Letters
Welcome Back Ms Valerie Taylor
The news that Valerie Taylor got her position back in Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) was very relieving indeed.
I find it very unfortunate that the person who founded the CRP and had been working there for 27 years especially for the treatment and rehabilitation of poor patients had all executive power taken off her because of internal politics.
Valerie has always spoken out in favour of the poor in CRP instead of making it into a profitable organisation and we all know that the present CRP has reached today's position through her relentless efforts and hard work. She had been honoured with the independence award by our government. CRP is unimaginable without her and I think she has many things left to do for the poor paralysed, disabled patients. We wish her all the best in her journey.
I would also like to thank Aasha Mehereen Amin for her excellent and informative cover story 'The Fight to Save CRP' (June 1, 2007) which depicts a detailed picture of rehabilitation of disabled people in CRP and the noble activities done by Valer Taylor.
Mahbub
Narayangonj
Advertisement Message
While watching the news on TV, I came across an advertisement of some kind of beverage. It showed a young man stuck in a traffic jam. He takes out his drink and sips on it and is immediately transported to an exotic land on a carpet, with beautiful ladies reaching out to him. All of this comes to an end when he completes his drink. So what message is the advertisement sending out? Will people start hallucinating after having the drink? Then I really wonder what this drink contains. The people concerned should think more sensibly before making such advertisements.
Md Shahanur Rashid
Salimullah Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka
Flattery
Nadia Kabir Barb dealt with an interesting social practice - giving and receiving compliments - in her popular Straight Talk column 'Who said Flattery will get you Nowhere' (SWM, May 25, 2007). In our culture, compliment giving is a fishy issue. We have a long tradition of buttering people up.
In Continental Europe, compliments are often used to open a conversation, or show interest in someone. It is part of good manners to know how, when and whom to compliment. It is often an important factor in measuring how social you are.
Nadia Barb rightfully observed that on the other side of the English Channel, complimenting is not common practice and is often misinterpreted. In some relationships complimenting has some percentage of impurity, either of flattery or flirting.
It cannot be denied that compliments increase one's self esteem. As five fruits a day insure a sound physical health, five compliments a day will definitely nurture our malnourished psychological health. Then, maybe we do not have to buy the black Honda CR-V with our black money to increase our own self-esteem. Thanks once again to Ms Barb for her well written and amusing article.
Kamil Khan
Varby, Sweden
Cricket in Rubbles
I was totally dismayed by the lackluster performance of the Tigers in the second test against India. Bangladesh sunk to a new low capitulating to India by a huge margin of defeat.
Everything went horribly wrong from the toss to the bowling and batting. How could Whatmore fail to recognise the pitch when he is so familiar with sub continental pitches? Habibul Bashar again proved himself to not be up to the mark as a skipper and performer. The local press has been insistently labeling him a good captain. His negative captaincy has cost the team many matches, which could have been translated to wins under a prudent skipper. Sadly even Mashrafee and Rafique failed to deliver.
But what was most humiliating was the way the batsmen crumbled under pressure in a batting pitch. The Bangladeshi wickets fell like ninepins against a mediocre Indian bowling line up. Ashraful looked promising but he still needs to figure out how to translate his whirlwind knock of 67 into a century or more. What remains to be seen is how the selectors react to such a scenario. Our players look terribly under-prepared for playing this form of international cricket.
Nayeem Islam
The Aga Khan School
Uttara, Dhaka
Autonomy: An Apt Decision
For too long Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television have been functioning as sycophants of every elected government. These two stations are a habitat of corruption and nepotism and so far all the governments after independence have shamelessly used them for their own purpose. The idea initiated by Mr. Fakruddin's regime is no doubt magnificent and we all should give his team of advisors applause.
These two state-run organisations can now function independently under no political pressure. Nobody knows how long it will take to materialise the government's proclamation. The present military-backed government is unlikely to make it a prolonged project and this is a passionate aspiration of the general people. One point the government must contemplate seriously is that all the employees to be appointed are apolitical and have special expertise to do all the things imposed upon them. The employees inclined to a particular political party should never be appointed to the top ranking positions.
Md. Rezaul Karim
Lecturer, English Department
Leading University, Sylhet
Stop Music Piracy
The cover story 'Pirates in the Music World' (May 11, 2007) by Elita Karim was a timely effort. The issue has reached an alarming state for our musicians and the music industry. And it is the high time to raise awareness about music piracy.
Because of lack of proper management, music piracy has reached an unbelievable level, so much so that more than 95 percent of the CDs available at the music stores are pirated. It is very difficult for general people like us to differentiate between an original and a fake. Both the listeners and musicians are deprived in this process.
The government as well as the music company should take the responsibility to stop music piracy and assure the royalty for musicians.
Farhana Hoque Panna
Dep. Of Applied Statistics (I.S.R.T)
University Of Dhaka
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