Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Self-love of the Great Indian Male

Earlier this month, Ramachandra Guha had written a brilliant piece in the Telegraph.

It started out with the Emperor's new clothes but much of the piece was focussed on the stalwarts of Indian Science & Technology community: CNR Rao's move to get a landmark outside IISc to be named after himself; RA Mashelkar's editorial in Current Science showering praises on his own 'achievements'.

Guha contrasted this with the conduct of scientists like Obaid Siddiqui who founded the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), and an anecdote starring JBS Haldane - "You only talk about yourself. But science begins with an interest in the world outside yourself."

This reminded me of PK Kelkar, one of the founding fathers of IIT Kanpur who had strongly discouraged any form of sycophancy or hero-worship.

And now we have RK Pachauri of TERI. The 74-year-old scientist is under police investigation for sexually harassing his Research Assistant.

Where are we headed?

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LINKS

* Guha, Ramachandra (2015) - The Self-love of the Great Indian male -- http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150207/jsp/opinion/story_1886.jsp#.VNn1LfmUezw

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