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Its ridiculous to think of Narayan Murthy as a culprit!! Come on guys, what do you expect of him? That he should have stayed a small company specializing in a 'product', instead of making India's biggest software company, which is held in awe all over the world? For the critics, Infosy is also engaged in product development - infact, its Banking product is now being used all over the world, besides being used by most of the top Banks in India. Although its contribution to revenue in overall terms is not much, its just to show that even the top IT services company have not lost focus of this as yet. Coming back to the author's article, although most Indians today in software field are not hard-core techies; in the long run this is going to be a plus point. What the future would see is not just geeks, but people who can complement their knowledge of software with other fields and vice versa. Software or rather IT will (and is becoming) in integral part of all professions.

tapori, My issue was about having to accept homosexuality as "normal". Accepting homosexuals in society is not an issue I am raising. I think everyone here agrees (reluctantly if so) that they should be treated equally. An inconsitency lies in extending to them a status of being normal that aren't granted to less fortunate abnormal tendencies. Beloo mentions in her last post that we must draw lines somewhere. Are these lines subjective or agreed to as being "moral"/"ethical" by today's standards? If they are agreed to, were any "rules" created? Do these rules include some and rule out others? It's one thing to call someone narrowminded/homophobic/whatever if he/she cannot accept a homosexual as as normal, but try applying those very standards to other abnormalities and you'll find yourself in uncomfortable territory. The cause of the abnormality shouldn't be too much of a concern. It could be a mental illness or a gene mutated the wrong way. Either way, as long as the person did not willingly inflict this abnormality onto himself, there is no problem here (that I can see). It's amusing that one should be labelled homophobic, when he is arguing on behalf of other (less fortunate) abnormalities.

Beloo, I just got a chance to see the comments from Sid and Tapori and will wait for your response. I do think there is an inconsistency in your POV as well as those of Hermione and S B, if you have trouble with certain types of sexual behavior ( which I assume you would in some of the cited examples, even if there is mutual consent), but are looking for acceptance of this aberration. The other point you have raised in your post about Indian attitudes toward homosexuality as being one imported or influenced by the west doesn't hold water. As others have discussed in previous posts, there is very little about homosexuality in the scriptures or other ancient texts. If it was prevalent or if there was acceptance of it, we would, I presume, see obvious references to it. Regards, CaX

tapori, "Now answer the question - suppose this person is your very dear friend but one day he sends you an invitation where he is marrying his mom - how will that affect your relation ship with him ??" I will cease to have any relation with this person, but what does that prove? I have already said - we all draw lines somewhere - as individuals and as societies. Am I to assume that what is being implied here is that homosexuality should be 'treated' using same psycho-analytical framework as oedipus complex? As for Kripal's stereotype - I don't think that has anything to do with the current discussion, unless as Indians we 'buy' into the idea that any physical contact between two male (or female) friends must be looked at through a 'homosexual' lens. That would be totally absurd.

VC, I will reserve comment since our discussion wouldnt fall into the purview of this column. Lets have this discussion some other time, I promise. Just a couple of clarifications - I was equating weddings with cars and therefore a Hyundai would be an Arya Samaj wedding and a Mercedes Benz would be the ostentatious wedding you have a problem with. I am glad I didnt hurt your feelings - your statement about sisters and a brother somehow made me think we were talking about someone very close to you and I felt compelled to apologise. Regarding Arya Samaj weddings , I agree with you they are pretty cool - thats how I got married. Best Regards..

Beloo,

Please understand what Cax and Sid are saying. Just to ease the understanding, lets ignore the paedophilia comment that Sid made. Lets take a typical Indian male who follows the stereotype that Kripal has sketched to the hilt and accordingly he has this thing for his mom and she reciprocates. They are both adults and so the consent issue doesnt come into play. Now are you in favor of promoting a society where a mother and son are sexually enamored to each other and want to openly display it. Now answer the question - suppose this person is your very dear friend but one day he sends you an invitation where he is marrying his mom - how will that affect your relation ship with him ??

Sid1977, First, I do not think any of us can absolutely know what feels normal for another. But I am pretty sure homosexuals do feel that it is absolutely normal for them to feel the way they do, just like heterosexuals know what feels normal to them. Whether pedophiles feel the same way about their tendencies, it is not possible to comment on that because morality, legality and social acceptance do bring up additional issues into the picture. (And I can’t even speculate on this because I haven’t talked to any pedophile, though my position as stated in my earlier message pretty much explains how I feel about people who commit such heinous crimes). So it is unreasonable to compare pedophilic tendencies to homosexual tendencies, IMHO. Second, granted that there are differences in western and eastern paradigms of morality and (homo)sexuality, but whether we like to believe it or not, and at the risk of making some generalizations, I think the contemporary attitudes among most Indians are pretty much determined by western paradigm of homosexuality (sure, we can go on another tangent by saying how wrong/ colonial it is, but the fact remains that homosexuals in present India (like in most of the US) do feel marginalized). So if I just merely ‘tolerate’ my homosexual friend, and shy away from fully accepting him or her in my social circle, I think I am perpetuating this marginalization, which is to me, being pretty close to homophobic. It is not about being ‘fashionable’, it is perhaps my sense of real acceptance, perhaps even my personal sense of morality, perhaps my personal sense of what it feels like to be marginalized that requires me to accept this person completely which in turn, requires me to believe that he or she is being true to his/her nature, and is therefore doing what feels normal to him/her. There are no additional issues of social acceptance or legality that will shadow my relation with this person. (I repeat I will NOT feel the same way about a pedophile or anyone expressing such tendencies, regardless of any ‘scientific’ theory that proves that there may be some genes that make people commit such crimes. As has been mentioned before on this forum, we all draw lines somewhere.) Regards, Beloo

Hi Balu, I'm a bit confused. You've obviously critised quite liberally either as yourself or as your maximally consistent person. So where's the bit about clarifying and debunking the western pov? Or are you looking for that from these discussions. I'm also not clear if you genuinely think that the caste system and corruption is due to some weakness on our part or is a baseless notion you would like to dispell or something else. Please clarify. I could reread your article, but it is too long. Sigh ;-)

Let's say that there are some Indians living in the US, who know nothing about 'western normative ethics' (i.e., wouldn't even recognize it, if it came and bit them on their behinds). They criticize current Indian social practices (say extravagant weddings) from a common sense perspective (and their own experience), just as they criticize, say, opposition to gun control in the US or the short term focus of American companies. In doing these, how do they 'necessarily make factual claims about the absence of ethical thinking in the Indian traditions'? VC

Professor Balagangandhara Is there a concrete solution or solutions which would rid India of corruption? In the past the indian king had absolute authority. Fear of punishment by the king kept bureaucrats in line. How can corruption be checked in India's current democratic setup? Or must india's political framework be restructured to suit the Indian ethos?