Feministaa Media Pvt. Ltd. partnered with Shiv Nadar University to put up a TEDx talk event, on November 13, 2016, held at Shiv Nadar University itself.
TEDxShivNadarUniversity was an all-volunteer and not-for-profit event. It offered an immersive experience for the attendees by presenting a daylong conference introducing innovative and great ideas, engaging brilliant speakers from various fields. This year’s sixteen key speakers were from various backgrounds, ranging from economists to chefs and models to authors namely Amrita Mahale, Anahita Dhondy, Dr. Isher Ahluwalia, Jagdeep Chhokar, Karan Singh, Karuna Nundy, Kerano, Lara Quinn, Dr. Pavitra Mohan, Pernia Qureshi, Ramesh Menon, Raul Villamarin Rodriguez, Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, Udayan Baijal, Vaibhav Mehta.
Anahita Dhondy is the youngest female chef in Delhi. She did her training from the Bombay Baking Company at JW Marriott. In her speech, she talked about how she fought her way to the top of a male-dominated profession. She talked about her struggles and her story of success of becoming the Chef Manager at NCR’s first Parsi restaurant: The SodaBottleOpenerWala. In a personal interview with her, she talked about how she was challenged by the tough life of being a girl in the food industry and how amazingly she overcame it.
Karuna Nundy is an advocate of the Supreme Court of India. At the TEDx event at Shiv Nadar University, she talked about how she tackled India’s most challenging cases, her journey of fighting for justice for the victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, also contributing to the anti-rape laws after the 2012 gang rape. Adding to her speech she talked about the importance of mitigation giving examples of few domestic cases she worked on. She also highlighted possibility of making an “Ultimate Mitigator” app that can resolve problems of legally-unaware public.
Karan Singh was the ‘illusionist’ speaker as he showed his magic and good psychological skills to the audience. He pretty much summed up his life being an illusionist and a dropout from college to pursue the passion he had for magic. Amidst giving the speech, he amazed the audience at every moment. He showed a few magic tricks and spoke about how he honed his magic tricks. With not having many women in the magician industry, he sighed and encouraged both men and women to take chance and live the magic in their lives.
Amrita Mahale is a Rocket scientist turned author. By the age of 31, she had worked with world’s most prestigious firms like Google, Boston Consulting Groups etc. but later realized that being in a corporate firm wasn’t her call. That was the time, when she geared up to pursue her dream of becoming an author and left the corporate world behind. In her speech at the TEDx event, she talked about how we follow the monotonous pattern of society and ignore our dreams and passion, and even if we do follow then what comes next is the fear of failure. She talked about her journey of beginning her novel and reaching on the verge of finishing it. She inspired people to follow their heart, no matter what the cost is, of course, there will be risks and obstacles but if you’re determined then the cost would be worth it.
Dr. Isher Ahluwalia, an eminent Economist and Chairperson of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). She talked about the pivotal role of economics in today’s society, and how it governs every small aspect of our lives, from the most insignificant decisions to the most crucial ones.
Laura Quinn is the founder Do One Thing, a Delhi-based consulting firm, and co-founder of The Coalition, a platform to support creative startups in India. Laura believes that responsible business decisions can change the world for the better and she works with companies around the world trying to do just that. Listen to her talking about the difference in professional culture in UK and India.
Ramesh Menon, the journalist who intrigued people with his rather interesting stories in his speech was also a bright sight to watch at the event. He spoke about his work being risky but interesting and how it keeps him active throughout his day. His love for his profession could be seen in his speech when he mentioned his life-risking work such as this one time in Sri Lanka while doing a story on Sinhalese and LTTE, he got caught between them which would have cost him his life, but his love for journalism always somehow kept everything going. If summed up, his key message to his audience was to stay truthful and honest to your work, which you have passion for.
The event also witnessed the gracious dance performance of Pernia Qureshi, the fashion icon and Kuchipudi dancer. She performed as a gopi of Krishna and throughout the dance, she kept the whole audience lit up.
The Music society of Shiv Nadar University sang a few songs and ended the event with a beautiful farewell.
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