Abolish dowry system

The old dowry system still exists. It is one thing to give daughters gifts during marriage, but it is quite another to be forced to fulfil the groom side’s demands. And given the hardship

facing many Nepali families, the fathers are unable to fulfil the demands. They in turn borrow huge sums of money, which they can seldom return on time, and thus poor families can never come out of the vicious circle of poverty created in the process.

It is ridiculous to have such customs in this 21st century. It is almost like a bribe that the girl’s family gives to the boy’s family so that the girl is treated well. There are many cases of

suicide and even murder of innocent girls in the name of dowry, not to speak of the torture they go through in case their families fail to give dowry.

It is high time all denounced the dowry system. Such a practice will only take the country backwards.

Rajshree Kabra,

Kathmandu

Summer

The Midway article “Sweltering summer” by Preena Shrestha published in THT on June 23 was a good piece of writing. While reading, I found myself in the protagonist’s shoes.

Truly, this summer has been brutally hot. Last week was my preparation week for my end semester exam, which obviously I spent only complaining about the unbearable heat.

My days passed, just as Preena mentioned in the article, lazing around the house in hope of some cooling effect. I did whatever I could to help myself avoid the heat waves by using

electric fan, paper fan, ice packs, chilled drinks, frequent showers and so on. But nothing was effective.

Now the monsoon is here. But let’s not forget to pray for tomorrow’s showers too.

Bikash Manandhar,

via e-mail

Honesty

It is surprising to know that there are still some good Samaritans in this selfish age. I came across one such person whose deed deserves acclaim.

One recent evening, after visiting my sister at Sanepa, I took a taxi home to Mandikhatar. To my horror, the next morning as I was hurriedly preparing to go to office, I realised that my purse was missing. I headed towards the office wracking my memory as to where I could have misplaced it;

after all it contained precious things like money, ID card, credit card, office keys. Luckily I received a telephone call from the taxi driver and he told me that I had dropped the purse in his taxi and that he would bring it to me in my office.

I was not only thankful but was really impressed with his honesty. If only all the people followed his example, the world would certainly be a better place to live in.

Natasha Rai, via e-mail

Dusty streets

Monsoon is a gift of God. It helps to flush out all the city filth and gives it a well-deserved rinse that no authorities are able to successfully do in Kathmandu. However, when the rains stop and the sun dries the mud-caked streets, we will breathe dust not air.

Are the metropolitan authorities blind to this choking condition?

Something ought to be done soon. If I’m not mistaken, there was the news sometime back that KMC has been given street vacuum cleaners. KMC should use them to good effect, instead of storing them up.

Anil Banskota, Basbari