LETTER TO THE EDITOR FOR ISSUE DATED OCTOBER 12 2024

THIS IS ISRAEL!

NETANYAHU, the man who boasted of funding Hamas a few years ago (for yielding political dividends), wants to supposedly end Hamas! But in the process of supposedly ending Hamas he has killed 40,000 plus innocent civilians, carpet bombed their homes, hospitals, schools, public infrastructure, universities, relief camps and much more in the past one year …and, wait for it, with the 4th largest and deadly military force in the world!
Till date there is no count of how many Hamas terrorists they have managed to kill. Only the ever increasing death toll of civilians killed. Oh, how can we forget Israel killing journalists (Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli), doctors, humanitarian aid workers and United Nations personnel, along with blockading humanitarian aid from reaching the dispossessed of a homeland — Palestinians.
Make it make sense.
Please, make it make sense.
The rank hypocrisy and lies don’t seem to end, while human beings, especially babies, children and women, continue to be killed in the name of the “right to defend.”
Every so called developed democracy that has supported Israel through all of this is standing on the wrong side of history, supporting a fascist, narcissistic psychopath in the form of Netanyahu and his band of killers.
—Devsurabhee Yaduvanshi, Goa

MAGAZINES CAN WITHSTAND DIGITAL BOOM! –Outlook editor Chinki Sinha JOURNALIST Chinki Sinha, editor of the Outlook magazine, New Delhi is of the opinion that magazines with good content can definitely withstand the digital boom. Chinki Sinha was in conversation with Pushkar Sinha, director of the International Centre Goa (ICG), as a part of the ICG’S “Patrakar” series on Saturday, October 5, 2024. The Outlook magazine editor shared, “Our subscriptions have risen in the last three years. People appreciate good stories.” Chinki, who has been editor of the national magazine for the last three years, said that they were a “decazine”, as their editions came out every ten days. “In this sense, we are not competing with anyone,” she said. She added that the emphasis at Outlook was always on creating good content and thinking out-of-box. Citing some of their stories, she said they had done a story on Goa, as viewed through the eyes of a mermaid. Or a focus on the Asura community, an indigenous people in central India who worshipped demon king, Mahisasura. Or visited Kashmir, to interview the farmer-poet, Madhosh Balhami, whose house was burnt down in a gunfight between paramilitary forces and suspected insurgents. Balhami lost all his manuscripts, besides suffering huge financial losses. More recently, beginning 2024, Chinki mentioned how they had asked filmmaker Amar Kanwar to helm a 100-page edition on resistance poetry. “We compiled 183 poems from across India and kept publishing them across our subsequent editions.” And their cover story on Ram. “We interviewed indigenous people in Bihar, who tattoo their entire bodies with the word `Ram,’ as they are prevented from gaining access to popular Ram temples.” Chinki Sinha has had considerable experience in field reporting in rural India during her stint with the Indian Express newspaper, and “Caste, education and health are extremely important areas and we focus on these very closely in our magazine.”

PEACE AND NOT WAR, PLEASE
Doctors in hospitals across the globe are strenuously working around the clock to save human lives. So isn’t it an irony that precious lives are being needlessly and tragically lost in various war-torn regions of the world. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has shown no respite and now the escalating turmoil around the Middle East is a matter of very grave concern. It is so unfortunate that even the United Nations has not been able to enforce its resolutions towards ensuring peace in the troubled zones. All this while towns and villages are being reduced to rubble.
Extremely painful to see that respect and compassion for mankind has gone for a toss while humans are being senselessly killed by the thousands and infrastructure being destroyed galore. Further heart breaking is to witness scenes of even little children not being spared. All these senseless acts of violence are making the whole world unstable and volatile, not just in the affected areas but putting great strain on global security, economy and social cohesion.
The world is currently on the brink of an impending catastrophe and all we can now do is to pray that better sense prevails with the leaders at the helm of the war-ravaged countries. That they may pause from war and engage in embracing peace for the larger interests of the survival of human beings. May true statesmanship and peace prevail.
Albert Camus, the famous Nobel Prize- winning French philosopher and author, had so correctly stated that “Peace is the only war worth waging.”
—Aires Rodrigues, London

RATAN TATA: LED BY EXAMPLE
INDUSTRIALIST Ratan Tata’s passing on is a big loss for each of us Indians. He touched our lives and made it better in so many ways. Even dogs got a humane touch because of him. Handsome, yet full of humility. Rich but never haughty. Well mannered, he treated all with respect. One person whom all India should emulate. Like our late President abdul Kalam who led by example. India is great because THEY made it great!
—Lumina Da Costa Almeida, Panjim, Goa

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

5 + 1 =