Blame lyricists

In the article ‘Popular culture and the male gaze’ (January 1), the writer has rightly reminded us of the cheap lyrics sung by singer Honey Singh which have the potential of misleading our youth in a big way. The singer was forced to cancel many of his recent programmes in the wake of the Delhi gang-rape.

This is the right time to strike at the roots of irresponsible work in their respective fields by some persons, which our TV soaps, advertisements and Bollywood movies directly or indirectly promote.

Such programmes are quite degenerative in their essential content and capable of promoting a woman’s body as an object. We must try to arrest the spread of such a "poisonous" popular culture which is turning us into self-obsessed, mindless and culturally bankrupt human beings.

Dr RAJ BAHADUR  YADAV, Fatehabad

II

Music is usually considered as a tool to spread harmony and peace and as an ode to woman’s beauty. When one sees singer Honey Singh carrying a gun and showing vulgar gestures towards women in his videos, one wonders what he is trying to prove and promote. Videos and lyrics of such songs definitely are taking the youth in the wrong direction and are making a wrong impression on youngsters. Such elements should not be allowed to pollute our culture and should be dealt with strictly by law and boycotted socially.

Dr AMANDEP SINGH, Patiala

Road vigilance

Many precious lives are lost in accidents where cars and other vehicles ram into stationary trucks parked wrongly on the roadside by illiterate truck drivers. Most of the drivers are either ignorant of traffic rules or do not bother to obey them. In many cases, the trucks are driven by the "cleaners" who neither have a valid driving licence nor the experience in driving heavy vehicles on busy highways.

To add to it, there is no check on illegal driving or parking of vehicles on highways. The licensing authorities also do not test the would-be drivers on their knowledge about driving skills and rules before issuing them driving licences.

Also, as advised in the editorial ‘Lost to fog’ (January 1) motorists must be careful themselves, check weather conditions before undertaking long journeys on highways and must check all the parts of the vehicle before undergoing any journey.

R K KAPOOR, Chandigarh

NET ability

A good teacher’s abilities might be selfsufficient even without his or her being good at reason and logic (Rana Nayar’s article 'UGC NET: Whose ‘eligibility’ is at stake, after all?' January 1). I cannot believe that Paper 1 can be an effective instrument to sift genuine language or literature teachers. It shows a deep lack of insight on the part of the UGC. The creativity, the in-depth-knowledge and understanding so central to language and literature can hardly be acknowledged by objective papers. Today people with zero interest in literature and zero aptitude for teaching are clearing NET.

GURLEEN KAUR, Jalandhar