I enjoyed Kanak Mani Dixit's Southasia Beat 'Porous societies, sealed frontiers' (#230). Unfortunately, there can't be any open border between India and Bangladesh or India and Pakistan in our lifetime as both Bangladesh and Pakistan have been 'sworn' enemies of India. I am glad the Nepal-India border is open and peaceful. The reason is there are no deep-rooted animosities between the people of India and Nepal, no serious ideological differences, no past history of hatred and genocides.

C P Mohan,
email

. Greatly enjoyed Kanak Mani Dixit's Southasia Beat. He laments the construction of walls in South Asia. Before walls are built on land, they are built in the minds of people. Always remember that. There is also another famous saying, good fences make for good neighbours and when you have bad neighbours, you need fences. The problem is not the wall, the problem is illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India.

Deepika Damerla,
email