Words From Vaish

I once rented an apartment in a pleasant residential block of flats in Dwarka sub-city, National Capital Region. The residents’ homes there were all equipped with washing machines that took care of the laundry. However, that still left the problem of the ironing. The busy working couples inhabiting the society seldom had the leisure or the stamina to perform this seemingly minor chore at the close of an often exhausting day. And as neatly pressed clothes were essential for a smart turnout in the office, the Residents Welfare Association misguidedly gave the contract for providing this service to a burly, surly native of eastern UP. Barrel-chested, with an incipient paunch to match, this gentleman gave the impression of resenting this employment as being beneath him. This was much too low; he was destined for greater things – which unfortunately never materialized (like Achche Din ). This resentment found expression in his “work”; he accepted clothes for pressing...

THE INDIAN SPY Mihir Bose Aleph Books 2017                                                                                                       350 Pages In the course of their clandestine activities, the attitude of spies towards their ostensible masters can evolve towards antagonism. However, the late Bhagat Ram Talwar code-named Silver, the protagonist of The Indian Spy, started off working AGAINST British interests before working for them.   But then, the only quintuple secr...

I’ve recently read “The Better Angels Of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined” by Stephen Pinker. The author’s contention is that a plethora of civilizing influences such as the rule of law replacing vendetta, humanistic education and the complex socio-political inter-relationships caused by commerce have caused a general decline in violence worldwide. Your chances of getting murdered were much more in 1700 than today. While this may be hard to believe, given the accounts of sexual assault and homicide that greet us in the daily newspapers every morning, I think that Pinker might be on to something.  To be fair, the author makes explicit that social violence has declined, but not uniformly worldwide, and is still far from completely extinct. The level of decline also depends on how evolved a society is and how far removed from tribalism it is. Pinker also makes the point that if the conditions that caused this decline are reversed, violence could well enjoy a late resurg...