Meeting with The President….Part 2

John Nash and President Kalam
After the event, there was a private reception/meeting where a few people who wanted to see him in person were allowed. Yes, I was one of them -☺. I saw people getting books so he could sign it, a few had some things that they wanted him to inaugurate, few were talking about some service projects, a lot of them wanted his autograph etc. The most amazing moment was to be a witness during the conversation of 2 great minds; John Nash and President Kalam. It was evident that they had immense respect for each other. After a few minutes John takes out a paper form his pocket and requests for an autograph, Kalam Sir acknowledges. When John was about to put the paper back in his pocket Kalam Sir tell him “Can I have the paper back please…”. One moment I thought what happened, why did he ask it back? Then he takes out the pen again and corrects it from “ To John Nash” to “ To Respected John Nash”.

Wait I need to change something.-:).

Incidentally I also found out that John Nash has an image of a hero esp. in U.S. It was evident from the way he was being mobbed by people when he was leaving the main hall to the reception area. My roommate, Vijay (Ph.d. IEOR) considers John as GOD yes GOD, he was so excited to hear that John was there at the function. And then came my turn to meet them…

to be followed in the concluding part…

For those of you who still do not know John Nash please read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash

Anu

Meeting with The President….Part 1

Recently, His Excellency Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam was at Columbia University to receive the Hoover medal for his contribution to public service. It was such a privilege and honor to be a part of the team that put the event together. Other notable dignitaries included Nobel Laureates like John Nash (Economics 1994, you may remember him from the movie A Beautiful Mind or Nash Equilibrium), Martin Chalfie (Chemistry 2009). Also Pundit Jasraj, Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati etc etc graced the occasion.
Being in the presence of a person like Kalam Sir, so innocent, energetic, humble and natural; fills you up with loads of positive energy. He was at his best during the whole event, quoting Thiruvellar and Patanjali at equal ease. The best part was when a lady asked a question and started looking somewhere else, he pointed out to her on microphone “Madam I am talking to you so kindly pay attention”. Jokes apart, one of his poems was so deep and beautiful that I was not able to hold myself to share it with everyone. Here it goes:

“Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
there is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.”

True, if you want peace in the world we have to work at individual level than society, as it is the individuals who make the society not the other way round.

To be continued…

….Anurag

New blog, new posts.....

Hello,
I am starting the blog after a long time, had a previous not so successful attempt. Learned a few lessons and am back with a new look and a new name. Will try to regularly post stuff on it....

Anu