To TED and Back (Day Two)

by The Balloon

The second day of TEDIndia was packed with stories of success in improving other people's lives. From efficient and effective ways of delivering healthcare and education to the poorer to the fight against violence on women, from inventions coming from the rural areas to traditional methods to overcome environmental obstacles, here is what excited and inspired us on the second day of the conference.

Session Four -  Reinventing Development

Anil Gupta, from Honey Bee Network, talks about the incredible resourcefulness of people from rural India. Pressure cookers transformed into coffee makers, bike that can cross rivers, interesting mechanical devices that can help people climbing trees: the minds at the margins aren't marginal minds. And this is especially true in India which is the homeland of jugaad, the quintessential art of making things possible, no matter how scarce the resources are. It's Honey Bee Network's job to spread this innovations and give the inventors the due recognition on one side, and to come up with good solution for the daily problems in rural areas.

Single best moment of his talk? The video in which an old man explains how he modified his bike so that it could cross the river and bring him to meet his beloved now wife. Honey Bee Network is trying to convince cities around the country to use this type of modified bike to keep activity going when the monsoon floods the street. No result yet, but we are totally supporting the romantic genius.

Session Five - Redesigning Communities

Kavita Ramdas, director of the Global Fund for Women and Sunitha Krishnan, anti-trafficking activist from Prajawala Foundation, did two of the most powerful and touching talk.

Kavita Ramdas spoke about the role of women in the world how it has changed, sharing stories of success in protection and affirmation of women's rights. She underlined how women don't need to deny traditions and femininity, but can use them as an instrument to change the society they live in (Even Ensler spoke about something similar on the third day and - believe us - you want to stay tuned and read more about that).

Sunitha Krishnan's talk wasn't easy. Not easy to hear, not easy to process, and definitely not easy to forget. Prajwala, the association she founded, rescues children and women victims of human trafficking. The stories she has to share are heartbreaking, and her talk was incredibly powerful, highlighting on one side the horror of human trafficking and on the other side the general indifference of a society that marginalises the victims instead of welcoming and helping them. Tough, but so important.

Session Six - Green and Blue

Our favourite talk of the day was probably Anupam Mishra's. With simplicity and a wonderful dry humour, he described the traditional ways of harvesting water in deserted areas of India. The mechanisms he showed are hundreds of years old, yet still incredibly effective: our contemporary attempts at creating similar structures have failed miserably in comparison, and in the areas where more modern solution have been tentatively adopted, the old one have been resumed almost right away.

We'll try write more details on these technologies. Pure brilliance.

Session Seven - The Power of Stories

Abhay Deol, actor and producer, told some funny Indian stories, and here's our favourite. Somewhere in Uttar Pradesh, a man has been denied the land he should have inherited because his siblings bribed an official to issue his death certificate. No matter how many times the man would go in any possible office and show that he was alive, the bureaucrats would refuse to acknowledge that he wasn't dead, just because they had a certificate saying he was. He finally got his story into the papers and eventually got his land, but it took quite a while.

We love the things that could happen only in India. And yes, we know it wasn't as funny for the "dead" guy.

And finally Ryan Lobo, young photographer from Bangalore, shared with the audience some of his work. His series on the Indian women soldiers in Liberia and on Delhi Fire Service in action are great, and the photographer showed a deep connection with the stories he was telling, and such an amazing urge to tell them. 

More of his work can be seen on his website and on his Flickr account.