On an Average

On an average things are good and working. I have heard this a few times especially when I complain bitterly about various things in our society. In a chaotic society such as ours, we can only go by the average and if that is acceptable, we are happy. That may be OK. Statistically, there are always fringes to the ideal average behaviour and these fringes may be 5-10 % (liberally speaking). In India, this fringe is a very large number and may form a significant bulk of the actual sub-population in a different country. In a paint job, for instance,on an average, the walls get painted fairly uniformly and according to specification. But then there are these streaks at the bottom where the wall meets the floor skirt. Roads are laid and they are sometimes good. But then, the fringes are literally ignored (especially in the area where I live). And there are a large number of people who populate the fringes. But hey! Be happy that there is a road that takes you places, brings you the morning paper and milk. I do not know the actual numbers of the argument I have presented here, but my gut feeling is that if you estimate the width of roads and the composition of population on its fringes on the roads you may be able to get a fair estimate of our 'average behavior' (may be an aerial image of a road might work). I am also guilty of this. Maybe it is the heat and dust!!!
A related issue (at least marginally) is the number of deaths that happen in India due to negligence. There was a very strong article written by T.R. Jawahar (in a local newspaper) on this issue.