Baker's legacy

Thank you for the beautiful tribute to Laurie Baker. While growing up in Thiruvananthapuram in the 1980s, we used to marvel at the earthly simplicity of his creations. One house I remember in particular was the one he built for the famous cartoonist Abu Abraham at Kowdiar. Each time I visited a friend who stayed nearby, I was amazed at the unorthodox style of construction. The contours of the building carefully spared the trees; along with the foundations came the "beds", the storage spaces and a lovely little pool for the fish!

His critics had claimed that his buildings were fragile and dismissed the movement as a fad. But today, a few decades down the line, his buildings have not only stood the test of time but have continued to have an individuality and character that eludes all those concrete boxes that pass for homes and offices.

R. Dinakar New DelhiReservation

The Cover Story ("Judicial reservations", April 20) was exhaustive and incisive. As renowned jurist Eugene Ehrlich once said, "There is no guarantee of justice except the personality of the judge." P.S. Krishnan has rightly pointed out that the people who have had the last laugh now have not heard the last news yet. The juggernaut set in motion by Prime Minister V.P. Singh cannot be stopped by anyone.

K. Thirunavukkarasu New Delhi* * *

Unfortunately, the voice of the really backward sections is rarely heard and the benefits of reservation are handed on a platter to those who need no such support. The argument that Tamil Nadu has succeeded in implementing the OBC reservations could be true, but at what cost? Most of the affected sections have migrated to States like Karnataka, creating pressures on jobs there.

A. Vani Mysore* * *

In the lead article "Unequal race", the writer does not appreciate the merit in the Supreme Court's opinion that the procedure for determining the OBC population on the basis of the 1931 Census carries some assumptions and that what may have been relevant in 1931 cannot be the determining factor now. As the latest piece of legislation has huge implications socially and constitutionally, such assumptions may have to be completely removed.

Aravind Bhimarasetty Chennai* * *

While ordering a stay on the law on OBC reservation in Central institutions of higher education, the Supreme Court has made a very commonsensical and constitutional point - that a 76-year-old Census cannot be the basis of reservation. It has also expressed its concern over the fate of general category students.

J. Akshay Secunderabad* * *

What might have worked in the southern States may not be applicable to the rest of the country. The articles seem to have been influenced by the wishes of a section of society.

Shashank Pasrija Navi Mumbai* * *

Politics in this country focusses on the symptoms rather than the disease. Poverty and underdevelopment are the diseases whose causative factors politicians have misdiagnosed as caste - and now religion too.

And reservation, with its side-effect of dividing the country, is being administered as the panacea.

S. Hemavathi Hyderabad* * *

In their pursuit of vote-bank politics, politicians have forgotten what is good for society.

To understand the situation, one should see the plight of the so-called "upper caste" people who live in poverty in small towns and in remote parts of the country. The contention that OBCs cannot afford the heavy expenses of education holds good for middle and lower middle classes belonging to the general category also.

You have highlighted the judgment of Justice Ratnavel Pandian but ignored the judgment delivered by a minority Bench consisting of Judges K.T. Thomas, Kuldeep Singh and R.M. Sahai.

Jay Prakash DelhiLaurie Baker

It was very nice of you to have devoted quite a lot of space for the tribute to Laurie Baker ("Master mason", April 20).

I was a big fan of Baker since the time I saw the umpteen houses he had built in Thiruvananthapuram. When my parents were planning to build a house, my brother and I rooted for a Baker house.

Costford built the house for us in 2002-03 although Baker could not be much involved in the construction because of ill-health.

I was quite disappointed when the construction was over because I had to move out of the city to take up a job in a Jharkhand hospital. I had a pleasant surprise when I found out that the entire housing complex there was built under Baker's guidance. The buildings, though 30 years old, were all in good shape and gave us a lot respite from the summer heat, which used to touch 50 Celsius.

Baker was the epitome of simplicity and truth. In an era when a lot of resources and energy are spent on building massive structures, Baker showed us the way to live in tune with nature and within our resources.

Jeevan Kuruvilla Vellore, Tamil Nadu* * *

Laurie Baker's written responses to Sunder Ramanthaiyer's questions reflect his "architectural philosophy" .

I had the rare privilege of interacting with him in the mid-1970s when he was invited by a Hyderabad-based management training institution to design its library building. As the librarian of the institution, I took him round the spacious green campus and facilitated his interaction with the faculty members and the participants of an ongoing training programme.

He asked me to articulate my ideas about the proposed building. He was critical of the prevailing system of calculating the architect's fees in terms of the percentage of the total cost of construction. He did not appreciate the term "low-cost housing" and preferred the term "economic housing".

Unfortunately, the members of the governing body of the institution could not understand his line of thinking, and Baker walked out of the meeting.

He gifted me a copy of his book Laurie Baker's Mud - Text and Sketches, published by Thrissur-based Centre for Science and Technology for Rural Development.

A.K. Dasgupta HyderabadGlobal warming

The article "Coming storms" (April 20) highlights scary facts about global warming. I strongly feel that with inadequate, half-hearted and apathic government initiatives, such media efforts play a significant role in building public opinion and creating awareness.

Until and unless we as a nation identify our environmental priorities and evolve effective policies and awareness campaigns, we will not be able to check the devastating effects of the ever increasing emission of greenhouse gases.

Dr. Vitull K. Gupta Bhatinda, PunjabCricket

Bhaskar Ghose's column ("Cricket as mythology", April 20) was well argued. Before reacting violently to the sad exit of the Indian team from World Cup 2007, fans should have remembered the significant victories it registered in the recent past.

A. Ibrahim North Parur, KeralaTroubled Empire

The Cover Story "Empire in trouble" (April 6) on the stiff resistance the United States has been facing worldwide to its global hegemony made interesting reading. However, the resistance has not become collective because the leaders kow-tow before the U.S' wealth and firepower.

The world opinion against the U.S. occupation is not vocal enough for the Bush administration to rethink and refashion its skewed policy on Iraq.

Sadly, even the Arab voice is muted.Bichu Muttathara Pune* * *

The U.S. has emerged as the global leader, taking advantage of its unparalleled military and economic strength in the aftermath of the dismemberment of the Soviet Union in 1989-91.

Apart from adopting discriminatory trade policies that favour the West, the U.S. has inflicted much suffering on developing countries, especially those in West Asia. But now West Asia's resistance and the resurgence of regional powers such as China, Russia and India are threatening to counter the U.S hegemony.

Bhaskar J. Nath Guwahati* * *

Russia is re-emerging from the ashes of the Cold War as a stable economy. Its foreign policy course based on the export of oil and weapons has proved a success and helped catapult itself back to the position it had as a major global power.

Anshuman Panda Angul, Orissa* * *

Whoever takes the reins of the U.S. administration from George W. Bush will have a tough time solving the problems related to the economy and foreign policy. The emergence of new centres of power may strengthen multipolarity.

A. Jacob Sahayam Thiruvananthapuram

Paradoxically, the U.S. itself is responsible for the rise of anti-U.S. feelings across the world. As the U.S. has indiscriminately used its military and economic power to grow as a superpower, it is necessary for developing nations to revolt against imperialism and neoliberalism.

Debashish Sasmal Rajgangpur, OrissaPakistan

Nirupama Subramanian's article "Justice in battle" (April 6) gives a detailed account of the events leading to the suspension of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikar Mohammed Chaudhary.

We in India have admired President Pervez Musharraf for his bold initiatives to normalise relations with our country, his advocacy of `enlightened modernism', which has empowered women, and his efforts to keep the economy on a sound footing.

But incidents such as Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti's killing show that he is increasingly leaning on the Army.

H. Syed Mathani Tiruchi, T.N.ANNOUNCEMENT

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