To TED and Back (Day One)

by The Balloon

And so we went to Mysore for TEDIndia, listened, watched, took notes, learned, laughed, cried, applauded, gave a couple of standing ovations, and now here we are to share with you our favorite. Make a note and download these talks as soon as they appear on ted.com.

Session One - Fast Forward

As many were anticipating, Hans Rosling finally predicted on which day India's growth will bring the country to meet the US in income and health. Being Hans Rosling, he explained his graphics as a race commentary, in such an exciting way that none who was in the audience will ever again think statistics are boring. In fact, his statistics are so cool that deserved a standing ovation.

Oh, the fateful day is going to be July 27th 2048. You have just under fourty years to organise a good party.

Devdutt Pattanaik, mythologist, explained through mythology some of the differences between western and eastern approach to pretty much everything, and particularly business. Line versus circle, one life chance versus reincarnation, one world versus the other. In India "nothing lasts forever; not even death"; everything can be relative, nothing is absolute, and this is reflected by art, dance, music, practices. The West is the land of the "one", India the land of the "infinite".

Listening to Mr. Pattanaik made us rediscover the charm of myths, and we'll try to share more of it with you very soon.

Session Two - Not Business as Usual

Harsha Bhogle spoke about the world's longest running soap opera: cricket. He managed to explain what is about cricket that India loves so much. Cricket is a game that falls perfectly into Indian life pace: there's no rush to it, and India is happy to give it all the needed time. Not only, but the game evolved to adapt to a more modern life, going from endless games to the new Twenty20 (invented by the British so that Indians could excel in it).

Cricket is a game that can be played almost anywhere and, most importantly, it's a game in which, with little more than a bat and a ball, any number of people can play together. And "any number of people" playing together is quite a common thing, over here.

The single most incredible thing he said? In 1939, a cricket match between South Africa and England lasted from March 3rd to March 14th. And the only reason why it finished was that the English team had to catch a boat to go home on March 15th, so the match was called a draw. Which means it didn't really finish, did it?.

Session Three - Wonder, Wonders.

And then the future came, in the presentation of Gujarati genius Pranav Mistry, the mind behind Sixth Sense. The young designer/engineer gave a jaw dropping demonstration of how you can go beyond the limit of screens, keyboard, and pretty much all the hardware we currently associate with the word "computer". Clicking a picture using only your fingers (and no camera in your hands?)? Possible. Using any wall as a surface to organise your digital documents? Sure.

Check out the video presenting some of the applications of Sixth Sense and get ready to be amazed.

The reptile-lovers hero Romulus Whitaker spoke about how the worsened conditions of Indian environment (and particularly water) is compromising the survival of certain species of snakes and crocodiles, and charmed us presenting two incredible, fascinating creatures: the King Cobra and the Gharial crocodile. And because snakes are one of India's wonders, you'll soon read more about them over here.

Finally Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, recounted his own life experience and spoke about human search for mysticism and understanding. Sadhguru's talk was incredibly fascinating and entertaining (yes), and maybe what we liked the most was that he is so far - in his character and behaviour - from the "stereotypical" image the West has of Indian gurus. He laughs, makes jokes (and good ones too), and is full of positive, enthusiastic energy. Spirituality doesn't need to be boring, and that's a good news.