Illegal for both parties
I think both parties are violating the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) laws with these carpool offerings (‘Man offering lifts dupes Sharjah residents,’ Gulf News, October 19). These methods of transportation are not allowed, nor should people be choosing them. You cannot claim a single fil, even if you knew the person because using this is not legal.
From Mr Feda Ali Shah
Dubai
Website comment
He vanished!
I have a bitter experience from the other way around - I picked up a person for two months without any pay, and whenever I asked him for a petrol contribution, he would say he is still waiting for his salary. After two months, he vanished. Later, he stopped taking my calls.
From Mr Abdul Aleem
Dubai
Website comment
Register carpooling
Anyone interested in carpooling should be registered with the authorities so that the person can be tracked. Apart from monetary and security issues, we also need to look into the amount of congestion the traffic creates. It’s quite maddening to see the number of cars on the road and each of them carrying just the driver.
From Mr Assam
Dubai
Website comment
Resorting to other methods
I am not surprised at all reading this. Due to the lack of alternatives to travel between Sharjah and Dubai, many commuters have no choice but to resort to cheaper ways of getting to their workplaces. I would request the authorities to provide more buses and more bus stops for commuters. I would even recommend providing public transport priority measures, such as bus lanes on both sides of Al Ittihad Road to provide a smoother and more reliable journey for the commuters. This will also ease the pressure on all the roads connecting Dubai and Sharjah.
From Mr No’man Aziz
Sharjah
Website comment
Relieving to read
I loved the article written by the Dubai-based freelancer, Mehmudah Rehman about various parenting standards (‘How well are you doing as a parent?,’ Gulf News, October 19). I fully agree with her and it feels so good to hear that there are other parents who think like me and are happy to be this way. In this day and age with so much competition, there is only success in many fields and one-upmanship that is the focus for parents. Children being relaxed, innocent, playful and happy does not occur to parents at all. Kudos to you Rehman.
From Ms Sailakshmi Deepak
UAE
True colours
This is a regular news item on the Narendra Modi government’s reply to the court on black money (‘Centre not to reveal names of holders of black money,’ Gulf News, October 18). They claim that the foreign countries have objected to disclosing such information and if such details are revealed, then no other country would sign such an agreement with India. Is this a sudden decision by those foreign countries? This is just another matter in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government backtracks in its election promises - as expected. Pity on those who voted for them, I feel like there is more to come from Modi. He is often using his authority to release those accused in various riot cases from jails and favouring in return those who favoured him.
From Ms Yousufa
Abu Dhabi
The Evolution of English
Written English always looks and sounds better when writers follow proper spelling and grammar (‘Facebook debate: An evolving language,’ Gulf News, October 19). However, with the advent of social media and to save time, internet users have been trying to reinvent the English language. Slang words such as ‘wanna’ instead of ‘want to’, ‘gonna’ instead of ‘going to’ and ‘cya’, which is short for ‘see you’ are commonly used.
Moreover, words such as ‘meh’ and ‘bromance’ are not only in use, but recently Scrabble did include similar words in their dictionary. This will certainly dilute the essence of the English language and will bring about immaturity. Teenagers already have a habit of using slang words when typing text messages and emails.
From Mr Mohammad Omar Iftikhar
Karachi, Pakistan
Uniting in a common cause
Economic inequality should be what finally unites the world (‘Thousands march on London over wages,’ Gulf News, October 19). While we all struggle to survive, the super rich just think of more ways to make us fight each other. It’s time we wised up!
From Mr Cole Taylor
Greenville, US
Facebook comment
What can he do?
This is so sad that this man has to pay such a huge hospital bill, what do they expect him to do (‘Dad faces huge hospital bill after brain haemorrhage,’ Gulf News, October 19)? It’s not like the guy expected to have this medical emergency. The hospital should do the right thing and put him on a payment plan over a long period of time to pay this off in little bits or waive it completely.
From Mr Chaz Tara Dealhoy
UAE
Facebook comment
A fading art
I have been working in the field of education for the past 11 years. Over the years, I have noticed that schools are in the process of replacing cursive writing with print letters or tabs, giving an excuse that we are in a new era of technology - a smart age - and everything is being done on computers. Therefore, they say there is no point wasting time in teaching cursive writing to children in schools.
Moreover, there are more advantages to having children focus on the form of writing that is similar to what they must read in print. We teach cursive writing to young people, age four to five, and they do learn and write beautifully. I feel that it’s an art and if a child spends at least a month and a half on learning this art, that it will have lifelong benefits.
Beautiful handwriting on a greeting card is still an asset. We crave for beautiful handwritten letters from our loved ones. Handwritten letters have much more impact and a personal touch compared to readymade e-mails. Forming the letters beginning on the left side, without lifting the pencil is much more beneficial to building eventual speed of writing.
From Ms Shikha Dixit
UAE
Patterns of success
Success is never permanent and failure is never fatal, yet when we see someone succeeding, we can always draw inspiration from that and appreciate the efforts gone into that success. This is because success usually comes with lot of hard work, proper planning and a bit of luck.
There was a period of almost five years in 1990s, when Kumar Shanu won all the men’s playback singer awards in all the award functions, making all other singers irrelevant. Later, he had requested the judges not to nominate him, so that other singers too can get a chance to win awards and recognition. There was a period in the last decade, when the Australian cricket team won all the matches in all the tournaments, making all other countries’ teams irrelevant.
Now we are witnessing a period when Narendra Modi is singularly winning all the elections, making all other political parties irrelevant. The number of casualties because of his juggernaut is rising by the day.
We all know that this phenomenon, too, will have an end date sooner or later. But then, so long as it lasts, one should rise above the party ideologies and enjoy it! We may not get another opportunity of seeing such a stellar performance from another political leader in the near future.
From Mr Suhas Inamdar
UAE
The Bard in Bollywood.
The clever use of the contemporary political impasse in Kashmir, interwoven into a classic tale of emotional betrayal, has been wonderfully executed by an Indian film director, known for adapting the Bard’s poetic works and transforming them into screen productions.
Already having made Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ and ‘Macbeth’ into successful Bollywood works, the third instalment of this trilogy, ‘Hamlet’, is now enjoying rave reviews.
The Kashmiri enclave, standing in for Denmark, and the current insurgency there as the backdrop with the modern scourge of terrorism thrown in for equal measure, the prince’s melancholia comes alive with this brilliant adaptation. Some critics are calling it a superlative work and surpassing his other two adaptations.
Excellent casting, photography and choreography is all making ‘Haider’ a watchable Shakespearian drama in Bollywood. Kudos to its director, Vishal Bhardwaj, now referred to by his crew as “Bard-waj”.
From Mr A. R. Modak
Johannesburg, South Africa
From bad to worse
Things are going from bad to worse in Ebola affected countries and the world community is doing very little to control one of the worst outbreaks of the modern century (‘Winning the war against Ebola,’ Gulf News, October 19). Almost five thousand people have lost their lives and several thousand are affected. From old people to minors, no one is safe from Ebola.
In his recent statement, the World Bank chief, Jim Yong Kim warned that the world community is losing the battle against Ebola in West Africa. Only days ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that ten thousand people can be affected weekly fromm Ebola in Africa. United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon also warned and appealed twice for raising funds to control Ebola in affected countries.
Doctors without borders also appeal for health workers and doctors for affected areas. Health workers are at high risk and several have lost their lives due to poor safety standards and several demands for higher wages and protective suits for their safety. Poor medical facilities, lack of health workers and lack of doctors are the main challenges. Unfortunately, every one wants to save their own interests and their own safety. Several countries have imposed travel bans on affected countries and several others have closed their borders with affected countries, which is also proving counterproductive because health workers and doctors are finding it hard to travel. Despite the outbreak killing several thousands, no vaccine is available and things are going from bad to worse. Modern countries can spend millions of dollars against unseen enemies and space missions, but they can’t save the dying in West Africa, which is very unfortunate.
From Mr Khawaja Omar Farooq
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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