Mangaluru: A sense of pessimism pervades all over actions and thoughts notwithstanding the fact that things are much better than what they used to be. There is a tendency to glorify the past to belittle the present and further slip into this pessimistic groove, noted Anup K Pujari, visiting professor, Harvard University and former secretary, government of India. This prompts society to come to quick conclusion and not weigh the evidence, he noted.Delivering the 39th Foundation Day lecture of Mangalore University on ‘Light or Sound – Let us Think About Thinking’, Pujari, former deputy commissioner, Dakshina Kannada, said a global survey carried out in 2017 among residents of 20 richest countries in the world, only reinforced this sense of pervasive pessimism. The survey reinforced the fact that people in these countries are absolutely wrong and ignorant about the facts about the world.There are a lot of things in the world that too are becoming much better and things are only brightening up. However, people tend not to notice them, he said, adding that the technology savvy world notices only those things that pops up on Facebook and WhatsApp. “We have to be more objective about life and commitment to work that we do should continue irrespective of the negativity that pervades us and observe the positives around,” he said.Citing works and thoughts of personalities such as Hans Rosling and Daniel Kahneman to buttress his observation, Pujari going back to start his bureaucratic experience as assistant commissioner of then Gulbarga on a student answering that sound came before light, said, “One must take light and sound together. We must stay focussed,” he said adding things will only be much better when we do not partition events and take a holistic view of life.Pujari also motivated the gathering by asking them not to feel let down by beratings – warranted or otherwise during the course of their personal and professional lives. Demonstrating the same by crumpling a currency note, Pujari said the value of an individual does not go down just as the value of a currency does not diminish even if it is subject to the vilest of abuse and continues to retain its worth.

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