Sunday, June 29, 2003		Feedback

Secrets of successful people

This refers to Vimla Patil’s "Ten secrets of super successful people" (June 15). I found pillars of success like "communication skills and creativity too general in nature. The pillars of success like clearly set out goals, the ability to lead, correct use of resources, the capacity to plan ahead, can no more be termed as ‘secrets’. You open any management book and you find them there in one form or an other. In fact these have been repeated so many times that they tend to sound meaningless to jobless youth. Today’s frustrated youth believes that "Nothing succeeds like success."

We have a lot of management gurus preaching to us the techniques of becoming successful. I will, however, like to share the only golden rule of being successful, in words of Charle’s M Schwad: "A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm."

ONKAR CHOPRA, New Delhi

I read the article "Why can’t it be a bond of love" by Roshni Johar. In the article mother-in-law (MIL) says to her daughter-in-law (DIL), that she doesn’t consider her as her DIL but as her daughter only. It is quite easy to say but absolutely impossible to really act accordingly. I think everybody whether MILs or DILs wants to maintain a cordial and harmonious relationship with each other but for some reason, the relationship of MIL and DIL is never as sweet as that of a mother and a daughter. In a home, mother and daughter can also have a disagreement with each other but the sweetness of their relationship overcomes the differences. But on the other hand if the same altercation takes place between MIL and DIL, the matter becomes serious and it becomes the "talk of the town".

BRIJ BALA, Kulu

Chandigarh’s growing population and traffic congestion on the main roads have become a chronic problem, calling the attention of the town planners. One of the solutions has now come from Aditya Prakash, former Principal, Government College for Architecture, Chandigarh. In an interview to Parbina Rashid (June 9), he said that congestion on arterial roads had made the pedestrian’s movement accident-prone and risky. To facilitate safe movement for the common man, Aditya Prakash, one-time associate of Le Corbusier, has produced after years of study a comprehensive plan.

To ensure pedestrians’ safety, Chandigarh Administration constructed a few years back at enormous cost a subway linking the Sector 17 Bus Stand to Sector 22. It is usually ignored by the pedestrians. Likewise, two alternative road links from Mani Majra Housing Board crossing to Chandigarh (Railway station to Chandigarh via Industrial Area and Mani Majra-Kishengarh village road to Lake area) have not succeeded in diverting the traffic pressure on Panchkula-Chandigarh road which sees accidents every day. The de-congestion proposal offered by Aditya Prakash seeks to raise the level of peripheral roads enclosing certain crowded central sectors, i.e. those prone to traffic jam, reserving the existing lower-level roads for the pedestrian and non-motorised traffic and affording a free flow to speeding heavier traffic on the upper one. It envisages split road levels in select sectors.

It is an innovative suggestion from a seasoned town-planner. Chandigarh will sooner than later face traffic jams like Delhi where the provision of a Ring Road and a Metro train seeks to ease road congestion. Aditya Prakash’s plan, though initially studied by Punjab officials, has found few takers. Building costs can be shared by the three administrations using Chandigarh by pooling their resources, says the plan author. There’s so much of "uglification" at work in what’s known as the City Beautiful" that one is left wondering if split levels on certain roads would add to its beauty or ugliness?

TRIBHUVAN NATH, Panchkula

Apropos Smriti Kak’s "Common girl with uncommon grit" (May 25), Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have failed to curb the dowry menace. Nisha Sharma of Noida has done well to call off the wedding. Women’s organisations should ask for social ostracism of those who demand dowry. None should accept their sons or daughters in wedlock. Where law fails, society has to act.

S.S. JAIN, Chandigarh