Recollection of Inspiring TED talks: Wind of change

Bobo Moirangthem *

It's amazing how a single inspiring talk can change one's view on something, or, for instance, how an inspiring talk would get someone hooked to TED. I recall, it was back in 2009, when preparation was full on in Infosys, Mysore campus to host TEDIndia conference, and how I would 'very' casually shrug it off as a 'conference for armchair thinkers'.

It wasn't much later, in 2010, that I stumbled upon, on Youtube, one of the talks of that event, started digging down for more, and finally got hooked. It was then that I realised TED talks are much more than about 'ideas on paper' – but how they are implemented, how they inspire, or how they simply keep people awestruck. Today, when I see such an event being organised at Imphal (TEDx = Independently organised), I can recollect some of the talks that I have watched after being introduced to TED.

One of the first TED talks I watched online was by Pranav Mishtry, an MIT Grad, who is known for making 'SixthSense', a wearable gestural interface device. And yes, it was not the device itself that struck me, but the experiences he had that ultimately led to making the device.

In the barely 12 minutes talk, he recounts how he started off with the roller balls in analogue computer mouse and how with a simple modification they could be used to understand gestures. Watching the video on my laptop, I looked around in my room, wondering how even the simplest of objects can be made to do wonders. And yes, I did try my luck with certain objects myself, but I am no genius like him; nevertheless I was inspired.

Ideas shape nation. And what could be a better example than India herself? In a talk in May 2009, Nandan Nilekani, then CEO of Infosys, explores the ideas that have shaped the country. Something our policy makers have to closely examine, he cites four sets of ideas – Ideas at work, Ideas in Progress, Ideas in Conflict and Ideas in Anticipation.

By the end of the talk, one would realize how the growth of population, which hitherto had been frowned upon, is taking India forward in an aging world, and why a fast growing nation like India needs to look into environmental aspects of growth too.



Worth recollecting is a talk by Simon Sinek. Starting with a basic question on how certain leaders do things that defy our imagination, he reveals his discovery about how this world works – the inspiring leaders or organisations communicate in ways completely opposite to how the rest do. Citing examples of Apple, Martin Luther King, he explains how these leaders, by communicating their belief, inspired action. Sure to make anyone change one's view of self – this talk indeed strengthened my core beliefs and why I exist.



As I sit in front of my laptop recollecting these videos, I see the faces of school kids in Manipur, who, thanks to lack of proper infrastructure, are debarred from readily available inspiring resources. Yet, Manipur has not stopped contributing to India's growing human resource pool.

And I would have happily cited many examples of inspired individuals from Manipur, had not it been for the risk of diverting from TED. TEDxImphal is presenting Manipur a platform where a few of these individuals to share their ideas and experiences.

And I am already excited thinking about their making an impact on the young troubled minds, and hope this brings about the much needed 'Wind of Change'.

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* Bobo Moirangthem wrote this article for TEDxImphal. This article was posted on December 07, 2011.

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