This is a week to soak in some stimulating ideas bounced off at the ongoing ‘D.D. Kosambi Festival of Ideas’, which has emerged as one of the most engaging series of lectures in the country.
The 9th Festival of Ideas, which has hosted some of the finest minds and erudite speakers like thinker and artiste Girish Karnad, Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan and His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the past, in the latest avatar, has a set of equally awesome guests. Like for example Prof. Arvind Gupta, who is scheduled to speak today on ‘Nurturing Scientific Spirit In Children’.
Gupta’s credentials are interesting. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur in the year 1975 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. With his degree and passion for science, Gupta dared to walk a different path, rather than choosing the path a lot of his peers at the IIT do.
His passion for science and his crusading spirit to make science appeal to children saw him write 24 books on subjects related to science.
He is also credited with translating 175 books from English to Hindi. Gupta has also taken his quest to the television screen by presenting as many as 125 films related to scientific activity on the national broadcaster Doordarshan.
As a writer he excelled too, with his book ‘Matchstick Models and Other Science Experiments’ ending up being translated into as many as a dozen languages and selling as many as five lakh copies. His contribution has been recognised by the Indian establishment which has conferred upon him the National Award for Science Popularisation among children way back in the late 1980s. Keeping in sync with technology, Gupta has also taken to internet with a passion, with his popular website www.arvindguptatoys.com where he talks about his love for books and toys using techniques and language easily understood by children.
The other speakers in this year’s lecture series are noted philanthropist Sudha Murthy, former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, regional director of WHO South-East Asia Region Poonam Khetrapal Singh and author director Richard Schechner.
What: 9th D.D. Kosambi Festival of Ideas
Who: Talk by Prof. Arvind Gupta
Where: Kala Academy, Panaji
