4 MAY 2002, Page 32

Dam personal

From Elisabeth Lopez Sir: While I found The God of Small Things unreadable, I applaud Arundhati Roy's use of her prominence to further the fight against a dam that will dispossess a lot of Indians. As for Amrit Dhillon's fatuous comments (Dam hypocrite', 20 April) about the contempt of court proceedings lodged against Roy, does he really think these actions serve democracy? Who cares if she's vain or did a few book tours to promote her book — since when was that a capital offence? It seems to me that Dhillon is attacking the woman as a way of shying away from grappling with the real issues.

Elisabeth Lopez

Spain