What goes around, comes around
What the Kuwaiti blogger Sondos Al Qattan said in a video was very sad (“Kuwait influencer not sorry for Filipino worker remark”, Gulf News, July 24). Honestly, she should be ashamed for her comments she made about domestic helpers. They are human beings like us. No one is better than anyone, and just because someone is from a privileged class, does not give them any right to take advantage of someone. She should use her success to help and support people less fortunate than her. Now, some of the brands she used to endorse have already cancelled their sponsorship with her. If you are nice, life will be nice to you.
From Ms Emanuela Al Khalifa
Dubai
Facebook comment
Kiki, do you love me?
The new viral #KikiChallenge or the #InMYFeelings challenge is ridiculous (“Online video challenge can lead to Dh2,000 fine, 23 black points in UAE”, Gulf News, July 24). We are in a world where social media dominates our lives and everyone wants to fit into this digital group. The challenge has created quite a stir online and people are taking videos of themselves doing all sorts of dangerous things, just to be a part of the trend. The challenge comes after a comedian posted a video of himself dancing to singer Drake’s new song “In my feelings”. Since then, the hashtag has broken the internet. To an extent, the problem does not exist with the song or the challenge but the way people have interpreted it. People should be more responsible. There is nothing wrong with dancing to the song at home and taking a video of it but doing it on the highway or in a parking lot? For every young millennial, everything is fun and games till someone gets hurt. And in this challenge, quite a few have.
From Ms Alia Mathur
Dubai
Intolerance at its peak
The other day, young political activists threw black oil at the office of Congress Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor to vent their unhappiness at his words (“Hindu Pakistan: BJP activists vandalise Shashi Thatoor’s office”, Gulf News, July 17). I believe the whole show was stage managed by the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and its workers. It is unfortunate that a progressive country like India keeps having instances like these. Most political workers seem to have become narrow minded and fail to give equal rights to the members of other political parties. India is supposed to be the largest democracy. What has happened?
From Mr Thomas Matthew
India
Winning hearts
The Fifa World Cup final was thrilling to watch (“Hugs, Smiles and warmth: Croatian President wins hearts”, Gulf News, July 18). It was nice to see Croatia come so far in the tournament. The way they handled themselves even in defeat was remarkable. The Croatian President should also be commended for her attitude and sportsman spirit. She has sent an example on an international platform of how a world leader should behave and respond to her people. She was kind and met every player and all the officials gracefully. The way she consoled and comforted Croatian Captain Luka Modric was very sweet. They might have not won the cup but all newspapers are right when they say that they won the hearts of the world. With respect to Modric, he is a rising star and definitely has many more world cups left. This was a very exciting football season and I wish it lasted for more than a month.
From Saumya Khanna
Dubai, UAE
Indians rising
The recent revelation that India’s Reliance Industry’s Mukesh Ambani is overtaking Asia’s richest man is good news for India (“Billionaire Ambani topples Jack Ma as Asia’s richest person”, Gulf News, July 14). Reliance is known for its oil and gas energy sector and telecom industry in India, which is important. Built by his father, Dhirubhai Ambani, the group has grown tremendously. Kudos to the Ambani family.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Denver, USA
Be their friend, not enemy
Generally, strict parents scold, command, order and set fixed limits for their children. Authoritarian or dictatorial styles of parenting help control a child’s behaviour. Children of such parents end up bottling up a lot of their feelings and hesitate to share their apprehensions or open up about their grievances as they grow up. No child wants to be monitored and regulated all the time as it creates discomfort and suffocation. As tender, fragile and developing human beings, they require their freedom and seek empathy and care from parents. Too much control will affect their self-esteem, and he or she may become too dependent on authority, which is also a bad thing. They will not be able to take healthy decisions. If the parent is commanding and strict, there are high chances the child will be secretive and might even resort to lying, for fear of being reprimanded and ridiculed by the parent. Parent-child relationships fostered on authority or strictness never last long. Amicable style of parenting requires lots of patience and support, so that when children behave badly, it can be rectified and they can be spoken to about it. Children need understanding and empathetic parents, who act more like a friend, rather than someone who can dominate them. Instead of viewing children as an extension of parents, we have to also view them as a person in their own right, where our duty is to patiently teach them to gradually develop the sense of good and bad choices, accepting responsibility for their actions. Parents need to motivate their children to think and act, rather than react. We need to talk to them openly. They must never fear their parents and must be able to discuss everything with them. Parents need to keep our doors open to accommodate all their concerns. This will facilitate truthfulness and openness in the relationship and foster introspection while making choices in life. These relationships built on mutual trust, create more of an eternal bond.
From Ms Alvina Clara
Dubai
Fruits from the desert
Once a desert, it has now been converted into fruit bearing land (“Mangoes find a home in Fujairah”, Gulf News July 22). This has happened because of the farsighted vision of the wise administration and smart way of farming. Whereas there are so many countries that have all the natural resources available to them but they end up not bearing any fruit because of deforestation.
From Ms Sameena Sayed
UAE
Facebook comment
Speak no evil
Big or small, everyone should think before they speak, because if we don’t, we might say something wrong and this can hurt the other person’s feelings. For example if you ask a teacher a doubt and the teacher does not pay attention to you or just says something mean, it would hurt your feelings. Similarly, we should think before we say anything to our elders and to our peers. As a child, I make sure to keep my emotions in control while listening to my teacher, when talking to my parents, while praying to God and when I am in my principal’s office. Many a times, we get overexcited amd we do not think before we speak. We all should think before we speak whether we are happy, sad, excited or angry.
From Ms Agam K. Kohli
Dubai
Smoking is a killer
There is hardly any need to elaborate on the harmful effects of smoking tobacco in various forms (“Celebrities show support for Saba Qamar after pictures go viral”, Gulf News, July 23). Both smokers and non-smokers are aware of how smoking tobacco can be injurious to health. Smokers become vulnerable to serious health problems because of it. In fact, cigarette advertisements have a direct effect on children who see them on television and on posters. Smoking is very common among people who are easily influenced by cigarette advertisements. They are unaware of its long-term ill effects. To solve this problem we have to stop cigarette advertisements. They should be prevented so that they do not appeal to more people and thus, influence them. This will help reduce the number of smokers today. The cigarette business technically goes against the welfare of human health. Warning labels and graphic pictures found on the boxes of cigarette on cigarette packs are not effective to reduce smoking. The current warnings labels and images are ineffective among adolescents as they don’t scare away addict smokers. Undoubtedly, it is a never-ending conversation whether smoking should be banned completely or not, but the authorities should impose restrictions of producing selling and purchasing of cigarettes.
From Mr Naresh Kumar Agnihotri
India
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