Mangaluru: Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, hosted its first-ever TEDx event, TEDxSCEM, here on Sunday, July 28 from 8 AM to 6 PM in the campus.
Regarding the theme, ‘How Unpredictable are You?’, the TEDxSCEM Organizing Team mentioned, “People are like snowflakes. Each of us has our own distinctive stories to tell. Ups and Downs are bound to be inevitable. This is what makes life so unpredictable. Various situations could come either in the form of a boon or a bane. What we do with the consequences of these occurrences is what we plan on exploring through the various accounts our speakers will be giving to us.”
TEDxSCEM 2019 had eight inspirational speakers from various domains and four extravagant cultural performances. The various domains included technical, medical, innovation, defense, agriculture, social, motivation and others.
- Siddharth Rajhans – A Harvard educated first generation entrepreneur. Currently, a Principal Policy Officer working on the Sustainable Development Goals format of the United Nations), Swastik Padma (Participant at the International Level Science Fair, 2018 with an innovative project. Honoured by naming a minor planet after him. Awarded National Child Award, India. He spoke on Entrepreneurship Domain and explained about the new trends and developments in the economy.
- Dhanya Ravi – Born with brittle bone disease, suffered over 300 fractures since birth. Considered the ‘Glass Woman’; advocates for genetic and early diagnosis of rare diseases through public talks, etc. She inspired the audience with her remarkable stories on how she overcame all odds to lead a happy life.
- Kavitha Mishra – A Computer Science graduate, currently working in the agriculture sector. Promotes sustainable farming to help farmers earn enough even after retirement, etc. She encouraged youth to develop an interest in farming and gave inputs on how one can make farming a profitable one.
- Karishma Arora- All India CBSC Topper and a Classical Dancer, entertained the audience by demonstrating the Power of Dance and its benefits to the individuals.
- Brigadier IN Rai – Took part in the historic 1971 Indo-Pak War. Involved in operations against Naga Guerillas, operated in Sri Lanka as part of IPKF, commanded the Mountain Brigade in East Sikkim.
- Dr Rohan Chandragatti – Senior Consultant Surgical Oncologist at Mangalore Institute of Oncology. Specialized in minimally invasive and organ sparing therapies. Also, HOD of Surgical Oncology at Father Muller Hospital, Mangaluru. He spoke on the unpredictable nature of Cancer and how one can cope up with this dreadful disease. With his talk on “A soldier you don’t know”, he filled the audience with emotions of pride, joy and at the same time with sadness quoting the stories of the unsung heroes of India who sacrifice everything to the one thing – Motherland.
- Ankith Kumar- Behavioral Scientist, Psycho-Social Counsellor, Life Skills Coach and Personality Development Trainer. Also, a certified Hypnotist, Yoga Therapist, Pranic Healer. He motivated the audience to find happiness in small achievements of their everyday life and explained how emotions influence them and their surroundings.
- Swastik Padma- A Young Scientist and Innovator from Puttur, spoke on Technical Domain and shared his journey from a small village of Puttur to getting a minor Planet named after him.
The attendees were given various takeaways and goodies as souvenirs of the event. A special mention about Basavarajeshwari Ambi from second Year Dept. of Information Science & Engineering and Srujan U from second Year Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, who worked collaboratively since the last seven months to procure the TEDx License to organize a TEDx event in the campus until they received a go-ahead from the approving authority at TEDx. The event was executed by these two coordinators along with their enthusiastic team of 30 volunteers.
The cultural performance included Karishma Arora (The All India CBSE Humanities Topper (2018-2019). Winner of Women’s Achievers Award, 2019 (Times), Late Shri Lakshman Singh Kothari Memorial Award, 2019. Also a trained Kathak dancer), Adarsh Pakkala (A Yakshagana dancer awarded Yaksha Prathibe, Yaksha Sindhu and YakshaKirita), Team Artbeats (Runners up of Mangalore’s Got Talent Season One. Group of flutist, guitarist, cajonist and speed painter), Team Propaganda (A Bolly-Hop dance crew based in Mangaluru).
TED is a global community focused on meaningful change through the power of ideas. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. These events are open source, local and community-driven events that inspire innovation, thought leadership and visionary insight.
