Page 114 - Lavender-B-7

their seventy-fifth anniversary’ celebrations. Among the large number of children wishing

to meet me were two who were in a hurry to get an answer from me. One student asked, ‘I
have read your book Agni Siragugal (the Tamil version of Wings of Fire). You always give a
message to dream. Tell me, why dream?’

My answer was to ask the gathered children to recite the following: ‘Dream, dream,
dream. Dream transforms into thoughts. Thoughts result in actions.’ I told them, ‘Friends,
if there are no dreams, there are no revolutionary thoughts; if there are no thoughts, no
actions will emanate. Hence, parents and teachers should allow their children to dream.

Success always follows dreams attempted though there may be some setbacks and delays.’

Another boy asked, ‘Please tell me, who would be the first scientist in the world?’ It
occurred to me—science was born and survives only by questions. The whole foundation
of science is questioning. And as parents and teachers well know, children are the source
of unending questions. Hence, ‘Child is the first scientist,’ I replied. There was thunderous
applause. The children enjoyed this different way of thinking. Teachers and parents also

smiled at the answer.

During my visit to Assam, I visited Tezpur. I had gone for the convocation ceremony of
Tezpur University and also to receive the honorary doctorate conferred on me. After the
convocation, I took off to meet schoolchildren. It was a big gathering of young people. The
theme of my address was ‘Indomitable Spirit’. As soon as I finished my talk the youngsters
mobbed me for autographs. When I finished giving autographs I faced two interesting

questions. One was: ‘Why cannot water from the Brahmaputra, which is in flood much of
the time, be diverted to Rajasthan or Tamil Nadu which are starved of water?’

Only children will have these innovative ideas. Grownups tend to see more impossibilities.
It was such a powerful question, I was completely beaten. I was sure even the Prime
Minister would not have been able to answer it! How to tell the boy, rivers are a state
subject and our states are fighting for the rights to their waters? That these would bring
them prosperity some day but meanwhile they were flowing wastefully into the sea and

causing floods every year. How to answer it?

I said, ‘India Vision 2020 demands from the young that they start a great mission of
connecting rivers cutting across the states.’ I personally feel the young have the most
powerful minds. They can overcome the negativity of the bureaucracy and some self-
centred policies of the state governments to enrich the people of the country. They can
even improve coordination between the states and the Centre. And they surely will!

During my visit to Cuttack I participated in the birthday celebrations of the late Justice

Harihar Mahapatra. I went there at the invitation of
Justice Ranganath Mishra. For me, it was a revelation, convocation ceremony: a celebratory
ceremony where degrees are
how the independence movement, the first vision for the conferred upon a graduating class

114