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Points Of View

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Best Letter
Changing Times
The 'Back to School' article made for insightful reading last week (Getting the 'homework' in place for Back to School, Aug 21), with its coverage of parents belonging to different cultures, and children of different age groups. As can be rightly inferred from the article, each household has its own kitty of tips and tricks to manage the 'Back to School' syndrome. But like everything else, getting back to school too has gotten highly commercialised in recent years.
A few decades ago, the return to school was about replenishing stationery, school bags, shoes and uniforms on a 'need' basis. Textbooks from your older siblings or school seniors were reused. Nobody was fussy about having everything new and 'designer'. Today's parents are more indulgent. They want to buy the best for their brood - and the retail market is all ready to tap this segment.
This trend, however, stresses out those who are not so well off, as they struggle to keep up with the Joneses. This craze for everything brand new is an added burden on Mother Earth, considering all the waste (stationery, bags etc) generated, as there is no one wants to reuse now.
Many changes that have come about in recent years - such as parents being more involved in their children's education and emotional needs - are good; however, some of the norms from the past may be worth reviving. Just like uniforms, it may be worthwhile to standardise school bags, water bottles and lunch boxes, for instance. This can go a long way to de-stress parents. Also, by emphasising reuse, some age-old practices such as using second-hand text books from senior students or re-binding unused pages from notebooks can really help save trees and reduce the carbon footprint.
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Shady Origins
The German connections of the British royal family were well known to most Brits in the early years of the 20th century (The Royal Conundrum, Aug 21). Great Britain had, in fact, allied with Prussia (which formed Germany) in the early 19th century to defeat France, which was ruled by Napoleon. The same royal connec-tions may have helped cement their alliance during that period. It was only when Germany was formed from the union of Prussian states by Otto von Bismarck and grew into great power by the mid 19th century that Great Britain grew wary of it.
By WWI, the German ancestry of the British royal family was well into its third generation. It was during WWI that Lord Mountbatten's father changed his family name and anglicised it. From Germany too, there was a soft spot for Great Britain and admiration for its empire. Hitler even considered Britain an ally and is said to have made efforts in that direction. He did not hate Britain like he did Russia and France.
In Britain, it wasn't just some of the royals; quite a few influential people were enamoured by Hitler and Nazi Germany. The dictator even made it to the front page of Time magazine (as Man of the Year in 1938). In the US, famous personalities like Charles Lindbergh (another name of German origin) supported many of Hitler's views. By this reckoning, the alleged support for Nazi Germany by some members of the British royal family could just have been a common trend in the Western world during that period, although the same would obviously appear scandalous now.
Pradeep Menon, Dubai
Healthy Hopes
William Shakespeare once wrote that "our bodies are our gardens; our wills are our gardeners".
Making the choice to eat healthier food is clearly not a passing trend - there is a growing awareness today about following a balanced and nutritious diet. We have grown up hearing the saying, 'If it tastes too good, it can't be good for you'. It is easy to succumb to unhealthy food due to the lack of time and, of course, conveniently located drive-thru chains. But clearly there are chefs bent on breaking these stereotypes today - take the Love Food chefs featured last week, for example (Bringing Paleo to your Doorstep, Aug 21). I have to say I was unfamiliar with the Paleo diet myself, before reading this piece. It seems like a great concept and is certainly gaining momentum. If nothing else, it shows that there is a paradigm shift in food preferences happening around us these days. And readers like myself are grateful for the options available.
Aparna Jeyaraman, by email
For years, I have been reading about various diets and their requirements, always sighing the same sentiment in the end: "Who has the time to maintain such discipline?" Takeaway has, more or less, always signified junk food - something that comes to you in a jiffy and is packed with taste. as well as unhealthy ingredients and a lot of oil. The new concept delivering Paleo food gives one hope. I wish these two chefs - and their brilliant concept - the very best, and hope we can grow accustomed to and stick with it in the long run.
Schahzad Amin, by email