Spectral doll

Sir — Dan Riviera, a paranormal investigator, was recently found dead in his hotel room. To add to the mystery, the raggedy Annabelle doll — the allegedly haunted relic that has been linked to several paranormal activities since the 1970s — that he was travelling with was rumoured to be missing after his death, causing panic worldwide. Questions like ‘How did the doll escape? ‘or ‘Who will be its next victim?’ have been on the lips of many since its disappearance. This is illustrative. Perhaps belief in the supernatural can sometimes provide an escape from the perceived harsh realities of the world, offering meaning and a sense of control in the face of uncertainty.

Vikita Gupta,
Mumbai

Hidden design

Sir — Mukul Kesavan’s article, “Through the back door” (July 20), was spot on. The special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar mandates that anyone who is not on the state’s 2003 electoral rolls will have to produce a list of documents that exclude Aadhaar, voter ID cards, and ration cards to prove their citizenship. The 2003 amendment to the Citizenship Act had laid out the definition of “illegal immigrant”. Is it any coincidence then that the year, 2003, has been chosen as the benchmark by the current regime for the SIR?

Niamul Hossain Mallick,
East Burdwan

Sir — The implementation of the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, when the state elections are only a few months away, is disconcerting. Although the SIR is being projected as a technical update of the voter list, the last-minute revision was unnecessary and is only leading to chaos. Since voters are being asked to prove their citizenship through a list of documents that exclude Aadhaar and ration cards, millions might be deprived of their fundamental right to vote. Mukul Kesavan rightly said that the SIR is just a “back door” to implement the National Register of Citizens.

Raees Haneef,
Haryana

The X files

Sir — The president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, under pressure from a segment of his support base, has called for a federal judge to release the grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein (“Inside the long friendship between Trump and Epstein”, Jul 21). The latest turn in the murky saga of Trump’s prior association with Epstein, the disgraced late American financier and sex offender, came after a recent Wall Street Journal report claimed that Trump had written a birthday card to Epstein in 2003 in sexually suggestive language along with a lewd drawing with references to a shared “secret”. The tide seems to be turning against Trump.

S.S. Paul,
Nadia

Sir — Donald Trump’s allies have turned on him over the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files. Epstein died by suicide in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Trump may soon discover that his political prospects ultimately rest upon his support base, some of whom believe that the US government, media, and financial worlds are controlled by elites associated with a global child sex trafficking operation and are asking for more information on Epstein to be released.

Khokan Das,
Calcutta

Sir — A “bawdy” letter that Donald Trump allegedly wrote to his then-friend, Jeffrey Epstein, greeting him on his 50th birthday, has cast a shadow on his presidency. As businessmen and real estate moguls, Trump and Epstein palled around in their prime.

While Trump has denied authorship of the letter and filed a lawsuit challenging the story, it is a known fact that the American president in the past had used lewd language in public life. Trump’s bonhomie with Epstein for 15 years before their fallout in 2004 was vividly documented in the media.

G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Big equaliser

Sir — The adoption of the ‘No Backbencher Model’ by the Barlow Girls’ High School in Englishbazar, Malda, is a step in the right direction to instil education in young and inquisitive minds (“All together now”, July 20). The simple change of seating pattern in classrooms helps bridge the gap among students and make those who perform poorly more interested in studies.

Further, the primitive rote method of learning should also be replaced. Students should be encouraged to ask questions, think independently, and perform beyond marks-oriented parameters. The attitude of parents and guardians towards learning needs to evolve as well. An Artificial Intelligence-powered learning is on the anvil. Students should be equipped to deal with the future.

Asim Bandopadhyay,
Howrah

Sir — A semi-circular seating arrangement for students in the classroom is a wonderful concept. It infuses in them a sense of equality, motivates them to participate in learning, and ensures each student is equidistant from the teacher. It will also deter them from creating a nuisance. However, such a model is difficult to implement in several schools that have congested classrooms.

Vinay Asawa,
Howrah

Clean state

Sir — The 2024-25 Swachh Survekshan has crowned Uttar Pradesh as the cleanest state in India. Lucknow has been ranked the third-cleanest city in India. But this masks a grim reality. Uttar Pradesh has never been a model for hygiene and sanitation. Spitting in public places and dumping garbage on the road are commonplace. While there has been a decline of such nuisance in recent times, more needs to be done. Awards should act as motivators to make greater efforts at cleanliness.

Kirti Wadhawan,
Kanpur