Hey Ram! Kabhuliwala!!

 

Hey Ram, They say you have a new abode,

Its my fear that makes me goad,

Kabhuliwala, a masterpiece by Tagore

About a man's plight one cannot ignore,

A tale for the ages,

That I read 25 years ago,

Today I doubt my own prudence,

Or is it a petty act of defiance,

Will I start to dislike him, 

As I dont share a name,

Will his turban and clothes,

Blind his love for mini in the prose,

Hey ram, they say you have a new abode,

Its my fear that makes me goad,

That the good in Kabhuliwala will be lost,

In his turban and his past.

Oppenheimer - The most important movie of our generation

 

Warning: Some Spoilers ahead.

I am a huge Christopher Nolan fan and have religiously watched all this movies. I was even amongst the minority who liked Tenet, The dark knight rises and Insomnia, considered 3 of the weakest movies in his repertoire. So when I claim, this is his finest work and the one that impacted me the most, please take it with a pinch of salt. Biographical movies are really hard to make. The story is known. While Gandhi till date is one of my favorite biographical movies, but due to its scope, complexities of the central character is hardly explored. This is one of the potential risks of doing biopics. When I first heard of Nolan taking on the biography of Oppenheimer as his next subject, I was excited and was waiting to see how he would tackle this complex subject. As a  history buff, I have read of Oppenheimer on the sidelines of books/events around world war II, McCarthyism and like many Indians have seen this video of him referencing the Gita, making the subject matter relatively fresh for me. This movie also does a fantastic job in keeping the science accessible to the viewers. 

This movie is told mostly from the perspective of 2 people, J Robert Oppenheimer, the regular scientist and Lewis Strauss, a politician, but a patriot. There are no scenes that evoke cheap emotions. The movie starts with 2 judicial hearings and 4 parallel timelines. While this could be confusing, the focus turns to one of those timelines quickly, hence making it easy to understand. I must admit, this is the least complicated of all the Nolan movies.  When we are first introduced to  Oppenheimer, we see a student who is a flawed genius. Soon we are transported back in time to the tumultuous era of the 1940s, and Nolan's impeccable attention to detail immerses us into the historical setting effortlessly. The crescendo comes towards the end, the team at Los Alamos test the first atomic bomb. This is one of the finest pieces of cinema, where the emotions of everyone are captured perfectly, right from the person who pushes the button to the people who are eagerly waiting on the fruits of their 3 year long hard word. These few minutes are cinematic magic which is exemplified by the magical acting, background score and cinematography. Please experience it in an IMAX screen. The last stretch  is more of a court room drama, is equally engrossing. 

The movie is not without its flaws. The 2 main  female characters are poorly written. The need for nudity personally was not justified and adds nothing in helping us understand Oppenheimer better. Couple of cinematic liberties taken in the final court scenes did not fit well in otherwise somber tone of the movie. The movie is a tiny bit long especially at the end. The film also fails to establish a strong emotional connection between Oppenheimer and his brother, which makes the scenes where Oppenheimer fights to include him in the Manhatten project less impactful. 

Coming to the performances, Cillian Murphy is remarkable as Oppenheimer, a man so complex that I can't imagine the amount of pressure there was to play him this effectively. The film paints Oppenheimer as neither a hero nor a villain, but rather a complicated man whose human qualities undermine what he will be remembered for in the history books mainly because of Murphy and his unbelievable ability to emote without words. If you look for videos of real Oppenheimer speaking in a black and white video, you could see how much homework Murphy has done and how accurately he brings out the moral dilemma. Robert Downey Jr. is sensational.  The scenes where he yearns for the recognition of the scientists or scenes where he controls his disdain, he is in top form. Emily Blunt shines in a severely underwritten role. Her stare at a disloyal colleague, her compassionate hug when her husband mourns for his former lover and her interrogation scenes at the end make up for her meandering through rest of the movie. Matt Damon excels as Major Grooves in a restrained performance. There are many more actors who come in small bits, 3 particularly stand out. Garry Oldman as Harry Trueman wows us in a few seconds. The scene where he uses his handkerchief to deliver a point to Oppenheimer is one for the ages. Casey Affleck in a short role gives us chills. David Krumholtz (of the Num3ers TV series fame) lives a mark as Oppenheimer's loyal friend. The technical elements are fantastic. Splitting of atoms used as backdrop to convey emotions worked very well. Music is outstanding. 

There are some great scenes in the movie. The scene where secretary Stimson takes Kyoto from the list of potential bomb sites, because he honeymooned there shows several things at once. While I am not sure about the historical veracity, the scene efficiently underlines why human beings, in our fickleness can’t be trusted with atomic power. The speech of Oppenheimer soon after the Trinity test, the silence after the bomb explosion, Richard Feynman's belief on his anti UV glass, and many more. 

But more than the cinematic bits, the larger questions that movie posses are fascinating. First, can a person of science be agnostic to politics of the time? Oppenheimer tries to sometimes shift the blame saying he does not wield the power of choosing  what to do with the bombs, is he right or wrong?  Another question is on the scientific communication. There are 2 instances in the movie, first when Oppenheimer communicates the near zero probability to Grooves. Science comes with boundaries and probabilistic thinking, which can be used to manipulate the message the way one wants. Next instance, when Oppenheimer is grilled on why he changes his opinion from A-bomb to H-Bomb, I wish he had said, "I am a scientist, I adapt my opinions based on the evidence in front of me". Third and the most interesting aspect involves understanding the ethics surrounding our profession. We face similar dilemmas in our lives to varying degrees. This film has introduced me to 2 fascinating people in Edward Teller and  Klaus Fuchs, who are in the extremes in the interaction between scientists and politicians, whose biographies will be fascinating reads. 

On the whole, Oppenheimer is a fantastic mirror into the past, that gives us hope and despair in equal measures, hope in human ability to find solutions for toughest of problems of our times and despair at the fact that we could use the same, due to lack of cooperation and short term gains to end the civilization as we know it. We end up asking Oppenheimer "Neenga nallavara kettavara?" 

Alone

 He was waiting patiently outside the reception. " How much longer for the bed, Mam? He is in the wheelchair for almost an hour. " " Sir, what can I do?, its covid times. More than half the beds have been allotted for covid. A Patient will finish chemotherapy in 15 minutes. After him, I will directly give you the bed". Before she could finish the sentence, another phone rang again.  " Hello, ABC hospitals." "Yes sir, we still have few covid beds available. Only oxygen though." "Ok sir. Please ask the ambulance to come to the ER. The staff there will take care." She kept holding the receiver in one hand and kept talking to him. "It will be room number 4 in the third floor sir. Keep the admission slip with you. As soon as the room is clean, you can take him there".  Another ring and another conversation. The endless loop answering phone and answering concerned relatives was continuing for her. 

He looked at the slip. From his vantage point, the scene contrasted the empty streets outside. There were people everywhere, partly out of concern for their kins and partly due to the lack of organization. No once could have prepared for this. There is a small minority for whom the show must go on. Standing there, he could never know when the room would be free. All the precaution he had taken the last one seemed useless now. "Appa, can you hold on for a few more minutes? I will go up and check, if the room is empty. " The frail looking man on the wheelchair, that had in green letters "NOT COVID" nodded his head and slowly closed his eyes. 

There was huge crowd waiting for the elevator. He took the stairs to the third floor. This floor was empty and the commotion was a lot less, than in the ground floor. He could see room no 4 at the corner. The door was slightly open. A nurse went into the room and began to carefully remove the IV from a old man's arm. "Sir, its over. These are the tablets you have to take everyday, 2 in the morning and 2 in the night. Please ask your attender to go and pay the bill and after that you can leave." She told it with the utmost care and immediately left the room. She moved on to room number 3. 

He observed the old man looking at the bill. The old man slowly removed his medical gown, corrected his mask and started walking towards the door. The old arranged all the medical documents in a file and put it in his bag. There was no attender. The old man meandered outside the door towards the lift and waited for the lift to come. The lift had a lift boy and 2 other persons. The lift boy looked at the old man and noticed the patient tag still on the old man's hand. He quickly told " Sir, patients are not allowed in the lift, please ask your attender to help you in case you need something."  The  old man froze for a moment and stood still, while the lift boy closed the lift.  The old man slowly started moving back, eyes watering up and not sure what he had to do. The nurse came out of room number 3 and was taken aback looking at the old man with watery eyes. She understood in a moment. "I am so sorry sir. Do you pay with insurance or cash?'

He could not watch it anymore. He slowly walked down the stairs. All he could do was be patient and not ask again when the old man will leave and the room will be empty. 

India @ 74 - Aspirations of a liberalization kid (or Uncle ;)!!

 I have absolutely no memory of 1991 or 1992. These 2 years are very significant in the modern History of India. First, in the month of June 1991, Manmohan Singh presented a historic budget, that made simply put writing of this blog possible. The 40 year old tryst of India with socialism came to an end in several sectors and we tasted the benefits of an open market for the first time. On December 6th, 1992 a 400 year old Mosque was brought down in Ayodhya that strengthened the nationalist movement that has lead to dominance of Narendra Modi in Indian Polity. Both these events have greatly influenced where we are as a country. 

India, the country is one of the most unique experiments in the history of mankind. A group of more than 500 different independent entities we clubbed together to form a country that does not have a common language and more importantly, a shared identity. Still this country has against all odds and to the chagrin of many soothsayers is celebrating its 75th birthday. When I joined NIT Trichy in 2006, I got a first taste of this diversity. In my class of about 40 chemical engineering students we could at least speak 20 + languages and have 20+ identities. Over my 4 years at that institution, my perceptions and ideology underwent a gradual change which taught me the value of questing.  I cannot think of any other place with such diversity other than Indian parliament maybe, an institution which embodies the spirit of questioning. My understanding gained a complete different perspective when I moved out of India. Back in 2012 while searching a for a food, (Malabar Parota) it was ironic, that I found it first in a srilankan store than Indian store; My Indian colleague talking in hindi (from punjab) with my Pakistani colleague and in English with me, while I talked in Tamil with my a client from UK(orginally from Sri Lanka) and in English with many of my Indian colleagues. (phew!! I once tried to explain it to my friends from west and lets say, it was super fun ;) ) There is a fundamental question - What makes me Indian? My birth or religion or something else? I have no clue. 

India's First Cabinet (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Talking of Indian Parliament, here is a picture of the first Indian Cabinet. This is as a very diverse group of people who could come together. Among the people who are sitting, the Left most person is B.R.Ambedkar (Ideologically "the most left leaning" personality in the cabinet) and person in the right most is Shyama Prasad Mukerjee (Ideologically "most right leaning" personality) with Nehru just left of Center and Sadar Patel right of center. In spite of their divergent personal ideologies this league of Extraordinary gentlemen, came together with a single motive of laying a strong foundation for a very young nation ravaged by partition and mourning the death of a unifying figurehead in Gandhi, for generations to come.  

While I am incredibly proud of what India has achieved in these 74 years, I am equally afraid of what holds for us in the future. In this, I want to document what my personal hopes are for our country and us Indians: As I have taken up listening to podcasts, I have tried to add certain episodes of podcasts relevant to each of the points. 

1) We take sustainability and the fight against energy transition seriously: Climate change is one of the biggest challenges in the coming couple of decades. India, can and should play a big role in this fight. Still majority of the energy we use come from coal and imported crude oil and have a fifth of the population almost no access to energy.  We have the almost impossible task of marrying poverty elevation and moving to greener forms of energy. According to the latest IPCC projections, India could face the worst of the climate change. (The Energy Gang's Podcast on latest IPCC report , The Filter koffee podcast with Karthik Ganesan)

2) We develop a scientific aptitude: Funnily enough, for the country the produces the highest amount of the world's engineers, we can hardly call ourselves a technology hub. I really wish this changes in the next couple of decades. (Pragathi podcast about Scientific Communication)

3) We can achieve this unique feature of technological brilliance, if a good portion of our population have an incentive to have an entrepreneurial spirit or we need to embrace a free market economy in its truest sense. India has never had a true economically liberal government. Be it the 1991 one or the 1999 one. Sadly we mix the corny capitalism and free market. (The Seen and Unseen Podcast with Shruti Rajagopalan about the 1991 Project - Easily my favorite podcast)

4) Minimalism is a concept that is gaining lot of popularity. I really hope we have a minimalist government. The three sectors where government is definitely needed is education, heath care and defense. Government should function as mediator for the society to flourish and make sure the benefits of economic prosperity reaches those who needed it the most. (Puliyabaazi podcast about Indian State Capacity - A hindi pocast)

5) Talking of minimalist government, I hope we have a truly federal structure in governance meaning we have a robust local government at the municipal or panchayat level. Our cities need to organically grow too.   A strong local government is also essential to have an inclusive growth. (Seen and Unseen Podcast on Urban Governance, Pragati podcast on Future of Indian States).

6)Economic prosperity would mean nothing if there is no social justice. Of all the aspirations I have, this is the most important one. India for too long has been an unequal society, where a certain group of people have always considered to be better than the rest. In our development story we have left behind a large chunk of population behind. B.R. Ambedkar and Gandhi had completely different outlooks on social equality. Personally I have no clue who is right and what is the the right way to bring about a society which is socially just. Sadly reservation is the only tool we have at this moment to tackle this problem. Its like taking a wooden sword to a gun fight. I am personally most afraid of this aspect of our future and not even sure what the solution is.  (Ideas of India Podcast with Amrithya Lahri And Shruthi Rajagopalan , Puliyabaazi - Ambedkar on Caste Part 1 and Part 2)

7) To make sure we have the right economics and governance, our institutions must be strong, transparent and accountable. Our institutions include, courts,  investigative organizations, our media, academic institutions, ISRO, CSIR labs etc. Sad reality is that, these organizations have absolutely no accountability or data transparency. Let us take ICMR for example. On 20th April, ICMR came out with the following table:

Countesy, https://rukminiwrites.medium.com/episode-116-variants-and-vaccines-part-i-72c72af05918

If I use this kind of a graph either in my work or during my studies, lets say most of my stakeholders would be pissed off. Just to give context, on April 19th, we had done 12.7 crore injections (Thanks to the data from the wonderful https://www.covid19india.org/) of which only 9.5 crore unique individuals had a vaccine. Now, if we look at this data, the message it gives is fantastic. But if we understand how the system works, the number of positives will at least be 5 days old and this was the period when the shit was literally hitting the fan during the second wave. While I have lot of problems with the data itself, there was absolutely no scrutiny of ICMR when they published (or rather presented the table in their evening press conferences) this. Other than 1 solitary piece from the unbelievably patient and probably the only data journalist I know from India, Rukmini S, (Her piece here), we just accepted. In a well functioning democracy, we will have media and institutions which will ask tough questions. i we cannot ask ICMR, forget keeping our elected representatives accountable. Hey we just had a retired supreme court chief justice nominated to the Rajya Sabha with absolutely no opposition at all. ( Seen and Unseen Podcast with Nidhi Razdan , Pragati Podcast on Supreme Court  and many more)

8) Another important aspect of respecting our institutions, is understanding history. I  enjoy reading history and one the challenges is, not looking at the past from the present's prism. A source of huge personal frustration is how people from our history are painted black or white. We need to respect our past while we learn from it and not twist it to sow hatred in the hearts of people for political motive. I need to write a separate article on my understanding of history. ( I am gonna give a lot of episodes here, Rest is History Podcast on East India Company , Seen and Unseen Episode with Ram Guha - Taking Stock of the Republic, Understanding Gandhi, Seen and Unseen Episode on Early Indians with Tony Josef )

9)  A problem that going to hit us like a gathering storm is the future aging population. While we are reaping the benefit of a young productive nation, we will age in the next few decades. We need to plan for that future. (I dont have a good episode to link here, but its a personal opinion)

10)  I wish we take up sports more seriously which not only will make children healthier, but also help improve the overall fitness of the population. (State of Indian Sports - Seen and unseen podcast )

11) The last but not least, I really wish we wish all our diversity can have a healthy debate about our differences and have the opportunity to learn from each other, while being humble that however deep rooted our knowledge is, there is always room to improve. I spent the whole 4 years of my undergraduate studies wearing mainly a saffron dothi in the hostel, developing a very leftist view of the world, aspiring to go abroad for my studies while masquerading as a conservative.  Lets say, my ideas has metamorphized into something new, all thanks so some wonderful conversations. The debates between Gandhi and Ambedkar or Gandhi and Tagore are simply sensational. Most of those communications are published and would be worth our time to read and enjoy. ( Tagore vs Gandhi- Puliyabaazi episode )

For the sake of the world, the Indian experiment has to become a success. Quoting Krish Ashok, the quintessential Indian food is the Pav Baji, where almost all ingredients are borrowed from all over world and made into a unique dish that's very Indian. This is the closest I have come to answering the question of who is Indian.  I have not written anything for sometime now, but this is a topic that is close to my heart. As we grow older, we somehow become resistant to ideas that question our dogmas. But as a country we should do our best to avoid falling into this human fallacy.   When India celebrates its 100th or 150th birthday, lets hope we are an example in nurturing diversity, have equitable growth and is a frontrunner in technology. 

Sustainability Series Part - 2 - The plastics

Ask a Process engineer working in the oil and gas industry -  what the most valuable product coming out of refinery is, more often than not she/he would point at the plastics!! Yes Plastics!! They are a broad range of chemical compounds that have revolutionized our life. Take a moment to look around, the paints on the chair or the chair you are sitting, the window frames, your coke bottle, your favorite snickers wrapper and many more. You can throw a random dart and the probability of hitting some plastic coming out of a refinery is very high!! The fuels (diesel et al) are just a good byproduct that have some value and use. In this post let us look into what plastics are and how they influence our life!!

1. Are plastics really bad for environment? 

YES . There are several reasons why plastics are bad!!
a.Plastics are mostly non biodegradable. Meaning in not disposed in the right way, they will remain a few million years.
b. They are mainly produced from fossil fuels. You can never say goodbye to oil and gas until plastics' usage is reduced or an alternative is found.
c. The impact it has on animal diversity both on land and in ocean is damaging.
d. Many plastics are considered carcinogenic. Long term effects are not fully known yet, but research is putting plastics at the forefront of many physical damages.

2. What are the major types of plastics ?
While plastics can refer to a lot of synthetic materials, they can be broadly classified into 7 different types. Any plastic container or material that we use, has a marking in the bottom that helps us identify what kind of plastic it is. This identification is also used in segregating them for recycling when we dispose them.  

A good overview of the types of plastics can be found in:

https://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/store/common_plastics_no_1_to_no_7#.WWwfnoSGNhE.
Summarizing,

Code	Plastics	Exp	Recycling%	Toxicity	Use
1	PET	Polyethyleneterapthelate	<30 td="">	medium	Avoid for storing food
2	HDPE	High Density Polyethylene	<30 nbsp="" td="">	Low	Good for use
3	PVC	Poly Vinyl chloride	less	high	avoid
4	LDPE	Low density poly ethylene	less	low	Good for use
5	PP	Polypropylene	less	low	Good for use
6	PS	Polystyrene	less	high	avoid
7	Other	many types	N/A	Low  high	depends on the type

Only number not complete in the article is number 7. More on that  later.

3. If plastics are this bad, why are we using?
Plastics are not all bad. They have immensely helped the world fight hunger and wastage (ironic is it not). They are light, resistant to heat and long lasting. This has helped in preserving food, transport different manufactured goods at fractional energy expense, make things waterproof etc etc.

4. Can plastics be made degradable?
Yes. There are couple of additives that can make plastics (bio)degradable.
a. Oxo additives for plastics. They are metallic additives and they make plastics degradable in a landfill. Jury is still out on this process as they leech out precious metals,
b. Enzyme based additives: Bio based additives that make plastics biodegradable. Still lot of research is underway.
It is important to note that these are just additives to normal plastics that we use.

5. What are green plastics? Are they biodegradable?
Green plastics are one of the most misunderstood terms. Not all green plastics are biodegradable. Green plastics are mostly normal plastics (from answer 2), but produced from bio based feedstock. They have have the same problems as the normal plastics. But they are better, as we become less dependent on fossil fuels and the production process emits lower CO2.

But there are other plastics that are completely different like PLA (poly lactic acid). The plastic made from lactic acid is biodegradable. They also come under code no 7 in question 2, with biodegradable written on it. Remember to throw them with compostable waste rather than  plastics. PLA is nowadays used extensively in 3D printing and food packaging. Some places where I have seen them are:,
1. TU delft campus (most of the disposable cups at least in the chemical engineering building are PLA.
2. The coffee company milkshake cups.
3. Leon restaurant in schipol airport

6. What is this Code no 7 then?
There are 2 main types of code 7, that I have seen. PC (Poly carbomate) - which are very bad as they are known carcinogenics. Other ones are the compostable ones - PLA. Usually there is no recycle foe this number.

Plastics are very much necessary for our sustenance. At the same time we much understand the consequence of using them and be sensible in using the right kind of plastic for the right use (Eg - Water bottles should not PET/PS and use PP, Using PLA for packaging and disposable plastic cutlery ).

The sustainability series Part -1: Electric vehicles

Climate change and sustainability are 2 topics that we as a society need to understand and then come to have an opinion.  In this post, I will try to answer a few pressing questions that I feel are necessary to understand the application of a topic. I want discuss some critical issues in simple words. I am not going to give sources of the numbers. Having tried my best to get the numbers right, the main aim of this post is to trigger some curiosity and make the readers decide on their own on what to do next.

Before you read, I am not a climate change skeptic. I believe that climate change and associated pollution are one of the greatest challenges of our generation. Also I work in the oil and gas industry.  In the first post, I will look into electric vehicles.

1. What are the different types of vehicular pollution??

There are different types of vehicular pollution.  

•        Particulate matter (PM). These particles of soot and metals give smog its murky color. 
•          Total Hydrocarbons (THC) - Vaporised and unburnt fuel from the vehicle
•          Nitrogen oxides (NOx) - Oxidation of N2 in the fuel
•          Carbon monoxide (CO) - Partically oxidized fuel
•          Sulfur dioxide (SO2) - Sulphur in the fuel
•          Carbon di oxide (CO2). - Oxidation of fuel

2. Is there vehicular emission from Electric vehicles?

There is no emission from electric vehicles.

3. Does this mean if I use Electric vehicles, there are no CO2 emissions?

Nope. The electricity generation is always associated with emissions.  

For example, In India 80% of the total electricity comes from fossil fuels. (Coal, gas and oil). There are cases, when an EV could result in more net CO2 emission if the electricity is from a dirty source of electricity.

4. How can a user understand the CO2 emission from the use of EVs?

 This is where things like Life cycle Analysis help (LCA). This is used to understand the environmental impact of energy use. More on that later. It’s clear that if the electricity is from a dirty source, the advantage of EVs is significantly reduced.

5. Then is an EV really advantageous?

There are a couple of hidden benefits.

•   Reduced pollution in the cities. Depending on your source, the vehicular pollution causes close to 30 % of net pollution. City like delhi would benefit from all public transport converted to electric vehicles.
•    Single source of CO2 emission. When all the vehicles burn CO2, the source of pollution is distributed all around. Now a power plant is a single source and there are easier measures to prevent pollution from power plants like CCUS (Carbon capture Utilization and storage). 

5. What percent of the total vehicles on road are electric?

Less than 1%

6. If electric vehicles are so good, why has it not become a success

There are a few reasons for that.

•       The best of the electric cars will go about 300 km on road and it would take about an hour to recharge fully from the best of charging stations.
•        Cost is an issue. But the numbers are coming down rapidly.
•         The infrastructure around charging. Most of the world is not ready to move to EVs just yet. It requires tremendous effort from the governments to set up the infrastructure.
•         Lack of awareness amongst people. This is once again a very big hurdle. There is nothing black or white and it’s important to understand what is necessary.

7. What is the auther’s outlook on EVs?

EVs are the future long term. Short term depends on the lot of factors. Tesla will be keenly looked upon. Their success could influence the success of the EVs in the next few years.  

Confessions of an arm chair critic

Before going any further, let us all for a moment watch this incredible scene from the movie ratatouille.  

To quote Ego, "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so" 

Such an insightful quote from an equally insightful movie. In a way most of us or at least I am sure of myself , belong to the category that is worse than a piece of junk than the junk itself. I find it incredibly easy to say a solution is wrong. Its the easiest thing to do. But when it comes to the finding the solution, the whole brain thingi  goes to the drain. While  being a critic comes to us naturally, listening to one does not. Being a toastmaster, giving feedback is an integral part of the educational program. While giving feedback it is always asked to sandwich a negative feedback  between positive things. This is a something toastmasters as an organization has learnt over the years.

So why am I writing about things that seem so random and out of context. Recently I read this article from the guardian "Guardian article about negative comments". With the advent of the digital revolution we have access to plethora of information. This is a great power, and of course with this great power comes great responsibility. There is an unusual surge in the right wing, rather extreme thoughts through out the world.

Over the past year or so there are loads of issues creeping up in and around me, particularly from india that has made me and many of us take a stand. Ofcourse each of us have a right to take a stand as much as the other person. Let me start with things close to my heart. The whole intolerance debates. Amir Khan or Shah rukh khan who said that there is a growing sense of intolerance around us. They might be right or they might be wrong, one thing that we must respect is their right to speech. Without going into the merits of their statements what is completely unacceptable, is the reaction of the people who are both for and against their stand. What followed was an incredible name calling and swear exchanges, where terms like presstitudes, AAPtards, bakhts etc etc. Why have we become so sensitive to criticism and why do we get hurt so easily.

Historically there have been many such debates where personalities more than idealogies have dominated. Closer to home, the debates Ambedkar vs Gandhi, Bose vs Gandhi are definitely the top picks. In the social media we can always find people sharing how the country would have been different if the other had been in charge. For example, let us take the Bose vs Gandhi debate for instance. Both wanted complete freedom for India. How it would be achieved is where the difference rose. While Bose wanted an Indian version of fascism (Without the racism bit), Gandhi was in favour of step changes, with Indians slowly taking control rather than going for immediate complete independence (Source : From the book "Bose in Nazi Germany", Bose had lived in Germany for about 2 years trying to persuade the Axis powers to invade India).  Both the ideologies have their merits, and Gandhi being a better tactician and people's person, had persuaded the majority to follow his ideology.

Does this mean the two lost their mutual respect! When INA officers were arrested in 1945, Gandhi went on a fast seeking their release. Nehru was the chief  defendant for the INA officers. The term, Father of Nation was bestowed upon Gandhi by Bose himself, while Gandhi called him the "Prince among the patriots". Source [Bose's address to MK Gandhi from Rangoon]. We cannot get back in time and verify if these statements are true. But what is clear was a clear mutual respect and accepting to agree to disagree. Researching for this article, I came across these 2 letters,
Bose to Gandhi
Gandhi to Bose 
This shows a clear mutual respect and admiration.

There is a beauty in having a difference of opinion. Time and again it is nice to have our beliefs shattered. Thats how we grow up. But once we grow we somehow forget what helped us grow in the first place. We have over the years lost our ability to listen, be tolerant and question our on beliefs. I really hope there is a more mature interaction, where different ideas can coexist. India in particular has had unity in diversity in her DNA through out the history. Our first prime minister was an atheist, who was a protege of a staunch believer, and had a law minister who hated both their ideologies, home minister who was more right than liberal. I wish we could learn from that and  have constructive respectful conversations. And yes, I am dreaming.