A platform for the intellects

|  DIANA FERNANDES 

Come February and many look forward to the host of festivals in Goa, from the Monte Music Festival to Carnival and other art and cultural events. One of these is the DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas. The annual event that began in 2008 is seen as the meeting of some of the most intellectual individuals from India and the world over. 

The first edition of the festival in 2008 saw the likes of the then Vice President Hamid Ansari, eminent Historian Romila Thapar, DD Kosambi’s daughter Meera Kosambi, journalist P. Sainath and well known scientist Vivek Monteiro. 

Its second edition, in 2009 was highlighted with a talk by eminent entrepreneur and former co-chairman of Infosys Technologies Nandan Nilekani. During his talk, Nilekani highlighted primary education as a key that needed to be focused on to propel citizens to a better future. 

“50% of urban children are studying in private -run schools, even in one-room tenements. We must fix our government schools," he had said.

That year also saw eminent journalist and editor Rajdeep Sardesai talk about the media explosion and its impact. Others delivering speeches that year were world famous architect and expert on urban planning, Jamie Lerner and historian Dr. Ramachandra Guha. 

One of the most attended sessions of them all was of the eminent and accomplished His Holiness The Dalai Lama back in 2011. The crowds were in the thousands as many were seen sitting and paying close attention to the Dalai Lama on a screen installed outside the multipurpose hall of the Kala Academy where the event is held every year. 

The topic for his session was “Ethics for the new Millennium” and he even took the time to answer questions related to the growing feeling of inconvenience of his relationship with India. 

Another reason the festival has done so well with time, is the ability of the general public to interact with eminent personalities. One of the memorable interactions was at the 2013 event. A panel consisting Nirmala Sitharaman, Mahesh Bhatt, Piyush Pandey, Gul Panag, Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghosh – Sardesai. 

Organized by the government’s Art and Culture department, this year’s event begins with Arun Maria on the topic titled, “Shaping our future: One country, One Destiny.” Other speakers at this year’s event includes Ideation Specialist, Media Tycoon, Ad Guru and renowned Indian English Theatre Personality Alyque Padamsee, Professor IIM Ahmedabad Anil Kumar Gupta, Governor - Reserve Bank of India & Economist Raghuram Rajan and Former Chairman of ISRO, & renowned Space Scientist Dr. K. Radhakrishnan. 

 Review Bureau