Digital BABA

BABA (Building a Better Asia) is a group of people who are committed to building a better Asia that can promise a greater future for the world.

After our 50-hour- Adventure from Narita (Japan) to Puri (India), Akira and I could rest in our designed cottages 6016 and 6015 at Toshali Sands Resort. Our humble rooms had a small living with TV plasma, air conditioned and fan, with its own restroom (with TV plasma and fan, but no toilet paper). The bedrooms had a king-size-bed and the same electronic devices.

We woke up at 06:30 to meet everybody, as we missed the briefing session the day before. During our long wait between Delhi and Bhubaneswar, we decided to memorize all the BaBA’s participants’ names, countries (Bangladesh, China, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam), and their fields of specialty. So when we arrived at the dining room, we greeted everyone in their own language: “Namaskar, Marjjuk and Biju“; “Non ho, Weigang, Lingling and Zheng”; “Kumustá, Menandro, Wilfredo and Rosalie”; “Menyapa, Andi and Herry”; “Salam, Fitri, Ilham, Reny, Rina, and Yeni“; “Konnichiwa, Hisako”; “Chào bạn, Anh and Ben“; “Bom dia, Naomi and Seiji“. It was a quite funny introduction.

After breakfast, the speeches started:

“BABA, Asian Dialogue Society and Orissa” by Mr. Amitav Acharya (Deputy Director and Head of Research at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies of Singapore)

“Session on Leadership” by Mr. Tathagat Satpathy (Indian Parliament Member).

Mr Satpathy is a notable Indian Parliament Member, whose wife Mrs. Adyasha Satpathy (past-model and actress, local newspaper Dharitri editor) joined us at the coffee break.

After lunch, we had the following lectures:

“Orissa Ecology” by Mr. Saruj Kumar Patnaik (Retired Chief Wildlife Warden Orissa).

“The Nippon Foundation and its Affiliates” by Mr. Shuichi Ohno (Executive Director of The Nippon Foundation, TNF).

During Mr Ono’s lecture, he pointed out the “7 Basic Action Policies” of TNF:

1. Deal with issues in depth and in detail in accordance with priorities rather than trying to tackle all issues comprehensively.
2. Attempt to create new projects and ideas without being bound by precedents.
3. Act promptly without being afraid of failure.
4. Be open and transparent to society.
5. Never forget to evaluate yourself and educate yourself constantly.
6. Discover signs of new changes and cope with them.
7. Develop good human networks, worldwide.

Afterwards, Aruna Mohanty’s traditional school of Odissi Dance brightened the evening.

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