Inspirational life

Prof. Randy Pausch passed away on July 25, 2008. What a life he has lived ! His work and lectures will continue to inspire future generations. He will be remembered as great researcher and more importantly as a great teacher. Surely,everyone would love to have a mentor like him.

In India, we always have a pessimistic outlook towards life. We try to escape the challenges in our life by blaming the system. People like Prof. Pausch are excited by challenges. They look upon these challenges as opportunities. They are not afraid of failures. They learn lessons from every failure as well as every success. Optimism coupled with passion is key to whatever they have achieved in life. Not only do we shy away from problems but also force others to do so. We do not want to see a change in the scheme of things. Our inertia makes us oppose the people who try to change the system.

There is always a complaint especially from the elder generation -- there are no role models for children and youngsters in the society. I think they need to open their eyes and look around. Prof. Randy Pausch, Barkha Dutt, Prof. Stephen Hawking, Dr Kalam, Prof Narlikar -- there are plenty of people who inspire the current generations with their exemplary life. Prof. Pausch has taught us most important lesson -- with optimism and passion for your work you can change the world around you.

Indian Narcissism

As Indians we tend to have many false notions about ourselves. We are the most intelligent. We are the most cultured people. We are IT super-power. American industry runs on Indian intelligence blah blah blah..

I am reading the book -- "Weapons of Peace" by Raj Chengappa. On page number 68 there is an interesting observation he makes. I am reproducing it :

By the eighth century Indian science and creativity reached its zenith and boasted of such greats as Aryabhatta, the mathematician, Charaka, the physician and Varahamihira, the astronomer. But as the first millennium ended it had been reduced to a flicker. India lost its technological edge, more so in weaponry. Yet it lived foolishly in the belief of its greatness.

As Indian civilization decayed it became easy prey to invaders. Al-Buruni, the gifted eleventh century scholar employed in the court of Mahmud of Ghazni, the Muslim invader who ransacked India, wrote : 'The Hindus believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation but theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs. They are haughty, foolishly vain, self-conceited and stolid ... If they traveled and mixed with other nations they would soon change their mind, for their ancestors were not so narrow minded as the present generation is.'

Surprisingly, how true these words are for the present generation Indians after their country having been through thousand years of oppressive rule ! Our society is one with high self-conceit and low self-confidence -- paradoxical yet true !

Politics of a deal

With the elections round the corner the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal is heating up. The deal has now become a tool for both the opposition and government to impress their vote-banks with their knowledge of national security and energy needs.

National interests are being compromised for the sake of elections.

The deal is surely an attempt by US to thwart India's nuclear weapons' programme. There are no assurances of continuous supply of nuclear fuels.
Our government has given in to the pressure tactics of US. Our government is trying to convince the people in the name of energy crisis -- which is certainly not going to be solved by the deal.

These are two interesting articles written by Arun Shourie in 2006 , long before the treaty had become an election issue:
Not one concern has registered : http://www.indianexpress.com/story/17492.html
Time to deal with the aftermath : http://www.indianexpress.com/story/17571.html

The articles are quite objective and highlight what is at stake and why the government can not be trusted.
The opposition is worse !!! They do not have clear understanding of why to oppose the deal but they know that by doing so they might be able to appease their vote-banks !!

Virtual reality and Real virtuality

What is reality ? Is there any thing that can be called absolutely real or absolutely true in this world ? These are some of the questions that baffle me at times. What we believe to be the truth , is is true or is it just a perception created by the world that we interact with ?

We wake up to read disastrous news - crime, murders, rape and corruption. Throughout the day you are bombarded with such pieces of information. You feel the world around you is insane. You get into a crowded train --- with mad rush, the people seem to have gone mad , you think -- they seem to care nothing but somehow squeezing in and reaching their destinations. In the crowded train you feel all alone. Next you reach your college or workplace. Again you feel the system has gone terribly wrong and deteriorated and gone beyond repair. Thanks to the media and the society projecting things in a certain manner,we have developed this perception.

But at same time we neglect the other aspects of life which do exist in the same world -- a world which seems to be in a state of despair. If you dig deeper into the news, you will ceratinly find success stories. They are no ordinary stories -- they are stories which will make any nation proud. But due to the pessimism prevalent in our country , we are not ready to look at them. We constantly deny their existence. For example, ISRO launched 15 satellites at time -- a first for any nation. India is close to develop a system capable of shooting missiles with missiles. 'Primes in P' a paper which presented a simple solution to long unsolved problems was published by Indian scientists. India is developing 'Chandrayaan' an unmanned mission to moon. The list is only indicative. If this aspect is projected by the media and the society , we may have a radically different outlook towards life a radically different way of look at things. The point I am trying to drive is that it is perception that determines the way we approach life or the way we interact with others. Certainly, there is truth in it but it can not be absolute.

We live in a bewildering world! We believe in worlds that do not exist and do not believe in the ones that do exist. We spend hours at gaming console trying to make those virtual objects achieve their tasks and goals. Reality shows have nothing real in them. But we do ignore the problems of the society as if they are not real. We are unwilling to accept success stories.We refuse to accept rational arguments on the events even if they are convincing ; we would rather accept the 'divine intervention' explanations given by so called religious or spiritual leaders without cross-questioning. We believe in reincarnations when not one of us has seen what happens after death . Not just this, we even see what we want to see !! Cognitive experiments by scientists have now confirmed that humans have 'sustained inattentional blindness' meaning that human vision is task-oriented ; if attention is focussed on a task , our visual system ignores or is not able to capture other events !!

So can I say that, what we believe is a perception rather than the truth ? What is 'absolutely real' or what is 'absolute truth' in this world ? I would like leave you with what the great socialist leader Subhas Chandra Bose had to say in his unfinished autobiography -- 'An Indian Pigrim' under the chapter 'My Faith -- philosophical' ; even before the digital era was born :

"Reality is, after all , too big for our frail understanding to fully comprehend. Nevertheless, we have to build our life on the theory which contains the maximum truth.We cannot sit still because we cannot, or do not , know the Absolute Truth."