Meat of the matter

Sir — The problem with past-shelf-life celebrities is that they can go to any length to be in the news. Example, Paul McCartney (“Eat less meat, save the planet: McCartney”, July 25). One just wishes that their inconsequential mutterings were not given importance by the media. If Australians and Indians dislike meat in their daily diet, they dislike sugardaddies like McCartney too. His ex-wife, Heather Mills, recently observed that 36-year-old Jamie Walker, her current boyfriend, has a “body so much fitter than Paul’s”. We guess Jamie Walker has a fitter brain than Sir Paul’s too.

Yours faithfully,
Tapan Pal, Batanagar

Man at work

Sir — Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has decided to retire at the age of 52 and devote his time to charities. Some time back, N.R. Narayanamurthy, the founder of Infosys, too decided to retire and handed over charge to his deputy. Unfortunately, in India, retirement is an anathema to politicians, bureaucrats and public- and private-sector bosses. They continue to cling to their posts as long as possible, thereby barring the chances of juniors with dynamic ideas of growth to rise to the top. Bigwigs, both political and corporate, seem to believe that ‘there is no alternative’ to them. But this is far from true, and they realize it when their old and outdated ideas find no takers.

Yours faithfully,
A.S. Mehta, Calcutta

Sir — William Gates III of Microsoft Corporation has shown the way by retiring and deciding to dedicate his time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for charitable and philanthropic works. It is good that Warren Buffet is helping him in this task of eradicating malaria and polio, and spreading awareness about AIDS.

The foundation has already educated children in third world countries and made computers available and affordable to them. Gates and his wife, Melinda, must be saluted for caring about the lives of underprivileged people in developing countries. As the head of Microsoft, he transformed billions of lives by making computers a household product, and generating thousands of employment opportunities directly and indirectly.

In the world that we live in, where human values are wearing thin, we need more and more men like Gates who are trying to follow the ideals of a welfare state.

Yours faithfully,
Yasmin Banu, Abu Dhabi

Parting shot

Sir — I am a student of class X. Three years back, a subject called Environmental Studies was introduced in our curriculum. The textbooks are still lying in a pile, untouched. But I have sat through our teacher’s lectures on pollution and know enough to say that our city is dreadfully polluted.

I have been observing my surroundings lately. I find that public vehicles (such as autorickshaws, buses and taxis) are the ones which give out black smoke the most. Going out in the streets has become an ordeal because of this. My mother tells me that all cars have to undergo a pollution test. What’s the point of such a test if this is the result?

Something needs to be done about this immediately and I hope the concerned authorities act fast. Let us not say vague things such as the Pollution Control Board is there to look into this. We can go on mugging up our EVS books, but do we care about our city?

Yours faithfully,
Shravasti Misra, Calcutta