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My Experience with TEDxChennai - Nov 29th 2009

TEDxChennai happened in IIT Madras on November 29th 2009. This is the first time I am attending one such event as the cost (Rs. 1028) was affordable for me :)

If at all you haven't known, a ticket in TEDIndia was approx Rs. 1 Lakh and 10 thousand. It seems its 1/3rd cheaper than what it used to cost in California (approx 3L phew).

Overall it was an mind blowing experience and I loved every moment of it. Post lunch sessions were power packed more interesting when compared with pre-lunch session.

In particular I liked these sessions:

1. Romulus Earl Whitaker - a wildlife conservationist and founder of the Madras Snake Park!

He should be called as 'Snake Man'. The snaps he showed and the work he explained made my jaw drop.

2. Sri. N. Vittal - ex-Central Vigilance Commissioner, ex-Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Information Technology, Chairman of the Telecom Commission and Secretary to the Department of Telecommunications. He has been columnist for the Economic Times as well.

Charisma is the capacity to simplify & glorify - N Vittal


His speech was hilarious and at the same time very powerful. He spoke about his career path and how he used to send questionnaire and understand the people who work and who don't :) He spoke about how Corruption is eating our country and asked us all to think how to resolve it from the grassroot level.

Gandhiji used the Judo technique,turning the enemy's strength against him.- N Vittal


3. Dr. Santhosh Babu - IAS. MD ELCOT, & Director e-Governance & CEO, TNeGA, Govt. of Tamil Nadu. I wish each one of us especially Govt Staff thinks and acts like the way he is doing!

4. Satyabrata Dam - He worked as a professional Submariner (Indian Navy) specializing in underwater navigation and weapon control for 22 years. He has conquered almost all peaks in the world. He say

Check out his blog to know more about him http://satyabratadam.blogspot.com/

I felt like it wasn't a speech or presentation at all. It was kind of walking along with Sathya in his memory lane. The pictures he showed were all awesome and I really envy this guy now.

Few of his philosophies are:

a. Every time you reach one peak, u start thinking about the next BIG peak.
b. Pure happiness is only achieved after suffering some great hardships
c. There are many EVEREST's in everyone's life & we all climb them in our own unique ways
d. People in mountains all over the world own nothing but are willing to share everything

Any big mountain big or small has to be climbed one step at a time - Satyabrata Dam


5. R. Madhavan - is an IITian, turned farmer who married his passion for farming with his engineering background. Really inspiring speech and the way he explained how well we can do in our agriculture department were really good. I am sure almost all who were present there gasped when he spoke but whats next? How do we take it forward from here to help him/our farmers better? Its something which we need really think!!

6. Kavita Baliga - her speech was very emotional and it is really inspiring to know how she has shaped up her life. She taught us again to live a life that will have an positive affect on others. She is an amazing singer. Check out www.kavitabaliga.com to know more about her.

7. Jeeva Raghunath - a professional story teller. She brought the kid in each one of us out. Was really good.

Don't kill the Child in you as you grow up - Jeeva Raghunath


Couple of sessions went as a Marketing pitch and I wish those were avoided as they weren't in TED standard.

Next year the event is planned for 10/10/10 (fancy date :) )

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is the best thing I have done in the recent days... Thanks for your suggestion and poking us in the direction of attending this. It matters a lot - Rajesh

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