Sunday Posts

Meritocracy is a convenient lie, as Socrates foretold, and it is the ballast of the social system we have built. The story goes like this. Once upon a time, we had kings and queens and their families and nobles, who got the best meat and the best mate, and everyone lived happily. But then the things fell apart as luxury corrupted the nobles and feebled the spirits of their offsprings - and the peasants and the artisans came claiming their fair share. So we had the age of revolutions in Europe and North America, when we created a new, fairer social system, under a 'natural aristocracy of men', where destiny was no longer shaped by birth but by intelligence and hard work, and anyone could make it in life. And, everyone again lived happily ever after. Of course, this did not really happen. Slavery persisted, at least for a long time. The 'fair' system mostly excluded the real peasants and workers and once they have done their duty dying for various revolutions, they were s...

In a year full of bad news, the ending of war in Sri Lanka was a rare good news. While the end of the war was bloody and full of appalling atrocities, the rest of the world was wary of the vicious tactics of the Tamil leadership and saw no other alternative to end the long-standing conflict. I must admit that despite the agony of my many Tamil and Sri Lankan friends, it seemed the best way out of the crisis, as Mr. Prabhakaran , the Tamil leader, was exceptionally cruel and had demonstrated that he had no interest in pursuing a peaceful solution. Besides, Sri Lanka is a democratic country and despite the system's many faults, one always expect democracies to encourage moderation - and hence, almost everyone watched and waited for Prabhakan to finally surrender. However, it is only now, after the death of Prabhakaran and the elimination of entire Tamil Eelam leadership, the true cost of the war is becoming apparent. It is not just the scale of human atrocities and the fact ...