Friday, July 08, 2005

Two days with Prof. Amartya Sen

Yesterday Prof. Amartya Sen came to be honourned with an Horonary Doctorate by the University of Goettingen. It was the most cherished time for his student Prof. Klasen and students of Prof. Klasen (including me) . We were very happy in the nobel laureate's presence.

It was thrilling to observe him. He looked so very simple yet so very powerful. I felt so very happy when Prof. Sen was acclaimed by the University President as one of the most prolific scholars of the contemporary times. He even said that it was an honour for the historic Goettingen University to confer an Honorary Doctorate on Sen.

We strolled together through the city centre till his hotel.I was holding his 'hononary doctorate' Certificate in my hand along with his other books and his long jacket. He took the jacket from my hands, wore it and said with a smile... I will make it easy for you. As the reception continued in Wilhelmsplatz, I, Julian and Prof. Sen went to the statue of the damsel of Goettingen which is kissed by everyone who obtains a Doctorate from the Goettingen university. He laughed at the idea of kissing it himself and agreed to getting photographed with the ceremonial statue of Ganseliesel.

We strolled by discussing Iraq war of which he was very critical. After reaching the hotel he looked at me and said.. 'Can I have my things now?' The night before he apparently didnt have good sleep and came to the hotel to rest for a while.

Later in the evening he came to the restaurant in which a formal dinner was hosted in his honour. The Indian Ambassador of India to Germany Sri Rangachari and the first lady, Consul General of India(Hamburg Consulate) and his wife, dignitaries from the university, other VIPs and our research team had dinner with Prof. Sen. When he came he stopped by and spoke to Isabel (a colleague of mine who organised most of the event). Towards the end of the dinner session, Stephan Klasen asked me to escort the Ambassador and the first lady to the Goettingen Railway Station. They left for Berlin after the dinner. When I returned, the restaurant was mostly empty. Prof. Sen was also going out with Stephan klasen. He looked at me and asked 'so you left the Ambassador at the Station'.. I smiled and replied in affirmative. I inquired if he liked the German food and he opined it was wonderful. He then left with Klasen to his hotel.

Today I got up early in the morning and got ready for the next meeting with Prof. Sen. Isabel went to his hotel to bring him to the conference room in the central library where around fifteen members of our research group and Stephan Klasen assembled to interactively learn from Prof. Sen. His scholarly nature so evidently expressed itself as he commented on various critical issues that arose in the research that our group presented in front of him. He came to the black board to explain diagramatically a point that he wanted to make and gave a game theoretic solution to one of the problems.

After the seminars at 12 o clock he had a press conference in the same room and all of us left. At 12. 45 Prof. Sen, I and Prof. Klasen started to the railway station. I had already purchased tickets in 1st class in the ICE leaving Goettingen at 1318 hrs for myself and for him. As we walked, the master and his student conversed with each other with the student expressing his heart felt gratitude to his master for coming to Goettingen and for accepting the invitation. The grand old man looked at me and asked me to give him his laptop bag as I was carrying all his baggage. I was adamant and asked him to kindly permit me to continue carrying his things as I didnt have any trouble. He consented with reluctance.

Prof. Klasen told that we could have lunch in the restaurant in the train. Yesterday also the Master had his lunch in the train while coming from Frankfurt Airport to Goettingen. He said that the lunch in the train was wonderful and he would like to definitely have it today also. "I hope you will not burden Pawan and he will not be needed to pay..", he said. "Amartya, you are our Guest of Honour", Klasen replied. We reached the station when the journalist who would take the interview of Prof. Sen in the train came. After formal introductions, Prof. Klasen bade three of us a good bye when the train arrived and I remember him saying, 'Thank you very much Amartya". The master and his student had wonderful chemistry between them.

Inside the train we went to the restaurant for having lunch. The tables were full and so Prof. Sen asked the journalist to begin his interview. In five minutes, however,a table got free we could go lunch. The interview continued.. the journalist was asking plently of questions..'Is outsourcing good for rich countries? Does globalisation help anyone? Your view of ethics ..does it imply a responsibility of richer countries towards poor? Is lack of ethics the cause for poverty? ..' Prof. Sen was looking at both of us as he gave his answers. Though I had no role in the interview I felt very much a part of it, as his gaze into my eyes made me feel that he was telling his opinions not to the journalist alone or but to both of us. After 30 mins, the interview had to stop as per the prior agreement with the journalist. He gave him little more time to ask two more questions. Lunch arrived and we started having lunch.

Prof. Sen now started speaking to me. He asked about mother father siblings educational background and about how I landed in Klasen's research group..:) I told him and we also discussed some of his answers to the questions raised by the journalist. Prof. Sen has to submit a new book by tuesday and this was the reason why he told me not to permit the journalist to interview him for more than 30 minutes.

After lunch, we still had one more hour of journey to undertake. As we sat in the comfortable chairs of the 1st Class coach, Prof. Sen started working on the final touches that he had to give to the book. He told me that he wanted to have some medicine. I immediately jumped out of my seat and told him that I will go and bring water. He nodded. I went and got a glass of carbonated water and a glass of normal water. I told him that I got both the varieties and he smiled and said that he was feeling cared. I felt very humble at this remark of his and told him that he was the first Bharat Ratna I ever met in my life and that he was the pride of mother India. He smiled again and said that he got bharat ratna along with pt. ravi shankar. He recalled that there are only three Bharat Ratnas alive today, he, ravishankar and abdul kalam.(nelson mandela never crossed our minds)

He later resumed working on his book. Before the interview, he told the journalist that he was a little worried about finishing the book that he has to release this tuesday and he wanted to work. Later, we spoke about my research work and he said he is very interested. He told me to send my research results to him and he would be interested to see them. I felt thrilled. He told that I should come to HBS sometime as there are people who would be interested in the work that I am doing. He also told me to make a point to meet him when I come there. Two mintues before the train reached the Airport, Prof. Sen asked me to give him one of his bags. Something very interesting happened here. I wanted to tell him 'Please dont bother about me Prof. Sen'..but I landed up saying ..'Please dont bother me Prof. Sen'.. Haha.. He laughed aloud and told a fellow passenger.. 'see he is carrying my luggage and tells me not to bother him'..

We came to the shuttle bus stop for going from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 from where he was scheduled to take his flight to London. In the bus he asked me if the bus was going to Terminal 2 or to the Frankfurt City. I laughed and told him that my father also asks similar questions and that he too was very careful. He too laughed. I assured him that we are heading to Terminal 2. In few minutes, we were at Terminal 2. He showed me his United Nations passport and said that for going to London it doesnt help. I asked him to show me his ticket so that we can see if there were some more details about the flight. He told me that he has an e-ticket and he doesnt care where the printed copy of his ticket was. At the checkin counter, he got his boarding pass(seat 2-a in Business class) and asked the lady at the counter a variety of questions: about the longue, how he should procced and how many seats were booked in the flight, how many seats were there in the business class, what kind of aircraft it was ..

We took the escalator for going to the level above the ground and there we spoke the last few words of this meeting. He said in all his love that it was so nice taking to me.. I replied and told him that it was an honour to even get to see him.. He smiled as we reached the security gate.. I told him to give me permission to touch his feet. He told I should nt do that. I replied and told him that I touch my parents feet everyday and he too should permit me.. I could only bow...

Prof. Sen looked back after the first security check and waved his hand.. I too waved.. after 2 mins he looked back again and waved his hand again.. indicating that I could leave now.. but I could not leave this great man.. I continued standing there.. his hand baggage was checked and he was really on the other side and I was surprised when he turned back again and waved his hand for a third and the final time after which he was out of my sight.......

5 comments:

Lorem Ipsum said...

man!
I have no words........

Anonymous said...

Inspiring stuff....Jugpa! As they say tell me your company. I will tell you what you are....You are rubbing shoulders with the best minds of the world...
kk

Anonymous said...

Dear Jagpa,
I don't know what to say. But i think i some how skipped this blog of yours. It is simply awesome......I just cannot beleive it. I hope and pray that you also reach great heights in the academics....
ck

JP said...

Thanks to all of you for the encouragement..

Anonymous said...

U jughead

U never told me about this !!

-Rosy