N.R. Narayana Murthy, a founder of Infosys, has told young people: “In God we trust. Everybody else brings data to the table.”
The saying is widely credited to the American statistician W. Edwards Deming. Quote Investigator found “no substantive support” for that. The earliest known use is in testimony to a subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives in 1978 by Edwin R. Fisher, who called it a well-recognized cliché.
India used the Decision Review System in a Test series against Sri Lanka in 2008. It did not use it again for eight years. The Board of Control for Cricket in India doubted the reliability of the technology.
Before the home series against England in 2016, the coach Anil Kumble visited a laboratory at MIT to assess improved ball tracking. The board then agreed to use the system on a trial basis from November 9, 2016.
Namak halaal, true to the salt. Namak haraam, false to the salt. The Rekhta dictionary defines namak haraam hona as to be treacherous, a traitor, one who harms his benefactor, disloyal. Namak halaal hona means to be loyal, grateful and indebted.
Two Hindi films carry the words as their titles. Namak Haraam (1973), directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, starred Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. Namak Halaal (1982), directed by Prakash Mehra, starred Amitabh Bachchan.
In the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, Krishna comes to Hastinapura as the envoy of the Pandavas. Duryodhana invites him to a feast. Krishna declines. “Envoys, O king, eat and accept worship only after the success of their missions,” he says, in the Ganguli translation.
Duryodhana presses him. Krishna answers: “One taketh another’s food when one is in distress. At present, however, O king, thou hast not inspired love in me by any act of thine.” He goes to the house of Vidura and eats there.
Apaddharma is the law for times of distress. A section of the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata is devoted to it. In one of its stories, the sage Vishvamitra takes a haunch of dog’s meat from a Chandala, an outcaste. The Chandala objects: “He who would regard dog’s meat as clean food, I think, would in matters of food abstain from nothing!”
Vishvamitra answers: “When one’s life, however, is in danger there is no sin in accepting such a present or eating such food.”
Rule 6 of the Posts and Telegraphs (Linemen/Sub-Inspectors/Line Inspectors) Recruitment Rules of 1969 is titled “Power to relax.” It reads: “Where the Central Government is of opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do, it may, by order, for reasons to be recorded in writing, relax any of the provisions of these rules with respect to any class or category of persons/post.”
The same clause appears, almost word for word, in rules of 2019 for the National Financial Reporting Authority.
Article 142 of the Constitution of India gives the Supreme Court a power of its own. The court “may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it.” Such an order “shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India.”
On May 22, 2010, Air India Express Flight 812 crashed while landing at Mangalore. The Court of Inquiry found that the captain continued an unstable approach “despite three calls from the First Officer (H S Ahluwalia) to ‘go around’.” The first call was a question: “Go around?” The last was: “Go around captain…We don’t have runway left.”
The first officer did not take over the controls. The report noted “ambiguity in various instructions empowering the ‘copilot’ to initiate a ‘go around’.”
Chhota munh badi baat : a small mouth, big words. The Rekhta dictionary gives its Hindi meanings as speaking above one’s ability, claiming more than one has been encouraged to, and badon ke samne dhrishtata dikhana, showing impudence in front of elders.
Gustakhi maaf : “pardon (my) rudeness, excuse me,” in Rekhta’s definition. Rekhta notes that the related phrase gustakhi muaf ho is used as an aside when someone says something impolite or unwelcome.
In the Yuddha Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana, Vibhishana advises his brother Ravana, in the presence of the ministers, to return Sita to Rama. Ravana is enraged and dismisses him. The text says that Ravana “sent away Vibhishana, who had spoken honestly.”
Vibhishana goes over to Rama. He explains: “Reviled by him and humiliated as a slave, I, leaving my sons and my wife, have come to take refuge with Rama.”