It has been quite some time since we were in touch with our Centre friends. 2020 has been a difficult year for all due to COVID. Our Centre too had to shut down in March and has still not reopened to the public. Hopefully, that time will come in due course.
Before we closed in March, we were fortunately able to complete two programs in 2020. The first was a talk by R E Mark Lee on 4 February on ‘The Challenges Of Working With J Krishnamurti’. On 5 February, he gave a talk for educators and had an interaction with them. Some of you may have been present at these programs. Lee is former Executive Director of Krishnamurti Foundation America for twenty years and currently a trustee of both the America and India foundations. He spent over 20 years working with the renowned world teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti. Most of Lee’s career was spent in Krishnamurti schools in India and America as a teacher and principal. He was the founding director of the Oak Grove School in Ojai, California.
We were also able to participate in the Kolkata Book Fair which ended on 9 February. Our Bengali translation of the book ‘Why are you being educated?’ was released at the Fair. The title of the Bengali version is ‘Tumi pora shona keno korcho?’. A Centre friend, Gautam Halder, produced a very nice, short video clip about the book and this is available on youtube. It has subtitles in English.
We were pleased to welcome the production of a documentary in Bengali on J Krishnamurti by Doordarshan (Bangla). It was completed in early February. The film was telecast on 17 February and is available on youtube.
With gatherings and outdoor activities receiving a setback due to COVID, we were compelled to explore other avenues for interaction. Technology has come to our rescue and, thanks to ZOOM, we have been able to have online group dialogues. We have also been able to meet people who have in their own unique ways done a lot to get the essence of the teachings to the ‘world at large’. We had a program with Nandini Patnaik on 5 July whose latest book ‘Living is not a choice: you, me and Krishnamurti’ is based on real life stories. She has attempted to communicate the essence of the teachings through those stories.
We then had a talk by Michael Mendizza on 26 July whose book ‘Unconditionally Free’ has recently been released. Mendizza is a man of many dimensions including film maker, author, photographer and more. His communication is ‘original’ and the talk brought a freshness to the understanding of the teachings. On 6 September, we had a talk by Dr Marina Kuyper from Holland. Her book ‘Inspired by Krishnamurti’ comprises ten interviews that she had with persons across diverse cultures and professions.
For more details about our above listed events in 2020, please visit the events section of this website. We will keep you informed about our work. Hopefully, the time is not far when we can also meet all our Centre friends in person at our Centre.