The Fountainhead

Its been a while that I pen something due to self imposed deadlines and the obvious  devil of procrastination. So to begin with, I would like to consider Indian/world history in which I found solace recently and a few novels. I will deal with history later, so I think I just write about a novel I read very recently, "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. Its one of the fantastic novels that I have come across. 


Its a story of an highly talented revolutionary architect in New York, who follows his own path without worrying about the supposed society norms and the traditions. As a result he had to face hostility from the society and he ought to struggle at every step of his life.  This is a story of a guy who survived and established himself despite all the odds.

The protagonist is Howard Roark, a highly individualistic and a gifted architect who always try to come up with innovative designs for the buildings. Though Howard seems to be very complicated, he is the simplest character in a sense that he believes in his abilities, and so he carry on working without any dependence.  The other characters are also too captivating, but I choose to discourse only about Howard Roark. After reading the whole book, some qualities of  Howard Roark left some strong impressions on me, i) His motto was 'objectivism', which means he view a person by only on what and how he/she is working on, and nothing else like the reputation, degrees to say.  ii) He executed every task with same dignity whether it is architectural design or a meager job. iii) He let all disgraces fall upon him but never compromised to sell his soul.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and any reader interested in any of the above points will find this novel an intellectually fascinating journey. 

Fire (Nonsense) drills in the middle of night

Fire drills are normally executed to measure the time taken by the inmates of the building for the evacuation in case of emergency situations. Fire drills usually commence with a very agitating alarm sound. The supposed situation may also be one of the applications of "conditioned reflex" theory of Pavlov ( the famous theory of dog salivation where it trained to have food after the ringing of a bell), only in a behavioral aspect though, in the sense, one should interpret that the agitating alarm is indeed a fire alarm and should evacuate the building immediately. But what if the fire alarms ring in the middle of the night?


There has been more than two fire alarms per month, in the residence university building where I live currently, most of them after 9pm. I respected the alarm, and used to vacate the building every time it breaks. Of late  I woke up twice in the middle of the night (2am, 3:30am) by a fire alarm which was on for fifteen minutes. Once, out of over-respect to the alarm, I came out of my building in the chilly french night, only to find nobody outside. I felt like a hungry dog cheated by Pavlov followers, where the bell rung but without a trace of a food particle. Well, that does not mean that I want the building burn down to ashes, but my agony was that nobody was outside except me. Another  day, I ignored the alarm which tried to disturb me around 3:30am. I acted like a deaf politician who ignores the constant vexation of the people. Now, I have been trained that the alarm is for a fire drill, but I will respond to it only when I  hear the convulsions and screams of a mob and smell the burning smoke. At the same time let me hope that God does not play dice with my building.

Honesty and Statesmanship

"Honest statesmanship is the wise employment of individual manners for the public good." - Abraham Lincoln

When it comes to Indian Politics, then one can accord that it is difficult for a leader to be compatible with the Indian politics and be honest at the same time. But there are some leaders who are maintaining honesty in the system, AK Antony, the Defence minister of India, is one of the few in that basket. Recently, Gen VK Singh, the army chief, has made allegations about the bribe offered to him by an equipment lobbyist, and subsequently he revealed that he informed to the Defence minister Antony, who then could not take action against the lobbyist. The allegations which revealed by Gen VK Singh, has spurred many debates in the both houses of the parliament and across the media. It may mar the reputation of AK Antony, one of the clean politicians of India.

In response to this issue, he complained to the CBI to commence a comprehensive probe immediately. He also promised the action against the guilty, however powerful he may be. He was fair in saying that he acted on his judgement, and he could be punished if he was wrong. He was often accused for the delay in procuring equipments for the Defence, the process which require the approval of many authorities: which causes the rise in the price of the equipments from the bidding date to the approval date. He was just following the procedure. But he has the record of embarking on the legal probe immediately and following it whenever a mischief happened in the departments covered by his ministry (Adarsh scam, Sukna land scam). Unfortunately it is a reaction, but not an anticipated action. However, his integrity and his penchant for not compromising on corruption were well known across the political parties.

AK Antony has modest overall assets and the least movable assets (5 lakhs) in the cabinet of India. He is one of the ten powerful Indians in 2012, but never own a vehicle. He took a home loan for the construction of his house in Kerala. His son has graduated from Stanford with an education loan from Canara bank, where his wife worked for the most part of her life.

Having said that, just being honest and playing safe doesn't serve welfare of the country. A crucial political leader must be a person of statemanly judgement. Honesty with statesmanship is a lethal combination of a strong political leader. The current issue of the Army chief, which surfaced the rift between the Army and the government, stink to high heavens. Lets hope that AK Antony serve in catching hold of all the guilty and act with jurisprudence to complement his Mr.clean image.