It’s when children are 15, 16 or 17 that they decide whether they want to be a doctor, an engineer, a politician or go to the Mars or moon. That is the time they start having a dream and that’s the time you can work on them. You can help them shape their dreams. For example, tomorrow if I address a group of youngsters and talk about the flag flying in my heart and how I will uphold the dignity of the nation, I can get them to dream. But if I talk to people who are 40, 50 or 70 plus, it will not go down that well. Secondly, the youth have fewer biases about their society as compared to the grown-ups.

•Dhiraj Nayyar: How do you define youth?

How old are you?

•Dhiraj Nayyar: I am 30.

Thirty? Then you are not there. You are also a young fellow, don’t worry.

•Sameer Kumar: Do you think India can successfully develop indigenous defence systems?

Many nations economies are driven by the type of defence system they sell. If they don’t sell defence systems or defence products that country’s economy will collapse. So aggressive marketing is going on wherever defence systems are manufactured. But India must learn to be competitive too. Competitiveness involves cost, quality, and marketing.

•SEEMA CHISHTI: On your website, in your e-newspaper Billion Beats and in all the issues you discuss, there is an engagement with ideas but it seems as if you are skirting the social context in which India lives. What are your thoughts on the context that an average Indian finds himself in?

... contd.