Duty towards soldiers

AS our brave soldiers and their officers are engaged in Kargil to get every inch of Indian territory vacated, all countrymen have their duty towards the brave sons of the motherland. Each of them should put this question to himself/herself and seek its answer: What can I do for them?

They will find hundreds of ways to help the cause of the martyrs and their families. They should come in a big way. The rich and the affluent should set examples for others to follow. The country looks particularly to the creamy layer, some of the richest people of the world living in India. If some can offer crores of rupees to trust-owners and others, why can’t they be so generous towards this noblest cause on earth? After all, human life is the most precious asset. Also, the families of the martyrs are to be helped and encouraged on a long-term basis — which requires immense resources, and constant goodwill.

No doubt, huge funds are spontaneously pouring in, and the country has awakened. However, much more needs to be done. One is reminded of the Crimian War situation and the large number of wounded soldiers who needed care and medical aid. In a letter to the editor of The Times an appeal was made.

Will daughters of England not heed to the need of the wounded and come forward to nurse them in the hospitals?

This inspired women like Florence, who with a batch of nurses gave the lead in the noble task. Our country too at this juncture expects her all sons and daughters to rise and hear her call for full succour and support in cash and kind.

It is also to be ensured that the money and materials thus collected are used only on and for the soldiers’ families in the best possible way. We should have a second look at our national, state and individual priorities and plans, as all should become wise after an experience. According to one opinion survey, the people of our country have the highest opinion of army personnel, and the lowest about political masters. It is time the politicians too looked inward so as to improve their image and learn to see beyond their nose.

We should learn to give more respect to the soldiers. As Dryden sang long back: “None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave, deserve the fair.”

ATMA RAM
Dharmsala

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Doomsday alarm

Over 400 years ago, a Frenchman named Nostradamus predicted the end of the world in July, 1999.

In the seventh month of 1999, the King of Terror would descend from the sky and shatter the planet earth to bits, he said. He was no astrologer; he was a clairvoyant, to whom future ages and centuries were as clear as daylight. Why did God select Nostradamus for this job of seeing the future; had he run short of Prophets and Apostles?

The fateful date predicted was July 4. Thank God, that is past. Not a dog barked. The USA’s independence day it was.

Nostradamus wrote one thousand quatrains each of which could be interpreted in different ways. That is the astrologer’s trick to keep an escape route open.

No one gives a clear-cut date of the death (murder) of a President or a Prime Minister. But after the event does take place, all of them clamour that they had predicted it six months ago and published it in that paper. They predict the post-event retrospectively.

This King of Terror has been interpreted to mean the rain of atom bombs and hydrogen bombs that will poison the whole air, and send humanity to its doom — so our earth (like the moon) will keep on spinning blindly in the space lifeless, cold and purposeless.

On May 8, 1999, there was Ashta-Grahi (eight planets collected in one Rashi or the sign of the Zodiac). Then too the world narrowly escaped total disaster.

In 1962 (much before the China war) there was another Ashta-Grahi and nothing happened.

Some have explained the King of Terror to be a large solar eclipse. Certainly there is going to be a total solar eclipse on August 11, 1999. Totality will not be visible in North India and a lunar eclipse (partial) on July 28. But so many eclipses come and go. We have lost count of the mentality of gullible people in that the past prophets of doom proved false, but the latest catastrophe is a major threat.

Nostradamus’ prediction brought needless worry, tension and fear of the worst to countless persons all over the globe. Who is responsible for causing such massive misery and anxiety (all false)?

Who is the gainer? Only Nostradamus. Press reports say that 5,000 books have been written on him, and his name has appeared four million times on the Internet. If he had spent billions and trillions on advertisements on the electronic and other media he would not have secured even a fraction of such global publicity, all free of cost.

P.D. SHASTRI
Chandigarh

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Hysteria over an award

The editorial “Hysteria v. patriotism” about the return of Nishan-e-Imtiaz by Dilip Kumar reflects the feelings of a very balanced mind.

I just cannot understand why there is so much hullabaloo about Dilip Kumar’s return of the award to Pakistan. The people who are blinded by fanaticism and fundamentalism are crying like wolves, even threatening the veteran actor whose love for India is a known fact. Have we not seen him as a true patriot in “Karma”, “Kranti” and “Naya Daur”?

After all, what is Nishan-e-Imtiaz for a thespian of Dilip Kumar’s level. It is just a piece of gold-plated brass medal, which he can hurl into the Arabian Sea in a moment. But the way the “thekedars” of patriotism are making an issue of it calls for strong condemnation. I for one am all praise for Dilip Kumar.

S. CHAUDHARY
Pehowa

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Tailpiece

Question: What did Mr Nawaz Sharif tell his countrymen about his recent visit to the USA?

Answer: Bill hai ki maanta nahin!

V.K. TANGRI
Amritsar