Category Archives: Harvard Sixth Course

Why does Ram Guha qualify for a ‘sixth course’ when recent big-wig visitors like Steven Colbert(entertaining but insubstantial) and John Negroponte (dull and insubstantial) do not? Because Guha, as always, had polemical things of interest on his mind. He was here to speak … Continue reading →

The “Mad Arab” came, saw and appeared to urgently need something to conquer. He wore his combat fatigues because, he said, after days of testifying before Congress, there was too much blood on his uniform. He spoke well, with humour and … Continue reading →

Addressing a full-capacity Forum audience, Pascal Lamy began by rambling on metaphysically about the etymology of governance (Latin, ‘rudder’) and current trends in global governance when a bearded man suddenly stood up and began yelling “WTO means death to farmers, WTO … Continue reading →

I’m left smiling at the irony that in India I’d almost never be in the same room as the leader of the BJP but here I get to sit across the table from him and eat lunch. Jaswant Singh was … Continue reading →

Sitting down to wait for my Defense Minister to arrive, I couldn’t help thinking how strange it was that I had to be in a faraway country to hear him speak. He walked in, diminutive but dapper, in a black … Continue reading →

What do you do if you’re over 65 years old, a mother of four and a grandmother of six, the first woman ever to be elected President in all of Africa, and the first black woman ever to be elected … Continue reading →

One of the things Harvard is most famous for – largely through it’s own bragging – is the so-called “sixth course”, in which the caliber and/or celebrity status of the people who come here to give lectures and participate in … Continue reading →