Letters: Readers write about celebrating Eid 2020 during a pandemic

This year has been extremely difficult for everyone across the globe ("UAE residents get innovative as Eid festivities continue", Gulf News, May 26). The COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees with a profound lesson in humanity and solidarity.

The novel coronavirus does not discriminate against anyone based on age, race, colour, faith or socioeconomic status of a person. All are affected equally.

The refugees, in particular, face a difficult challenge with the pandemic looming in their camps. It is impossible to social distance in cramped places. At the same time, continuous human right violations around the world, in conflict zones, has not made it easy for people to protect themselves.

From Mr Samaoen Osman
Cape Town, South Africa

Many Opposition parties in India are requesting the Narendra Modi government to exit the lockdown strategy ("COVID-19 in India: When migrant workers walked thousands of miles home and the leaders went AWOL", Gulf News, May 24). This on one hand will be good for the economy, but on the other hand, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu recorded high cases of coronavirus. This is a trick question for the administration.

From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India

Sir it is with great sadness we heard the news of the demise of one of India's legendary hockey player’s, Balbir Singh Sr ("How Balbir Singh inspired India to Hockey World Cup crown", Gulf News, May 25) He was a three-time gold medal winner and India’s most accomplished sportsman. His achievements during the post 1947 era of the country have been well documented. He was part of the team that brought great glory to India, he was a three-time Olympic gold champion having played a key role in India's wins in three successive Olympics games, in London 1948, Helsinki 1952, and in Melbourne1956. In 1957, Singh became the first recipient of the Padma Shri award, India's highest civilian honour, in the sports category, for his distinguished service to Indian sports.

Befitting tributes to such a great player would be to carry on with the legacy of his hard work, his dedication to sports, his skills in hockey and bring back the glory of hockey in India by winning a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

From Mr Ramesh G Jethwani,
Bengaluru, India

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