TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
As you read this, there’s a buzz in the air at a hotel in Bambolim. The coffee has been served and the brains are clicking into high gear. THINKfest, a three-day conclave of ideas, conversations, debates and artistic expression begins today, with a host of high profile speakers, including Nobel laureates, award winning economists, writers, artistes and then some.
This weekend will see names like V S Naipaul, Hari Kunzru, Shlomo Ben Ami, Shashi Tharoor, Omar Abdullah, William Dalrymple, Maajid Nawaz and many more, take the stage to present, discuss and depict theories, strategies and unconventional ideas. Madhvi Parekh, Nayanaa Kanodia, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Subodh Kerkar and others will let their artistic and creative juices flow, creating live art. This conclave hopes to bring a little sanity into a world that many perceive to be slowly losing its grip on reality, one that is forgetting it roots and descending into a materialistic and plastic void.
The sessions will cover various theories and ideas – the need for a greener economy, how writing can improve the world, the dilemmas of development and democracy, design philosophies, genetic engineering and others. There will also be insights into an anti-terror project, bringing down a dictator, Bollywood provocateurs and many other interesting windows into the complexities of life, including a conversation on how Indian schools are failing the country’s children.
Shoma Chaudhury, Managing Editor, Tehelka, talks of how the concept of THINKfest came about. “All healthy societies are founded on ideas; increasingly, our focus has shifted towards entertainment and consumerism — thought has lost its support. While Bollywood and cricket seem to get all the attention in India, we wanted to bring back the entertainment and glamour, which the pure process of thought can catalyse.”
THINKfest is just the beginning, it’s where the seed of a new world will be planted. The concept and collaborations that stem from here have the potential to create a new wave of thinkers, create ideas that can break past the lines that divide people. Let the ideas flow.
(Do check out THINKfest special in today’s international supplement, which features some of the big names who grace the THINKfest stage)