Tete-a-tea with Kaushik Basu; waiting for Goran

January 3, 2014: I was back in Kolkata for the New Year and at peace with myself at home as the city welcomed 2014 with celebrations all around.

While I was away from Kolkata, Prabha Khaitan Foundation hosted another edition of Tete-a-Tea with economist Kaushik Basu and Suman Ghosh on December 28, 2013 at the Taj Bengal. This time it took place at the Chambers.

Kaushik Basu, recipient of Padma Bhushan, is Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He was on leave from Cornell University where he is the C Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics. Prior to that he was the Chairman of the Department of Economics and Director, Center for Analytic Economics at Cornell University. Till July 2012 he served as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India.

He has published many books on developmental economics, game theory and welfare economics and contributed articles to newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, Scientific American, India Today and Business Standard. He also wrote a regular column for the BBC News Online and has appeared on various television shows.

I could not attend the event as I was out of Kolkata. I was told that the event had a quality turnout which was followed by a stimulating discussion in which the Professor shared his ideas and thoughts and touched upon topics close to his heart laced with information, wit and humour. His thoughts on some unconventional topics like `bribery' made the interaction very lively. He gave sneak peek into concepts like 'shared prosperity' which the World Bank, thanks to his efforts, incorporated for the first time in their world economic report slated to be out later this month.

I arrived in Rajasthan again by morning flight from Kolkata.

Today evening, my guests Goran Paskaljevic and his wife Christine are scheduled to arrive. Goran Paskaljevic, a famous director, was born in Belgrade. He studied at the Prague School of Cinema (FAMU) and has so far made some 30 documentaries and 16 feature films which have been much acclaimed and shown at some of the most prestigious international film festivals i.e., Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian and so on.

Goran was forced to leave Yugoslavia in 1992 when a tide of nationalistic fevour swept through the country. He had emigrated to France. In 1998 he went back to make Powder Keg (aka Cabaret Balkan in the USA) which won the International Critics' Prizes (FIPRESCI) at the Venice Film Festival and the European Film Awards. In 2001, the Variety International Film Guide marked him as one of the world's top five directors of the year. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York presented a full retrospective of his work in January 2008 and in July 2012 British Film Institute - Southbank in London organised a full retrospective of his 16 feature films along with the publication of a monograph (in English) about his work. He was made an 'Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres' by the President of France.

Goran is a good friend of my friend Victor Banerjee and it was on his request, I organized the sightseeing and a dinner for them. I look forward to meeting them this evening.

ess bee