Krishna R wrote:
"My only regret has been that recently the group has seemingly split into two -- with the amateurs splitting away from the professionals. From my own (relatively short) experience as a researcher, I have always found that answering an amateur's seemingly trivial question can actually help one to understand the strengths and weaknesses of one's own arguments. Also, I find that now there is no one to dumb down the argument so that I can understand it too."

I completely agree with R. Krishna's view on the exclusion of amateurs from participation on the list. Apart from the reasons listed by him, it is essential to sustain and upgrade the public interest in Indology for our own sake. Sharing knowledge is as essential as acquiring the knowledge. Socrates, Aristotle, Galileo, Darwin, Einstein, and Feynman are famous for their scholarly thinking and for reaching out to society. Some of them even had to pay a big price--lost their lives in the process. The decline of India as a great civilization started when knowledge was restricted to some selected people.

I have no intention of starting a debate on the issue. However, I feel distressed with the split. The distress is not for any personal reason, it is for the growth of the subject matter we deal with on this list.
Alok Kumar