TEDX Panaji: Ideas to change the world

I have always been a fan of TED speakers. What draws me to this site TED.com, is that one can spend hours together being fascinated with amazing narratives, ideas, inventions and knowledge. Their goal being that this power of ideas will eventually change the world.

Last Saturday, I attended the TEDX Panaji program. ‘Find the answers within’. Independently organised TED event by an enthusiastic group of local volunteers, TEDX Panaji was a refreshing change from the recently being held think affluences, which are doing the rounds in Goa as a new convention hub.

It was inspiring to hear local narratives. Real people sharing real stories. Down to earth accounts of people who strode off the beaten path to seek answers and arrived at their own conclusion and in the process changed lives. First hand witness of their own life, the narratives left you with a feeling of pride.

What was also very inspiring for me was the organisation of the program itself. I was equally fascinated by the way the Goan identity was drawn into the program. Right from the stage décor of tasteful shell windows to the snacks of rasa omelet served, one could revive in the local flavor.

In the recent past, I have attended similar programs where ideas are supposedly shared, but the sentiment one is left is the absence of local flair. It’s not only with regard to the organising of the event, but the feeling percolates through the ambience, audience and in the many way the resources get selected.

Most often national organisers are invited to create local spaces with an international panache, giving our Goan identity a totally clichéd image of uncles with beer mugs and aunties in frocks. A slapstick make-up of who we are as a people. The murder of the classic Mario Miranda’s Goa.

More often than not, speakers are equally foreign or selected from a coterie of those few that have eventually become stale with ‘time again and again’. Their credentials are often questionable and there is nothing for the audience to relate or connect with.

An identity diffusion such as this is today being rejected as shallow. People are looking for everyday heroes. The reality is that Goans have never been a shallow fun and beer loving caricature that is so boldly drawn in the Indian mind set. We are professionals too who should not be taken for granted.

An amazing group of local volunteers, headed by Dattaprasad Shetkar, the core team, Neha Prabhu, Abhay Mishra, Abhinav Apte, Om Prabhugaonkar, Clara Rodriques, Shallu Sharma and videographer Sangramsin Gaikwad ensured that the local flavor of the true Goan was maintained. Each of these individuals are professionals in their own fields and that came across through their entire initiative. There were no undue frills but down to earth management that ensured smooth functioning of the program.

TED is a global organisation that gives space for local narratives. Such personal narratives are important on many counts not only to those sharing but also to the ones listening.

Speaking is different from writing since in such spaces there is a real connect between the speaker and the audience. Inspirational narratives give expression to the personal and universal states of being.

For those sharing besides being an honor it also works as an affirmation. Narratives function as a catharsis of their role, idea and responsibility. An opportunity to reinforce thoughts, actions and mission.

The speaker becomes the medium itself. They trigger change not just because of the stories they tell but because somewhere their stories echoes another’s sentiments. I could see the audience nod with affirmation, laugh with joy, sigh with pain and stand up in amazement. The audience begins to see the narrator and realise that in the end we are all much more alike than we are different. That is the power. That is the inspiration.

A reason why often think tanks cannot get a response such as this from an audience is that people are in conflict with the social status quo. The stories are too foreign, too out there and a very few people are encouraged to speak about themselves.

Stories like many art forms compel us to explore, question, and reflect on long held and often erroneous beliefs. Each of us has a story buried within us waiting to be told and sometimes waiting to unfold. Maybe we might not have a TED forum but we can share it through other mediums like groups or social blogs.

Narrative scripts are also powerful tools to help people overcome their own identity diffused states. Personal struggles should not be demonised, nor glorified because both theses will get us stuck. We may even wind up feeling unworthy, unloved, and sick. Some of the best ways to cope with struggles is to embrace the reality and tell it as it is. You realize that for one you have a voice and more importantly you are not alone.

And if you have never heard a TED talk before, go to youtube/TED.com and listen to the millions of stories about people just like you who walk a different path every day and just maybe you too may dread to do the same.