Men are sadists and masochists who try to dominate others in the name of race-religion-caste-colour-nationality and all norms of heinous divisive credentials and also relish the torture heaped upon those who are “not my own”! This is the reason why Himalayan woes, sufferings and deaths of persecuted refugees do not hurt our conscience.

However, the European Union is still doing a bit of favour for the Syrian refugees who are escaping their country scarred by a civil war. But no such sympathy is shown for the Rohingya Muslims who are being mercilessly killed and thrown out from their own homeland, Myanmar. The touching picture of the corpse of a Syrian baby on the shores of the Mediterranean had shaken the conscious of the world prompting the European Union to open its doors for the refugees to a significant extent.

In contrast, the similar pathetic picture of Rohingyas lying dead on the sea coast of Coxbazar hardly causes a reverberation in the world! The whole world which pay lip service to the rhetoric of “international brotherhood” and “global village” should hang their heads in shame. The refugees might pass away following lot of persecution; but along with leaving the world in such a gruesome fashion, they also expose the blatant hypocrisy, double standards, inhumanity and cruelty deeply embedded within us.

Kajal Chatterjee, Kolkata

Tragedy

It is heartbreaking to note that over 22 people have been killed and many injured in a tragic stampede on the foot over bridge at Elphinstone railway station in Mumbai, India. The entire story and its related pictures are furthermore very touching. Sadly, such tragic accidents are only waiting to happen in Mumbai. The fact is that Mumbai has long been hanging in the balance, crying for attention of the authorities on the various fronts such as infrastructure and other public facilities. The pain of travelling on Mumbai local trains especially in the rush hour cannot be explained in words but better can be experimented. Though Mumbai is the city of all, meaning the hub of the modern stuff, the bad factors like congestion, overloaded trains and lack of support from the authorities are all adding to the Mumbai blues. For my part, I have all observed and experienced all these disturbing things in Mumbai during my current job tenure. Who will help and save Mumbai – India’s big metropolitan city – is a serious question that must be analysed in a sensible way. Mumbai’s survival in the middle of the rising population and activities should be protected at all costs. To start with, serious steps and proper plans are now required to improve Mumbai’s infrastructure like increasing the facilities at railway stations and on roads. Both the Maharashtra government and the Indian government should pay attention to all the problems facing the people in Mumbai – the sooner the better.

P. Senthil Saravana Durai, Mumbai