“Letters to the Editor” or is it “Thanks to the Editor”??

The other day when Baba was in town we were discussing the quality of newspapers back at home and here… I certainly do miss “The Hindu” and its editorial. I literally grew up reading it up every morning till I came here. After ending up here, I have given up reading and even forgot what actual editorials are supposed to be. How many decades have to pass before these gulf newspapers get some balls to be a critic of the governments here? Instead of calling themselves as newspapers it would be better off if they said they were just press releases of govts. Forget even reporting, the kind of letters to the editor you get here is sometimes unbelievable. Usually it’s a thanks letter to government (it seems for keeping all happy) or somebody.

A typical one that appeared today…

City with a heart

I had finished my grocery shopping and the cart was heavy. I was pushing it across the car park. There were many speed bumps along the pathway. I managed to negotiate a few. And then came a colossal one. I hauled and heaved no avail. As I gave it a second try, an old man walking past quickly stopped and helped me pull it over.
Once the cart was over the speed bump, he turned and walked away. I barely had enough time to say a “thank you”. It may not have been much, but it was a random act of kindness, which showed me that Dubai has its heart in the right place.
From
Name withheld by request
Dubai

I won’t mind these kind of letters once in a while but certainly not daily… the typical letter subjects -- “A true story”, “Dubai police to the rescue”, “Bold Initiative”, “Awesome idea” --- these are the subjects are from a single day :-)

I am thinking of writing a thankful letter to the editor tomorrow thanking for publishing the paper and delivering to my home and I have a gut feeling that it would get published (and of course my name would be withheld by request)