Devinder Bir Kaur in the article "The inimitable Dadamoni" (December 15) paid glowing tributes to Ashok Kumar who richly deserved them. Ashok Kumar owed his nearly seven-decade long film career to Himanshu Rai and his wife Devika Rani.

Ashok Kumar’s name, rightly held by the writer, has passed into the history of Hindi cinema as a legend. He was an inseparable part of the Silver Screen.

S.S. JAIN
Chandigarh

The article was very informative and interesting. She highlighted lesser-known facts of Ashok Kumar’s life. Ashok Kumar was not only a multifaceted actor but also an institution in himself. He no doubt acted in many films, he also left an indelible mark of his histrionics on the minds of Hindi cinema lovers. His acting was realistic. His spontaneous acting was a great source of inspiration for others.

With the passing away of Ashok Kumar an institution has fallen down but the memories of this legendary actor will remain alive as long as Indian cinema lives.

UJAGAR SINGH
Chandigarh

This refers to Parmod Sangar’s "There was widespread corruption in Mughal India" (December 8). Prof SAS Rizvi, in The Wonder that was India-II has talked in detail on this issue. It was the pervasive nature of corruption that fostered the proliferation of a full-fledged industry of duplicates in the bazaars of Delhi, under the patronage of the administrators of the time. Such was the finesse of the duplicates that they pushed out the originals from the market and the officials minted money by patronising these substandard goods.

The element of corruption that was fostered during the Mughal times has so firmly entrenched itself into the economic fabric of the country that repeated efforts to combat it have been unsuccessful.

NALIN K. RAI
New Shimla

The article "She is proud to be a witch!" (December 15) by Sanjay Austa made interesting reading. No woman, even in her wildest dreams, would like to be called a witch. She seems to live in a world of make believe. Certainly there is something more than meets the eye in her case.

Even in the midst of immense scientific progress, people still believe in black magic and also practise it. Ipsita seems to be one of these people. There are innumerable people like her in India who claim to possess extraordinary powers and offer solutions to myriad problems. But they can’t solve any. They only know how to fool the masses who have blind faith in sorcery and witchcraft.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH
Batala