Gaumata and beef-eaters

Apropos of Khushwant Singh’s "Gaumata and beef-eaters" (March 8), for the common man religion may or may not be opium, but for the politicians it is a matter of convenience to be used to arouse public passion for vested interests. The question of banning cow slaughter is neither new nor is it going to be decided finally.

The question is not of being vegetarian or non-vegetarian; of eating beef or mutton but whether we need a law of Parliament for every small thing. Why should we not mobilise public opinion and the power of persuasion in matters of religious faith and social conventions? If people could be persuaded against beef-eating or being vegetarian, slaughter of animals, not just of cows, would automatically be minimised and finally stopped.

Ved Guliani, Hisar

Blinkers of secularism have led the writer to indulge in specious and fallacious arguments. If nobody has "the moral right to forbid another what he likes to eat", nobody also has the right to forbid another from gambling, committing suicide, marrying as many women as he like, etc. He should have known that for one D.N. Jha, there are thousands who don’t misinterpret the Vedas as he has done. Anyway, why hurt the sentiments of a majority of the people by allowing the slaughter of an animal which they consider sacred.

Chaman Lal Korpal, Amritsar

At first glance the article "Life without a phone call — an officer’s brush with reality", (February 22) by Jagmohan Singh Raju makes interested reading.

But the fact that an IAS officer needed to go to London to be enlightened about the problems being faced by the common man in India, left a bad taste in one’smouth. Everyone in India and abroad knows about the rampant corruption prevalent in every department for which the larger portion of responsibility lies on IAS. Anyhow it gives immense pleasure to know that at least one officer has come forward and shown courage in admitting the fault to which he was knowingly or otherwise a party.

R.K. Bhatia, Panchkula

This refers to Geraldine Bedell’s article, "Who doesn’t like a bit on the side?" (March 1). The world is full of nice people with good looks and it is not surprising if one gets attracted to someone of the opposite gender. This can happen to any one at any time. It is time we changed our views and adopted a broader outlook.

The perception that these things are against Indian culture is not correct. It is the people who make society and not the other way round. With changing times, attitudes also change.

It sometimes happens that after some years of marriage, boredom sets into the marital relationship and the partners start taking each other for granted. They automatically start looking for love outside the home. This does not mean that they neglect their homes in any way.

Sangeeta Mittal, Kotkapuras