Intro
Lakshmi Pratury, host of TEDIndia starts the last session to explain the theme - The most important journey that we need to take is within ourselves. This is a journey in which we have no tools. We have to be open to learn all the time and be incredibly honest with ourselves. This last session is a journey to focus on what we have.
Speaker 1: Sivamani, PercussionistSivamani starts by displaying "Rhythm is God"
His beats are a combination of mystical, energizing, peaceful. I've never heard anything like it. The drum keeps on beating. While the calming chords keep repeating. Gunguru (bells) can be heard in the background as the drum beat gets faster faster. It something words cannot describe. Look up his music.
Speaker 2: A. Balasubramaniam, ArtistBala was another inspirational talk at TEDIndia. He has a wonderful open-mindedness and starts by saying the person sitting next to you may change your life. He integrates humor to show how everyone has a different perception (sharing with us the joke of why a cow crosses a street through different perceptions, school teacher, Martin Luther King, Freud). Meaning is created by the mind. "Our senses are so limited. All of our construction of our reality is through our limited senses". It makes one to go seek out beyond what we can sense and see what we are missing to see if our preception of reality will change.
Speaker 3: Shashi Tharoor, Politician and WriterWow. This was a great talk. Honestly, I've never heard of Shashi Tharoor (I know I know excuse my ignorance). I didn't know what a great speaker he was until TEDIndia. He combined serious issues of the world with humor. It reminded me of sitting in Colorado, back in the day at one of my International Poli-Sci classes. But, it also gave me hope for politicians. Tharoor is not unique in his job as a successful politician but what makes him successful and people listening to him is his passion and drive to connect with the people. The proof to mention a few - his talk at TEDIndia - his tweets on Twitter - his writing in books - all show his desire to communicate.
Tharoor begins by mentioning World Leadership and to him, the traditional meaning is archaic. The meaning is transforming in the 21st century and he refers to "SOFT POWER" as the new character that will influence and lead the world. Soft power is defined as the ability of a country to attract others through culture, policy, etc (eg Beijing olympics for China, Hollywood/MTV/McDonalds for the US). Soft power is more than the influence presented by a state's government. Does that mean that there can be more than one/two dominant soft powers in the world at the same time? What does this imply for 21st century international politics/relationships?
As I started to ask myself these questions, Tharoor started explaining how our relationships, politics is changing. Via communication. "Countries are being judged by many communication mediums". Soft power makes connection important. Tharoor shares a story and the importance of communication today: in 1984, our telephone system in India was so poor, a parliament member stood up and said that in a developing country, a phone is a luxury and if someone isn't happy, please return the phone due to a long waiting list....but now look at India today- there are over 15 million cellphones! That is a point of celebration. The cellphones seem to be one part of the answer of many different issues - it provides the empowerment of people from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Another example of Soft Power influence that Tharoor shares is Bollywood and how it is reaching beyond the Indian diaspora across the globe. He particularly mentions an Indian soap opera that is played at 8:30pm in Afghanistan where all signs of life is in front of televisions- weddings are put on pause while everyone gathers around the tv, thieves are succeeding while watchmen breakout to watch the show - it is part of the media life. I wish Tharoor mentioned reading and how books and literature are also doing the same. Indian authors are also reaching and influencing others - I always get asked if I have read the "Namesake" or "God of Small Things" or "Shantaram" and how "real" are those books to Indian culture. People are interested.
I agree that India's image has moved beyond the image of "snake charmers to software wizards" as Tharoor describes. He emphasizes the importance of a pluralistic democracy where difference is "endured" (his word not mine). His point, "you don't really have to agree on everything all the time, so long as you agree on the ground rules to disagree. Manage to sustain consensus on how to survive without a consensus". Tharoor ends his speech saying that there is more to do in India - to develop our hardware (infrastructure) and software (people).
Tharoor's talk influenced me. I admit - I immediately added him as a twitter follower, looked up his books and am curious as how this person will influence and impact others. We need more people like him with the openness and attitude to embrace difference. We need more people to accept uniqueness and cultural differences. It is all good in writing and speech I realize. It is hard to implement - but, I think and so do others from TED and beyond that we are up for the challenge to act upon these words. We have started to see more of it today. This is the beginning!
Speaker 4: His Holiness Karmapa, Spiritual LeaderThe last talk of the TEDIndia conference was by His Holiness Karmapa. He emphasizes the need for inward development along with the outward development taking place. We need to deepen our heart connections. "As we speak about design, we need to push forward on the design of the heart. We need to invest a lot of technology to improve the technology of the heart...the development that we create should improve the fundamental lifestyle of how we live in this world".
Conclusion: Feeling good and inspired. I look forward to attending a TED event to meet a few of the amazing people doing cool things around the world!
