Fighting the population battle

Two major threads weave through Joel Cohen’s book How Many People Can the Earth Support? (1995): the insufficiency of our present understanding, and the finiteness of time. Continue reading “Fighting the population battle”

Don’t Drive Like My Brother

“Don’t drive like my brother” is usually the last bit of advice that “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers” give to their around 2 million listeners of their weekly National Public Radio show Car Talk on 370 radio stations.

I used to listen to them religiously. They are funny and irreverent and clever and poked as much fun at the callers as they did at themselves. In the closing credits, they acknowledged the research done by Paul Murky of Murky Research and thanked their law firm Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe. They would also thank random people such as their adopted son from Sweden, Bjorn A. Payne Diaz, or their airline reservation manager, Will Price Randomly. (See this for a complete list of credits.)

I was pleasantly surprised when I recently learnt that Tom and Ray Magliozzi (Click and Clack) were the speakers at MIT’s Commencement Exercises in June 1999. Here is part of a MIT news item on the event.

They received tongue-in-cheek letters from MIT President Charles M. Vest explaining that both the United Nations and the President of the United States had “really spiffy flags” that came in handy to “cheer up a drab corner of the campus.”

So, not to be outdone, the Magliozzi brothers created a flag. Their flag — purple, red and black on a white background — is 4-by-6, emblazoned with the slogan Non Impediti Ratione Cogitatonis (Unencumbered by the Thought Process) surrounding a seal showing the fins, taillights and bumper of a 1959 Cadillac, complete with a raccon tail on the trunk. They say it memorializes the rear end of Tom’s recently deceased 1963 Dodge Dart. The flag flew on the podium alongside the US and state flags.

In their rambling, hour-long address, the brothers occasionally jockeyed for position at the podium, yelled “Stop it!” and “Behave!” at each other and laughed harder than almost anyone in the audience at their own jokes. Their speech was accompanied by hand-made graphs on posterboard that showed the relationship between happiness levels for “left brain vs. right brain” individuals.

Although each brother seemed loath to give the other the last word, Ray finally managed with: “Have fun, enjoy the ride and don’t drive like my brother.”

The address is a must read. I read it because it was delivered at what C&C said “is the world’s foremost institute of technology on Massachusetts Avenue” but I guarantee that you will not have wasted your time for having read it as well.

Netaji’s Ghost: The Freedom Struggle

Didn’t know much about history, Indian or otherwise when I was in school. I went to a missionary school and I recall reading about English history (King Arthur comes to mind) and a bit about Indian history (Chattrapati Shivaji figured along with all sorts of Mughal emperors) but there was no attempt at communicating what I call a sense of history or instilling a spirit of inquiry about the history of India. My school did alright when it come to science and mathematics, but failed dismally in the social sciences.
Continue reading “Netaji’s Ghost: The Freedom Struggle”

From Francois Gautier

Dear friends,

As you know one of the biggest problems today is that Indian journalists are not always proud of their own culture and roots and as result tend to have a very negative outlook on India, which in turn influences western correspondents posted in India. It is therefore very important that we train a new generation of Indian journalists. It is for this purpose that we have started a new school of journalism in Bangalore called the Sri Sri Center for Media studies. There, we teach the best of journalistic knowledge, both print and electronic, along with classes (which I take myself) on Indian history, the ideal of true journalism and a little bit coaching in pranayama and meditation these two ancient Indian sciences which impart a good and intuitive mind.
Continue reading “From Francois Gautier”

Gordon’s New Zealand

A couple of weeks ago, I went with my friend and colleague Shrikant Patil to New Zealand to understand the New Zealand schooling system.

I loved New Zealand for a number of reasons — its natural beauty and what the people have been able to do with the natural resources of that country. It is a prosperous and egalitarian nation of friendly people with a great sense of humor. (See “Even Hell has its Standards“.)

Gordon Dryden was our friend, philosopher, teacher and guide. I think I can do worse than point you to The World of New Zealand According to Gordon Dryden.

Raural Development

I have been associated with India Rural Development Fund (IRDF) from its very inception many years ago. IRDF was started by my friend Uday Kumar when we were both working for HP in the Valley and it does a remarkable job of providing primary education to many villages in Andhra Pradesh.

Since I am listed on the “About Us” page of the IRDF website, I do occassionally get emails from various agencies working in rural areas. I got one today which I think is too good to keep to myself. Here it is — for the record — the email with the subject heading “Raural Development.”

sir,
first of all my heads off to u and ur team.
i shall take this opportunity to introduce myself,
i m a citizen of village thaura, block rewsa.
sir, v villagers wana do some innovative task for the development of our village for this v need ur guidence. v have some good projects which v wana excute through our gram panchayat.
sir v also wana meet u personally to explore areas of our interest.
it wil b our pleasure if r given a chance and i shall promise on behalf of ourt villagers that if v given a chance v shall leave no stone broken.
thanking u,
anticipating ur kind cooperation as always.

[name]
village thaura
block rewsa
distt sitapur.

The image of headless people and unbroken stones is priceless.

Even Hell has its Standards

They call themselves Kiwis (a flightless bird and also a fruit), have a wicked sense of humor, and they like to take the mickey out of each other. Taking themselves too seriously is not part of the national character.

We’re now approaching Auckland international airport, and will land in a few minutes if we can get these sheep off the runway. Please set your watches back 25 years.

They do have sheep. 40 million of them. The sheep outnumber the human population 10 to 1. In an area about the size of Japan, or the US state of Colorado, they have 4 million people. The economy is based on grassland agriculture and is one of the most egalitarian in the world. Instead of setting your watch back 25 years, you would be better advised to set it forward when it comes to schooling and dealing with problems national as well as international.

My primary motive in visiting New Zealand was to learn about their educational system. My guide was one of New Zealand’s favorite sons who is world famous in New Zealand (as he likes put it) — my friend, Mr. Gordon Dryden: journalist, radio and TV host, co-author of the best-selling book The Learning Revolution, a brilliant raconteur, an able and indefatigable tour guide, a man who knows his Pinot Gries, a legend in his own mind, and a bit of a bullshit artist. Gordon will soon celebrate 50 years of being married to Margaret. You have to know Gordon to fully appreciate why she is called St. Margaret.

(OK, Dryden, I have kept my part of the deal and said nothing that would embarrass your first wife St. Margaret of Auckland. Now go ahead and ship that case of Pinot Noir to me.)

As I was telling you, they like to take the mickey out of every one. Here is a simple billboard advertising — guess what — pizza!

Hell Pizza

Another billboard again with George W Bush’s picture in Auckland downtown simply declared:

Hell.
Even it has its standards.

They evidently say it like they see it. Just this past weekend, David Lange, the former prime minister of NZ, passed away at the age of 63. His wit was legendary. He is supposed to have told the US Ambassador H. Monroe Browne, who owned a racehorse called Lacka Reason: “You are the only ambassador in the world to race a horse named after your country’s foreign policy.”

Now I will take a break and go read the entry on David Lange in the wikipedia. After the break I will continue on what I learnt on my recent visit to NZ and Singapore. So don’t go away.

——

Post Script: For an update on the “Hell Pizza” billboards, see “Hell and Censorship” (Feb 2007.)

Home, home again

In case you been wondering whatever happened to me — I am back home after wandering strange and exotic places. New Zealand and Singapore to be precise.

Sorry for not keeping in touch for the past couple of weeks. There are tales to be told and as soon as I settle down, I intend to record my impresssions of my wanderings around the globe.

More on Teresa

Following my post yesterday on abusing children Mother Teresa style, I came across Christopher Hitchens’ article in the UK Mirror, “Why Mother Teresa Should Not Be a Saint.” I will quote only a bit here for the record but really you have to read the article to get a better understanding of what Teresa was all about. (I got to know of the article from a post by Anthony Loewenstein titled Mother Teresa Slammed Again.)
Continue reading “More on Teresa”