Whats wrong with Indian left?
… so asks Rahul S.
My reply: Everything.
This is what you get when you let ideology get better of your judgments, rather than facts.
… so asks Rahul S.
My reply: Everything.
This is what you get when you let ideology get better of your judgments, rather than facts.
This week, Andrew Sullivan posted this beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge from a home in San Francisco in his series “The View From Your Window.” I spent my last six months prior to returning to India in the Bay Area. One of the things we wanted to do was to rent a place in downtown SF, close to the bridge. But it was far too expensive and we settled on a drive-40-miles-each-weekend routine. The drive from the south Bay on I-280 itself was wonderful.
I sometimes miss that part of our stay in US.
We were just discussing what constitutes “geeky jokes.” Here is my opinion, based on the following examples:
Exhibit 1: “My fingers do not have cholesterol because I type too fast”.
Exhibit 2: “The meeting lasted for almost an hour. He just got caught in a limit cycle before reaching to the central point.”
The first example uses catchphrase or jargon such as “cholesterol” to sound, well, geeky. But the question is whether it is a geeky joke. Just because you throw in some jargon will not make it a geeky joke. It has to be a clever play on the words. The counter opinion presented in favor of it being a geeky joke is that it plays on the knowledge that regular exercise helps reduce cholesterol levels… and that my fingers get enough exercise. I think I will go with the latter.
The second example is definitely geeky. A point on a limit cycle would go around in a closed trajectory without leaving the trajectory. So, a seemingly never-ending discussion is kind of like a limit cycle.
Over the last couple of years, in discussions with folks ten years younger than me, I found three names crop up as their role models, people who inspire them: Narayana Murthy, Abdul Kalam and Rahul Gandhi.
I have respect for all of them: Murthy for carving out a niche for himself when all others were just coasting along, Kalam for his sheer hard work and dedication, RG for his willingness to learn rather than be the crown prince (for the record, I am not kidding).
I can respect these individuals and still be extremely critical of them. And, they are not my role models. Abi gets it right when he says that what we get from Murthy is just more boilerplate talk. What worries (if this is indeed the right word) me is comments like this one:
Shame on you Abi.
Atleast Narayana Murty is inspiring the people, what are you doing??? […]
Even though facts were wrong, but many of us did find the article to be inspiring.(emphasis mine)
What I found inspiring about Murthy was that he led the way two decades back; that he build the so-called (by the inspired folks) “first Indian multinational”; that he built a company which was years ahead at that time.
But that was then. The world has moved; in some ways, Murthy hasn’t.
He talks about need for research and science, but is not willing to put efforts where his mouth is. Contrast him to another visionary who was instrumental in setting up, among other things, a place still known to Bangalorites as the Tata Institute.
What I find disconcerting is not that Mr. Murthy is an inspiration; he has earned that Role Model status. Instead, its lack of realization that (i) this kind of criticism does not take anything away from his accomplishments; (ii) that we find boilerplate arguments inspiring; (iii) that call-to-arms, when you really get down to the details, contains nothing that the protégé is required to do, only an assertion that this is our opportunity / our time; (iv) and most of all, in words of the next commenter: “when facts are wrong and it still inspires you, it is called Religion”.