Letter to the Hoot: taken in by an email

Recently President Kalam gave awards to Indian innovators. This function was covered by various news media. In that function he also delivered a speech. An extract from that speech was published in The Asian Age as opinion piece and it is available over the `Net at: http://www.iht.com/getina/files/232097.html

Based on this extract, it appears that Mr.Kalam fell for an old hoax. In his speech - based entirely on an e-mail he received - mentioned about an incident that happened at a sports-meet held by the National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Hyderabad. Except for the National Institute for Mentally Handicapped reference and 100 yards changed to 100 meters, this e-mail is a verbatim copy of a hoax circulated, dating back to the year 2000. The details of this hoax can be found at http://www.snopes.com/glurge/special.htm

It is really shameful that when our president fell, our media just kept watching.

Sincerely,

Seshadri

South Brunswick,
NJ, USA 08852