Lost pleasure

Sir — Reading used to be just about entertainment, not testing a reader’s personality. Children moved among Asterix comics, Sidney Sheldon, and Fyodor Dostoevsky without needing to justify any of it. Today, reading is judged by book counts, speed of reading, and takeaways, as if every novel must improve a résumé. That pressure turns reading into homework and makes many people give up before they begin. Fiction still builds empathy, language, and attention. Comics still count as reading. A ‘trashy’ series can still spark curiosity later. Reading will return when society stops equating it with productivity.

Minisha L. Awomi,
Tuensang, Nagaland

Time to deliver

Sir — The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election results show that local politics is shifting fast. The defeats of Yogita Gawli and Geeta Gawli suggest that the Akhil Bharatiya Sena is losing its hold even in former strongholds. Voters appear less interested in legacy names and more focused on performance. The Bharatiya Janata Party has also expanded its influence across Maharashtra. That power should now translate into better roads, drainage, buses, and waste management for Mumbai residents.

Jang Bahadur Singh,
Jamshedpur

Sir — The BMC poll result has become a fight over identity instead of civic work. Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, once again, invoked the ‘Marathi manoos’. Voters need clean streets and reliable transport. The BJP has won with support from Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction. The focus should now shift to governance. Mumbai needs better drainage, safer roads, and working public services. Political slogans cannot fix potholes or flooding.

Anil Bagarka,
Mumbai

Sir — The fall of experienced leaders like Ravi Raja who left the Congress to join the BJP shows that being a political turncoat comes at a cost. When politicians change parties after being denied tickets, voters often read it as opportunism. Mumbai needs representatives who stay accountable to their wards, not to shifting alliances. At the same time, new winners must not treat victory as entitlement. Citizens deserve visible work on roads, drainage, and sanitation.

M.R. Jayanthy,
Chennai

Sir — The BJP’s growing dominance across municipal corporations should raise a simple question: will governance become fairer or more partisan? Reports about the BMC’s development funds being concentrated in Mahayuti-held constituencies are worrying. Local services should not depend on political alignment. Roads, water supply, and waste removal are basic rights, not rewards. The new leadership must ensure transparent budgeting, public dashboards for spending, and equal attention to Opposition-held wards.

Aditya Kamble,
Mumbai

Sir — The BMC results include many familiar names, such as Kishori Pednekar and Milind Vaidya, returning to power. Such a continuity can help. Yet, it also increases expectations. Mumbai is struggling with potholes, flooding, broken buses, and polluted water bodies. The upcoming members of the civic body should be judged by repairs completed, not speeches delivered. Political parties must stop treating the corporation as a battleground for state-level rivalry.

Md. Alam,
Mumbai

Inclusive teams

Sir — The Under-19 World Cup shows how migration has changed cricket for the better. Players with South Asian roots now represent teams across Europe, North America, and Oceania. This diversity makes the sport richer and more competitive. It also challenges old ideas about who ‘belongs’ in a national team. A player’s accent or mother tongue should not decide loyalty. Talent, training, and commitment should. Cricket is finally reflecting the societies that now play it, not the empires that once owned it.

Fakhrul Alam,
Calcutta

Disparate numbers

Sir — The official retail inflation figure of 1.33% for December 2025 does not match what many households feel. The Reserve Bank of India survey shows people perceive inflation closer to 6.6%. That gap matters because policy relies on accurate signals. When the costs of food, rent, and transport rise, families cut spending even if the headline number looks low. Updating the Consumer Price Index base year from 2012 to 2024 is overdue. New weights must reflect current consumption patterns, not old ones.

Nandita Ghosh,
Calcutta

Sir — Inflation data should help citizens trust economic policy. Yet the current Consumer Price Index has weakened that trust. A national average hides large differences across regions. The problem becomes worse when the CPI weights are based on 2012 spending habits. Subsidies, services, and costs have changed sharply since then. Regional CPI with a newer base year is urgently needed.

Dhananjay Sinha,
Calcutta