At TEDxIIMAhmedabad, an eclectic bunch of speakers traversed diverse themes.

Vishal Talreja, founder of Dream a Dream foundation spoke about frantic change and the resulting adversity affecting India’s children. Empathy could be powerful in unlocking the hidden potential of children, help teachers understand them better and subsequently develop emotionally safe learning spaces.

Dr Indu Prakash Singh, National Convener for the National Forum for Housing Rights (NFHR) highlighted the issue of homeless urban residents, calling them the “CityMakers”. These citizens dwell in an India unreached by development, she said.

Holistic education, where educational processes take into consideration the individual learner, is a huge necessity in India’s educational landscape, Dr Deepak B Phatak, a Padma Shri awardee and Subrao Nilekani Chair Professor, IIT Bombay, said in his talk. He stressed the importance of Open Source advances and showcased innovative ideas that could transform education. He is credited with improvements to the Akash tablet.

Anoj Viswanathan, co-founder of Milaap, an online fund-raising platform that enables people from around the world to fund communities in need of capital in India, shared the stories that inspired him to start Milaap. He spoke about incremental changes that impact lives. The need for capital holds people back; crowd-funding a cause can help communities achieve their potential.

Mountaineer, skydiver, deep sea driver and much more, Archana Sardana spoke about making adventure intrinsic to her life and how this entails conquering one’s fears.

Anshumani Rudra, author and game designer – studio head of Tiny Mogul games -- shared five stories that helped him understand people and product design better. Building deep experiences, recognising the intrinsic value of a reward, appreciating the end-user’s perspectives and realising that there is no “average-user,” he said, were some of the lessons he’d learned over time.

The good, bad and the ugly side of women's experiences in India was the subject of Prof Mudit Kapoor’s talk. With data, he extrapolated the possible reasons behind so few women getting elected. 65 million women, he said, were missing from India’s electorate.

The audience sat through a journey of sorts as the speakers presented their striking views and insights. The organisers of TEDxIIMAhmedabad believe that it is through the sharing of ideas, through discourse and debate that change happens. The first of many, TEDxIIMAhmedabad hopes to be the platform for ideas that will shape the future.

comment COMMENT NOW