Book review 'Penguin Books': Like a bang

The growth of the internet is analogous to the Big Bang. Just as the physical entity ‘space’ began to expand, and it is important to point out, that like the Big Bang, the internet did not just expand from one arbitrary point; it began to expand from everywhere. In simplified terms, every point is the centre of the universe. And in this mind boggling cosmos that itself is like a living entity, which circulates and reproduces and constantly grows from every direction possible, we the human race managed to create another scape of our own, and in this micro universe, every person is central, our lives continue on forward and the internet grows, we download only a minute fraction of we manage to upload.In terms of information and this universe, we are Gods.

To thank for this immeasurable power are not the Gods of religion, but the very human engineers. The countless hours they spent on the creation of digitalised networking systems that all started from one simple invention that some may say was a godly stroke of luck - the telephone.

Sam Pitroda did not invent the telephone, but he was vital in the development of the automatic switchboard, which was then the modern day equivalent to a server room. The best way to explain this is to quote directly from the book - “What makes this simple process mind-bogglingly complex is that these switches are scanning hundreds of thousands of telephone lines at the same time. Of all those lines, they have to recognise the moment when any one receiver is picked up. When that happens, the switch has to instantly access a database that tells it: This is John Jones’s telephone; John Jones has paid his telephone bill; John Jones gets a dial tone so he can make his call. Then the Boston switch has to connect with John Jones’s line with the Chicago, which is likewise monitoring many hundreds of thousands of lines and is simultaneously connecting and untold number of calls.” And all of this has to be done in a matter of micro seconds.

Although many readers may feel that the book takes off slowly, the formative years of the author does portray the true Indian spirit, something that the masses have seem to have forgotten in all the years of confusion - to learn, accept and use all that is beneficial to us. Criticism and the ability to criticise seem to have the bane of Indian culture leading to division after division, resulting in further bedlam. The result is the flawed bureaucracy where information is lost like in Chinese whisper, when officials pretend to play a game of thrones.

The Indian psychology is also quite aptly described as we are quite intolerant to criticism, often taking it too personally and too far. These are issues that sadly enough, still exist, and shall continue to exist as long as we continue to believe in the sense of hierarchy that still flows in our blood, from generation to generation, but with proper nurturing, the youth of India is quite obviously destined for greatness, and Sam Pitroda is an example, among many other Indians who lead the world forward.

 

 

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