Apropos of the news story “Keith disappointed to be off death lists” (THT, September 28, Page 21), Keith and his buddies Mick and Ronnie are not only defying the gravitational force of age but are also being extremely productive, siring new lives with their much-younger love interest.

At 72, Mick is going to be a father again and his newest child, when born, will be 43 years or so younger than his first child. The resilience of the band, their music and their life is legendary. They must be one of the greatest survivors in music and in life.

In his own words, Keith says.”Some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to his funeral”. Recently a doctor sympathised with me that my mom was too old for any meaningful diagnosis, but was shocked when she told him in clear voice that she remembers his family from their meeting 55 years ago.

About two decades ago, another doctor told me in English that my father had a serious ailment, thinking that my father would not understand it.

My father begged to differ with the doctor in King’s English, which took him off guard. My father went on to live for another 25 years after this visit to the doctor.

The moral: doctors should not take age as the basis for human mortality. And doctors, or for that matter anybody, should not think that the haggard people are uneducated and without resources.

If Keith decided to walk the streets of Kathmandu, he would be mistaken for a hippie mendicant instead of a millionaire that he is.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Options

McKinsey Global Institute is optimistic about China’s strategy of emphasis on urbanization and consumer led growth model with 91 % of its people living in cities by 2030 AD.

“China’s consumption: Global growth engine”, (THT, September 23, Page 8). It is very likely that the present population of 2.5 million of the Kathmandu Valley would rise to several more millions by 2030 AD too.

The officials of Melamchi Water Project have already warned that it would not suffice to meet the demands of the consumers after 2025 AD.

Besides, the effect of the Global Warming might fall on the Melamchi Water Project with decreasing glaciers in the Himalayas resulting in the possibility of decreasing water flow in this glacier-fed river.

I would say that the best strategy of meeting the consumer demands in drinking water in the Kathmandu Valley would be to harness rain waters making dams around the foothills of the Kathmandu Valley that receives a fair amount of rain during monsoon and winter season.

Making small scale dams around the Valley would be less costly than looking for other options like another Melamchi project that take a long time to construct.

But the concerned government agency must start its homework, feasibility study and detailed project reports before it is too late.

R.Manandhar, Kathmandu