IIM Udaipur hosted its first TEDx on 14th March 2015 at the institute’s campus in MLSUniversity. The event saw seven highly inspirational talks by eight diverse speakers that came from both Udaipur as well as across the nation.
TEDxIIMUdaipur was an independently organized event organized by the Media and Industry Interaction Cell (MiiC) of IIM Udaipur under a license received from TED. Ideas worth spreading is the core of TEDx and the main motive with which TEDx was brought to IIMU is to communicate to the world, the idea behind IIMU – a world class and unique institution in making as well as to provide a platform for people who have done commendable work by implementing really innovative and unique ideas, but the world knows little about them. It was also conceptualized to share the ideas of local speakers to get across the myriad of other facets of Udaipur besides tourism and lakes, which the global TED audience should know about.
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The umbrella theme for TEDxIIMUdaipur- 2015 was the ‘Smallest of Things’. It was a testimony of how small things in life- a tiny whimsical thought, a little insight or a small idea can actually be the foundation for great inventions and discoveries.
The run-up to the event saw numerous online competitions been held, with students from across the country participating in the same. The main event began with a welcome address by Prof. Janat Shah, the director of IIM Udaipur. Prof. Shah discussed how IIM Udaipur has always had a strong focus on encouraging and supporting ideas and the various initiatives that the institute provides for development of the same.
The first talk for the day, titled ‘The One Dog Who Saved Thousands of Lives’ was by Ms. Erika Abrams, the Founder of Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur. Ms. Abrams spoke about the key events of her life, how the state of stray animals in India really distressed her and finally how a lone dog was the one changing factor in her life, that inspired her, provided her with the concept of Animal Aid and instilled in her the belief that she could do something to improve the state of numerous deserted, old and injured animals in the city of Udaipur.
The next speaker for the day was Mr. Joshua Fernandes which was about ‘The future of Human Computer Interactions’. Mr. Fernandes discussed the differences between augmented and virtual reality and how augmented reality has found application in numerous fields like medicine, training, equipment testing etc. He also talked about the future of augmented reality- where it could be used to improve day-to-day activities like driving and also about use of virtual reality in games. The highlight of the talks, ofcourse, were the 3-D demonstrations and the amazing augmented reality environment creating glasses, dive headsets and leap motion.
The talks were followed by a TED video by Dan Ariely titled ‘Are we in control of our Decisions’ which discussed how we humans think we’re always in control of our decision making and always live with the assumption that we make highly rational decisions but nothing could be further from the truth. He then went on to explore how context and environment can actually influence a human’s decision making abilities.
The second session for the day began with a very powerful and highly motivating talk by Ms. Bhakti Sharma- an Udaipur local and an open water swimmer. Through her talk ‘From desert to Antarctica- a swimmer's journey and lessons learnt’, Ms. Sharma discussed how a mother’s abstract idea, which her young daughter bought into, was the beginning of a long journey that eventually provided the world with the youngest woman to have swum in five oceans.
This was followed by another highly fascinating talk by world renowned Bharat Natyam veteran Rama Vaidyanathan. Ms. Vaidyanathan’s talk which was titled ‘Feel the Big’ was about the idea of how the art form is always bigger than the individual, no matter what heights the person scales. Ms. Vaidyanathan’s performance, which depicted how Yashodha finds out that the small child she cared for was actually the great Lord Krishna, had the audience enthralled and completely spell bound.
The two talks of the second session were proceeded by two video- the first being ‘Orchestra in my mouth’ by Tom Thum which comprised of a very interesting beat boxing performance. The second video was ‘Overcoming Hopelesness’ by Nick Vujicic in which Mr. Vujicic discussed how he overcame his physical short comings to go ahead and make a place in the world.
The final session of the day began with a highly inspiring talk by Mr. Rajesh Kumar, a shopkeeper from West Delhi whose simple initiative has made a difference in the lives of numerous people. Mr. Kumar discussed how he faced challenges in executing his plans to teach the underprivileged children, the cause of education, the support and milestones he had to cross through various agencies. He sent a message to the youth to extend help in any which way they can for society and especially for the cause of education.
The last talk for the day was by American photographer Waswo X Waswo along with his Indian colleague Rajesh Soni, a hand colourist of digital prints residing in Udaipur. The duos talk was centered on the topic ‘The Credits of Collaboration: Questioning the Solo Genius Myth’. Mr. Waswo spoke about how solo creations are generally a myth and that infact numerous people are involved in the creation of any form of art. Mr. Soni then discussed how the partnership had benefitted both their works and the two then spoke about the importance of giving credit in art creations and the difficulties faced in doing the same- about who and how to credit.
The event ended with a distribution of mementos and a vote of thanks. TEDxIIMUdaipur- 2015 was the first event of its kind at the institute and in the Udaipur region that was primarilyfocused on sharing ideas and sparking of interesting conversations. It provided the students and faculty of IIMU as also the local Udaipur community, students and industry participants a platform to meet and share insights with veterans from various fields. Above all, it provided a stage to share new ideas with a global audience.TEDxIIMUdaipur 2015 was a grand success with the attendees enthusiastically looking forward to another edition next year.
