India, July 29 -- By Dr. R. Balasubramaniam

I attended a function the other day where the chief guest arrived twenty minutes late and the entire hall rose as though a great wind had passed through it. What struck me was not the man himself but the small army that preceded him. There was someone to carry his folder, someone to hold the door, someone to whisper into his ear and someone whose only visible function was to look busy on his behalf. By the time he reached the dais, I had quite forgotten why we had gathered. The arrangement had become the event.

I have spent a good part of my life among people who held no position at all and I have noticed that they rarely felt the need to announce themselves. The tribal elder in our villages w...