At a cocktail party at which Nobel laureate Shimon Peres, President of Israel, was present, I was anticipating a chat about politics, technology and where the world was headed. All that did get discussed before the end of the evening.

What I found contextual and engaging though was how he linked brilliantly the secret of all success and creation to love, compassion and the human brain.
In the midst of turbulent times when people don’t give enough thought to civil behaviour — remember the horrible rape of a Delhi physiotherapist — the chat with Peres touched me deeply.
In this material world, we need to instil a sensitive approach to women. The seeds of such grotesque behaviour must lie in the upbringing in homes and schools. I recall Peres’ words speaking of culture, values and love that seem so opportune in tumultuous times.
Peres declared that India is a nation of love and tolerance. “China is cruising forward at a breakneck speed. But I feel India has an edge as it teaches us a lesson in a collection of differences in language and in sects that coexist facing great suffering. You keep full freedom of your people without any attempt to impose equality. A very large India can teach many countries of the world how to deal with delicate problems without compromising freedom,” he said.
The message of compassion and love which is so needed in our times is the one aspect that came through to me in his inspiring talk on nano-technology, world politics and the human brain and rapid technological advancement. I recount here important thoughts he shared on science.
“Through creativity, love and innovation, we transformed barren deserts of Israel into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology. Our land lacks in natural resources, and yet we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds.” Peres said. That brings us strongly to how fast India could move ahead if we practiced tolerance and instilled values of mutual respect at a young age.
Progress, according to Peres, is not about computers. We have to sensitise the society, to enable women to work and their children to love. “Whoever discriminates against women discriminates against half a nation and if women don’t have proper education, their children will not be well educated”.
Peres echoes my intrinsic belief that we need to create foundations of values at schools “If children are not educated, there can be no progress. You have to invest in every child more than ever before because the child is going to face tremendous challenges and competition in the future. The past is too poor to answer the calls of the future. Past is passed away, let us concentrate on a future without prejudices.”
“Early in the morning (of my life), I fell in love with the girl who went on to become my wife. At that time, we were so naive. I wanted to charm her, so I read her Capital by Marx,” he says with a charming twinkle. “Many of us were educated on the literature of India — when we fell in love with Rabindranath Tagore, we grew mature understanding Gandhi, who in our eyes was a prophet. If today’s ministers want to be a leader, they must have an intrinsic love of the people like Gandhi. ”
“I read a fascinating book that says a baby is born totally altruistic without an ounce of ego. What develops ego is his existential need [to survive]... the baby can be a good man. If we tackle children properly we can overcome some of the most dangerous maladies of wars, fires, agony and hatred in the world. We need to better understand with the help of nano-technology what makes us happy, angry, moderate not aggressive. I believe the future is biological and I think the greatest achievement until now in science was done by the Lord in heaven because he produced our brain. Whether we know if there is a Lord in heaven or not, we have to have the Lord in our heart. Before we look at the skies let’s look inside ourselves. That I believe is what can change our future.”