Friends first
Sir — The idea that men and women cannot be friends belongs in the dustbin. A New York University Stern-Meta study confirms what many have known all along: the more liberated a culture is from old-fashioned gender roles, the more natural it becomes for men and women to simply enjoy each other’s company without a romantic subtext. When equality takes root, friendship flourishes. Let Bollywood keep its lovelorn friends’ trope. The rest of us are quite content sharing memes and not marriage vows. After all, sometimes, the most radical thing two people can share is a laugh — and nothing more.
Yashodhara Sen,
Calcutta
Healthy debate
Sir — Democracy in India appears to be on life support in the capital, but alive and walking in its poorest districts (“Strong unity”, July 11). From Enabavi to Sosokheda, Jaideep Hardikar highlighted how consensual, functioning governance is not utopian. At gram sabhas, there is no yelling, no walkouts, and no monologues disguised as debate. Just collective reasoning and decisions made with care. The irony is staggering: places written off as ‘backward’ are decades ahead of the republic in the practice of democracy. What has withered at the top still blooms quietly at the roots.
Ardhendu Chakraborty,
Calcutta
Sir — M.K. Gandhi once imagined a nation of self-governing villages. That dream collapsed somewhere in the seven decades since Independence but it is heartening to note that fragments of it remain alive in remote villages.
Manoj Parashar,
Ghaziabad
Old junk
Sir — The suspension of the old vehicle ban in New Delhi sends a bleak message: private inconvenience outweighs public health. No citizen has the right to poison the lungs of millions in the name of comfort or nostalgia. Delhi’s air quality is already lethal. Allowing visibly polluting vehicles to continue only worsens it. These machines were always on borrowed time. Let the government back the ban, not bury it in delay and doublespeak.
Kamal Laddha,
Bengaluru
Perfect serve
Sir — Tennis appeals precisely because it respects time. Matches may stretch to five hours but the intensity rarely lags. Compare that with Test cricket where entire days pass with more yawning than cheering. The television camera flatters tennis too — it captures every serve, grunt and spin with elegant precision. Cricket, meanwhile, dithers between awkward wide shots and close-ups. Television was never its natural home. It is no wonder then that the world has embraced tennis with far greater enthusiasm than cricket’s niche devotion commands. One cannot wait for the Wimbledon men’s singles final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz to unfold today at the Centre Court.
Chandan Chattopadhyay,
Hooghly
Ironic tussle
Sir — The irony is thick in the property case involving the actor, Saif Ali Khan. A line of powerful begums defended their right to rule against British prejudice. But today, their male descendants are squabbling over properties built under their command. The names of Begum Sultan Jahan and her formidable forebears deserve better than this. Their legacy is being chipped away in courtrooms by heirs fighting over square footage.
Jahar Saha,
Calcutta
Course correction
Sir — The information technology sector is set to see the third consecutive fiscal year with single-digit growth. This is not a crisis but a long-overdue correction after years of exuberance.
Q.A. Qasmi,
Mumbai