Shots at Best Shot

Regarding the Feb. 4 “My Best Shot,” depicting a bullock cart drawn up to gas pumps in India: Photographer Jane Galbraith said, “I have no idea what they were doing parked beside the pumps, but, hey, it’s India.” If she had spent a couple of minutes talking to the guys near the cart, the reason would have been obvious--the cart has a barrel that is filled with diesel fuel and then taken to the countryside, where the fuel is used in tractors or diesel pumps to irrigate the fields. As an American of Indian origin, I am appalled by the ignorance exhibited by people not taking a few minutes to investigate a situation that might be alien to an American. Despite this, the beauty of India is its “beauty of contrasts.”

DR. A. VENKATESH

Encino

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I know that everyone meant well--the photographer as well as the Travel staff--but the end result, it seems to me, is an utter disaster. India is the world’s largest democracy, one of the world’s oldest civilizations and one of its greatest countries. It is true that India seems always to be off the radar screen in this country. But that is our problem and our loss. In the meantime, what is the point of travel if all that is done is apply U.S.A. eyes to a foreign culture?

I find Jane Galbraith’s comment extremely offensive. The Times apparently noticed none of [what was really going on in the picture], and then added to the problem. The first sentence of the picture caption [which referred to the many contrasts Galbraith saw in India], is extraordinary. I have taken both road and train trips across and around Rajasthan, and never found myself “constantly anguished, amazed or amused.” I think The Times owes an apology to Indians and to its readers.

J. JOHNSON

Newport Beach