Pride of India?• This is with regard to your editorial of April 12, ‘Song, cake, country’, arguing that Narayana Murthy and Sachin Tendulkar need not apologise. Of course they need to apologise. Persons in high places bestowed with national awards cannot afford to be casual about national sentiments. Murthy’s excuse about embarrassing foreign employees is flimsy and quite unbecoming of him. Would Bill Gates have done such a thing at the Microsoft headquarters in US where there are many more foreign employees present? The same holds true for Tendulkar. He is the country’s envoy when he plays abroad. He may be forgiven his loss of form but not the insult he accorded to the national flag. Your spirited defence of such arrogance by demi-gods is unjustifiable.— Gautam Mookerjee, Kolkata• I am unable to understand why on earth Infosys chief, N.R. Narayana Murthy, fights shy of singing the national anthem before foreigners? I’m sure a man of his stature would have attended many international seminars, and given due respect to the national anthems of other countries. Fortunately, Murthy quickly realised his mistake and come out with an apology. As for Sachin Tendulkar cutting a cake decorated with the colours of the Indian Tricolour, those who defend him say that he did not realise the colours of the cake he was suddenly asked to cut. If Tendulkar is blind to colours, then how can anyone expect him to see a ball coming at him from a distance of 22 yards at the speed of 150 km?— Bidyut K. Chatterjee, FaridabadWalk the LoC• This refers to the letter, ‘Kashmir skirted’ by Parimal Mehta (IE, April 11). While he is correct in stating that addressing the Kashmir issue should not be delayed any more, he is not correct in blaming Manmohan Singh for not taking a definite stance on the subject. Not only Manmohan Singh, but even his predecessors have clearly told Pakistan and the world that India will not accept the further partition of the country. Further, after the signing of the Instrument of Accession by Maharaja Hari Singh, the whole of J&K state, including the northern territories, have become an integral part of India. Now everyone knows that this stand is not acceptable to Pakistan. I therefore suggest the following compromise. (1) Pakistan to accept the accession of J&K to India (2) India to give perpetual lease to Pakistan for the present area of old J&K state, currently under Pakistan control. (3) The LoC remains but with more trade routes opened up.— R.P. Desai, Mumbai
