My Quora Content

Although the content, the answers and the blog posts do not show up on search results in Quora, they are all still there and can be accessed via this link. No search function unfortunately.

https://www.quora.com/profile/Vinay-Kumaran/all_posts

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Do clothes make a man?

I've often been told by my wife that I should take more care of my appearance. I'm notorious for turning up for conferences wearing sandals and bush shirts. Of course, I like to dress for comfort rather than to impress people but there is some long term thinking behind the attitude. My Uncle, Prabhakar Menon, took the Civil Services exams twice in the late 1960s. The first time, his rank was 13 or thereabouts, apparently missing the IFS (foreign services) by one rank. Instead of taking an IAS (adminstrative services) seat, he decided to decline and try again the next year. In an account of the exam by someone else, I read 'I was surprised to see Prabhakar Menon turn up for the interview in a bush shirt. I knew he had qualified for the IAS last year.' Formal attire was nearly a requirement for these interviews. Why did he turn up in informal clothes? I can think of some reasons. He may have done well enough in the exam that he was confident that he would do well regard...
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The Defenders of AYUSH

It seems to me that I can reproduce my blog posts from Quora here without any risk of being banned. Therefore: The Defenders of AYUSH Vinay Kumaran I recently answered a question about my opposition to AYUSH. Vinay Kumaran's answer to Why is Dr. Vinay kumaran skeptical about other forms of medicine except allopathy? I merely pointed out that I did not care about the name of a medicine or treatment but that any treatment administered to patients should be supported by evidence of its efficacy in the form of well conducted clinical trials. Some might recall an earlier discussion in which a banker and avid Ayurveda enthusiast insisted that since his pet dog’s ‘back problem’ was resolved by an Ayurvedic massage, the general efficacy of all Ayurvedic medicine was therefore demonstrated, including for the treatment of liver cancer. My admittedly sarcastic response to that gentleman led to my answer being collapsed and no-doubt contributed to my recent one week ban ...
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Listening to Music

How long has it been since you actually listened to music? I know you probably have music playing when you're driving and you're probably also talking to someone and answering your phone and wondering which would be the best route home. The music is something playing in the background to which you are not paying much attention. How different from going to a concert hall and listening to a live performance. The difference, of course, is in focus. At the hall, you're not doing anything else. All your attention is on the performance and you are able to really appreciate it. It's like the difference between going to a theatre to watch a movie and watching it on TV at home. You get up to answer the doorbell, make a few phone calls, have dinner. At the end of the movie you wonder why people were raving about it when it was released. You can get the concert hall effect at home. Set aside enough time to give the music a fair listening. Don't do anything else. No TV, no m...
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