Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

WanTED: more success stories

EXHILARATING It had everything from culture to technology to spiritualism

It’s the Woodstock of ideas in this age of information. So befittingly, professors, scientists, actors, social workers, designers, entrepreneurs, comics or dancers are the new rock stars at TED. The TED conference, a cult phenomenon on the Inte rnet with more than 250 million viewers thus far, was held in India, at the Infosys campus at Mysore recently. And the verdict: every bit as discursive as expected.

TED, an acronym for Technology, Entertainment and Design, is a fast-paced, intense stage show. Capped at 18 minutes, every speaker brings with him an idea, a concept that makes audiences think, gape in awe, clap furiously, or even raise over 100,000 dollars to help an organisation for victims of sexual abuse. What makes it special is the fact that organisers of this 25-year-old show think of the speaker list as a museum. Highly-curated, the result is an eclectic mix of speakers, from across the world and, more interestingly, from obscure pockets of India.

So what was a typical day at TEDIndia like? A Swedish professor of public health turns the not-so-exciting trajectory of per capita income growth and health in India-China into a high pitched football commentary, a Maldives-based biologist reveals the travel itinerary of your average dragon fly, a classical dancer tells the story of her battle with breast cancer through a dance recital, a 16-year-old headmaster talks (in Bengali) of his passion for knowledge, a Tibetan Karmapa emphasises on “connections of the heart” and an articulate politician tells us that in the modern age, the country with the best story wins the war!

To call it a potpourri would be insulting. Singer Usha Uthup chose a religious song to open the first session, but came back to floor the audience with songs in Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, Bengali, Punjabi and a dash of Bollywood, of course. TEDIndia could not have found a better opening speaker than Hans Rosling. An enthusiastic professor, who shot to fame after his TED talk went online, Prof Rosling had the audience in splits when he stepped on stage with a large bamboo stick, instead of your conventional red-light laser beam. If a Chief Belief Officer Devdutt Patnaik chose to simplify the mythological baggage that Indians carry, fiery feminist and artiste Mallika Sarabhai brought to light the gender and caste overtones that India struggles with to this day. Scientist R.A. Mashelkar may not have said anything new but the concept of “creating more with less, for more” presented the need for ultra-low cost solutions to India’s problems. And how can any Indian story be complete without a slice of spiritualism? The eloquent Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, won over the audience by choosing to demystify the “mystic” in him.

For technology enthusiasts, the high point was a young genius Indian researcher from MIT Pranav Mistry, who presented his innovation that seemed straight out of a sci-fi movie: he unveiled his gesture-controlled mobile computing device Sixth Sense. Augmented reality was the flavour of the season, as developer Ramachandra Budihal demoed his product that used augmentation to take folk stories to children.

On the technological side, however, TEDIndia disappointed at some level, attendees felt. While TED conferences usually have outstanding and completely new innovations and technological achievements showcased, most of what was showed at TEDIndia had either been announced before or were new applications of existing technologies.

Anti-trafficking crusader Suneetha Krishnan from Hyderabad delivered a compelling talk on sexual abuse of young girls in India. Two icons of modern Indian cinema took to the stage: director Shekhar Kapur and actor Abhay Deol. However, it is the young Deol who won hearts by using the stage to throw light on the struggles of activist Irom Sharmila, pointing to the need to use media/films to take these powerful stories to the masses.

Opening with a “cow joke”, alluding to a recent controversy around the ‘cattle class’ comment he made on Twitter, MP Shashi Tharoor spoke about the Indian success story — be it in the telecom sector, Bollywood or successful Indians abroad. Well spoken, and in true TED spirit!

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail