L E T T E R S    T O    T H E    E D I T O R

Zafarnama misquoted

I read Khushwant Singh’s weekly column, ‘This Above All’ (Saturday Extra, March 19) on “Guru and Zafarnama”. I am pained to point out that he has misquoted the popular lines from the Zafarnama. He quotes:

Chun ka azhameh dar guzasht;

Har haal tey darguzhast;

Halal ast burdan;

Ba shamsheer dast.

However, the actual lines are:

Chun kar az hameh heel-te dar guzasht halal ast burdan b-shamsheer dast…

Utmost care needs to be taken while quoting lines from scriptures.

JASWANT S. GANDAM, Phagwara

MOHAMMAD AFZAL, Nabha

All about Amrita

I read “Gifted Sahir” (Saturday Extra, Feb 19). Though Amrita was little known outside Punjab, she has been painted as a gifted poet by the writer:

The point was so worth

It gave me mirth

Made me to some task

Now bound to ask

As thy vision so right

I thought and thought it might

Come and lit me a light

Through thine deep sight

VEENA KAUL, Panchkula

New lifestyle: Bond beyond office I read the piece, “Mixed Living” by Anman Suresh (Spectrum, March 13). Staying in liberated, mixed accommodations is not a healthy trend. It is a truth universally acknowledged that “a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”. Busy young people are picking mixed chummeries, which give them the opportunity to bond beyond office and relate to each other as individuals rather than male or female colleagues. Living of males and females together before marriage is not acceptable in Indian culture as it is against social ethics. Multinational companies provide mixed chummeries not only to cut costs but also to provide busy youngsters with an opportunity to strike a sustainable rapport beyond the confines of the office chambers. However, if mixed chummeries are to be accepted as part of the new-age lifestyles, the good and bad points given by the writer are worthy of consideration to make such relations more comfortable and happier. HARISH K. MONGA,, Ferozepore