DREAMING THE IMPOSSIBLE

CLIMATE RESEARCHER JOYEETA GUPTA WON THE SPINOZA PRIZE FOR HER SCIENTIFIC WORK FOR A JUST AND SUSTAINABLE WORLD. THE UNDERLYING THEME OF HER LIFE STORY: WHY CAN'T WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY?

- PRANAY SANKLECHA

Life is lived forwards, said the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, but it can only be understood backwards. These words came to mind as Professor Joyeeta Gupta told me about her journey from a childhood in India to a professorship in the University of Amsterdam, and to being the latest winner of Spinoza Prize.

The Spinoza Prize (€1.5 million) is awarded by the Dutch Research Council and is named after the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. It is the highest honour a scientist can receive in the Netherlands; the Dutch Nobel, if you will.

As Gupta told me her story, one impression was of forward momentum, of constant movement and progress. All of it could be explained by one underlying theme.

All her life, it seemed to me, she has refused to accept that the world must stay as it is. She has consistently asked: Why can't we dream of a better life?

Joyeeta Gupta was born and mostly brought up in Delhi in an educated middle-class family. She went to a convent school and then studied economics at university.

Her ambition, however, was to be a lawyer. She used to read Perry Mason when she was young. "I really liked it. My mother wanted me to be a lawyer, my father didn't. He would send me to Patiala House, to go and see the criminal law courts in Delhi. So although I wanted to study law, I decided against criminal law."

At that time, you could only study law as your second degree. So she did economics and then the plan was to move on to studying law.

Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the mouth, said Mike Tyson. And just as she was on the cusp of realising her ambition, life punched Gupta in the mouth. Her father, an Air Force officer, suffered a heart attack a few months before his retirement. That meant there would be no post-retirement job. This changed the financial circumstances of her family.