Idle Thoughts

I was staring at my ceiling as I had nothing much else to do. I was down with a virus. My son gave me an accusing look that he had to skip a party due to my condition. I was reflecting on how I happened to catch this virus which inevitably led me to my favorite topic, Causal analysis. The ultimate purpose of doing a Causal Analysis is to improve the status quo - look at the current system objectively and identify what can be done better next time. Humankind has consistently applied these principles in its development – where complex events have been encapsulated into simple adages and proverbs for posterity. However learning from experience is one of those things that are easier said than done. One has to evaluate the past, understand why something succeeded or failed, device systems to ensure that successes are repeated and failures avoided. As simple as that. But it doesn’t remain that simple when we try to put it into practice in our lives. It is not very different ...

In 2010, when the Shashi Tharoor – IPL controversy was at its peak, I wrote a small note wondering about the future of politicians like Shashi Tharoor – well qualified, polished, with international exposure – in the Indian political environment. Here is a link to that note. I worried then that the environment is too hostile for this new life form – let’s call it the T-gene - to survive. Half a decade has passed and there is good news as well as bad news. The good news is that he has survived the test of time so far. If anything, he is stronger today than he was then. The bad news is that I still don’t see many more like him coming into politics. So the T-gene survives but does not seem to prosper. It is not difficult to see why. The environment of selection remains as hostile as what it used to be. If the T-gene has survived, it has survived on its own tenacity and not by benevolence of selection. Media still prefers Lalit Modi or Lalu Yadav brand of politics. Let us consider a...