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L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

Santa Claus

Khushwant Singh (Saturday Extra, January 14) celebrated Christmas as best as he could because he was uncertain of celebrating another Christmas. Having grown up reading his work, I can only wish this Santa Claus of Indian Journalism a long life and quote a couplet from Shahryar's poetry : Zindagi jab bhi teri bazm mein laati hai hamein, Ye zamin chaand se behatar nazar aati hai hamein"

Rajesh C Bali Jalandhar

Miles away

There was a serious error in Khushwant Singh's column
(Saturday Extra, January 7) . He says Yuba City is in Mexico but in reality Yuba City is about 40 miles north of Sacramento, the capital of California in the United States and is about 1000 Kms away from the Mexican border. Yuba City is about two hours' drive from San Fransisco and home to about 15,000 Punjabis. It has five Gurdwaras, a mosque, a Hindu temple and two Punjabi churches.

Jasbir S Kang Yuba City, CA, USA

Breaking free

Women want to spend some time with their own selves but they can seldom do so (Breaking Free, Saturday Extra, January 14). They are always accompanied by families and they are always required to play different roles. So, there is no surprise if some of us are trying to get more out of life, find out a life beyond home. It is not a sin to pursue hobbies, nurture the individual within and to make use of the talent we have.

Anju Anand Solan

Learn from Mossad

What aphrodisiac is to human beings, intelligence is to security ("Why India's secret services need to be revamped" by Naresh Chandra, January 22) and surveillance. Israel, with 20% Arab Muslims, and surrounded by half a dozen hostile Arab countries, survives bravely with dignity, due to its world class intelligence agency "Mossad", can track a snake moving against the state. India urgently needs an 'army' of exceptionally competent intelligence cadre, more than combat soldiers.

B.M.Singh Amritsar

Discounted claims

Most people have a habit of buying unnecessary things especially if available at so called discounts ("Shopping fair", Spectrum January 22). What really happens, one suspects, is that old stock get discounted at current prices or the prices are jacked before offering a discount. These discounted and unwanted purchases are stored for years without any use. But the craze for discounted goods appears to be growing unabated.

Mahesh Kapasi Via email

Private vrs public

Even private school teachers don't pay much heed to the learner or his queries. But they succeed in motivating them to take private evening tuition.

The right recourse (Have we let down our children? By Kishwar Desai, January 22) is to improve government schools, not damn them. Regular inspections, stringent checking etc can substantially improve the functioning of government schools. There must be some accountability and the guilty should be penalised. That alone can provide some relief to the common man and spare him the heavy fee structure in private schools.

Ribha Sood Moga

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