Why Diversity is Important

 Generally, it brings new perspectives, and learning which you cannot get any other way. Also makes life less boring.

One way I made life interesting for myself is by working in all corners- and centre- of India, from Lucknow to Calicut and Bangalore to Indore. A senior friend once told me I wouldn't survive North of the Vindhyas. But I did survive for a limited period- actually a long time in Indore.

All universities must strive for diversity in their constituents- students, faculty and administrators. This difference is striking when you compare an average American University with an Indian one. I learnt by interacting with Chinese, Nigerian, Iranian, Turkish and Portuguese classmates during my Ph.D., in addition to American students.

Also, in my American workplace later, I had a Venezuelan colleague, as also a Korean, in a faculty of size 12.

It would be a nice goal to have a gender diversity goal, in addition to other kinds- regional, ethnic, religious etc. in any cohort of students, if possible. It makes classes engaging through peer learning too.

I have also been to conferences that had multiple nationalities participating- Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, New Zealanders, Canadians, Vietnamese, Australians and so on. Sometimes held in Singapore, or Japan, or Sri Lanka, or Vietnam.

 

Celebrities and Surnames- A Correlation Study

What are the chances of your becoming a celebrity with the surname Mishra? Gurnani? Gopalan? Almost zero. But a Kapoor in your surname would increase your chances by a million times. A Khan in your last name, by a zillion times (Saif and Irrfan in addition to the triumvirate).

Celebrity-hood sits as easily on a non-Khan too. Not convinced? Khan (Na) is a powerful surname, shared by the first 'superstar' Rajesh and then Vinod, and his son Akshaye. (Sur)name yourself Raman, and you may become the big boss of Physics or Maths, but a name like Padukone would catapult you into the big league of Badminton or Bollywood.

Some other powerful surnames are Bhosle, Bachchan, Kumar (Manoj, Rajendra "jubilee" Kumar, "jaani" Raj Kumar, and my all time favourite Kishore), Burman, Dutt, Mehra, Desai, Parekh, Roshan, Samanta (the producer-director), Rai (both the Northern and the Mangalorean versions), Shah (Kundan directed Jaane Bhi do Yaaro, the cult comedy), Kher, Bajpai, Sharma (Kapil is my favourite comic)

Saving the best for the last- the legend Tendulkar, and the biggest of all, Gaekwad. Why? That's the real surname of Rajnikanth.