India, May 20 -- By Dr. R. Balasubramaniam

I have spent a considerable part of my life trying to understand shoe size. Not in the literal sense. I know what a size nine is. I have worn one for decades without philosophical confusion. What baffles me is the way we use the idea of shoe size as a proxy for wisdom, authority and the right to an opinion.

The principle, as I have observed it operating in our public life, is straightforward. The size of your shoe determines not only what you may say, but whether anyone is expected to listen. A person wearing a very large shoe walks into a room and speaks. The room adjusts itself accordingly.

A person in a modest shoe makes the same observation and the room waits politely for someone in a larg...