Read many times over

 

 

This is with reference to Prashanto Banerji’s column ‘Thought for food’ (TSI, Aug 12, 2007). Attempting a baptism by fire to attain a siddhi by starving oneself ostensibly to conserve food, or protect the fragile environment, would, as the writer correctly suggests, be a practise unsupported by rationality. However, in the contemporary world we need jute bags as well as plastics, power from hydal projects as well as extensive farmlands. What is of crucial consequence is not merely the end use, but a quantified cost-benefit analysis. The referred article, which is loaded with thought provoking analogies, is certainly worth a read many times over, and I have done precisely that.

V.B.N. Ram

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