Power of silence

This refers to Khushwant Singh’s article "The power of silence", (November 16). It’s rightly said, "if speech is silver, silence is gold." Not many people enjoy silence. It becomes suicidal for them if they are bound to sit mum even for some time. They can’t resist voicing their feelings, and opinions.

Indeed, silence is very comforting. Many great poets were able to compose the greatest poems in silence. William Wordsworth, a famous Nature poet is also mesmerised by the silence of the valley, where he spots a rural girl reaping the crop in his poem "The Solitary Reaper". He goes to the extent of telling the passersby to either stop to view the girl or pass by silently without distracting his vivid attention.

Wordsworth is hypnotised by the lovely, dancing daffodils in his poem "Daffodils". He reminisces their glorious beauty whenever he happens to sit ‘In a vacant or pensive mood.’

Vandana Arora, Sonepat

In his article, "Cultivating the are of conversation" (November 9) Khushwant Singh mention the Bilgrami family that he says was from Lucknow and later migrated to the Nizam’s dominions. However, Bilgram is not in Lucknow but in the district of Hardoi, which is near Lucknow. Bilgram is a tehsil in the district of Hardoi.

R.B.S. Bhattal, Ludhiana

This refers to "Remember you must die" by Khushwant Singh (November 16). To many people the word death seems forbidding and hopeless. It seems to be a black void because it represents cutting off from the world. Yet we all know that one day we will die. No matter how hard we try to push it to the backs of our minds, we all know that we are mortal and will one day expire. Dying is natural and painless. Death is far from morbid, and is, in fact, an explored and fascinating outer world. It would make life so much easier if we live out our time in happiness and love, not fearing what lies at the end.

Renu Verma, Pathankot

Apropos of "Have you seen God", God is not something to be seen. God is a super energy and super intelligence, whose manifestations there are for all to see. The question about the existence of God is extremely ticklish. We can only speculate about Him but cannot rule out His existence simply because we cannot see Him. God is something to be experienced.

Chaman Lal Korpal, Amritsar.