The Conversation has just begun – TEDxHyderabad 2015
8 years ago Varun Rastogi
As the team brought together the end of what had been a wonderful day to say the least, by holding hands and bowing in front of a cheering crowd of 500 attendees, a thought rung true through my mind – The conversation indeed had just begun.
As I was walking out ,greeted with a well put together goodie bag to take home my mind was recollecting the journey it had been -from filing the application form to filling my heart with inspiration and my mind with new perspectives.
Personalization had  started right from the application form where they wanted to get a sense of what drove and motivated us.
Then came the mammoth personalized badges which contained 3 conversation starters for each person. Attendees were all up and excited on an early Sunday morning,waiting to witness awesomeness.
The morning session hit the right note with Manasi Prasad’s mellifluous voice filling the auditorium,a carnatic singer by profession she spoke about how carnatic music was adapting to become more relevant in today’s time and how she was doing her bit as the director of an upcoming experiential music museum in Bangalore.
Up next was Babu Gogineni who spoke about how Belief drives Behaviour and that it was high time India left its superstitions behind and how his team was helping bring about a change.
Armstrong Pame, Young IAS officer from Manipur -spoke about how breaking many stereotypes he helped locals build a road which provided better connectivity and how “Any good work needs to begin with oneself”.
After a break with some light breakfast ,chai and chit chat ,the father of outsourcing and BPOs in India ,Raman Roy spoke about the accidental stumble onto his idea and how exciting his journey had been since then.
Next up with a talk which gave almost everyone goose bumps was Coleen Lightbody, a life coach from South Africa. She shared her struggles in life, how her children give her energy boost to face challenges like the very difficult Iron Man Triathlon Challenge. She shared with us her mantra of 4 C’s for success in life – Choice, Courage, Control and Commitment.
Anshul Sinha, told us about how small things mattered so much and how she made documentaries by collecting a rupee from everyone in her college.If she could do so much with a rupee and a camera, she asked us what we do with little changes to make a big impact in someone else’s life.
Palem Kalyanasundaram couldn’t make it due to health issues. But the TEDxHyderabad team , adamant to give us an amazing day went all the way to Chennai and recorded his message.He said love is what kept his social service going and asked everyone to contribute a small percentage of their salary every month to humanitarian causes.
After a wholesome lunch and a lot of networking, the audience was greeted by an amazing musical performance by Joe Koster and his troupe.He spoke about how he left Zurich to come to India with a dream to spread love and his vision create a Hyderabad Symphony Orchestra.A city veteran ,Lenny Emmanuel than graced the stage with his presence – he is the fourth generation of photographers from his family and he shared with us some rare and interesting photographs, his brief encounter with Mother Teresa.He also shared with us some breathtaking panaromas he has shot as an effort to highlight Hyderabad’s heritage and his trick of using his thumb as his tripod.
G.V.Ramanjaneyulu, an agriculturist famous for making half the farming in Telengana and AP pesticide free, forced us to think about the food we were eating daily and if pesticide, heavy metals were found in products how were we so sure that the water and food we eat at home are any safer. He encouraged us to go organic and also told us about his interview on Satyamev Jayate.
Echoing “Make In India” from his heart and soul, India Kshithij Marwah told us about how he and a group of like minded people built a 360degree camera which could be operated by a phone totally conceptualized and built in India.His first live Demo of the camera had the crowd burst into a thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
Buzzed the crowd left the auditorium for another round of networking over some Hot Chai and Osmania biscuits .
Returning to the hall ,the crowd took a journey into space with Ritu Karidhal, the Deputy Operation Director of Mission On Mars (MOM), ISRO. She shared with us the ardous and inspiring journey of building and executing the world’s most cost efficient mission ever -the journey of buliding Mangalyaan.Applause roared through the auditorium as she left the stage with a slide showing a letter written by a young girl who was inspired by the mission and aimed to join ISRO .
Zena El Khalil , a renowned artist from the war stricken country of Lebanon spoke about how she dealed with the pain of her house being invaded and how she belived that art could change the world. She left us with a strong feeling of how we one Universal soul and how hurt would only give rise to more hurt and it was time to change.Her emotional intensity and her smile at the end of the talk touched everyone’s heart.
It was 5:30pm and walking out the beautiful CMC Auditorium I felt hope in my heart,peace in my soul and inspiration in my mind.
TEDxHyderabad was truly a celebration of human endeavor and perseverance and thanks to the amazing organizers one of the best events I was privileged to attend.
