The other side of small change
Dear Sir,
This refers to your article ‘Supermarkets ensure adequate stock of coins at cash counters’ (Gulf Times, July 5). Yes, your report seems to be correct as I also believe that one of the reasons for the shortage is many people stock coins in their home. Carrying coins in the pocket is slightly inconvenient because of their jiggling sound and they might cause scratches on your mobile phone or spectacles if they are kept together it the pocket.
I have also had the habit of keeping coins in a small coin box that is available in all stationery shops. Recently when I approached the customer care counter of a hypermarket with a bunch of coins, an official there sent a boy with me and he approached all the cashiers and distributed the coins in exchange of currency notes, I was so impressed by his act and I appreciated him.
I have an idea to avoid confusion and complaints from customer in giving back the exact change: just distribute small stamp sized cash vouchers instead of giving toffees, chewing gums, etc., enabling the customer to redeem the voucher on his next purchase.
Muhammed Ashraf Madiyari. Doha
Give peace a real chance
Dear Sir,
The Muslim world is going through cataclysmic events from Morocco in the Atlantic to Iraq in the Gulf. The rapid acquisition of arms from Global Intelligence Institutions in these volatile regions bodes ill for the peace and stability of the planet. In Iraq and Syria arms worth $100bn has been channelled through to all the combatants.
The world as a whole has not been at peace since 1914. All this is an unfortunate legacy of the 20th century world wars, but also of wars increasingly powerful machinery of mass propaganda, and of a period of confrontation between incompatible and passion-laden ideologies which bring into today’s conflicts a crusading element comparable to that seen in religious conflicts of the past.
Armed conflicts within states have become more deadly and will continue for decades without any serious prospect of victory or settlement. The current brutal conflict in the Middle East will continue for decades. No party is willing to compromise, as the combat arena is awash with money, arms and global warriors.
None of the armed conflicts of the 1990’s ended with a stable settlement.The era of wars ending in unconditional surrender will not return in the foreseeable future. The entire Muslim world is facing revolt. Armed violence, creating disproportionate suffering will remain omnipresent and endemic and occasionally epidemic in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan.
The brutality and savagery of these conflicts defy description. Families are mourning under the the cruel pains of widowhood and bereavement of sons, fathers, brothers and daughters. Unless peace prevails, we will continue to witness mindless violence across the heartland of the strategic Middle East. As Augustine once observed, everyone is for ‘peace’,but everyone wants a different kind of peace. For warmongers, peace is all the rest of us bowing down to them.
Farouk Araie, Johannesburg
