About this blog

Now that the first post has been published, it's probably a good time to explain what reader might expect from this blog.


Over time, I have learnt about Ben Franklin and his pragmatic ways of living a useful life. I have found his story quite inspiring (my wife hopes that I don't take inspiration from Franklin's marriage though! :-)). Below are some questions that might arise in readers' minds:


Q: Why are you focusing on Franklin?
A: Because one can learn a lot from him. Of course, he had an important role as one of the founding fathers of the United States, and he was instrumental in getting French help that made independence for the US possible. But in addition, as Wikipedia says: "A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, soldier". That's a very wide range Ben had!

In addition, the story of his life is also very interesting. He was a truly self-made man, at a time when very few men were self-made. There are many aspects of his life that impress people. To me, the following are the key aspects:

a) "Doing well by doing good": He retired at the age 42, and spent remaining 42 in public service, and also enjoyed his life. Even when he was working and earning, he tended to focus on doing things that help the society and also help him. This is a very unique way of thinking, and it would help if more people think like this.

b) Self-improvement: One could argue that he was the father of self-improvement movement in the United States. Franklin is featured prominently in Dale Carnegie's and Stephen Covey's books. As Stephen Covey says in his 7 Habits book: "Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is a representative of the character ethic literature."

c) Inspiring change, but in a pragmatic way: Franklin was no ideologue. And this is very interesting aspect of his life. He was able to understand the status quo, people's point of views, and inspire or cause the change gradually, rather than taking up strong ideological positions. One could disagree with the method (as John Adams famously did), but the effectiveness of Franklin's method has to be noted. And I personally find this method very appealing.


Q: So is this blog about Franklin's life?
A: No. This blog is an attempt to use Franklin's methods and ideas, but in today's contexts. I might mention a few things about Franklin occasionally, but the goal is to think "What would Ben do" under a particular situation. For instance, how would one think dispassionately, non-ideologically about topics ranging from US-Iran affairs to US healthcare debate to India's caste system. The idea is to get away from ideology and think of pragmatic ideas for complex situations.


Q: So just to be clear, are you republican or democrat?
A: Since the blogosphere is full of political opinions, this question is natural to come up. Of course, I would tend to stick to the above mentioned rule "Don't be ideological", but given the current political climate in the United States, I have to say that, as Obama has said, my ideas would match more often with the editorial page of the New York Times than with the Wall Street Journal.


But I'm not married to liberal thinking. And if the reader assumes so, she or he might be surprised.


Q: But still, why Franklin, why not, say, Gandhi?
A: Well, I'm a big admirer of Gandhi as well. And it indeed is hard to believe a person like Gandhi was living and breathing the same air we do. But nobody would accuse Gandhi of being pragmatic! Emulating Gandhi is almost an impossible task. Whereas one can hope to emulate Franklin.


Q: Why is Franklin relevant in today's day and age?
A: In some ways, this blog is my way of making my thoughts known (which blog isn't just that?). So the topics and discussions that I'll discuss will be contemporary.