satyam-naash dept.

Its been a while since the Satyam fiasco came to light. For anyone who knows what Indian IT companies typically do, and how they operate, something like this was only inevitable.

What was amusing to me, when the story broke, was watching the sense of outrage amongst business news anchors. They must have felt very foolish, considering they had spent the last few years hobnobbing with luminaries like Ramalinga Raju, discussing Quarterly results and doing pieces on the great Indian Services miracle.

Still, no one in the press seems to be asking the tough questions about this industry. For starters, where is the value in it? Should we go overboard praising an industry just because it has high margins? Are high margins indicative of anything substantive being produced by these companies? Is their business model fundamentally sustainable? What are their long-term plans, considering the inevitable downward slide in the 30-50% profit margins, when salaries rise, and there is more global competition? Finally, before comparing them with Silicon Valley companies, are they producing anything of inherent value, or are they just pushing novices to do menial, labor-intensive work at rock-bottom prices? What strategic assets are they creating for themselves and for the financial security of the country as a whole?

IMHO, the Indian Software industry is just a novel manifestation of age-old feudalism. We Indians are very good at feudalism, it seems to have been wired into our genes. Swanky air-conditioned offices may look better than rice and wheat fields, but they are not all that different. And believe you me, the swankiness exists to impress customers and financial analysts, and air-conditioners operate for the benefit of the computers, not for the people. The day computer chassis' ship with a refrigeration unit, expect an en masse replacement of A/Cs by ceiling fans. Since heat dissipation in CPUs (especially with smaller form-factors and multicore etc etc) is not going to be solved anytime soon, this is unlikely to happen though.

I don't want to rubbish the contributions of these (for legal reasons, unnamed :-)) companies. They created an entire industry from scratch where none existed. But I do believe they are not as 'high-tech' as the business press so naively believes them to be. And they need to considerably invest in *real* (as opposed to fake) R&D to sustain themselves. Otherwise, they might just get wiped out overnight.

homeo-apathy dept.

Homeopathy is quite popular in India. It is quite common for practicing homeopaths to have long queues of waiting patients outside their doors, and have established clinics. There are many Homeopathic Colleges throughout the country, which presumably churn out thousands of Homeopathic doctors and pharmacists each year.

I have been taken to Homeopaths (mostly for recurring sinusitis, which seems to be a popular reason to go to a Homeopath :-)). I have always asked -- What exactly is Homeopathy? And well, if you ask that question, no one really has an answer. Its quite astounding really -- well-educated people, even technologists will not be able to tell you the scientific basis of Homeopathy. Most will tell you its based on administering inorganic compounds in small amounts -- which is not true at all.

The sad truth, unfortunately, is that its a bogus science -- much like reiki, astrology, intelligent design and other fanciful theories. Most Indians will be shocked to learn this, I bet. Especially the thousands of freshly-minted Homeopaths themselves, who are poised to make their living using principles that do not stand the test of scientific method.

Ars Technica published an excellent article some time ago about the pseudo-science behind Homeopathy. Recommended reading.

But seriously, this article scares me -- I know quite a few practicing Homeopathic Doctors -- I will not look at them in the same way again. Over the years, the scientific method as a system for exploring the world has worked for me so well, I really cannot deal with any profession that lacks a sound scientific base or rational explanation.

yawn dept.

Read this on a blog somewhere...

It is a great privilege to work with individuals who possess a scientific temper and an inquisitive and open mind. More so because India is so pathetically fanatical about its cults and religions and irrational belief systems and such people are in short supply. How often does one have to squirm in silence on encountering irritating bottom-dwellers who will prattle on about their latest pyramid business scheme, or rant ceaselessly about other religions and modes of thought other than their own. Its refreshing to meet people who have the self-belief to say "we don't have all the answers", and not try to ascribe to their own ideas some atrociously inflationary levels of importance.

That there is an inhumane racial, economic (whatever, just add to the list) social hierarchy strangling independent thought in this country is obvious. Go to any city and talk to the young men and women just out of schools. Listen to the content of their language. Eighty percent of it is junk that is purely related to their immediate social environment ("XXX met YYY and they had dinner at ZZZ"). The ability to abstract is zero. The ability to relate to those not within their social sphere is zero. Well, but is the situation any different elsewhere? Probably not. I remember in college having to struggle to find friends that I could relate to. So much of our thought is lost in the nuances of our language. And so much of our thought is governed by the way we use language. How is a rational man to hold on in a sea of humanity that refuses to give up its senseless babble about trivialities?

The author does make some pertinent points but commits the fallacy of self-contradiction by showing a fanaticism for tolerance and an intolerance for fanaticism. There are many individuals that one does come across, if one looks hard enough, who transcend their environment. The author seems to have been blinded by bitterness (quite possibly, brought upon by some traumatic experience).