Is ThinkFest the new TED?

Nigel Britto

In Goa, rarely can any place which is not a church, manage to garner a full house, rapt with attention, at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning. At least one resort in North Goa proved otherwise, as the concluding day of the ThinkFest ideas jamboree saw almost 2,000 people walk in to experience and partake in the power of ideas. Aamir Khan spoke on Bollywood and Sudhir Kakkar on love; Sam Pitroda and Ashish Nandy sang cautious praises to the republic, but as if to warn against complacency, two citizens of the other India, Himanshu Kumar and Kopa Kunjam from Chhattisgarh, emerged with tales of horrific state-sponsored terror against tribals that raised questions about the nature of Indian democracy. Deservedly, despite the star statures of others, the two ground warriors got the biggest standing ovation of the day.

It wasn't just ideas on display at ThinkFest. A galaxy of entertainers, led by India's top comedian Papa CJ and singers like Sain Zahoor and Kailash Kher, also performed for a few select guests. Between lectures, too, pianist Anil Srinivasan entertained and educated with short yet laudable performances. The festival's worldview was evident in its line-up of speakers. While Thomas Friedman, America's most influential columnist, was the top draw on Saturday and a galaxy of top scientists and entrepreneurs strutted their stuff, Sunday saw the focus shift from science and the developed world to more humane issues-green revolutions and the problems of the third world. If Afghanistan MP Shukria Barakzai gave a compelling account of life in her country and Chinese economist Zhang Weiying in his, Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee spoke about how India's schools are getting it all wrong.

Perhaps to balance the scale, a surprise session on art was thrust upon the audience. Earlier, Pavan Sukhdev argued for the need to shift to a green economy. But perhaps the most off-beat session was the last one, 'Of love and other demons' a discussion by a panel comprising eminent psycho-analyst Sudhir Kakar, Tarun Tejpal, Nayantara Sahgal and for some reason, Chitrangada Singh, who seemed totally out of sorts on the panel. At the fag end, Tejpal said the words everybody wanted to hear-ThinkFest will be back, same time, same place, same state, every year, an announcement that was greeted with wild applause by the by-now-fagged-out crowd, which comprised a fair number of Goans.

Of and by itself, it was a festival to rival TED. However, a string of controversies regarding it pushed under the spotlight-dubious links emerged when Union minister Jairam Ramesh refused to attend it because the hotel's promoter is a 2G scam accused. What's worse, Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal's irreverent, off-the-cuff remark on the opening day ("eat, sleep with whomever you want") was interpreted by activists and sections of the media as an affront on Goan identity. A furious war of words between Tejpal and theatre veteran Hartman de Souza, who alleged the Tehelka editor compromised a story detailing Goa's illegal mining in exchange for support from the Goa government, only made things worse.

Also disappointing was the absence of many key speakers. Apart from Jairam Ramesh, other high-profile speakers who didn't turn up included Nobel laureate Leyman Gbowee, Anna Hazare, Nandan Nilekani, and also others like Rohini Nilekani, Amina Khairat and Adi Ignatius, all of whose names were still featured as 'speakers' on the ThinkFest web site even after the festival was over.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Goa edition on November 7, 2011.