The reading list: January 2021 to January 2022

1. Black Coffee (Agatha Christie)
2. The Armchair Economist (Steven Landsburg)
3. Call for the Dead (John LeCarre)
4. The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) [reread]
5. The Constitution of Liberty (Friedrich Hayek)
6. A Murder of Quality (John LeCarre)
7. The Possessed (Elif Batuman)
8. Audition (Ryu Murakami)
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (John LeCarre)
10. Mansfield Park (Jane Austen)
11. Smiley's People (John leCarre)
12. Seeing Like A State (James Scott) 
13. Incompleteness (Rebecca Goldstein)
14. Emma (Jane Austen)
15. Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
16. The Essential Austrian Economics (Christopher Coyne and Peter Boettke)
17. The Essential David Hume (James R. Otteson)
18. The Essential Adam Smith (James R. Otteson)
19. Persuasion (Jane Austen)
20. The Essential John Locke (Eric Mack)
21. Babel-17 (Samuel R Delaney)
22. Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand (Samuel R Delaney)
23. Rocannon's World (Ursula K LeGuin)
24. The Valley of Fear (Arthur Conan Doyle)
25. The Looking Glass War (John leCarre)
26. The Grand Pursuit (Sylvia Nasar)
27. Dictators (Frank Dikotter)
28. Who Moved My Interest Rates? (D Subbarao)
29. The Economics of International Development (William Easterly)
30. Planet of Exile (Ursula K LeGuin) 
31. A Mathematician's Apology (G H Hardy)
32. City of Illusions (Ursula K leGuin)
33. Exhalation (Ted Chiang)
34. Economical Writing (Deirdre McCloseksky)
35. तट पर हूँ पर तटस्थ नहीं (कुंवर नारायण)
36. Spy Stories (Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott)
37. A Beautiful Mind (Sylvia Nasar) [reread]
38. The Essential John Stuart Mill (Sandra Peart)
39. The war that made R&AW (Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket)
40. Five Little Pigs (Agatha Christie)
41. Among the Believers (VS Naipaul)
42. Crashed (Adam Tooze)
43. Whose Body? (Dorothy L. Sayers)
44. The Postman Always Rings Twice (James M Cain)
45. The Accidental Theorist (Paul Krugman)
46. Individualism and Economic Order (Freidrich Hayek)
47. New Spring (Robert Jordan) [reread]
48. The Narrow Corridor (Acemoglu and Robinson)
49. हमज़ाद (मनोहर श्याम जोशी)
50.  अल्पाहारी गृहत्यागी (प्रचंड प्रवीर)
51. The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan) [reread]

Wanted

From the film 'Nafrat ki Aandhi' (tr. 'Gale of Hatred). Composer Bappi Lahiri, lyrics: Indeevar and Anjaan.

...

ही मैन, ही मैन, आए ऐम ही मैन 

चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन 

 चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन 

मज़बूत बाहों वाला, 

प्यार करने वाला, 

मुझपे ही मरने वाला,

अरे प्यार करने वाला 

टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, मामा चूमा वाला 

टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, मामा चूमा वाला 

ही मैन, ही मैन, आए ऐम ही मैन 

इज़्ज़त पे मेरी बन आएगी 

जब छेड़ेगा रूप का चोर मुझे 

दुश्मन से कैसे बचाएगा 

उस वक़्त कोई कमज़ोर मुझे 

चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन 

 चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन 

...

He man, he man, I am he man

Needed... he man he man he man

Needed... he man he man he man

The one with strong arms

The one who loves

The one who'd die only for me

Oh the one who loves

Tull lull luu, tull lull luu, mama chuma wala

Tull lull luu, tull lull luu, mama chuma wala

He man, he man, I am he man

Imperilled will my honor be

When the thief of beauty accosts me

From my foe how will I be saved

That instant by some weak knee

Needed... he man he man he man

Needed... he man he man he man

...

Irrational

What is utility? A modern interpretation is mathematical: it is that which is maximized (subject to constraints). This is quite similar to the modern mathematical approach that believes in 'meaning is use' (a la Wittgenstein): a straight line is that which is the shortest distance between two points etc. In the same vein, rational behavior is that which is the outcome of having maximized utilities. 

From this perspective, suicide attackers for example, are fully rational. A lot of criticism of economics centered on the so-called 'failure to account for irrationality' feature, simply misses the point.

Source Unknown

मैंने कहा कि मुझे भूख नहीं है 

और तुम मान गयी 

माँ होती तो ना मानती 

...

I said I wasn't hungry 

And you acquiesced

If it were mom, she wouldn't have

करीब नहीं

Composer: Yo La Tengo, Album: Painful [1993]

Do you know how I feel

How I feel about you

Do you know this is real

How I feel around you

When I see you look at me

I'm not sure of anything

All I know is when you smile

I believe in everything

Do you know how I dream

How I dream about you

Do you know how I feel

Do you know...

Do you know how I feel

How I feel about you

Doesn't take much to tell

That I love, oh, I...

Everyone is here

But you're nowhere near

No you're nowhere near
No... nowhere near

...

तुम जानो ये कैसा लगे है

मुझे बारे में तुम्हारे

तुम जानो कि ये सच है

लगे कैसा मुझे इर्द गिर्द तुम्हारे 

मुझे ताकते तुम्हें देखूं जब

हो न निश्चय किसी का

मुस्कुराओ जब बस जानूं ये

यकीन हो चले सभी का 

तुम जानो कैसे देखूं सपने

सपने बारे में तुम्हारे

तुम जानो ये कैसा लगे है

तुम जानो ये...

तुम जानो ये कैसा लगे है

मुझे बारे में तुम्हारे

ज़ाहिर है सब कहना ये

कि मैं प्यार... ओह मैं 

हर कोई है यहीं 

 तुम बस करीब नहीं
हाँ तुम करीब नहीं

  हाँ... करीब नहीं 

...

Oldy be goldy

From 'Howrah Bridge' (1958), lyricist: Qamar Jalalabadi, composer: OP Nayyar

बाबू जी मैं चीन से आयी 

चीनी जैसा दिल लायी 

सिंगापुर का यौवन मेरा 

शंघाई की अंगड़ाई 

दिल पे रख ले हाथ ज़रा 

हो जाए ना पागल तू 

मेरा नाम चिन चिन चू 

चिन चिन चू बाबा चिन चिन चू 

रात चांदनी मैं और तू 

हेलो मिस्टर हाउ डू यू डू 

बा बा... बा बा...

Oh darling I came from China

My sweet heart jus' couldn't be finer

From Singapore does hail my youth

From Shanghai its yawn no minor

Keep 'em hands on to your heart

May you not go loony too

Name be mine Chin Chin Chu

Chin Chin Chu baba Chin Chin Chu

Night be moony me and you

Hello mister how do you do

Ba ba... ba ba...

...

Reading List: Jan 2020-Jan 2021

1. Gulag (Anne Applebaum)
2. Persepolis 2 (Marjane Satrapi)
3. In Service of the Republic (Vijay Kelkar, Ajay Shah)
4. A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K LeGuin)
5. The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov) [reread]
6. The Tombs of Atanu (Ursula K LeGuin)
7. The Farthest Shore (Ursula K LeGuin)
8. Tehanu (Ursula K LeGuin)
9. Mao's Great Famine (Frank Dikotter)
10. Serotonin (Michel Houellebecq)
11. Exit West (Mohsin Hamid)
12. What we talk about when we talk about love (Raymond Carver)
13. The Tragedy of Liberation (Frank Dikotter)
14. The Cultural Revolution (Frank Dikotter)
15. घाचर गोचर (विवेक शानभाग)
16. The Fatal Conceit (Friedrich Hayek)
17. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (Lydia Davis)
18. Capitalism and Freedom (Milton Friedman)
19. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)
20. The Road to Serfdom (Friedrich Hayek)
21. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
22. Iron Curtain (Anne Applebaum)
23. The Better Angels of Our Nature (Steven Pinker)
24. The Twenty-Seventh City (Jonathan Franzen)
25. Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (David Foster Wallace)
26. The Undoing Project (Michael Lewis)
27. Life and Fate (Vasily Grossman)
28. After the Funeral (Agatha Christie)
29. The Mysterious Affairs At Styles (Agatha Christie)
30. The Murder on the Links (Agatha Christie)
31. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie)
32. Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie)
33. Mothsmoke (Mohsin Hamid)
34. Three Act Tragedy (Agatha Christie)
35. The Great Gtasby (F Scott Fitzgerald)
36. A Legacy of Spies (John leCarre)
37. ABC Murders (Agatha Christie)
38. Murder on the Orient Express (Agatha Christie)
39. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) [reread]
40. Harry Potter and the Philisopher's Stone (JK Rowling) [reread]
41. Sense and Sensibilities (Jane Austen)
42. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke)
43. Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)
44. Humiliated and Insulted (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) [reread]
45. Thirty Years That Shook Physics (George Gamow)
46. Look to Windward (Iain M Banks)

Reject and don't (re)submit

"We are sorry inform you that your submission for the Journal of Pain and Death has been rejected on account of being too life-affirmatory. We thank you for your submission and hope that you will submit to us again."

More TASWOSAW Inversion

From 'Jaan Tere Naam' (1992), lyricist Sameer.

तेरे से मैरिज करने को मैं बम्बई से गोआ आया 

पर तेरे डैडी ने मुझको रेड सिग्नल दिखलाया 

डैडी से तेरे क्या लेना मुझे?

तू मुझको चाहे मैं चाहूँ तुझे 

ये अक्खा इंडिया जानता है हम तुम पे मरता है 

दिल क्या चीज़ है जानम अपनी जान तेरे नाम करता है 

...

To get wedded to you from Bombay to Goa I came

But your daddy he red signalled me all the same 

With your daddy what do I have to do?

You love me and I love you

The whole India knows it that I'd die for you

What trifle be a heart o dear I grant my soul to you 

TASWOSAW

Trivenis by Gulzar [sung by Jagjit Singh]

ज़िन्दगी क्या है, जानने के लिए 

ज़िंदा रहना बहुत ज़रूरी है 

आज तक कोई भी रहा तो नहीं 

है नहीं जो दिखाई देता है 

आईने पर छपा हुआ चेहरा 

तर्जुमा आईने का ठीक नहीं 

आओ हम सब पहन लें आईने 

सारे देखेंगे अपना ही चेहरा 

सबको सारे हसीं लगेंगे यहाँ 

हमको ग़ालिब ने ये दुआ दी थी 

तुम सलामत रहो हज़ार बरस 

ये बरस तो फ़क़त दिनों में गया 

...

What is life, to know this

Staying alive is very important

Till date none have

It is not what it seems

The face printed on the mirror

The mirror's translation is not accurate

Let us all wear mirrors

Each will see their own image

All will find each handsome

We were blessed by Ghalib

May you be preserved for a thousand years

This year though passed merely in days

Pop quiz

How is it that Žižek doesn't have the virus yet?

Backward guidance

First they came as sniffles, then trickles, then in waves, and finally in gushing streams---unbidden, unannounced, unasked for---them tears that is; and threatened to overwhelm her senses, to the acute bafflement of those watching, wondering what did provoke such an onset, the released quarterly earnings only three percent below target after all. Although initially she tried to frame it as misfirings of her overwrought broom of the system, eager to remove traces of its long-dormant lachrymosal inactivity, only much later would she herself begin to grope towards its mysterious incidence and its ambiguous, weakly tethered connection to a set of distant memories she began to be convinced were systematically tampered with and set ablaze.

The Reading List: Jan 2019--Jan 2020

1. Dune (Frank Herbert) (reread)
2. Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)
3. Essays (George Orwell)
4. Homo Deus (Yuval Noah Harari)
5. The Futurological Congress (Stanislaw Lem)
6. South of the Border, West of the Sun (Haruki Murakami)
7. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Haruki Murakami)
8. The Blind Watchmaker (Richard Dawkins)
9. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
10. Essential Chomsky (Noam Chomsky)
11. The Dark Forest (Liu Cixin)
12. Death's End (Liu Cixin)
13. The Map and the Territory (Michel Houllebecq)
14. The Night Manager (John le Carre)
15. Men Without Women (Haruki Murakami)
16. Thinking, fast and slow (Daniel Kahneman)
17. After Dark (Haruki Murakami)
18. English August (Upamanyu Chatterjee)
19. Against Interpretation and Other Essays (Susan Sontag)
20. I married a communist ( Philip Roth)
21. The last samurai (Helen deWitt)
22. Directorate S (Steve Coll)
23. साये में धूप (दुष्यंत कुमार)
24. Pakistan: A Hard Country (Anatol Lieven)
25. The Best of R K Laxman
26. कवि-मन (अज्ञेय)
27. A Beginner's Guide to Japan (Pico Iyer)
28. Speak, Memory (Vladimir Nabokov)
29. The Foundation Pit (Andrey Platonov)
30. The Man who solved the world (Zuckerman)
31. Normal People (Sally Rooney)

अथ उवाच अज्ञेय [कवि मन]

'कितना ही ऊपर चढ़ जाओ, जब बैठोगे तो अपने ही चूतड़ों पर'

'अरे यार तो क्या हुआ? उसी जोड़ का सच तो यह भी है कि कितना ही नीचे धँस जाओ, जब खड़े होगे तो अपने ही पैरों पर!'

Corporations as AI

The observation is due to perhaps Charles Stross but the argument goes as follows: an AI tasked with efficient paperclip manufacturing may (mistakenly) destroy all matter in the universe in order to convert it to paperclips, thereby faithfully carrying out its orders. Somewhat similarly, modern corporations, which have been (legally) tasked with maximizing shareholder value are carrying out their duties faithfully, without worrying about attendant poor effects on the environment etc. From this perspective, corporations are similar to AIs and cannot override their programming (even if made aware) due to the imperative logic of goal/objective function optimization.

Is this a valid characterization of a corporation (or indeed an AI)? Why or why not? Explain in brief. (10 points)

Famous Last Words

"Satire and irony were his favorite modes of expression."

The Reading List: Jan 2018 to Jan 2019

1. 2010: Odyssey Two (Arthur C Clarke)
2. The Vegetarian (Han Kang)
3. The Three Body Problem (Liu Cixin)
4. Invisible Planets (Editor and translator Ken Liu)
5. The Sellout (Paul Beatty)
6. The Competent Authority (Shovon Chaudhary)
7. Who Gets What and Why? (Alvin Roth)
8. मन हिंडोला (विनोद कुमार त्रिपाठी)
9. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (Jai Arjun Singh)
10. Every Love Story is a Ghost Story (D T Max)
11. सीन 75 (राही मासूम रज़ा)
12. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John LeCarre)
13. The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Jai Arjun Singh)
14. Mason and Dixon (Thomas Pynchon)
15. India Moving (Chinmay Tumbe)
16. The Peripheral (William Gibson)
17. करता भूलूं क्या याद करूं (हरिवंश राय बच्चन)
18. The Secret Pilgrim (John LeCarre)
19. Milk and Honey (Rupi Kaur)
20. Atomised (Michel Houellebecq)
21. Vampire in Love (Enrique Vila Matas)
22. The Honorable Schoolboy (John LeCarre)
23. सोनम गुप्ता बेवफ़ा नहीं है (अनिल यादव)
24. A Death in the Family (Karl Ove Knausgaard)
25. My Brilliant Friend (Elena Ferrante)

Further Recent Mega Acquisitions

Featuring:

1. मन हिंडोला (विनोद त्रिपाठी)
2. My Brilliant Friend (Elena Ferrante)
3. The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Jai Arjun Singh)
4. A Death in the Family (Karl Over Knausgaard)
5. Goodbye, Columbus (Philip Roth)
6. I Married a Communist (Philip Roth)
7. Mason and Dixon (Thomas Pynchon)
8. Every Love Story is a Ghost Story (D T Max)
9. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John le Carre)
10. सीन: 75 (राही मासूम रज़ा)
11. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (Jai Arjun Singh)

The New Arker

Philip Roth died May 22, 2018. With his passing, only a very few American writers of his caliber remain: DeLillo, Pynchon and perhaps Cormac McCarthy; though for sheer readability on a sentence-by-sentence basis, Roth towers over all. 

As ever, the Economist is at its most insightful:

...like all great artists, he inhabited and embodied contradictions. You cannot disagree with him more than he disagreed with himself. He wrote about patriotism and he hated patriots. He wrote about idealism and he despised idealists. He wrote about the family with great love, and yet he railed against the asphyxiation of family. He was a moralist who loathed moralists. He was an atheist locked in lifelong battle with a God who neither cared nor existed. His subject was often no more than ten square miles of New Jersey and therefore the whole world.

He was fearlessly engaged with the profane and the repellent; and yet his work is apt on any page to break out into such passages of compassion and sorrow that the reader is ambushed all over again—this time by emotion.

Do read the entire obituary in full: Philip Roth was one of America’s greatest novelists

NF has read only a very few of his books: American Pastoral (1997), The Plot Against America (2004), The Human Stain (2000); and of course, Portnoy's Complaint (1969). Two others were ordered at the news of his passing: Goodbye, Columbus (1959) and I Married A Communist (1998).

The overwhelming power of his writing to amuse, please, astound; and of course to so effortlessly move one, remain unparalleled. His replacement will be hard to find.

Goodbye Columbus!

Upendage

Upon knowing that their adopted son was of Indian heritage the parents decided to name their child 'Susurration-of-the-Whispering-Willows'. It would be only much later that the child would grow up to appreciate the aftereffects of their profound ignorance; find it in him to assume the name 'Devashekhara' and wage a war against ignorant parents everywhere. However, only those closest to him would ever know of his special weakness for gambling, casinos, horseriding, scalp-collecting; and of his vague nostalgia for a distant motherland he would never visit.