This is with reference to the Guest Column by Simon Winder (Play it again, Bond, November 19). Winder’s piece made for a good Sunday morning read. The new Bond, Daniel Craig, if reports are anything to go by, has done a good job in Casino Royale.
Archit Garg, Noida
II
The guest column was one of the best-written pieces I have read on 007. It has whetted my appetite to check out the new Bond film.
Neel Vikram Sen, Kolkata
Culture vultures
Apropos Beyond the Brussels blitz (Ringside View, November 19), the culture remains alive along with the cultural values a society preserves within itself. Otherwise the Bamiyan statues are destroyed or the Egyptian libraries are burnt by those who capture the land through the power of swords. The ‘theft’ of antiques has only replaced the ‘looting’ in past. For our people, eager to embrace Western values, it is impossible to preserve the past record of our old values.
Naval Langa, Ahmedabad
Of Tibet, and its identity
I am a keen follower of the Tibet issue and enjoyed reading The Big Story (Tibet: A nation in exile, November 19) by Amitava Sanyal. In Carlo Buldrini’s A Long Way From Tibet, there is a chapter on the Dalai Lama, where the author asks him: “Once you are dead, the Chinese would pick out any child and say, ‘This is the new Dalai Lama’. Do you think this is possible?” The Dalai Lama replied: “There is no doubt that the Chinese are waiting impatiently for me to die… (laughs).”
{{/usCountry}}I am a keen follower of the Tibet issue and enjoyed reading The Big Story (Tibet: A nation in exile, November 19) by Amitava Sanyal. In Carlo Buldrini’s A Long Way From Tibet, there is a chapter on the Dalai Lama, where the author asks him: “Once you are dead, the Chinese would pick out any child and say, ‘This is the new Dalai Lama’. Do you think this is possible?” The Dalai Lama replied: “There is no doubt that the Chinese are waiting impatiently for me to die… (laughs).”
{{/usCountry}}Ammu Sanyal, on email
A correction
In last week’s Ringside View by Nayanjot Lahiri (Beyond the Brussels blitz), it was mentioned that the Tejas exhibition in Brussels was inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi on November 19. It should have read November 11. The error is regretted.
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