Gyan Sphoorthy was born in a family of idlers. His father was a landlord who shunned work, while his mother had a pronounced allergy for work. The family totally depended on the labour of maids in the house and on the work of peasants on the farmland, all on their extensive payroll. Gyan was tutored at home by a host of teachers through the medium of English, after he mastered the Basic English.

   Though he was lazy genetically, he was a prodigy having an amazing grasp and a phenomenal memory. By 18, he had read the major works of Bertrand Russell. He was particularly impressed by a passage from In Praise of Idleness of the philosopher.

   The passage reads as follows: “Everyone knows the story of the traveller in Naples who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini), and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to the twelfth. This traveller....