Kindly inform

Sir — The sudden change in the one-way traffic timings for the major streets of Calcutta, without prior public notice, shows how the people of the city are taken for granted. Had The Telegraph not carried a report on this, we would have been completely in the dark (“Sudden shift in one-way traffic”, May 15). Have the traffic police gone quite mad? What is the point of starting one-way traffic from 7 am (instead of the earlier 8 am), when there is hardly any traffic on the road? In any case, the worst traffic-rule violators are the police themselves, always going the wrong way on one-way roads, and riding motorcycles without helmets on.

Yours faithfully,
Sanjay Agarwal, Calcutta

League of words

Sir — Vijay Mallya’s public displeasure at Rahul Dravid’s choice of players for the Bangalore Royal Challengers team is not acceptable (“Mallya mauls ‘boss’ Dravid”, May 13). But it also perfectly illustrates, for those who were in any doubt, that in the IPL, money will speak ahead of everything else. We should not forget that Mallya is a businessman and thus it is natural for him to want good returns from this investment. Some people feel that Mallya has not done the right thing by criticizing a great cricketer like Dravid, but I would like to ask them why they did not protest as strongly when these “great cricketers” were sold like vegetables in the market. Instead of criticizing the Vijay Mallyas of the world, we should try to find out if the blame lies with the process and the system.

Yours faithfully,
Subhabrata Roy, Calcutta

Sir — Vijay Mallya and his team are not performing well in the IPL, and what is to be blamed? The selection of the team, of course. And who selected the team? Now that is a difficult question to answer. Everyone associated with the team is blaming the other person, and one has even lost his job. This is not the best of advertisements that IPL could hope for. Rather than blaming the people around him, including Rahul Dravid, Mallya should concentrate on reversing the fortunes of his team. And in any case, he is doing nobody any favours by making his displeasure with his captain public. What if Dravid, a self-respecting man like anyone else, were to resign after Mallya’s comments? The situation would only get worse. Not only would Mallya lose a responsible captain, he would also have to give Dravid the money promised to him as an “icon”. Also, the Royal Challengers is not the only team in trouble in the IPL. The Hyderabad, Mumbai and Calcutta outfits are also failing to perform every few matches. But that has not eroded their owners’ faith in their captains, nor has it come in the way of their enthusiasm to do well next time.

Yours faithfully,
Nandini Saraf, Calcutta

Sir — I am growing increasingly suspicious that Vijay Mallya has entered the IPL only to advertise his liquor brand. There are billboards promoting his team, but there are also those boasting of the number of IPL squads “joined” by Royal Challenge. If the purpose was to show off a brand, why did Mallya buy an IPL team at all? Getting cheerleaders from America is not the ideal way of supporting a team. He could learn a few tricks of the trade from owners like Shah Rukh Khan.

Mallya may be a liquor baron, but on the cricket field, Dravid’s name commands more respect than his. Mallya seems to be the kind of person who would take credit if his team does well and blame others if it does not. Men like him are always the first to desert a sinking ship. Mallya should wake up to the fact that this is a sport, not a business. If his idea is to sell alcohol, there are several, more profitable, ways of doing so.

Yours faithfully,
Sumon Chatterjee, Calcutta