Rani at Harmony foundation's do

. But no, he didn’t ask forthe lights to be dimmed. True to his philosophy, he found the solution fromwithin himself — a suncap!The seer, who received the MotherTeresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice at the programme, was hisusual jovial self as he spoke on religion, technology and Indo-Tibetrelations.Exhorting everyone to maintain peace, show compassion andserve the less privileged, the Tibetan spiritual leader spoke about thereligious and cultural ties between India and Tibet. “Shiva’s abode,Kailash, is in Tibet, geographically speaking, while Buddha was born inIndia,” the Dalai Lama said, dubbing himself the messenger of the ancientIndian tradition of ahimsa and religious harmony. While invokingpeace in these troubled times, he also recognised the role of technology in theworld order today. The self-absorption spawned by the array of gadgets we aresurrounded by, essentially leads to an unhealthy worship of material values,which may lead to the degeneration of human mind, he cautioned. Theseer’s words of warning set the tone for the evening, which commemoratedthe memory of Mother Teresa by awarding those who have been tirelessly workingfor the underprivileged. Rani Mukerji, who presented the Dalai Lama with hisaward, recounted her personal interaction with Mother Teresa in Calcutta.“As a child, I was blessed to meet Mother Teresa. She has been aninspiration for all and I hope we can follow her path of peace, harmony and thecapacity to love,” she said. The other awardees — eachof them making a difference in their own right — included Sewa Ashram, forWork Amongst the Destitute in Delhi, Aruna Roy and Mazdoor Kisan ShaktiSangathan for RTI and Empowerment of Women and the Rural Poor, Udit Raj forDalit Empowerment and Emancipation, Colin Gonsalves for Legal Aid AddressingHuman Rights, Sumaira Abdulali for Advocacy on Noise Pollution and Environment,YP Singh, Crusader for Integrity in Public Life and Sayed Iqbal Haider forActivism on Human Rights. Follow us on Twitter for more stories