What a joke
Sir — A new study claims that Artificial Intelligence still cannot handle a simple pun. The poor machine can calculate galaxies but collapses when it comes to scripting a dad joke. This should calm the fear that algorithms will soon steal every creative job in sight. Recent battles over copyright show that the tech world is eager to take up human work but imitation has limits. A punchline exposes those limits with satisfying speed. Humour carries lived experience, timing and a touch of chaos, and no model can fake that mix. Let AI win art prizes and generate films. The laugh remains firmly human territory.
Mubashir Mushtaq,
Baramulla, J&K
Young victims
Sir — A recent report shows that Mumbai’s worsening air pollution now affects children in visible and troubling ways. The concern is understandable but the city’s air has carried varying levels of pollutants for years. Parents and schools can reduce exposure with sensible steps, although these measures offer only partial relief. The focus on children is valid because their lungs are still developing.
D.P. Bhattacharya,
Calcutta
Sir — The alarm about pollution in Mumbai harming children deserves attention, yet the conversation gains more from calm analysis than despair. Mumbai has faced industrial emissions and construction dust for decades. The recent spike in respiratory complaints may be linked to short-term weather patterns as much as to long-term decline in air quality. Families and schools can manage outdoor activity more carefully. Cleaner public transport must be a serious goal. Progress will come from stable planning rather than dramatic claims.
Haridasan Rajan,
Kozhikode, Kerala
Sir — Children bear the heaviest burden of air pollution because their lungs are still not fully formed. Clinics fill up before breakfast, and parents queue with the same combination of worry and exhaustion. Polluting vehicles, crop burning and cold weather create a yearly haze that harms everyone. Emergency measures feel like half-hearted attempts to control a house fire with a teaspoon. Steady, long-term policy is the only sensible route out of this mess.
Aayman Anwar Ali,
Calcutta
Slow decline
Sir — Research underlines that ancient societies handled environmental strain with considerable ingenuity (“Mega-droughts, not one collapse, shaped Indus’s slow fade”, Nov 29). The move from barley and wheat to millets and the use of trade networks fit a civilisation that understood survival. The link between extended dry spells and large-scale deurbanisation seems persuasive. The caution expressed by meteorologists is fair although it does not diminish the broader pattern. The study gives the Indus Valley a more complex and human trajectory.
Niamul Hossain Mallick,
West Burdwan
Sir — The evidence for repeated, century-long droughts in the Indus Valley paints a picture of gradual change rather than catastrophe. The suggestion that communities adapted through migration, new crops and trade gives the civilisation far more credit than older theories allowed. The use of cave chemistry, lake records and simulations strengthens the case. The Indus story looks more like a slow evolution shaped by climate pressure than a sudden fall. It should serve as a warning for present civilisations.
K.R. Gagan,
Tumkur, Karnataka
Cosy shelves
Sir — Books often provide comfort long after reading habits slow down. Volumes collected over decades carry memories, beliefs and versions of the self that deserve space on any shelf.
Sourish Misra,
Calcutta
