Who is Pakistan’s enemy number one?

Could there be something more dangerous than corruption, bad governance and religious terrorism? Indian and American conspiracies?

Ask people around you to identify the three greatest threats facing Pakistan. Ordinary people, chatterbox anchors, mullahs, generals and politicians will name everything from corruption, bad governance and religious terrorism, to Indian and American conspiracies, and general moral decay. But few, if any, waste sleep worrying about the country’s exploding population. Some educated people do have misgivings, but they show concern only when prodded.

Fortunately, the ultra-religious sorts – which this land is abundantly blessed with – are free from useless doubt.

An old Persian story helps understand the mathematical concept of exponentials.

Once upon a time, a clever courtier presented an elaborate ivory chess set to his king. In return, he asked for only one grain of rice for the first square, two for the second, four for the third, and so on. Now, kings in those times did not have degrees in math, and this one was no exception. He foolishly agreed and ordered the rice be brought out from the storage. Working on the agreed upon terms, the 10th square had 512 grains, the 14th weighed around 1kg, and the 20th around 128kg. Long before reaching the last square (64th), the kingdom’s entire rice stock was exhausted.

The moral: if something doubles, and doubles again and again, then even the sky is not high enough.