Key notes: (L-R) PM Manmohan Singh addresses the conclave as India Today's Aroon Purie and Prabhu Chawla look on

As an attendee of the fourth India Today Conclave, held at Delhi's Taj Palace Hotel on February 25 and 26, you could have listened to the voices, watched the show, or even paused to ponder the bamboo shoots to be spotted all over the place. If there was a mistaken elephant in the hall, so was there an invisible panda. The Conclave's theme: 'India Tomorrow: Perception versus Reality'. And thus began the "playhouse of ideas", in the words of Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief of India Today, to redeem an India trapped between perception and reality. "For reality," as he elaborated, "is more comprehensible and manageable."

The inaugural keynote address, delivered by Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, sought to clear the perceptual haze surrounding his country as a haven for extremists. "The people of Afghanistan have always consulted each other," he said, referring to the country's 'loya jirgas' in affirmation of democracy. He spoke of female empowerment, quoted Robert Frost's "miles to go" poem in Nehruvian empathy, and asked for cooperation from all of South Asia for a "future full of promise and opportunity".

Writer V.S. Naipaul, next up, spoke on identity and ideals, calling in particular for the need to live with the idea of imperfections, "one type replacing the other".

If the economic potential in peace needed articulation, Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan, did just that. Live via satellite, he urged intellectuals to "act as a vanguard of change by resisting the urge to see the future through the prism of the past" on matters South Asian. The man credited with having averted the perils of a laggard Pakistani economy went on to spell out his Indo-Pak peace formula: mutual linkages to lead the way to an assured South Asian century... provided, and there was no escape from this reference, the issue of Kashmir were to be resolved mutually. It could be done, he added, if both sides could overcome their "conditioned reflexes".

But was India really a part of the Asian emergence story? Oh yes, affirmed Pascal Lamy, President, Association Notre Europe and Associate Professor, Institut d' Etudes Politiques, Paris, highlighting India's advantages. "India could bring to the world democracy, social inclusion and sustainable social development." Rahul Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Auto, urged the audience to be positive but realistic about India's prospects. "It is in the us interest to keep Asia divided," he said, "as it was in the us interest to see a united Europe."

"The world wants India to do well. Our real challenges are at home" Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India	"We must seize the opportunity of the 'global village', by creating our own 'regional village" Hamid Karzai President of Afghanistan	"Americans understand that an economically vibrant, democratic India is good for the US" Hillary Rodham Clinton Us Senator & Former First Lady

According to Yashwant Sinha, a former Union Minister of India, the country's image had changed, but still needed political and administrative reforms. Jagdish Bhagwati, Professor, Columbia University, spoke of the Indian diaspora: "The perception of out migration of our skilled citizens has changed from concern to celebration, from trauma to triumphalism." The world's richest Indian L.N. Mittal, advised the audience "to focus not on the loss of diaspora, but on how this Brain Drain can be turned into a Net Gain."

Writer William Dalrymple almost echoed that view, talking of the influence of overseas writers of Indian descent (and others of hyphenated identity) on literature. Actor Amitabh Bachchan was dramatic. In his inimitable manner of voice, he announced himself there "neither to praise nor bury cinema". But proceeded, nonetheless, to make an endearing case for the relevance of Hindi cinema, in all its musical uniqueness, to the very real cause of India's well-being.

The voice heard next had its peak moments of keynote emphasis too, with "rule of law" notching up a repeat mention. It was the dinner address of Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, who commended India Today for providing a platform for dialogue as a crucial part of democracy, before articulating his reading of Elections 2004: a vote to recommit India to the principles of its Constitution. And thus, a mandate to work under the reality of "an inclusive and open society, a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society". An open economy, too. "An economy that guarantees the freedom of enterprise, respects individual creativity, and at the same time mobilises public investment for social infrastructure and the development of human capabilities."

"Pakistan and India are capable of leading South Asia to new horizons of economic development" Shaukat Aziz Prime Minister of Pakistan

The business session had Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, speaking of the imperative of turning India into a global manufacturing hub. The good news: the reality-perception gap overseas is narrowing (going by the Google searches for India in relation to 'China' beating those in relation to 'Maharaja'), and global factors are converging to propel India's success. Tom Stewart, Editor, Harvard Business Review, mentioned India's importance in terms of business readership and education, and said that this time round, India actually needed to turn into a world manufacturer. The pressure was such. "In a globalised world," he added, "Indian manufacturing needs to be driven by development of strong companies."

Nothing so far could've prepared the audience for the debate that was to follow. The topic: 'Spirituality: Halo or Hoax?' Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar made an impassioned plea to have people connect with their spiritual selves, enchanting the audience with talk of needs beyond the immediate. Lyricist Javed Akhtar was unimpressed. He used arguments of incisive rationality to pop the halo of spirituality and its claim to holiness. "It is not enough to just teach the rich how to breathe," he scoffed, after a rousing espousal of justice as the truly striven-for cause of all those held aloft ages after their lifetimes. Ravi Shankar, to his credit, didn't let his blissful visage drop.

L.K. Advani, India's former Deputy Prime Minister, addressed the Conclave on whether good economics spelt bad politics. He laid the blame for his party's lost election on a campaign based on "a purely positive plank". Also, as he reflected, "Just because our performance in the economic field did not yield a renewed electoral mandate, it is not right to conclude that reform-oriented economics is bad politics."

Whether India's IT & ITEs sector was a 'Brain Powerhouse' or a 'Back Office Plodder' was the topic under discussion next. Joseph Sigelman, Co-CEO, OfficeTiger, spoke of how sophisticated the work was that was now getting outsourced to India. Why, he asked, club call services with industrial design? Kiran Karnik, President, nasscom, rephrased the topic as "Brain Bank or Cyber Coolie", and termed all these mere caricatures of a rather more complex reality. That done, he held aloft the potential for innovation in a country of such diversity.

Diversity talk stayed in the air, as a discussion on the 'Real Indian' got underway. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister, Petroleum & Natural Gas, was quite clear that a real Indian is that person who believes everyone else who's Indian to be equally Indian, and celebrates pluralism thus. Arun Shourie, former Disinvestment Minister, chose not to confront Aiyar's thesis directly on the issue of identity, but drew attention to some Indian experiences that were not quite in harmony with Aiyar's.

Thus did the fourth India Today Conclave come to its grand gala dinner finale: the keynote address by Hillary Clinton, Member of the us Senate. Described as a 'President-in-waiting', Senator Clinton opted to play realistic rather than optimistic about her shot at the Oval Office. Speaking on 'India's Role in the New Global Order', and dressed in turquoise blue, she cited a report by the United States National Intelligence Council illustrating how "India could emerge as the world's fastest growing economy as we head towards 2020." She also adopted some plainspeak on her position on such American nationalist issues as outsourcing and security, striking a hard sense of realism again. If irony had to appear, it did-in the form of a Mark Twain quote on India's maternal greatness. It appealed vividly to her, she said, as a mother herself.