Nobel In Calcutta

Last night I went to see the Abhijit Binayak Banerjee interaction at the Victoria Memorial lawns. This was held on the concluding day of the Kolkata Lit Meet. Jeet, the organiser, had given me ten passes, so that I could pass them on to colleagues and friends. I could inspire only my family to come along. Monisha came from work. An almost reluctant Mampu came from home. We walked from the Exide head office to Victoria, past an obnoxious urinal and a beautiful garden juxtaposed side by side . 

Banerjee was interviewed by Udayan Mukherjee, the ex-anchor of CNBC India. I would've thought he was more suited to interview stock brokers but at the end of the evening he did a reasonably decent job. Much to my surprise I later discovered Udayan had studied economics at Presidency and JNU much like the interviewee. 

The interaction was strictly on Banerjee's new book Good Economics For Hard Times. But of course it touched upon various controversial political issues as well. 

I went principally to see a Bengali Nobel laureate. I did not expect him to say anything earth shattering. And he didn't disappoint anyone with anything earth shattering. He was extremely guarded in his reaction to very provocative questions on the current BJP government and its policies. There was no question on CAA and no answers either. He used to be more free flowing in his criticisms of the government before winning the Nobel. 

The Victoria Memorial makes for a fantastic backdrop for such occasions. The lawn was overflowing with Calcuttans including some very old people who had to walk a considerable distance to reach the venue. Many, including the three of us, had to stand it out for the hour long interaction. But the questions that the enthusiastic crowd asked (only four questions were allowed), at the end of the interview, were rather useless and a waste of an opportunity. They should have taken the questions from the audience during the interview on pieces of paper and then let Banerjee or Mukherjee choose the questions worth answering. 

A young girl asked something as banal as what he wanted to be in his next life. He also rubbished a questioner who asked for his opinion on the asset selling plans of the current government. I think that's a very silly thing to do - rubbishing a questioner. I think there is a difference between a policy decision for a government to exit businesses as a whole and a government selling its prized assets under financial duress, which is what is happening now. 

The evening ended with a queue to get his signed copies of the book. We beat a retreat and went home :-) Indians don't win Nobel very often. But most of those who have won so far is a Calcuttan or has some Calcutta connection. Does it make me proud? You bet.