I am very lucky to have met Dr Dasgupta, briefly though, at one of the NEST conferences in 2008 in Dandeli, Karnataka. Today, I can say that he left a deep impression that no other can live up to. Did hear about him earlier but found it difficult to instantly relate to him but when I met him personally, and saw him in action, I could see the man's genius.
Remember him looking so 'red' in his bright red shirt and cap :). He came across as such a lively person that all the energetic, enthu people I know can probably come together and still fall short of his level of passion and love for new ideas and thought processes. For instance, while we sat for lunch on Day One of the conference, when some of us were completely unknown to each other, he started off with an impromptu quiz, not sparing anyone on the table! Few of us engaged with him while the rest stared into their food plates, not knowing where to look! I was amused at what he was doing but later on realized that his basic questions about ants and elephants were meant to challenge our mundane, rigid thought patterns and rightly set a 'thinking and questioning' tone for the entire conference. Once I understood that, then it was easy to let go and participate in every dialogue or discourse he wanted us to think abt and participate in, in the days that followed. So all in all, Dandeli was a very enriching and memorable experience, thanks to Dasgupta and all others who invested themselves in it.
Btw, it doesn't feel like the man wearing bright red is no more. He lives on through the impressions he left in our hearts.
Posted on http://mandgoa.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-will-rise-up-from-my-ashes.html#comments on January 11, 2010 10:03 PM
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