Deserve the award

Deserve the award
I think US president Barack Obama should gracefully request the Nobel Committee to wait for  him till he has achieved peace and harmony in reality in the troubled spots of the world (‘Shock and Awe Obama wins peace Nobel’, DNA, October 10). It would be a magnanimous gesture on his part and would earn him greater respect and honour. Of course, if he does request them to hold back his award then it would be a unique thing in the history of Nobel prize.
—MV Halady, Mumbai

“I awoke one morning and found myself famous” said the English poet Lord Byron. President Barack Obama will react in the same manner after having won the Nobel for peace. Nobel Committee may have thought that he deserved to win this year’s Nobel, but the rest of the world is surprised at this selection. Obama may not be a warmonger like Henry Kissinger (US) and Yasser Arafat, who also won the Nobel, but he is no Gandhi or Mandela either. Over the years, the Nobel Committee’s decisions to nominate people for the peace prize have been perplexing. Mahatma Gandhi was ignored, but all his followers got the prize. The criteria to confer the Nobel are beyond the comprehension of the masses.
—Sumit S Paul, Calcutta

People’s edict
The Shiv Sena seems to have a different agenda these days. According to them, the MNS is a spoiler party, which indirectly supports the Congress in the elections (‘MNS inroads in Mumbai, Thane will damage Sena-BJP’, DNA, October 9). The Shiv Sena reached this conclusion after the Lok Sabha elections. I think the Shiv Sena must ponder over why people are voting for a new party like the MNS which is just three years old instead of voting for the Shiv Sena which has been around for a long time. Lakhs of votes being polled in favour of the MNS in the Lok Sabha elections is not a joke. The Marathi manoos wants results on issues like unemployment and increasing prices of everyday commodities not mere promises.
—Nikhil Kulkarni, Pune

Raising the issue
MNS chief Raj Thackeray has launched a broadside against his former party by pointing out the faults in the various issues brought out by the Shiv Sena in the last four decades (‘Uddhav is following my steps’, DNA, October 9). Paradoxically, Raj Thackeray himself was part of the highest decision-making triumvirate of the Shiv Sena until a couple of years ago.
—Arun Malankar, via email