The term in numbers

A comparison of the two terms - numbers in the brackets refer to corresponding figures for term 1. The subtle changes show, I think.

Classes

Days in the term : 97 (81)
Number of classes : 181 (164)
Number of classes attended : 178 (162)
Number of quizzes : 32 (41) (including midterms and endterrms)

Sleep

Average hours of sleep : 5.9 (5.5)
Fewest hours slept in an 8 day stretch : 35 @ 4.78/day (Oct 24-31) [23.75 @ 2.97/day (Aug 7 -14)]
Most hours slept in an 8 day stretch : 54.50 @ 6.75/day (Dec 4-Dec 11) [54.75 @ 6.84/day(Sep 4-11)]
Days with 4 hours or less of sleep : 11 [13 (Since July 15)]
All-nighters or near all-nighters : 3 (4)

Other activities

Days when cricket played : 1 (2)
Days when football played : 0 (1)
Days when tennis played : 0 (1)
Days when badminton played : 2 (1)
Group treats and dinners outside : 8 (4)

Term-end highs

The last class of the second term was the finance class yesterday afternoon. My high attendance continued in this term. Out of about 180 classes, I missed 3 - all on the day I had gone to Bombay to give the NCFM exam. Of course, mental attendance is quite another matter, and in this respect, I managed to cross the half-way mark on the road to engineering attendance levels!

Jingle Bell
Jingle Bell
Jingle all the way
O what fun it is to sit
In an Eco class daydreaming everyday
(Pathetic, I know...but that's all I can manage)

The past three years have been incredibly wonderful ones. My friendships became deeper and more meaningful as I began overcoming stupidity and shyness. I improved my behaviour with my parents and my sister, though not with my other relatives (Perhaps that can go on the to-do list for 2006). My reading habits strengthened and I had a lovely time reading books as varied as Twelfth Night, The Mughal Empire and Lord of the Rings. I managed to graduate engineering without failing in any more subjects. Learnt some German, again and again. Most pleasing of all though, was watching Vrisha grow up into a smart, though extremely mischievous child. Though effort has not been lacking on my part to mess things up, I have been very fortunate all these years and I can't recall any significant "bad" that has afflicted me.

The second term has seen my happy days continuing. The process of overcoming shyness is well on its way to success, though the stupidity part has a long way to go. After getting acquainted to the new environs of WIMWI in the first term, this term was quite comfortable. Studies took a backseat pretty much from the start. Initially, the placements process took up a lot of time. I think I attended about three dozen company presentations (will give exact stats later) - some good, but most rather dull. In the fortnight before placements, it was fun to see how everyone suddenly seemed to have rediscovered news and newspapers. Events like Insight and Confluence were superb, though I was not much involved with the former. I celebrated my best Diwali in years with friends at Prof. Errol's place and at the LKP. Today there was a rather nice party to celebrate Christmas (Prof. Errol was present at dinner in the mess today - singing carols with his and other faculty's children. To use words which Kammo often uses, "He really is too cute!")

Twice in this term, I was really sad and in the dumps. The first was when I was not shortlisted by TAS (read this entry). Within 30 hours, I was selected by Merrill Lynch and headed to an internship abroad. The second incident will go unelaborated, though it too ended very well for me. My run of luck continues...

My friendships have become much stronger, especially in my dorm and study group. This term my dependence on my friends increased greatly and I've been much the better for that. My contact with buddies from DJ also blossomed, with our Google group becoming quite active since October. In this period too, my reading habit has rejuvenated and I should be back to my pre-WIMWI days next term. Hope that my writing recovers too.

All in all, a really wonderful term. Hope that the term-end exams do not sully the memories much :)

Gusshow, LS and RS!

The Parliament has acted very commendably in expelling the 11 MPs caught accepting money to ask questions in the Houses. Decisive and certain punishments are much more likely to curb undesirable behaviour than lofty punishments that are rarely and/or tardily enforced. However, I wonder if the same efficiency would have been displayed if a majority of those caught had been Congress/UPA members. Natwar Singh took ages to resign from the cabinet and Laloo Yadav continues to be Railway minister. Nonetheless, even the devil must be given his due, and in this case, the Parliament has upheld norms which are appropriate for the highest lawmaking body of a democracy.

I hope that sting operations in the future are executed as meticulously as this one (conducted by one Cobrapost.com and Aaj Tak) seems to have been. Such operations, which seek to probe actions of accountable officials are in the public interest, as opposed to the basically salacious operations (like the one which showed Shakti Kapoor asking for sexual favours) which are of limited value to the public at large. I would be inclined towards classifying the latter kind of operations as those breaching the privacy rights of individual citizens. The former type should be encouraged and acted upon to ensure that public officials have the fear of being exposed whenever they indulge in corrupt acts.

Individual Rights

"We are suspicious of awfully serious collectives that claim noble purpose. Individuals who only want the freedom to see where their talent will take them are our favourite knid of Indians," says an editorial in the Indian Express today. As in most cases, I tend to agree.

Freedom for individuals to choose their paths is the cornerstone of my political views. As I have written before, I rely on application of the right to equality and the right to freedom to make judgements about most public issues. That may be a shallow approach to take, but I have found it to be very helpful in separating my personal conduct (derived from a miss-mash of personal idiosyncrasies and values) from the behaviour I expect from fellow citizens at large. I think that it is correct to give the widest leeway to citizens to govern their own lives.

I agree with the dictum of Adam Smith that individuals making selfish choices end up being the "invisible hand" that guides society to greater prosperity. "By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it." (The Wealth of Nations). But even if society seems to be harmed by the actions of an individual, we should be extremely circumspect in our judgement. It must be fairly established that other individuals' rights are being curbed by the actions of another before we seek to modify or curb those actions. Infringement of the rights of others must be established - mere majority disapproval is not enough. Even when infringement is proved, a compromise must be made between the rights of the two or more entities involved, not simply an imposition of majority opinion.

I have a lot more to add to and edit in this piece. But I will let it remain here, so I that I do not give up on it midway...

Learning from the Best

Discussion on the Section NB a few hours ago - was Gabbar being a fair executioner when he loaded three bullets into his revolver during the unforgettable "Kitne aadmi the?" scene? That is, was the probability of each of his three henchmen being shot equal? The consensus seems to be that he was being fair and that the chance of being shot was 0.5 for each of the men. This being the reasoned opinion of IITians and BITSians (and top-rankers at that), I dare not express dissent :) But what happens when you bring a maths course on probability and a bunch of Amitabh crazy WIMWIans together is very entertaining, and educational :)

The sixth and last term for the tucchas began today. Our dormies came back yesterday and today - including those who had gone on exchange visits to Europe and Canada. Is really nice to see all of them back. No foreign students in our dorm during this term though :(

The facchas meanwhile await the end-terms and look forward to a vacation. Going back to Bombay is going to be great, though the journey will be a bit spoilt. I had booked a ticket over a month ago on the Aravali Express. The waitlist number then was 17, and today, it remains 17. Don't think it will budge in the next 10 days. And because there will be some luggage with me, no chance of fighting it out sleeping on the floor. Will have to go by bus, in all probability. Though with the NH-8 being completely 4-laned, the journey should be quick and smooth.

Being in Bombay will be splendid. I am most eager to see Sid, who is coming back from the US after 5 months. There will be Atish and Kartik too (The rest of the people who're doing an MS will only come next year - that will be an even better reunion, I hope). Devesh will return from Hyderabad for a short stint. Seemed to have missed meeting Aditi on each of my previous trips. Hope this time will be different. Plus the usual gang working in Bombay and Pune. Will be fun sharing stories and adventures. I still marvel at how a bunch of twenty-somethings who have mostly never lived away from home, are now builiding careers and experiencing life in different corners of the world (I know that, to borrow a phrase I learnt in WIMWI, I'm getting max senti here, but year-changeovers induce that mood in me).

I do hope I'll be able to visit town this time though. Haven't been there since June...

Update on Iraq

Successful elections in Iraq at last. This is a year when the religious political parties and Kurdish autonomists, who are currently the Iraqi voice in Iraq, gave further ammunition to the insurgency by drafting a flawed constitution. It conferred too little power to the central government, misallocated oil revenues to the various provinces and threatened to squeeze the rights of women and minorities by giving undue importance to Islamic law. Along with the continuing violence and the American ineptitude in reconstruction, the political sidelining of the Sunni community has resulted in widespread discontent in Iraq, which has fueled the insurgency. The elections to the new parliament, with their high turnout and participation by all the major sections of society, bring hope that the country might recover from the miseries of the past 15 years. It is also a sign that the insurgents' method of isolating and intimidating the Sunni minority is not working. The boycotts by the Sunnis of the previous two national elections this year had only further weakened their status in the polity.

I hope that the new parliament will be wiser in the course it adopts. The constitution has to be reworked to ensure a stronger centre, fairer sharing of oil revenues and a more equitable state in terms of the rights its citizens possess. The insurgency is still strong, and there are clear signs of partisanship in the Iraqi police and military forces, as evidenced by reliable reports of the torture of Sunni prisoners in many government prisons (staffed primarily by Shia officers). Oil output and electricity generation in Iraq is still below the pre-2002 (when the US invasion happened) levels (NY Times, The State of Iraq, Dec 14). Religious parties influenced by the Iranian clergy threaten to give the Iraqi state an Islamic hue. Iraq has a tough course ahead, but the widespread public participation in the election is a hopeful sign.

American troops won't be leaving anytime soon, nor should they. However their role is becoming more and more inconspicuous. It is now, as the Indian Express suggested today (Dec 17), time for the Indian government to take a more active role in bolstering the nascent state. We must help with reconstruction and the training of the Iraqi security forces. As we seek a larger role in Asia and the rest of the world, we must be ready to play more prominent roles in international situations instead of simply clamouring for permanent seats in the UNSC. Our Navy's role in supporting the tsunami relief operations a year ago is an indication of how we should behave. Domestic and foreign policy both have to be changed for India to finally keep her tryst with destiny.

The Creation and Destruction of Wealth

Tata Steel has signed agreements to buy Millennium Steel of Thailand. The creation of the multinational continues. TISCO was founded in 1907. Its Jamshedpur plant reached a 1 MT capacity in 1960, 2 MT in 1993, 3 MT in 1999, 4 MT in 2003 and will reach 5 MT in 2006 and 10 MT by 2011. With the acquisition of Natsteel and MS, Tata Steel has a foothold in Southeast Asia. Plans are afoot to erect furnaces in other states of India, and Iran and Bangladesh. After a capacity rise from 2 MT to 4 MT in the decade from 1993 to 2003, Tata Steel's capacity will cross 20 MT before 2015 (To place the number in context, Mittal Steel, the world's largest steel firm, has a capacity of about 45 MT) . The numbers are probably boring, but the transformation of this company during the nineties is quite amazing. Halving a workforce of 80,000 without laying off anyone - the VRSed employees were assured of the receiving their last monthly wage every month till they reached retirement age (as best as I know) - showcases TISCO's determination to become lean without being mean! It is now the lowest cost steel producer in the world. And it has won IT Management awards against the best firms in Asia (including IT firms) for two years running! I wonder how many Indian firms will be in the global top 100 in 2015 and 2025. Atleast a dozen in 2015 and a score in 2025, I think.

From the global to the local. The weekend's here again. And my spending continues spiralling out of control. We are currently studying and criticising India's continuing fiscal profilgacy in the economics class. Perhaps I should look at myself first. Went to Mocha and US Pizza today, with different friends. Also almost succumbed to the thought of buying a T-Shirt from Westside, despite having a glut of them already. Tomorrow I'm off to another dinnner at Curries (probably), with yet another set of friends. Spending money seems way too easy when Dad simply approves my blanket request for funds everytime I go home and ask. Life was better when I'd a much lower monthly pocket-money and had to live within my means. Consumerism has to be combated...but who doesn't enjoy an evening out with friends :)

References : The title is adapted from RM Lala's book on the Tatas - "The Creation of Wealth." Some of the production data is from the Tata Steel website.

Random thoughts

Since I have been sitting in the library for rather long hours these days, I have not been able to find time to update this blog. Or think of things to write about.

Marketing classes have become very good in the last two weeks. After the disappointment before the mid-terms, another professor has been teaching our class. He is rather verbose, but lately his explanations of issues that arise in the introduction of new products and variants have been quite insightful. Plus he has a rather sharp wit and that makes his classes really enjoyable.

Our finance professor is quite amazing too. He had interviewed me during the selection process and we had a rather involved discussion about medieval Indian political history. He interviewed Chhedi as well, and they seemed to have talked about wildlife in India. And his finance classes often seem like lectures in philosophy! Some people really know everything :)

I went to Crossword day-before-yesterday (the 12th). Got yet another book to add to my frighteningly long to-read list. John Keegan's "Intelligence in War" promises to be about the value and limitations of intelligence in military conflicts. Interesting cases from Napoleon to the Battle of the Midway...will have to wait till third term before I begin it though.

I have acclimatised to the cold rather well. In November, I could hardly stand stepping out of my room after 7 pm. Now I roam around campus at midnight without my sweater. In Bombay, a catching a cold during the transition to peak winter in December was a normal occurence for me. This year, so far, I have avoided any illness. WIMWI's climate seems to agree with me. Hope it stays that way.

Bombay

Guru got married today...lots of fun and good food at the wedding celebrations at the Grand Bhagwati hotel. Also remembered to take snaps while wearing my suit (did not do so either during placement or during the SBC presentations). Though there was plenty of time in between the lunches and dinners to do whatever mugging was required, yet I couldn't let go of this convenient excuse :)

Someone posted a link to this blog on DBabble. It is a photo blog on Bombay, with really lovely images of the city and its landmarks. Sometimes I really, really miss Bombay and this is one of those times. I like sitting on Juhu beach with the sand slipping through my fingers. I love gazing at the imposing VT station and BMC buildings. The Rajabai Tower and the BSE juxtaposed together simply looked awesome whenever I passed them on my way to the British library. The trains of course are the signature of the city. Cycling on roads, competing with autos and cars and BEST buses for precious space, was exceptionally fun. The thought of walking on a railway station platform, being pushed inexorably in one direction by a sea of people, is suddenly invoking fond memories too.

Of course there are myriad problems associated with Bombay - the endemic poverty and vast slums (to which I have sadly become desensitised to), land grabs and mangrove destruction in the few remaining open spaces, delayed projects and an indifferent government more bent upon banning dance bars than sprucing up the city, to name a few. While watching Ek Ajnabee the other day, I was struck at how beautiful at least certain parts of Bangkok looked. Bombay is being left far behind, not just by her Asian counterparts, but also Indian cities like Delhi. I remember my pledge a few months earlier (read it here). I have done nothing for Bombay yet. My pledge still stands though. I will have to search for a way...

A status report on the Bandra-Worli Sealink - the important bridge being built to serve as the second road link between the western suburbs and the city. After years of stalling, work seems to have started in earnest again, three months ago. The website now shows monthly progress reports and photos. At least two more years will be required to complete the bridge though.

Day with the dorm

The evening and night today were spent in the company of my dormies.

First we went to Guru's building in a pre-wedding dinner and dance party. The DJ played many good songs, and some arbit ones. We met our bhabhi for the first time and also rendered D-18 tempo shouts in front of the rather bemused guests. Nice food, good music...a good evening.

Back in our dorm, PGP 3 Raaka was waiting for us. He works in Bombay for TAS, so I was exceptionally enthu while meeting him. We had tea and midnight snacks at Cafe Express (the small CCD outlet in campus). Sharing stories about the past and present is always a lot of fun.

Two weeks (and a bit) before term-end

Merrill Lynch has decided to buy out its Indian arm DSP ML. Wonder what this means for me. By the time I graduate, March 2007, the Indian financial sector should have become much larger and even more vibrant than it is today. Should create a lot of opportunities in the investment banking space in India. Bombay might become a significant outpost for ML. I wonder what working at Nariman Point would be like, facing the magnificent Marine Drive :) Better get the PPO first though :)

The week was a kind of a blur, with a serious attention deficit on my part in maths, accounts and finance. The start of the weekend was good though, with a bunch of us from Section D going to see the movie Ek Ajnabee in the Fun Republic. The first half is rather slow, the second half much better...though I wonder why the very last scene was put in.

It's celebration time in D-18. This Sunday, our dorm rep, Guru, will get married. We have been invited to lunch and dinner on both Saturday and Sunday. Should be lots of fun. Congrats to the lucky couple!

More treats

Today we, Group 7, went for dinner to Sheeba restaurant. Simrin, going to the Big Apple for her internship with Lehman Brothers, was treating. Had a nice time, though Shobhit is still nursing his fractured arm. Our group is one of the few study groups in our section to have basically remained unchanged through all of the three terms of the first year. Amit (Luca), Dibjyoti (TOEFL), Shobhit (Thoku) and Simrin (Kammo) and I have remained together in both the first and second terms. And we will stay that way in the third term, with Nitesh joining us. Though not ranked very high in terms of effort, we have always managed to get decent outputs. Spending quality time doing nothing is our speciality. And I enjoy every moment of it.

Beautiful Sky

One bad thing about Bombay is that the view of the sky is severely compromised by the intense lights on the ground. Except for Orion and some of the other brighter constellations, nothing is visible. That is the view from the terrace of my building, some 25 metres above the ground level. From the side of a well-lit road of course, one would be lucky to spot even a dozen stars.

I remember my last visit to Rajasthan about two years ago. The sky above my ancestral village looked incredible, dappled with so many white dots that it seemed as if someone had swept a paintbrush through the air at a short distance from the canvas. Hundreds of stars everywhere! One of the great pleasures of my life is to look at the stars and admire the breathtaking beauty of the universe. And admire the great march of astronomy and physics from Kepler and Galileo to Einstein and Hubble.

Here in WIMWI, the sky presents an intermediate view. It is much better than that in Bombay, though not as good as in rural Rajasthan. Watching Venus and Mars glowing in the evening whenever I walk past or on the Ramp with the ever-varying Moon in between, is quite enough to make me smile. And so is the picture of the brilliant stars of Orion and the brightest star Sirius, flanked by hundreds of fainter, but still pretty stars, that I see whenever I walk back to my dorm late at night.

I really need to print out some skymaps, get a compass, and get out and gaze at stars more :)

A Century of Trust

Was just reading two Harvard cases about the Tata Group (given to us to prepare for the Tata Business Leader's Award - a business plan contest). Rekindled memories of "Beyond the Last Blue Mountain" - a biography of JRD Tata that I had read less than a year ago (somehow there is a chasm of time between WIMWI and my previous life in Bombay - it all seems so distant).

The history of the group is endlessly fascinating. Jamshedji Tata turned sleepy Sakchi into a well-planned small city (christened Jamshedpur after World War 1), established HR practices like a 8-hour working day and accident insurance decades before any law required them and initiated the group's unique tradition of contributing a significant share of the Tata family's profits to philanthrophical trusts. JRD oversaw the creation of jewels like TELCO, Tata Airlines (the future Air India) and TCS. I often wonder how well the Tatas would have done had they not been ensnared by increasing government interference from the 50s to the 80s. Would Tata Steel now be like a POSCO - with a production capacity of 30 million tonnes a year instead of its actual 5? Would Tata Airlines be competing with Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific for the title of best airline in the world?

The group has of course come back well since the baton passed on to Ratan Tata and economic liberalisation began in the early 90s. The turnaround of the group companies, the restructing and centralisation of the Tata group, success stories like the Indica and Tanishq, the internationalisation of the group with companies buying rather large foreign firms - all indicate the story of what might have been. Of course, it automatically brings to mind the obvious question - what might India's course have been, had liberal economic policies been adopted?

The Tata group is now capitalising on the internal restructuring done in the last decade. TISCO reduced manpower from 80000 to 40000 while raising capacity from 2 MT to 5 MT from 1990 to 2005, for example. It is now amongst the lowest-cost steel producers of the world. Companies like TISCO, Tata Motors, Indian Hotels, TCS, Tata Power and VSNL could gain global prominence within a decade. When Ratan Tata retires in 3-5 years time, he would have left behind a House in strong financial health and ready to compete with the world's best. I hope someone as capable can be found to succeed Ratan Tata.

Sounds like too much of an advertisement for the group? I am a shareholder of many Tata companies, so that's to be expected :) But I simply love the values and tradition associated with Bombay House, the headquarters of the group. As the centenary year of JRD's and Naval Tata's birth and Jameshedji's death draws to a close, a tribute to the Tatas is quite fitting for these pages.

Dull days

Not much to write about. Except that I'm happy that Natwar Singh has finally stopped embarrassing himself, the government and the country and resigned from the cabinet. Why he was allowed to remain a minister for over a month after his name appeared in the Volcker report is quite mystifing.

I have had three rather unproductive days. Did some work in marketing, but otherwise the only worthwhile things I did were watching "Cowboy Bebop" (Japanese anime TV show) and reading Hitchhikers Guide and 'My Name is Red'. Have been reading both the books for a long time, but only in the last month have I really picked up any pace. Through 40% of Hitchhikers and a quarter of Red now. Hope to get started on the others on my long list soon by early January.


We had a poster exhibition in LKP today. It was part of the ISPE course. We had to make and display posters/exhibits on various themes of our choice. Our group chose "Cleaning Water Bodies in Cities." We only began work yesterday night, stayed up till a relatively modest 2:30 am and were ready with our poster. Though TOEFL had drawn the poster very well, our idea was not particularly imaginative. Some groups presented their ideas in creative fashion. Group 14 made a rather high-impact 'banner' about street children and deserved the first prize that they won. Good show, fellas!

Tomorrow's an announced economics quiz - a rarity in this place. Better get some reading done tonight. Though I also want to sleep early. Today I only managed to get up at 8:45 am and reaching my classroom, over 200m away, before 9 am proved impossible (I was about a minute late to accounts class today).

Weekend's here

This was a rather difficult week. I know I need to study more than I have been lately, but somehow sliding into old habits is much too easy. Six months ago, television was the bane of my productivity. Now, it is the Net. I am wasting time reading the same web-sites day after day (even when I know that there is no major update expected), or googling "Tata" once every eight hours, or sometimes even staring in front of the screen hoping to think of something worthwhile to write in this space.

The cold is not helping much either. After sunset, all I can think of in my room is to snuggle under my blanket and go off to sleep. The library is luckily rather warm, even a bit too warm, almost like April in Bombay. It's the only place where I've been able to study recently. Still, my time wasting has reached such an extent that yesterday I went to the library, and within minutes fell asleep on the table!

And for some reason, I have been unable to concentrate at all in classes. Even in economics, in which we have a very good professor and though that I like the subject immensely. It is like a return to engineering days, with commensurate marks.

Today was a welcome end to the week, and I also look forward to the two-day holiday next weekend.

Had a lovely evening in the company of my best friends in WIMWI today. We went to "Curries" for dinner. I was treating, to celebrate my impending internship in Japan and to acknowledge all they have done for me over the past five months. I discovered there that Titli is a vegetarian by choice. This was the first time I'd meet anyone who had become vegetarian for non-religious, non-medical reasons. Not that I'm interested in persuading anyone about my views - but it is kind of pleasing to meet someone who perhaps shares my opinion about something I feel strongly about.

Then, we celebrated Hookie's birthday in the dorm. I'd joined a dorm birthday after a very long time (probably after the first term) - during the last celebration I was in Bombay. Had fun, during the birthday, and afterwards listening to rather nice songs, audible from his room into mine. Hope that more dorm birthdays are in the offing soon.

The fifth term for the tucchas has ended and the campus once more belongs to the facchas. The foreign students who were ubiquitous during the term have left or will leave soon too. It is nice to have foreign students in campus, though frankly I did not interact with any of them too much. WIMWIans abroad on an exchange visit will return to campus with the other tucchas on December 18. Looking forward to seeing old faces in the dorm again :)

On Politics and Freedom

We had a debate on "pseudosecularism" in our ISPE class (Indian Social and Political Environment) today. What surprised me at the outset was the number of people who chose to oppose what they termed minority appeasement - over 20 out of 60 (less than 10 defended accomodation of minorities, and the rest committed to neither camp - I was in the last category). I used to be similarly surprised during arguments in DJ Sanghvi. I guess the inroads that the social right has made into the mindsets of even the English-educated, university attending group are quite deep.

As the debate progressed, it was quite clear that despite raising some valid points, the "rightists" did not do very well in convincing either the "leftists" or the "centrists" (I'm using these terms quite broadly for convenience's sake - there must be scores of variations in each individual's thoughts). The actual movement of people was small - about half a dozen moved from right to centre or centre to left and only one moved from centre to right, but the drift of the discussion was clear. Of course, the fact that the professor leant towards one side very plainly influenced the course of the debate.

I want to express my own views on the subject, but somehow cannot seem to get the correct words, even after trying for over an hour. Let's leave that for later. Suffice to say that I'm of the school which epouses Gandhi's thoughts of "We should not only be fair to our minorities, but also be generous towards them." But I'm also a very strong believer in the essential uniformity of human nature (i.e., pick 100 tribals from the Amazon and 100 Finns, and you will find that they have surprisingly very many similar attributes, due to the genes that all human share). So I think that if we give freedom to every citizen and procure for them a good education and basic health care to start with, historical differences will be automatically reduced to a large extent.

On a related but different note, the government defended section 377 of the IPC which essentially prohibits homosexuality. The government told the Supreme Court that, "Even if it is assumed that the rights of sexual minorities emanate from a perceived right to privacy, the right of privacy cannot be extended to defeat public morality which must prevail over the exercise of any private right." (Indian Express editorial "We're like them only?" dated December 2, 2005). As the newspaper rightly commented, it is not for the state to decide what is moral and what is not. In a free society, the state should limit itself to maintaining law and order, protecting the fundamental rights of citizens and promoting economic growth. As long as an individual's actions do not infringe upon the rights of other citizens, only in the rarest of circumstances is it acceptable to curb those actions. This paternalistic attitude of the govenment - assuming that a handful of officials at the top know what's best for the citizenry - hurt us economically and this is well-known. This same attitude is behind the bans on homosexuality, censorship of movies, closing of dance bars, etc. And we are socially and culturally much worse off for it.