A report on the Atlas Meet in Delhi on 15th January

The 6th Atlas Meet in Delhi took place on Friday, 15th January 2010 (let's call it "The Eve of January 16th"!). Barun Mitra, Vikram Bajaj, Arun Virmani and Rajendra Lakhotia attended the meet and also celebrated the 105th Birth Anniversary of Ayn Rand (which falls on 2nd February 2010).

It took a while for everyone to get assembled on a cold and somewhat foggy evening. The talk centered around the continuing financial crisis and chances of China's economy hitting a brick wall.

A little later we were joined by a new member at the meeting, Rajendra Lakhotia. It was the first time at the meet for Rajendra, who lives in Gangtok and has been an Ayn Rand fan since he first read her in 1968. For many of the early years, he corresponded with or visited Objectivists on visits to the USA. Back home, he would hand out Ayn Rand's novels to young people he knew and still does. While he has maintained his interest in Ayn Rand's works and philosophy for over four decades, the Atlas Meet was probably the first time he succeeded in connecting with other dedicated Objectivists in India!

After introductions, we began the meeting by viewing an excerpt from Michael Paxton's Oscar-nominated documentary "Ayn Rand: A Sense Of Life". We watched with fascination the glimpses of young Ayn with her two sisters, her early influences in literature and the impact of the Russian revolution on her life. (Her first conception of a hero, it turns out, came from a comic book character of a British officer in the jungles of 19th century India!)

With less time on hand, we decided to watch the remaining videos at subsequent meets and moved on to the highlight of the evening - cutting a cake (a rich chocolate truffle arranged by Barun) in honor of Ayn Rand's 105th Birth Anniversary!

Once the party was over, we concluded the meeting, even as we look forward eagerly to the next one.