India, Nov. 3 -- When I was pretty young and struggling in school, I first heard the word 'reaction' during my physics teacher's lecture on the three Newtonian laws of motion. The third law is 'action and reaction are equal and opposite.' The teacher, of course, provided numerous examples to illustrate the law and attempted to convey the theory to my reluctant mind.

Today, after six long decades, when I think of the word 'reaction', something in me tells me that the word is born with us, lives with us and dies with us. Is there any other single word that covers a broader field of life? I doubt it.

I am in for correction. With a word like 'reaction,' we have no power to stop in the middle. We have to see things through to the very end. M...