Mysore, India
November 4-7, 2009
Mysore, India
November 4-7, 2009
At TEDIndia, Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West, and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about gods, death and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another. His goal is to help us all understand these founding beliefs -- and use them to understand one another better. (Recorded at TEDIndia, November 2009, Mysore, India. Duration: 18:26)
Watch Devdutt Pattanaik's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 550+ TEDTalks.
Here's the schedule for the first five TEDTalks to be released from TEDIndia. They're premiering here on TED.com as well as on ted.indiatimes.com -- and on mobile phones at http://indiatimes.vuclip.com.
Live now: Pranav Mistry's SixthSense demo -- and an amazing announcement.
Premiering Thursday, Nov. 19: Devdutt Pattanaik contrasts the mythology of India and the West -- and the differing worldviews each mythos produces.
IST: Thu 19 Nov 2009 8:30 PM
EST: Thu 19 Nov 2009 10:00 AM
Premiering Monday, Nov. 23: Hans Rosling predicts the exact date when India's GDP will match that of the United States.
IST: Mon 23 Nov 2009 8:30 PM
EST: Mon 23 Nov 2009 10:00 AM
Premiering Thursday, Nov. 26: Mallika Sarabhai tells a story in dance, to show how theater and performance art can create global social change.
IST: Thu 26 Nov 2009 8:30 PM
EST: Thu 26 Nov 2009 10:00 AM
Premiering Monday, Nov. 30: Shashi Tharoor talks about what India will need to do to become a superpower.
IST: Mon 30 Nov 2009 8:30 PM
EST: Mon 30 Nov 2009 10:00 AM
At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all. (Recorded at TEDIndia, November 2009, Mysore, India. Duration: 13:51)
Watch Pranav Mistry's talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 550+ TEDTalks.
It's been four days since TEDIndia ended, and the attendees have been making their way home to cities across India and around the world. Thanks to all who've spent some of the travel time writing down their thoughts on this extraordinary past week.
TED Fellow Dina Mehta rounded up her TEDIndia in tweets -- a rich in-the-moment experience. A sample from Day 2 (read up from the bottom):
RT @pkgulati: Shaffi at @tedindia – we are insane people, and an insane person does not know what’s an impossible task
New idea. How to fight the demand for a bribe? Call in the Bribe Busters! Dial …… Nice :) :) Shaffi Mather.
Dr Asher Hassan. Main Bhi Pakistani Hoon. (I too am Pakistan). Sharing stories of normal people thru photos.
RT @bcampbelljr: Idea from TEDIndia – write your obituary. If you don’t like the way it reads, change your life – now.
Quite inspirational Q- one key idea to spread ? Shukla Bose A- educate the teachers
The blog Our Woman in Havana covered every day of TEDIndia in detail; in the latest post, the writer takes a step back to evaluate what just happened. It's a tour de force, ending in a lovely image:
If I could do TED India all over again, I would have brought the Gods of all the major religions on stage and asked them how they viewed India. Then I would have asked the Chief Beliefs Officer to create a new politics where they could sing, dance, work and pray together.
Anneke Jong kept a detailed diary of each day of the conference, with great snapshots, on Aniblog. Start with her landing in Bangalore and work upward. From her Session 4 report:
anil gupta, founder of the honey bee network shared some of the locally grown innovations they're seeing in india. ventures included a man who attached a small grain grinder to his bicycle so he can grind small batches of grain for poor people (mills won't grind small quantities); a bicycle-mounted washing machine that travels from village to village; <$1 non-stick hot plate made of clay ... favorite quote: "the minds on the margin are not marginal minds."
TED Fellow Amit Varna offers his own take on TEDIndia -- both what worked for him and what didn't. In the end, Varna writes:
The real draw of TED is the intellectual firepower around you, and the amazing people you get to meet. ... Many of my fellow TED Fellows are engaged in work that actually changes the lives of thousands of people (as opposed to writing a measly novel), and it was humbling to be in their company. I was also delighted to connect with the Pakistanis at the conference, who made it a richer event just by their presence.
Mark Emanuelson shares a concept he learned more about at TEDIndia: jugaad:
So what is the key to success in India? How does a country full of big constraints like poverty and creaking infrastructure still manage to grow so fast? The answer is what some call “Jugaad,” an Indian term meaning an arrangement or workaround ...
In a nice long post, Russell Smith recaps his feelings during and after TEDIndia -- "a life-changing experience" -- and details many of his favorite speakers, including C.K. Prahalad:
C.K. Prahalad identifies the world’s poor (the “bottom of the pyramid”) as a mostly untapped market for companies, worth up to $13 trillion a year in revenues. In his words, “the real source of market promise is not the wealthy few in the developing world, or even the emerging middle-income consumers. It is the billions of aspiring poor who are joining the market economy for the first time.” In his TED talk, Dr. Prahalad warned against “learning disabilities” on the part of companies, leading to mistakes, such as mistaking current profits for leadership, and unwillingness to face up to capability gaps. He seems to be saying that the answer lies in democratizing technology, communication, and learning, such that everybody from the top to the bottom will know what’s going on.
More recaps and roundups on their way. If you've written a roundup, taken notes or photos, email contact@ted.com with the subject line NOTES.
"Within You, Without You," the final session of TEDIndia, rings in with a drumbeat -- the rich, propulsive stylings of Sivamani. He combines the sounds of a variety of percussive instruments with a recurring motif: water. Dipping instruments in water as he plays them, the instruments take on the character of the life-giving substance that all living things on Earth share. Sivamani's homepage >>
Alwar Balasubramaniam, a sculptor, painter and printmaker, is fascinated by the transition from the present to the future, the traces that entities leave behind as they pass through time. Through art that is part performance, part sculpture, he explores the possibilities that emerge from these transitions and self-discoveries. He uses plaster and other materials to capture traces such as a fingerprint, the path of the sun through the sky, flames ... and the human face. But how real are these traces? His work highlights how subjective, context-driven all experience is. The mind creates meaning; meaning isn't independent of it. He shows artwork that is designed to decay over time -- a bust made of semi-solid material that melts, slowly losing value as time goes on. A later sculpture captures the inverse -- attempting to create "something from nothing" by growing more substance as time passes. His later works explore perception, the substance of unseen things such as electricity, magnetism, light. Read about Alwar Balasubramaniam on Sculpture.org >>
Shashi Tharoor, member of Parliament and the Indian minister of state for external affairs, says, "The future beckons -- but which direction?" What constitutes a nation classified as a world leader? He suggests the answer is not just population, nuclear capacity, economy, but the power of example, or a country's ability to attract others. To have "soft power," you have to be connected. India is well-connected now, but telephones were once rare. What's striking, today, is who's carrying cell-phones: people without contact with other contemporary technologies, people such as fisherman, farmers. Meanwhile, India is exporting its culture (food, film) to the whole world -- not just the US and UK. "The Empire strikes back," he says. "We've gone from the image of India as a land of fakirs to a land of mathematical geniuses and software gurus." He says the country that tells the best stories will be the country that leads the world. In a diverse, plural democracy like India, you don't have to agree all the time; you just have to agree on the ground-rules about how to disagree. That is the India that is emerging. Shashi Tharoor's homepage >>
Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, a revered figure in Tibetan Buddhism, tells the story of his life, his recognition as the Karmapa, and the important process of finding heart-to-heart connections with other human beings. He urges us to shift our motivation to be more sincere and genuinely positive -- to work on not just technology and design, but the technology and design of the heart. Homepage of H.H. 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje >>
So concludes TEDIndia. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage here on the TED Blog and on our TEDIndia Twitter feed. Look for TEDTalks from TEDIndia to appear on TED.com in the coming weeks. Namaste.
Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson
Shashi Tharoor, India’s minister of state for external affairs, says India should influence the world through soft power -- attracting other countries to India’s example. Here are some responses from Twitter:
Tharoor: The penetration of mobile phones in India - testimony to development / empowerment / flattening of info hierarchies -- infosys
Engrossing talk by tharoor at #TEDIndia -- sidv
Tharoor: Similarly, the penetration of Bollywood, yoga, ayurveda & our cuisine make India the land of better stories -- infosys
@shashitharoor now speaks about India's cultural and religious diversity! Shouts of hurrah from crowd -- moneymunot
listening to @shashitharoor i am convinced -- vijaysankaran
Tharoor gets a standing ovation! -- TEDxShekhawati
Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson
His Holiness the Karmapa, a spiritual Buddhist leader, proposes that the worldwide acceleration of technological connectivity should be accompanied by increased heart-to-heart connections. Check out some reactions from Twitter:
His Holiness the Karmapa speaking his story of being "found" at 7 as the next Karmapa. He expected more toys, less responsibilities! -- TEDxATX
Important for us to remember that we should focus on design and technology of the heart - Karmapa -- TEDxShekhawati
We should allow the information that we have to really make a change in our heart- HH the karmapa -- ShalG
No better way to end the @TEDIndia than have His Holiness the Karmapa on stage of #TEDindia amazing! -- FollowSamir
A big applause for Karmapa. What a beautiful talk :) -- shweta88
Bharath (his full name) was the local producer of TEDIndia, a calm authority figure in the middle of a large, international, multilingual crew. After the conference wrapped on Saturday afternoon, he had time to talk about the massive job of getting TEDIndia up and running.
How did you get connected with TEDIndia?
I'm basically a filmmaker. I do corporate films for my bread-and-butter, and I make documentaries for my own creative satisfaction. We do documentaries about Buddhism, comparative religion, literacy; we go to villages and make motivational films aimed at illiterate people, to send their children to school. And I make films for Infosys; I've been working with them for about 10 years. Infosys recommended some vendors, the TED team met with some others, and I was lucky they decided to go with me. That's how I got into the loop. TED was an important thing in India, and Infosys felt we should have people there who can deliver. They said, Can you take over the whole thing? I said, Sure, why not, let's do it.
When did you get onsite to start work on TEDIndia?
We were here from October 26th, but most of the stage pieces were getting fabricated outside the Infosys campus, so we just brought them in and started rigging them up. We put in about 3 months of preproduction.
The thing about most of the Hollywood teams that I work with, and I tell them this right from the beginning: Working in India is different. In the sense that, (a), the number of people involved will be much more than elsewhere, and (b), it is not as mechanized. To put up the Simulcast, for instance, we didn't use cranes. We have them, but we don't use them all the time because we have so many people. And it's generating employment and revenue for ever so many people. It's kind of mind-boggling for Westerners to come here to work, because they look at the sheer number of people and they get petrified. But that is my workforce. Those are my cranes, you know, those are my forklifts.
Once you get into production, you realize the way this crew works. At a stage when you're discussing contracts and schedules, you're looking at the number of hours of work and number of days you'll put in, but once they get into production, all that is out of the window. We've been rehearsing til 11:30 and 12 o'clock in the night, and the teams haven't batted an eyelid. They've been here. And they're back again at 6 in the morning. It's a really good team.
It's interesting that you come from a film background; TEDIndia is live theater, but it eventually lives on as a film. Was it hard to make the transition?
No, in fact. Big productions are the same, irrespective of what it is. It's how organized you are, what kind of a crew you have, what's your relationship with your crew members, what kind of harmony can you build in your team, and how they deliver. Irrespective of whether it is films or events, I believe that for any group of human beings to work together, you need to have that basic relationship between each other. And that's what I have thrived on so far. I make films for the Air Force where the teams are much larger than this, the cameras are much larger and more in number, and it was not difficult at all.
What was probably, I wouldn't say difficult but what was new, was the kind of multiple formats that are used, and the scale. The scale of projection, the scale of image processing. These were different, but technology is available, equipment is available, help is available.
One of my favorite moments of pre-TED was watching you and your mixer screen the first test footage from the cameras with TED's video team. The whole team was thrilled by the quality; you especially seemed to be enjoying the moment.
I think for every artist, irrespective of whether he is a painter, a filmmaker, a sculptor, I think the curiosity is in seeing: How does the product look? Do I have a beautiful frame that other people will look at and appreciate and enjoy? And I think that is the ultimate satisfaction. Nothing can complicate that. Not money, not awards, nothing can complicate that. If people tell you your stage looks good, your frames look good, that's the ultimate satisfaction.