Letter to editor on reading

The article “Harry Potter magic and reading habits” (July 12) was timely. Surely, Harry Potter has helped infuse oxygen in the dying art of reading. Technological advance, particularly television, has impacted reading to such an extent that viewing has become a central activity in most homes. The trend is very disturbing.

It is important for every parent to make television viewing secondary and reading a central activity at home. It is necessary to impress upon the young that reading is an activity that will have a positive impact on them in all aspects, including their academic performance.

letter to editor in The Hindu

Modern parents do their best to insulate their children from poverty and the realities of life. They provide their children with money but do not teach them values. They choose the best schools for their children to score some brownie points in a kitty party or cocktail circuits. Aggression is eulogised, and encouraged. A nation such as ours cannot afford to wish away poverty. We need to realise that we are moving from deprivation to sufficiency not to prosperity. Imbalance needs to be addressed, if not our children will probably live in a socially volatile setting which will affect the coming generations.

Benedict Gnaniah

My son

My son never fails to surprise me. His intense thought process, and his ability to think it through puts him in a different level. He will not take anything at the face of it and he will always try to research and work on a subject before forming a thought on that.

According to Abel Raj he is surely a good thinker

Sumo with cash

If the transactions can be done
With riches and gun
Then my heart will yearn
And my belly will burn
When my friend has it all
But alas Iam so small

Yet transformations cant be done
With riches and gun
Then my heart will burn
And my mind will learn
For my foe must cease
And be at peace

Man will wrestle all his life
For its matter that is right
Heart beats with the stocks
Numerics can help minds spark
Their savior resides on wealth
Devourers of good health

pale horse

The trumpet of ashen and death
Writ large on the face of fear
Will this be an invasion on my body
Or the castration of my love?
The engine does chug invitingly
Distance short with the fuel of fun
The soul is wakened in the unknown
And the spirit flows meekly
When will the ordeal end
To deliver me from the Pale Horse of fear?

Box of Corn Flakes

Flake in a Corn Flake Box

When Jim a hurried morn
Grabs the Box of Kellog
He dumped some on the bowl
To pick a little one

He let the morn pass by
With that Flake in his hand
Marveled at creation
And let the world go by

Will this flake of corn
Ever see its purpose?
He wondered along
Then his stomach mumbled

Realness of huger within
The single flake he chomped
The rest he swamped
With milk for his fill.

Accepting one another

I saw this wonderful debate on TV tonight, it was something to do with women wearing burka and its religious undertones. Shabana Azmi, Kamala Das (Suriya) and many others were there. It was stunning. What I liked most was the way the debate was moved towards how we need to wrestle with such ideas in the market place without hurting one another. The dialogue method in a civilized society. The fundamentalists tend to get worked up too much and the liberals tend to take it to the other extreme. Its important for the society to continuously facilitate dialog between both these ends for civility to emerge.