I Am Not An Original Thinker-but I

I Grew Up, As Many Indians Do, In An Archipelago Of Tongues. My Maternal Grandfather, Who Was A Surgeon In The City Of Madras, Was Fluent In At Least Four Languages And Used Each Of Them Daily.

Indians Mock Their Corrupt Politicians Relentlessly, But They Regard Their Honest Politicians With Silent Suspicion. The First Thing They Do When They Hear Of A Supposedly 'clean' Politician Is To Grin. It Is A Cliche That Honest Politicians In India Tend To Have Dishonest Sons, Who Collect Money From People Seeking An Audience With Dad.

The Book Of Your Revolution Sits In The Pit Of Your Belly, Young Indian. Crap It Out, And Read. Instead Of Which, They're All Sitting In Front Of Color Tvs And Watching Cricket And Shampoo Advertisements.

These Are The Three Main Diseases Of This Country, Sir: Typhoid, Cholera, And Election Fever. This Last One Is The Worst; It Makes People Talk And Talk About Things That They Have No Say In ... Would They Do It This Time? Would They Beat The Great Socialist And Win The Elections? Had They Raised Enough Money Of Their Own, And Bribed Enough Policemen, And Bought Enough Fingerprints Of Their Own, To Win? Like Eunuchs Discussing The Kama Sutra, The Voters Discuss The Elections In Laxmangarh.

Nothing Gives Us Greater Pride Than The Importance Of India's Scientific And Engineering Colleges, Or The Army Of Indian Scientists At Organizations Such As Microsoft And Nasa. Our Temples Are Not The God-encrusted Shrines Of Varanasi, But Western Scientific Institutions Like Caltech And Mit, And Magazines Like 'nature' And 'scientific American.