Gathering news

V.K. Kapoor’s write-up "The stress and strain of gathering news" (July 27) demonstrates how vulnerable a Press reporter’s life is. More often than not he finds himself between the devil and the deep sea for no fault of his. He has to deal, even at the risk of his life, with mob violence, student unrest, employees’ agitation, communal disturbance, terrorism and police.

However, there are also reporters to whom something else matters more than the truth. But then there are black sheep in all professions.

K.M. Vashisht,
Mansa

I am an ardent admirer of Khushwant Singh and always appreciate his column. However, his memory has let him down in "on being alone but not lonely" (July 27). He has wrongly given credit to Poonam, a college lecturer from Delhi, for ‘correctly’ identifying the source of the quotation from which he has borrowed the line ‘This Above All’.

In fact, she was wrong. The quotation is not from Julius Caesar but from Hamlet (Act I, Sc.III, 78-80). It forms a part of Polonius’s speech containing advice to his son.

There is also a slight mistake in the quotation. Khushwant Singh has quoted it as follows:This Above All. To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day that then thou will not be false to any man. The correct quotation is: This above all — to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Basant Singh Brar
Muktsar

This refers to Khushwant Singh’s article "why do the innocent suffer?" (July 20). His question is factually incorrect as every man, whether innocent or wicked, king or beggar, has to suffer in life. As human body is subject to decay, disease, accident, old age and death, suffering is inherent in it.

A wicked person who has amassed a lot of money with his wickedness lives a life of misery and spiritual poverty amidst comforts.

How can a man with guilty conscience, lacking peace of mind be considered prosperous? Prosperity means different things to different people. In my view, he who has no (worldly) desires alone is prosperous. He is self-sufficient and wants nothing more. As such, he is always contented.

A.K. Suri,
Chandigarh

Apropos of the letter "Shakespeare in Bengali" (Mailbox, July 27), the name of the writer has inadvertently been mentioned as R. Datta Ray in place of R.Datta Roy. The error is regretted.