First let me tell you about one particular birthday - my own. I was given life in this world on January 12 1949, which means I belong to the baby-boom generation. The second world war had at last come to an end, and those who had managed to survive looked around them, took a deep breath, got married and started making children one after another. During the next four or five years, the world's population expanded - indeed, exploded, in a way never seen before. I was one of the nameless, numberless children produced during that period.

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