From an 18-year-old who gained control over his obsession of mobile phones and converted it into an
ability to decipher and spell on Rubik’s cube at record speed to solving the
problem of chargeable batteries. With a theme of #Hacked, it started and ended
on a musical note, with a heavy dose of ideas related to technology,
innovation, with an underlying fact about power of dreams.
Dr Roop Malik, scientist or more specifically biophysicist spoke
of the machines that cannot be visualised and which have not been built as yet.
The machines that are present in one’s body doing completing tasks we wish to
do. Very informative it was. The auditorium was packed with corporate
executives as well as young students eager to learn more.
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Motivational speaker Diskha Chhabria highlighted the importance
of loving oneself first before trying to love others or more importantly trying
to win the love of others. She had gained weight and ballooned to 98 kilos
before she decided enough was enough and hit the gymnasium. She gives herself
an hour every day which is strictly her time. She also emphasized that one
could never aim to please everyone.
The TedX is also a place where one can hear disconcerting news.
In 2009, around 16,000 students from 400 schools in India participated in the
PISA test world wide and to the shock and horror of authorities in the country,
India stood second from last. PISA aims to test literacy the competence of
students in three fields: reading, mathematics, science on an indefinite scale.
Deepak Pathania believes there has to be a push for greater creativity and
increase in the presence of design in the education system. He firmly believes
it is time for TIY (Think It Yourself) videos and one must learn and understand
the science by doing experiments and not just reading about them in Science
textbooks.
The first speaker of the day was lawyer and mediation advocate
Jonathon Rodrigues. He focused on the legal system of the country and the fact
that there are 33 million pending court cases in the country and on an average
a High Court judge spends around 3.33 minutes on one face. The co-founder of
the Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution Team (PACT), advocated for Multi-door
Dispute Resolution System and Second Legal Opinion (SLO). He opined that every
case need not be fought in the court as there are other solutions. He suggested
that it is less stressful, much cheaper and has no paper work.
After getting a dose of legal system, the audience got a ray of
light through a talk by the professor at IIT Bombay, Dr. Chetan Solanki, who is
one of the promoters of solar energy in the country. He, who started from a
humble background and studied under a kerosene lamp, is now providing clean
energy through Solar Urja Lamp (SoUL) Programme. It not only provides alternate
energy but also trains rural women as they learn to make solar lamps and even
repairs.
Perhaps the most emotional and at times overwhelming portion of
the event came when poet Frederika Menezes came on stage. Diagnosed with
cerebral palsy and who is wheelchair bound stated that she always dreamt of
being on stage and said, “I always dreamed of being on stage and here I am.” To
this audience gave her standing ovation. For Pritha Sardessai a practising
architect it was an overwhelming experience. She said “I have read her poems
and to see her speak was a great experience. It is one thing to read it and
another to see them being recited in public was great.” She was all praise for
the event. She felt there was a wide range of topics touched though there was a
bit of a weightage given to science. The section that focussed on Sanskrit and
music added range she felt. And the fact that there was a 8th grader to much
older speakers gave it range.
It was then time for Goa’s first IAS officer, Ashutosh A T
Pednekar, to speak. He spoke on how he changed the public transport system in
the industrial town of Alwar by starting Alwar Vahini– Mini passenger public
transport service in Alwar. It brought down not only pollution and congestion
in the city but also got rid of old 750 three-wheeler rickshaws. Also, along
with this they also focused on improving road infrastructure and overall
decongestion of the city. Now this model is being followed in other cities
also.
After taking this safe ride it was time to play some games with
game developer and peace activist, Greg Acuna. He spoke about the games which
he started in the town of Gujarat that focuses on community development and
where every participant is a winner. Collins d Costa an hr professional felt
this was a very interesting session. He felt his talk on how to change the
perspective of living together was brilliant and gave him ideas. For Collins
this was his first year at the event and he hopes to be a volunteer next year.
Later in the day, Dr. Sampadananda Mishra spoke about the
versatility of the Sanskrit language and how it was always evolving and which
is context specific. The talk by Co-Founder, Gegadyne energy, Jubin Varghese
was eyeopening and can have an effect on India’s energy requirements. He spoke
about a battery which they have developed for electric vehicles that can charge
to 100 per cent, in under 15 minutes and are also eco-friendly!
Audience got a break from technology and innovation with an
inspiration talk by designer and writer Wendell Rodricks. He felt it was
important to never forget where one came from and the importance of being very
good at what one did. And being good he meant was being measured
internationally and coming out good.
This exhilarating event ended on a musical note by musician
Anuja Kamat who with the help of songs stated that even though we believe that
language of music is universal, it has its own language and it goes beyond
composition.
Perhaps
the final word should go to Sameer kuncolienkar of Ambica chicken who said “
Ted is a perfect platform for people to get aware about whats happening .to
know what brand can make. How to innovate new things. Its full of inspiration
for anyone who would like to contribute in innovation. I really appreciate TED
X and GoanTeam for organising. I will also make a request if they can reserve
some seats for Goan innovators. Overall awesome initiative”.
