6 Talks to Remember from TEDxSIBMBengaluru

1    1.    Ehsaan Noorani: Beyond Music | TEDxSIBMBengaluru 2017

Ehsaan Noorani, the middle name of one of the most famous bands of India, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, delivered an inspiring speech on the theme ‘Beyond Imagination’. He started his talk from the days of making ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ album, with Javed and Farhan Akhtar. The one thing he considered to be the motive force behind the success of the album was imagination. He emphasized on the importance of looking for opportunities to use your imagination. Giving the example of the famous author, Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote a fictional story about geostationary satellites when it had not yet become the reality, he gives credence to the belief that imagination is where transformation springs from.

He further believes imagination to be the origin of hope and empathy. He considers it imperative to groom creativity in the next generation by instilling the solid foundation of classical literature into them, as well encouraging a close following of new trends.

As someone keen on researching about World War II and Holocaust, he observed one thing to be common among the survivors, which is hope- something that can be translated into an imagination of the better world. He encourages everyone to start playing at least one musical instrument for the enhancement of their imagination and for learning to bask in the joys of thoughtful solitude.

  2. Sanjeev Kapoor: The making of a Master Chef | TEDxSIBMBengaluru 2018

As a person who doesn’t need an introduction, Sanjeev Kapoor spoke about his journey of being the Master Chef under the theme – ‘Breaking Boundaries’. He talked about his schooldays and recalled how he switched through different fields of interest and turned each of them down eventually as he didn’t want to be one among the herd; he wanted to stand out. He was convinced that it is better to excel in a mediocre field than being mediocre in an excellent field. Despite the disparaging remarks he faced, he always chose the path of passion.

According to him, being an outstanding person meant having the courage to stand out. He believes that leaders make their own path regardless of the perceptions of the people around them. If you know where you are going, you’ll find many roads, but if you don’t find one, you are coerced to create one. The day you seize to learn, is the day you seize to live.

 3. Dabboo Ratnani: Know the Boundaries, Break the Boundaries | TEDxSIBMBengaluru 2018

A very famous personality in the world of photography, he spoke about ‘Breaking Boundaries’ in his life to get through the challenges. He talked about his enduring love towards gadgets from childhood onwards and the passion he had developed for photography. He had decided not to take up his father’s business and had instead chosen photography as a career option, in a time when photography was not given respect as a career. However, his family supported his decision to break those boundaries and encouraged him to live the life he wanted.

He started his journey through outdoor-shooting and then continued with fashion photography. He eventually brought his wife into the profession, which is unusual in such industries. This was another boundary he broke in order to pursue art in its most natural form. He considers it to be important to create your own signature style, to beat yourself and try to achieve something new every day. Try to see what you have not done and do it. Push the boundaries, know the rules and then break them.

  4. Vishwas Mudagal: Congratulations! You failed. | TEDxSIBMBengaluru 2015

An author and an entrepreneur, spoke under the theme – ‘Carpe Diem’, about the taboo topic of our society- failure. According to him, there is no concept of failure in life. He contemplated his situation, explained about how he had ended up being hired by a huge company even with a failure to his name. He had tried many things in his life, and had also failed in many of them.

He believes in a simple principle, whenever you fail at something you love, you get the chance to introspect where you went wrong and change your path accordingly. Failures are instruments  to better ourselves. He spoke about the ultimate reality that if you follow your passion, the world will follow yours. We need to believe that we are born to do good things. We should introspect every failure, act upon our considerations and celebrate the chance to learn something new.

 5. Shilpi Kapoor: Technology for making a difference | TEDxSIBMBengaluru 2018

Shilpi Kapoor is an Ashoka Fellow and a recipient of Shell Hellen Keller Award for creating employment opportunities for specially-abled people. She spoke under the theme – ‘Breaking Boundaries’ about the technology we are using today which was originally developed for disabled people, be it speech recognition or text prediction. There are more than a billion people who have not been given the inclusive environment of technology, and have been left behind consequently. She talked about a hacker who met with an accident and got paralyzed, however he did not slow down at work. He used his head to move the pointer and breath to control the computer. To bring about transformation, she says that the first thing to be dropped is the word ‘Charity’.

She implored the audience to not believe disabled people to be any different from them. We should not miss out the fact that they do exactly the same things as we do, be it shopping, travelling or studying. They face a great number of challenges in everyday life from identifying the currency note to using a microwave oven. Technology is everywhere, but not for them. There is a need to change this paradigm. The thought she discussed was very simple, to do a little thing every-day that makes a positive impact on the lives of others.

6 6. Milind Tulankar: Jal Tarang: The Rhythm of Water | TEDxSIBMBengaluru 2017

Pandit Milind Tulankar plays one of the rarest classical instruments of India. The music is created from ceramic bowls, which are older than 80-years, filled with water. Milind Tulankar is one of the best Jaltarang players of India. He is the man behind the background scores for the BBC production film 'West is West' and the music director for the PALI film "PUNARUTTHAN". He presented the unique art of music which is used for therapy as well. He performed a mesmerizing melody called ‘Raag Keeravani’ as he tries to bring the very rich Indian classical music to the audience through his extraordinary talent by playing on a Jal Tarang. He was accompanied by a Tabla player, who was playing every beat to the note and making the sound of Jal Tarang more melodious. It was beyond the mundane, beyond usual, it was ‘Beyond Imagination’.

These were some of the eminent speakers of the past years who have infused the minds of the attendees with kernels of wisdom. At TEDxSIBMBengaluru 2019, there will be many such learned minds sharing their ideas about FUTURE 2.O.