The Maanga

In 1911, Wittgenstein went to Russell´s rooms in Trinity College, Cambridge, thrust an essay in Russell´s hand and said, “Do you think I can become a philosopher or am I wasting my time? I could remain an aeronautical engineer”. Russell read the first sentence of the essay and said, “You must become a philosopher”. I have tried hard to find what this first sentence was, and think it was “Page of contents”.

A pupil recalled handing a draft of his thesis to J.L. Austin,  a leader of the Oxford school, whereupon Austin opened the file at the page of contents and proceeded to spend the next three  hours discussing the differences between contents’, `list’, `index’, `table’, etc.”  The pupil experienced “a Zen-like illumination”.  But it faded in minutes. 

This fellow has just graduated in philosophy in Chicago. Does he deserve to study philosophy further in grad school, after mauling Godel´s incompleteness theorem and ordiinary language in his essay and being puked on by Nilu? I suspect he might make a better aeronautical engineer; Or, he could stop with the contents page in his thesis.

One could think, ugly women from Ratlam or some such place will have an evolved sense of humor. Developed as a defense mechanism. One would be wrong.

There used to be a time when I’d have liked this bit,

Refreshing though it is to see punctuation at the center of a national debate, there could scarcely be a worse place to search for the framers’ original intent than their use of commas. In the 18th century, punctuation marks were as common as medicinal leeches and just about as scientific. Commas and other marks evolved from a variety of symbols meant to denote pauses in speaking. For centuries, punctuation was as chaotic as individual speech patterns.

I am not sure if I have become old or everyone else, stupid.

Two people use sarcasm/irony. One, predictably,

Speaking ill of lenders began when homo sapiens acquired language, hence it is unsurprising that many people who until recently were criticizing lenders for not making money available to marginally qualified borrowers are now caustic about lenders who complied. Clinton is fluent in the language of liberalism, aka Victimspeak, so, denouncing “Wall Street,” she says families were “lured into risky mortgages” and “led into bad situations” by those who knew better. So, lenders knew their loans would not be fully repaid?

The other, with an element of surprise. In other words, one should not write a column because one stops being fresh. Or, honest. Or, not idiotic.

Just because you are about 10 years late, don’t think you get to jump the queue.

Once upon a time, MGR devised a formula, successfully, to win Congress’ support and relegate Karunanidhi to history books. Which was, an electoral alliance in which Lok Sabha elections meant the national party will contest the maximum number of seats and state elections meant the regional party will. The formula has been co-opted by almost everyone in India now. Also, once upon another time, one man had supposedly rued over his money fighting his money in elections.

Times have changed. People have become smarter. Though, Mukesh still decides who will win elections. This time, he has a choice — to not let his money fight his own money. So, instead of a regional party, the Congress has to deal with an opposition leader. Modi’s threat to an ailing BJP is only too obvious. A strong Modi in Gandhinagar will not only cause significant tensions in Delhi but also directly help the Congress in 2008 when general elections seem imminent.

And, when all works well, only one side gets paid. Unfortunately, Sunil Mittal is washing linen in public since he mistimed (or was lured into, as the case may be) big brother’s gambit.

By the way — did you notice the Bachhans and Sharukh Khan being moved in predictable cycles? I suspect there will come a day when the family will have the first right of refusal for every contract signed in India.

It is the responsibility of all to cultivate themselves, and study Marxism-Leninism deeply. It is also necessary for people to turn their attention to contemporary problems, along empirical lines.

Or, maybe we must call Him Jagadguru Lama.

The brashness of youth is often mistaken for post modern thought.

Corruption, on a sufficient scale, clears itself up. I think. The spectrum war, I am tempted to cite, is a case in point. The resident expert on business and bribing will weigh in.

Else, sadness emanates.