Chucking for mangoes

'Chuck it, it's the IPL' (Sport, April 28) is very relevant. The ICC allowed chucking by first showing leniency toward Muthiah Muralitharan and Shoaib Akhtar. It later brought in the 15 degree rule and all chucking became 'legal'. Now Saeed Ajmal is claiming he has been permitted to bend even 23 degrees for his secret weapon, the teesra ball. The ICC has become like the UN, completely toothless. As Bishen Singh Bedi has said in the past, there is no doosra or teesra;it's either off or leg spin, everything else is chucking. The IPL will become a breeding ground for chucking now, as the Samuels, Naraines and the Harbhajans wil keep 'mango-throwing', as it was called in the past.

Devadas V, via email

Guilt-edged security

The article 'Negotiating life and death' (Perspective, April 29) was very timely and made for informative reading. The subject is clearly a very complex one. And one cannot decide to just send the hostage to meet a certain death in many cases;it would create great collective guilt for the nation. Even today the Kandahar hijacking evokes a guilt-ridden response from many people. The only option we have with Maoists is a strict armed response. And to choke the arms supply. Once the movement is weakened, we then we have to address the causes that led to the rise of naxalism and show some real intent. Slowly and surely we could tackle this menace, but only if we have an honest intent to do so

Nidhi Bahuguna, via email

Clarification

Last week's Crest cover story was about how consumers get conned. Our cover read '20 ways you're getting ripped off'. This should have actually been '15', as the story inside was only meant to list 15 little known ways in which this happens. The error was inadvertent and is deeply regretted. We would also like to thank all readers who took the trouble of writing to us and pointing out this mistake.