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some other dumb bastard die for his country.’
‘Attendance is compulsory. No excuses for your absence unless you’re dead. And even then, try to make it.’
‘We cannot fight an enemy we do not know,
‘Our ability to neutralise the threat will improve if we can understand what we are dealing with,’ said the army man in measured tones.
‘We need to fight smart rather than fight hard,’ replied the army chief. ‘Let’s find out exactly what makes the Chinese forces so potent. Once we have that answer, we can fight them better. Identify the malaise and you will find the remedy. I suggest we bring in a young investigator from the DRDO who can help us.
a response. But her parentage had seemingly made a difference. In Thakur’s scheme of things, no amount of training, education or experience could compensate for a poor bloodline.
The DRDO operated a network of fifty-two laboratories across India. Each of these was responsible for developing defence technologies in domains as diverse as aeronautics, communication, armaments and life sciences. The DRDO employed 5,000 scientists and 25,000 support personnel. Pam was a shining star in a sky full of soaring minds clouded only by bureaucracy. Like every other government department, the DRDO too was controlled by an army of civil servants. Pam often joked that DRDO bureaucrats were like defective guns: they never worked and could not be fired.
she realised that she had no alternative but to pick herself up and focus on being the best.
He often quoted from Chanakya, the great strategist of the fourth century BCE, who recommended that
debt should be paid to the final penny and an enemy finished to the final trace. He rued the fact that the Chinese had read Chanakya’s Arthashastra, while the Indians had not bothered reading Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.
Treat everyone—and I mean everyone—as an informant.’
Use your ammunition wisely and keep your powder dry, she thought to herself.
harsh truth. Getting a machine to mimic humans was exceptionally difficult. Slightly easier was getting humans to mimic machines.
Tai chi moves using gentle, flowing motions.
Many senior executives had received marching orders when they proved to be indiscreet. ‘Even a fish would not get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut,’ the chairman of AXTech was known to say. Discretion was key.
exactly the sort of significant change Mark was looking for.
desperately wanted to
To see the new world all by myself.
He accepted the offer with alacrity.
He often joked with his colleagues that it was easy to develop artificial intelligence but much more difficult to counter natural human stupidity.
relationship with Mossad—Israel’s external intelligence agency. VTK had completed a training stint in
art and science
‘Read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War,’ replied Mark. ‘One of its lessons: Appear weak when you are strong and strong when you are weak. The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. The Chinese are doing precisely that, fighting a war of perception. Much of the stuff being attributed to Chinese labs is hogwash.
abbot,
That is the binary nature of the world; every positive comes with a negative.
Both my parents gave me an abundance of love during the short time they spent
family had a long tradition of serving emperors in positions that required education and intellect.
grew up rather serious and introspective. My favourite activity was reading, typically the writings of ancient sages. I would ignore the voices of my friends playing outside so that I could absorb the wisdom of the written word. Our home was characterised by piety, kindness, culture and gentleness.
farsightedness,
was desperate to be accepted into Jing Tu. I tried several times to catch the attention of the imperial envoy, who was easily identifiable by his red silken Hanfu. It made him stand out from the multitude dressed in blue or black
Just as I was about to give up and turn away, the imperial envoy walked up to me. Unbeknownst to me, he had been
I was determined to progress intellectually and spiritually. I immersed myself in endless discussions and debates. There were so many great intellectuals in Chang’an. And then, one day, I met a visiting monk from Yindu who was fluent in Chinese. His name was Prabhakaramitra. I was so very excited to meet someone from the land of the Buddha.
he had a wealth of knowledge to share. For
was preparing myself for the real journey of my life.
They slept for less than five hours at night, but they slept deeply.
The young monk was familiar with routines that focused on improving the agility of joints and articulations, strengthening internal organs, consolidating body strength and concentrating energy. Instead,
Their arms weigh only ten
jins but can displace objects weighing 10,000 jins with a single stroke.
apparition,
hogwash.
clad
Shengli had become a merchant of that extremely valuable commodity pricier than gold, diamonds or oil: information.
Those with deeply
held beliefs are often willing to die for their ideals.
acrid
Count the life in your years, not the years in your life. Who had said that? John Lennon? Muhammad Ali? Abraham Lincoln? Shengli settled on the last name.
And they both knew that humans were far more dangerous than ghosts.
Mao Zedong’s political ideology.
Shengli. It was so much easier to deal with people who were of the same ideological disposition.
incredible oratory that had pulled him into the political arena. By
platitudes
