Mood Indigo gains momentum
On day three of IIT Bombay’s Mood Indigo, the most anticipated event was Shashi Tharoor’s session. As expected, it had a packed audience.
On day three of IIT Bombay’s Mood Indigo, the most anticipated event was Shashi Tharoor’s session. As expected, it had a packed audience. In an engaging talk he reminisced about the day in 1974 when he came to Mood Indigo as a Stephanian (how students of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi are referred to) and went on to win all the competitions. The author and politician discussed the topic, “India in a Networked World”. Regaling the audience with anecdotes from his expansive career, he spoke about how the 21st century will make the world diverse, and how India will be a trailblazer for that change. Unlike the Q&A round that follows a talk session, this time, and the audience wasn’t allowed to ask any, which disgruntled many in the room. Incidentally, Shashi’s session had a set of predetermined questions generated by a Twitter Poll with #askshashi.
Earlier in the day, there was a session by social activist Medha Patkar who was in conversation with author Meghna Pant where they addressed various issues about globalisation. Medha spoke of how globalisation hasn’t reduced poverty levels in the country. She emphasised on how ‘Make in India’ campaign is eventually leading to “Take From India”. She also encouraged IIT students to volunteer for social causes.
The previous day too had witnessed a continuous stream of eminent personalities and artists enthralling the audience. The audience crooned along with the Indian Jam Project — a collaborative platform where musicians performed Indian adaptations of international music from popular movies and TV series. There was a ‘Litfest’ hosted by author Anita Nair, who also launched her book Alphabet Soup for Lovers. The International Music Festival electrified the audience with a performance by electro-ethnic reggae group Anna RF. Add to that, the Hawaiian theme was complemented by a West African Dance workshop on live percussion music. Among other highlights, a panel discussion with celebrities Ramesh Sippy, Rajkumar Hirani and Anurag Kashyap saw a full house.