utilised even 10 per cent of their wealth in setting up a school or college or factory in any of the rural districts of Maharashtra! The Thackerays end their speeches with ‘Jai Maharashtra’, but they are only interested in Mumbai which is a cash cow for them.

The Shiv Sena and the MNS want non-Marathi people to learn Marathi but when it comes to jobs they want only the Marathis to get the jobs.

The Shiv Sena is responsible for the slums and migration in Mumbai because of it introduced the SRA scheme in 1995. During riots, it is not the politician or his family but the common man who suffers. The Congress has no strategy to tackle such divisive forces.
—Michael Borges, Mumbai

Learn your lesson
The hype over the Melbourne victory is understandable but some important lessons must be learnt, chief among them is the folly of being ultra-cautious in batting (‘Boys to men’, DNA.Sport, February 11).

Sachin Tendulkar was batting beautifully till he withdrew into his shell and promptly got out. Yuvraj Singh could not survive while MS Dhoni’s effort, though valuable in the end, was pathetic to watch whereas a couple of boundaries, would have eased the tension.
—MR Hosangady, Mumbai