In the past Dyson has raised a number of interesting questions and has been thought-provoking, but it is difficult to read him when he writes like this.

I have re-phrased what he has said (debunking climatologists) and turned it into an argument against the Large Hadron Collider so that we can see how obnoxious it sounds.¹

My first heresy says that all the fuss about the Higgs particle is grossly exaggerated. Here I am opposing the holy brotherhood of high energy physicists and the crowd of deluded citizens who believe that the world is predicted by the standard model. Of course, they say, I have no degree in physics and I am therefore not qualified to speak. But I have studied the standard model and I know what it can do. The model solves the equations of gauge theory in the simplest cases, and it does a very good job of describing the interactions of the known particles. It does a very poor job of describing how mass arises and the chemistry and the biology of phenomena we see everyday. It does not begin to describe the real world that we live in. The real world is muddy and messy and full of things that we do not yet understand. It is much easier for a scientist to sit in an air-conditioned building and run computer models, than to put on a lab coat and measure what is really happening in the complex phenomena of compounds and materials. That is why the high enery physicists end up believing their own models.

The rest of the article can then be similarly re-phrased but I will just summarise it as:

There is no reason for the rest of the world to believe the high energy physicists and squander billions of dollars into following their proposed unique solution to the questions of physics.

Of course, there is a good chance that Dyson will agree with the above point of view as well! The problem with ``controversialists'' like Dyson is that they believe that taking extreme positions helps clarify issues. Unfortunately, extremists are a-dime-a-dozen in today's world.

I suppose I should clarify that I accept neither the extreme position on climatology nor the one on the LHC!

• the narrative style is very nice --- question and answer.
• the editing is tight; the movie doesn't drag at any point.
• there are some very nice sequences and panoramic views.
• none of the actors stands out, but then none bombs out either!

As a Rahman fan since "Kadal Desam" (1993 or so), my opinion on the music is a bit biased. His work on this movie is more than competent though not his best. A. R. Rahman has written better songs than "Jai Ho!" and I didn't notice anything spectacular about the rest of the music. Still, it is worth noting that his best work is in the context of Indian-style films, where there are a lot of songs; the background score of those films only stands out if it is bad!

So, I suppose that the criticism of this movie by Indians is largely based on its story-line and setting. This is strange, since poverty in a Mumbai slum (to the extent that I am acquainted with it) is depicted quite accurately here. The plot (like any Dickensian story) drives home the terrible nature of poverty in cities but still manages to inject a note of optimism.

If you are lucky/strong enough to survive with your humanity intact after growing up in a Mumbai slum, then the luck required to win a TV show is nothing in comparison.

It had been raining almost all night in Chennai and we put on the TV to figure out what the weather was going to be like only to find out that there had been attacks with guns and bombs in multiple areas in Mumbai. The attacks in Mumbai and the rain in Tamil Nadu continued over the next 36 hours or so --- with disastrous effects all around.

All this was more than a week ago and so it feels as if one can write about it with a modicum of objectivity.

The cyclone that hit Tamil Nadu was not man-made, but many of its consequences were. The attacks in Mumbai were carried out by people who were human beings once upon a time, but they had their humanity stripped by those who run the camps which trained them. So to some extent it feels as if we have suffered from a natural disaster --- but one which could have been mitigated by humans.

The Indian state and people seem to be returning back to "normal" and this is said be a sign of our resilience.

On the other hand that may only be because we suffer a thousand cuts every day --- self-inflicted. Indeed, each one of us is a minor terrorist carrying out little acts of rebellion against the state; acts that also threaten the well-being of our fellow citizens. Some examples follow:

• we throw plastic bags and paper cups into the canals and drains around our cities.
• we evade taxes and even pride ourselves on reducing government power as a consequence.
• we throw lavish "rave" parties where drugs and alcohol flow freely.
• we destroy public roads and public spaces for our own private needs.

The list could go on and on ... All of these acts weaken our state and our people to the point where we cannot act swiftly in an emergency:

• garbage blocks the canals, which leads to floods during heavy rains.
• the lost taxes means reduced training and equipment for our police and other emergency forces.
• the drugs and alcohol that are distributed at the "rave" parties are bought from the same smugglers who also bring guns and RDX.
• public roads are in no shape to supply things required during emergencies.
• public spaces are not available for relief efforts since they are illegally occupied or damaged beyond use.
• our under-paid police force has its hands full dealing with the thousands of little violations that we commit.
• our police force is so used to looking the other way while our top brass and gold-laden classes are violating the rules that they can be forgiven if they cannot distinguish them from the "real" terrorists.

This is what makes us a "soft target for terror". If the Indian government were to indeed go after all those who are weakening it and terrorizing its people, then a good percentage of our citizenry and an even larger percentage of our well-off citizenry would find itself in the cross-hairs.

To paraphrase what an assistant commissioner of police once said:

If 100% of our citizens are 2% terrorists then it is very hard to catch the 2% of the citizens who are 100% terrorists.

I have worked in the software development industry for more than 7 years and there was no need for any "pattern"-(in the mathematical sense)-oriented thinking. 75% of the work that the indian software engineers do requires plain street smartness.

I do not know what constitutes "street smart" in the sense that you use it. If you mean the use of (elementary) logic, then that is certainly a "mathematical skill". As a matter of experience, I would add that most Indian students I have met are less "scared" of the "manipulation of meaningless symbols" ("algebra") than their Western counterparts. This is also a "mathematical skill".

The correspondent continued:

The average Indian student who has done a Bachelor's degree in mathematics would not know the applications of calculus,

The average "B. Sc. (Math)" student is only in that course because that student could not get into engineering or electronics or physics; this is unfortunate but repeated experience tells me it is true. Such a student is not an average student of mathematics in that age group but is well below that average.

The correspondent continued:

So how did they go astray? The answer lies in the present day teachers.

I agree with you completely. Even good students (of mathematics) will become weak if they are taught by teachers who themselves are afraid of (or are uninterested in) the concepts they are teaching.

You say "The vast majority of people today are stupid and petty" in one of your writings.

I knew (when I wrote that statement) that it was stupid of me to say it but I wrote it anyway (which perhaps makes me doubly stupid!). The reason is that I could find no good way to say what I wanted to say, which is something like:

  I cannot trust the opinion of the majority in a number of
  matters because they have been made scared and blind by being
  taught obedience and faith instead of (self-)discipline and
  reasoning. In such matters, if the latter two indicate that
  my views are contrary to those of the majority, I will refuse
  to follow that majority.

Perhaps I would need an entire new essay in order to elaborate this point of view!

The correspondent continued:

But if the same meaning were to be derived from say, some religious text (say from Manusmriti) it would be interpreted as propagating caste system. (Your theory suggests atleast two castes - The majority "stupid" clan and the minority "smart" clan).

Quite the contrary is true. Manusmriti and many other religious texts promote ritual and dogma (which are two other names for obedience and faith). I did not say that one decides "a priori" that one set of people is smart and another set is stupid---this is decided "purely" on the basis of their actions and words in the context where one needs to take a decision. The statement about people being "stupid and petty" is an experimental conclusion not one of ideology---in particular:

1. It could be the case that my way of deriving this conclusion is wrong and so it is I who am incorrect in my reasoning---hence stupid.
2. Even if I am "right" currently, this situation could change with time if more people start reasoning about things and control their own bad behaviour towards others.

The caste system and other religious systems do not allow for either of the above two possibilites --- they would never admit to fallibility either in the short or the long term.

The correspondent continued:

to see incompatibilities between culture and knowledge and thus disregard everything that is ancient is equally dangerous.

I did not say that we disregard anything just because it is ancient. I only said that you do not use this "ancient-ness" as a deciding positive. Something is not correct only because it is ancient, just as something is not scientific or progressive just because it is new.

The correspondent continued:

What is required is a balance between the old and the new, for almost everything in the world is modeled as a cyclical phenomenon.

I don't see any cycle here. I also do not see any straight line called progress either.

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY

Please take out some time and read it fully.

FACTS TO MAKE EVERY Indian PROUD

Yes. I am indeed proud to be an Indian but have some nits to pick about the list below.

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?

A. Sanjay Tejwrika

This is something to be proud of? The end-product was quite buggy :-)

Q. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.

There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,

38% of doctors in USA are Indians.

12% scientists in USA are Indians.

36% of NASA scientists are Indians.

34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.

28% of IBM employees are Indians.

17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.

13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

We are indeed happy for all our friends and relatives who are doing well.

But the following figures show that they don't really think of themselves as Indians where it counts.

• Expatriate(NRI) Foreign Direct Investment in India $3.2 billion
• Expatriate(NRC) Foreign Direct Investment in China $39 billion

(Note: This is not AID this is Investment!)

The per-capita investment of the Gulf expatriates far exceeds that of our (wealthier) expatriates to the West.

4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.

And Forbes is the well-known authoritative source on Computer Science---so the inventors of Fortran, Lisp, C, Pascal, Algol...may as well retire.

A more accurate statement would be on the virtues on the linguistic work of Panini and Patanjali and its applicability to modern computer science.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

Albert Einstein.

I like the other quote better---also from Einstein.

[About Gandhi] Years from now people will scarce believe that a man such as this once walked the earth.

Unfortunately, we know why they won't believe it. They won't know about it! Gandhi has been forgotten in this country. Just compare the Atlanta memorial and remembrances that the African-Americans have for King with what we have for Gandhi. You'll see what I meen.

In fact the list does not even mention Gandhi---or for that matter Buddha or Nanak---all of whom worked to stave off the suffering of the poorest of the poor.

BUT, if we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential; and that if we do, we could once again be an evershining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.

Finally! A statement that I fully agree with.

• Step One: Try to ensure equality of opportunity for all children.
• Method: Work towards the eradication of the caste system.
• Practical: Make it compulsory for all school children to pass an exam in public toilet cleaning.