This is with reference to Julia Feldmeir's article Navigating a friendship breakup (Oct 7, 2007).

Friendship is a beautiful bond between individuals. It is this bond that enables us to sail smoothly through thick and thin in life. We all look for friendship and without friends life is like a white canvas that doesn’t have any colours.

The writer has wisely advised the readers what to do when the first signs of cracks appear in a friendship. If a relationship is disturbing you, then you should immediately try to scrutinise the situation. Get to the heart of the cause and make a wise decision. You should not decide to call off a friendship in a state of anger or resentment. For decisions made in anger often lead to a regretful scenario. Friendship is a two-way thing. If you are giving and not getting then that’s alarming. It should be a wakeup call for us when we try and part ways and look for better people to hang out with.

We should always make friends by looking into people and not by looking at them.

Finally, the most important thing is to have an open heart. No matter how bleak the situation seems, never close all doors of reconciliation.

IFRAH KHALID GHAURI
Lahore
 

The smell of roses

This is with reference to Bisma Tirmizi's I love the smell of roses (Sept 30, 2007).

It saddens me when expatriates praise the life abroad, especially the rules and regulations that Pakistanis follow there without batting an eyelid. But given a chance, they would not do so in their homeland. I am a 25-year-old doctor and a British national who has chosen to stay here. Instead of just praising America or other societies, my generation must stay in its homeland and try and change things. It is indeed difficult here compared to sitting in the comforts of a developed country. My generation will change the future, I’m sure.

DR SAARAH HUSSAIN
Peshawar
 

Less than visible

This is with reference to the article Less than invisible(Sept 30,2007).

It’s a true-to-life article that brought forth some hideous aspects of our society. The superiority complex that exists in the so-called elite and the incessant attempts made by the middle class to get a higher rung of the social ladder create a chaotic scenario.

The dissatisfaction that is prevalent in the middle class is primarily due to the materialism which has permeated in our society. Distorting its identity, the middle class tries to become what it cannot.

NIDA REHMAN
Karachi
 

Not my village

This is with reference to the lead articles Chained to tradition and Not my village (Sept 30, 2007).

The two stories are an eye-opener for all of us. There are people in our society who, in the name of development, just fill mouths (and pockets) of their own kith and kin. In Pakistan, different development organisations are working under different banners for the last three decades, but rural life still hasn’t benefited from them. Thousands of villagers are waiting for Allah to decide their fate and only a few of them come out of the clutches of antediluvian rural tradition.

How the NGOs paint a rosy picture of our rural life before their donors is beyond me. Nothing substantial has been done. Today Pakistan's poverty ratio has increased to 70 per cent, with poverty being the main cause of our stodgy growth. People are so poor that they pay no attention to any other issue.

AIJAZ ALI KHUWAJA
Karachi
 

Smokers’ corner

I’m confused as to why so much space is given to a writer like Nadeem F. Paracha in your magazine. Instead of giving him the slug Smokers Corner, you should print his articles under the following captions:

“Zia murdabad, Bhutto zindabad”

“Islamist murdaabad, socialist zindabad”

ARSALAN MAHMOOD
Via email
 

The SWOT scenario

I would like to add a few things to the arguments made by Sahar Ali in her article, Single women, older men (Sept 30, 2007).

In real life, men are quite different from how they are portrayed in films. The thing is that men after reaching their fifties become more interested in younger girls; but younger girls also get fascinated by older men because of the different experiences of life that men have. Also, old men handle younger women with a lot of care.

SYED TANVEER JAVAID
Lahore
 

Correction

Apropos the story titled A refugee’s journey by Jessica Shepherd, it is hereby clarified that Waheed Mustafa did not say he was a refugee. The error is regretted.

— Ed