This evening I attended the 2005 Goemchem Prize award
function. Very interesting evening. A lot of good
people, the genial Basilio Monteiro who conducted the
event with warmth, Cecil Pinto, the man behind the
scenes, Margaret Mascarenhas who moderated the
discussion sensitively, Samir Kelekar fresh from his
stimulating lecture to the Goa Chamber of Commerce the
previous evening and many other people. And then of
course the awardee, Andha Shraddha (anti-superstition)
activist Mr.Nigalye and the Chief Guest Prof Alito
Sequeira. There were less people than the first award
function, maybe on account of the heavy rains, but it
was quite an intelligent and distinguished crowd.
The discussion on unscientific methods turned out
quite surreal. To this gathering of diverse people,
Mr.Nigalye termed pujas, astrology, intuition,
ayurveda to be of dubious value (to put it mildly).
The learned Prof Alito Sequeira questioned the
absoluteness of scientific empiricism, maintaining
that what is non-rational also has a place in our
lives. This set the stage for an electric tension in
the hall to which the audience also contributed.
It was great to see different views being expressed.
What might have been an average awards event turned
out to be a profound philosophical exchange. Margaret
questioned the difference between superstition and
religious ritual. Samir defended science against
Alitos attack. A learned museum curator spoke of the
concept of social God and personal God with Sanskrit
quotes. Another gentleman, I think he was a priest,
asserted that religion and superstition have always
been associated, but gently reminded us that a good
religious attitude accepts a force greater than us and
surrenders to it while superstition attempts to
control and dominate in a negative way. Others agreed
that superstition has been used as a weapon of
control. Though the convict of the evening was
superstition, religious beliefs also came under the
hammer. Nigalye was charming in his simplicity and
provided many light moments.
The Gandhian sage , Mr. Gurunath Kelekar exhorted
Goans to become citizens rather than mere voters and
outlined his NGOs goals. Ms. Albertina Almeida spoke
of modern superstition , questioning the Churchs
stance on divorce.
No solutions were found to the worlds problems, but
it was a truly stimulating evening. Many among the
audience, nay the entire audience would probably have
loved to debate the issues for another two hours, but
time sped by and the event came to a close. Hats off
to the Cyber committee members who put this together.
It was a celebration of free-thinking and intellectual
reflection. Cheers to Dr.Santosh Helekar and his
friends !
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