The speak-a-thon wrapped up in Mysore yesterday
The speak-a-thon wrapped up in Mysore yesterdayThe most striking point at the TEDIndia conference which ended on November 7, according to mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik, was Sunitha Krishnan's presentation on November 6. The activist against human trafficking had spoken on child sexual exploitation and, as Pattanaik puts it, "Everyone was shocked to silence when she finished. Several people from the audience made donations to her organisation right then."
|
|
Lakshmi Pratury, co-host, TEDIndia (file photo) |
The three-day event held at the Infosys campus, Mysore, closed on a funny note as is the tradition with TED the world over. "We put up a little skit which poked fun at the events of the three days," explains co-hostess Lakshmi Pratury. His Holiness Karmappa, who was also a speaker, closed the event. For Pratury, who was evidently overwhelmed when contacted, TEDIndia went "beyond expectations." She says with a laugh, "I expected a lot of things to go wrong... I thought our speakers would exceed their time, I thought the talks wouldn't be good enough but everything worked out perfectly."
The conference boasted names like India's external affairs minister Shashi Tharoor, filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor, researcher Hans Rosling, cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, danseuse Mallika Sarabhai and several others.
While day one wrapped up with a performance by singer Usha Uthup, the highlight of day two, apart from Sunitha Krishnan's hard-hitting presentation, was actor Abhay Deol's talk in the 'Power of stories' segment. "He charmed everyone with his no-airs attitude," says Pattanaik.
Pattanaik spoke of how better understanding of mythology can mean more empathy between companies and was given a three-minute standing ovation, his "moment of glory." Pattanaik, who is also a Sunday MiD DAY columnist, interacted with people from Korea, Hong Kong, the US, Sweden and says the one thing they all had in common was curiosity: "No one was ashamed of being an intellectual. Everyone asked questions, everyone wanted to know more. Saraswati has never been celebrated so much."
While the mythologist is hoping there are yearly editions of TEDIndia, Pratury protests, "I'm not even thinking about that right now. It's been a very hectic time and now I just want to think about what a success it was."
