17th June 2023

The first edition of TEDxSJCL was conducted on Saturday, 17th June 2023. The event was graced with the esteemed presence of 10 eminent speakers from various fields. To celebrate the unique journeys that life has to offer and to revisit the stories of challenges and adventures, the talks revolved around the theme “Transformational Conversations”. The inaugural ceremony began with lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries followed by a prayer song by the music team. The inaugural address was given by the Director Fr Jerald D ‘Souza. Haniya of II BA - B, as the primary organiser spoke about the theme for the day and thereafter the official TEDx video was played. Faculty in charge Mr Moses Raj presented the entire timeline of TEDxSJCL, starting with a pre-launch event comprising of a hand-print campaign and a musical performance by city-based band Mehram on 27th February 2023. The SJCL Tedx video was released to the audience followed by a dance performance by the SJCL cultural committee.

The opening ceremony paved the way for speakers and their exciting stories. The first speaker was Dr Dominic Benjamin. Dr. Benjamin with over 22 years of experience in treating older adults, providing them with comprehensive care, including rehabilitation and restoration to promote independent living has an empathetic practice in geriatrics. His talk revolved around the idea of loneliness being a cancer of the mind. He spoke about the stages in loneliness, how it is created and how to tackle it. He quoted Mother Teresa's - “The miserable poverty is loneliness and it cannot be accepted”. He urged the audience to empathize with others and with oneself to tackle the shields created by loneliness.

The second speaker was Nikhil Dey. Mr Dey was one of the founding members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) along with Aruna Roy and Shankar Singh. He is also a part of the founding group for "Jan Sarokar", a network of Indian social movements, which organized Indian ‘people’s parliament’ due to the lack of parliamentary oversight. His speech was related to slogans which influenced him from the American feminist movement. He also took the audience through the revolutionary movements that took place in Rajasthan for the right to guaranteed pension. He also explored the question of politics in everyday life.

The third speaker was Prof Ravivarma Kumar, former Advocate General of Karnataka who has expertise in constitutional law, social justice, human rights, PILs, and legal literacy. His talk was with respect to lawyers being the leaders of the society and their role in law making. He also emphasized on the preamble and categorized the contents of it as “navratnas”. Prof Kumar also talked about judgments establishing political freedom.

The fourth speaker was Syed Kirmani - the only wicket-keeper in the world to receive the ‘Best Wicketkeeper in the World’ award during the 1983 World Cup. Sir Kirmani was considered World’s No.1 Wicketkeeper along with Alan Knott of England and Rodney Marsh of Australia from 1979-1986. He talked about his school days and childhood which evolved him into a famous cricketer. He mentioned about certain instances from the World Cup 1973 that he cherishes. According to him “transformation takes place from the womb of a mother. His path of success was “consistent attitude”. He concluded his talk with a quote “A little bit of common sense (which is uncommon), tolerance and good humour is all what we need in life.”

The fifth speaker was Advocate Srivatsa Subramoniam, a designated Senior Advocate, spoke on ‘work -life balance’. According to him, work-life balance can never be achieved. Instead, one has to harmonize work and life because they are complementary to each other. He also spoke on accepting the appropriate semantics that affect one’s mind and perception.

The sixth speaker was Mr Prasad Bidapa - an iconic fashion guru of India. An alumnus of NID Ahmedabad, he is the creator of high-profile event such as India's men fashion week, Colombo International Fashion week, Kingfisher Fashion Awards and Mega Model Hunt. His speech was on the growth of the fashion industry in India. According to Bidapa, Khadi is the most luxurious good any Indian can have. He urged the audience to buy and cherish the unique clothing patterns of India ranging from Kanchipuram silk to Banarasi sarees. His talk also gave an insight into the history of textile industry in India before and after the advent of the Britishers.

The seventh speaker was Vibha Nadig, the youngest among all the speakers. Vibha, a 4th year law student at NLSIU is the director of Outlawed India, a nonprofit which aims to equip the communities with knowledge and tools required to independently access justice. Vibha talked about her journey from dreaming of becoming the youngest Senior Advocate to the founder of Outlawed India. She took the audience through the various stages of forming her company including the activities they took to educate the marginalized sections of the society. She also emphasized the need of imparting basic legal education through one’s native language. Her talk reflected the responsibilities of being a young entrepreneur to provide access to law to the layman.

The eighth speaker was Mr Boniface Prabhu. A Padma Shri Awardee and a paralympian wheelchair tennis player. He is the first Indian para-athlete to win two gold and one silver medal in the world wheelchair games held in the UK. Mr Boniface talked about the struggles he underwent to reach the stage of world tennis. He also talked about the essentiality of the Disability Act, the duty to include infrastructural requirements for the disabled in public spaces. He encouraged the audience to climb the ladder of success by quoting a famous saying - ‘the greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall’.

The ninth speaker was Mr B.N. Vichar - a Bengaluru based digital sculptor. He is a self-taught computer graphics artist with a combined experience in production and gaming for almost 20 years. His talk revolved around the ‘art of storytelling’. He took the audience to an enthralling experience of imagination and creativity through his artforms. Most of his artforms reflected the idea of ‘Desire leads to destruction’. He also emphasized on the history of Hoysala art forms that dates back to ancient times.

The tenth speaker for the day was Dr Ali Kwaja. He is the founder of Banjara Academy, an NGO that is sowing the seeds of smile, courage and love in the minds of people since 1989. As Dr. Ali believes “Human well-being is the most important aspect of any progress" and that communication includes and involves talking and listening. He implored the audience on the importance of listening through short stories. He emphasized on the fact that ‘human beings are forced to be transformed, but they have a choice to choose how to be transformed’. Dr Ali urged the audience to ‘listen with their eyes’ while communicating.

The talks were interspersed with two dance performances by the students and served as ice breakers and complete entertainers. The event came to a conclusion by the presentation of vote of thanks by Carol Philip of V BBA, Student Coordinator of TEDxSJCL followed by a vocal rendition by the music team.