EXPRESS ADDA with Thomas Friedman

BLENDING his inimitable insight with wit, Thomas Friedman, the three-times Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign affairs columnist of The New York Times, and considered one of the most influential interpreters of global maladies, brought the house down at Express Adda on the evening of October 28 at Lap in New Delhi.

His conversation with Editor-in-Chief of the Express Group, Shekhar Gupta, covered a staggering sweep of subjects: how the US has lost its way as it struggled with misplaced priorities over the last two decades; the rise of the Indian and Brazil dreams, and the irreversible changes set off by the political Arab Spring and the economic European winter.

Said Gupta: "This is exactly what we had in mind when we launched the Express Adda -- hosting a guest who serves a feast for the mind, who packs in the course of one evening, a sweep of ideas that we then engage with for a very very long time."

Express Adda is a unique series of conversations organised by The Indian Express Group with people at the centre of change in our times. It is designed to bring the newspaper's readers face to face with global thought leaders, strategists and newsmakers through a live interactive session. Earlier Addas have hosted global marketing and ad guru Martin Sorrell and superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

Friedman took questions from the distinguished house, comprising Ambassadors, policymakers, bureaucrats, business persons and professionals. These included: former RBI governor, Bimal Jalan; Sir Mark Tully, former chief of the BBC New Delhi bureau; Jagat Mehta, former foreign secretary; Surjit Bhalla, MD, Oxus Research and a columnist for The Indian Express; Rajiv K Luthra, managing partner of law firm Luthra & Luthra.

Also present at the Adda were interim US Ambassador to India, A Peter Burleigh; Ambassador Alon Ushpiz of Israel; Culture Minsiter Kumari Selja; Shell India chief Vikram Mehta; HSBC India Country Head, Naina Lal Kidwai; Conde Naste India MD Alex Kuruvilla; former foreign secretary Shyam Saran; former IB directors PC Halder and Rajiv Mathur and senior journalists Nalini Singh and Pankaj Pachauri.