INKtalks

The Convention of the Unconventional: A road trip from Mangalore to Goa.

Sep 1st, 2012 Leave a comment

“Living life in a continuous state of beta” – that’s exactly what INKsters do. From the 23rd to the 25th of August, INK toured three colleges along the west coast of India with people from all walks of life, having in common the fact that they believed in themselves, broke away from conventions, paved their own way, and left their mark in the world.

Unconventional does not necessarily mean defying customs, breaking rules or undermining ideals, but forging your own beliefs and ideals that will reflect you – your story, your idea and your uniqueness.

Stem cell surgeon Dr Virender Sangwan, mountain climber Krushnaa Patil, Bharatnatyam artiste Charles Ma, writer Anupam Mukerji (aka Fake IPL Player), innovator Vivek Nair – joined later on by INK curator Lakshmi Pratury and music composer Joi Barua – were on the bandwagon for an exciting journey from Mangalore to Goa.

Day 1:

The journey kicks off with a rush of adrenaline as the boarding crew at Bengaluru Airport makes a final call for the INK team and speakers – and off we go for a three-day tour starting at NITK Surathkal, where we were welcomed by student entrepreneurship cell E-FOREA .

Lunch was an excellent occasion for INK speakers and NITK students to interact and exchange ideas before retreating to preparatory activities for the event. As the time of the event neared, the excitement of the attendees outside the auditorium became more and more palpable.

The first stop on the Unconventional tour takes place in an electric atmosphere as speakers Anupam Mukerji, Krushnaa Patil, Virender Sangwan, Vivek Nair make NITKians chuckle with their unabashed audacity in pursuing their dreams despite difficulties encountered, while Charles Ma mesmerises the audience with an energetic Bharatnatyam performance.

INK Fellow Charles Ma on stage.

The day ends with vivid exchanges between NITKians and the speakers, accompanied by a feeling of euphoria after the success of the first event in line. But the yellow Manipal University bus is already here!

More pictures from NITK here

Day 2:

The smell of the sea lingered along the short trip to Manipal University, where we arrived during the night. Minds set into fireworks by the day’s event, our speakers stayed up late chatting and discussing.

The following morning, we were welcomed by Dr K. Ramanarayan, VC of Manipal University, with whom we had an enriching discussion about going beyond the boundaries of learning to find creativity, a subject he is passionate about.

INKtalks unconventional Manipal University pass

houseful at INKtalks unconventional at Manipal University

We then embarked on a virtual tour through the “Experience Theatre”– a sensorial treat engaging us through the vision which has influenced the entire history of Manipal University. Then followed an IRL tour of the campus, giving us a glimpse of how Manipalites maintain a sense of balance throughout their studies.

The event in the afternoon was carried by a tantalising energy driven by the passion of the speakers who went head first into the pursuit of what they believed in, starting to experiment in the backyard of a hostel like Vivek Nair did, and making success truly a journey by the continuous process of creation Anupam Mukerji delves in everyday.

 

attendees leave messages for us.

More pictures from Manipal University here.

Day 3:

An early start marked the last day on the Unconventional road trip as we set out at 4.30 a.m. on a long trip to Goa. Upon arrival at the campus at BITS Pilani Goa, we entered a fast-paced preparation for the last event in the auditorium, where we were pleasantly surprised by the creative stage set-up.

The audience at BITS Pilani Goa, heated up by the Q&A session (organised by “Spark the Rise”) proved to be very expressive and reactive. Indeed, it is hard not to give in to the humour-infused talks of our speakers who look back on the tussles of the unconventional destinies they are fulfilling by the force of their will. The performance of Joi Barua, award-winning music composer, was greeted with magic – the audience waved their screen-lit phones along with the tune.

Anupam Mukerji onstage at BITS Goa

“What is the one thing necessary for success?” asked INK curator Lakshmi Pratury, her surprising answer to this existential question being : Failure. Daring to go beyond the shackles of convention liberates our potential and allows our creativity to flow and prosper.

And this is why we need a convention for the unconventional.

INKspired and INKed for life.

Attendees swamp the speakers for autographs and pictures.

Attendees leave us encouraging and inspiring messages

More pictures from BITS Goa here.

by Shadia Ramsahye
Social media intern

INKtalks salon at HP

Jul 26th, 2012 Leave a comment

When I joined INK, I always found it intriguing that everyone said that I absolutely need to attend an INK Salon to fully grasp the quintessence of INK.

So here I was, in a huge auditorium, geared up for my very first INK Salon at HP to see what all the fuss was about.
The auditorium was completely full and brimming with the INK spirit, with people even sitting on the stairs. The same atmosphere prevailed in the hall outside the auditorium where there was a live streaming feed of the salon.

The INK team with the speakers take the stage at HP

The event started and we were all warmly welcomed by the VP of HP, who saw the salon as an unique opportunity for his company to learn from our amazing innovators. Lakshmi Pratury then took to the stage and highlighted how everyone at INKtalks tries to see the world from different perspectives, instead of simply complaining how bad the world is and doing nothing to change it.
‘’I collect people,” said Lakshmi, ‘’people across the world from different disciplines, who are doing their own bit to change the world- people who are valued for their ideas and contributions for a better world.’’ This beautifully depicted the essence of INK.

Anupam Mukerji, founder of The Fake IPL Player blog, was our stunning host of the day. He introduced our  first speaker, Mansukhbhai Prajapati, who is a  rural entrepreneur. A clear message seeped out from Mansukhbhai’s talk– if something is wrong, one can come up with his own solution with whatever resources one has to solve the problem. After starting a ‘tawa’ making factory, he went on to create a water filter and a refrigerator – with clay! He now aims to create a ‘mitti cool house’ that would run on solar energy.
Clearly awed by our first speaker, the audience were waiting in anticipation for the next speaker to sweep them off their feet, which is exactly what Naganand, co-founder and president of Embrace did. As one of the creators of the ‘’infant warmer’’ – a low-cost product that keeps premature babies warm without using electricity.  He believes that ‘’social enterprise is 1% production and 99% distribution.’’ This is why his team is now aiming at empowering rural mothers by making this easy-to-use product accessible to them as well as decreasing the infant mortality rate in India.

Naganand Murty from Embrace

“The number 1 reason people don’t follow their dreams is that they settle for something good,” highlighted our next speaker, Karthik Naralasetty, founder of socialblood.org. His organisation came to life on Facebook after he realised that it was extremely difficult for people to find blood donors in time. Socialblood.org allows people to post requests for blood as well as donate blood, and already has presence in 20 countries.

Prasad Balasubramaniam, employee at HP, was announced as the winner of the ‘’Ideas Under 99 Seconds’’ competition organised by INK in association with HP. He gave a brief talk about his initiative for empowering women by enabling them to earn a living by selling apparel they designed themselves.

The next speaker on stage was the gaming revolutionary, founder of IndiaGames, Vishal Gondal. His talk focused on his team’s efforts at popularising games for people of all age, locality and profession- from the ‘rickshaw-wala’ to housewives and elderly people in India. His team has been to villages with tablets to give children the opportunity to discover and explore the gaming world.

However, Chris Kirchhoff, our next speaker, questioned the efficiency of technology. Having worked with the chief of military of US and having been part of the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster Commission,  and he showed the audience how one should proceed with care when dealing with technology. We should all learn from the disaster of the Columbia Space Shuttle so as to prevent such technical failures from happening in the future, he said.

Christopher Kirchoff

Our final speaker, Raghava KK, artist and TED speaker, spoke about his unconventional approach to art and technology.He explored how art and technology could be merged to create different perspectives. One such initiative is an innovative application that he created – a children’s book for all children, including children in single-parent or single-sex families.

‘Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breaths away.’ concluded Lakshmi, as she closed the event.

I can say with certainty that each and every moment of these 90 minutes were truly breath taking moments. Each and every member of the audience left with a determined spirit and renewed motivation to bring about positive changes in their daily lives, inspired by all our speakers.

by Anshu Beeharee

Intern

 

INK goes to Jain University

Apr 29th, 2012 Leave a comment

Nikhil Velpanur on stage at Jain University

INK presented five speakers – Nikhil Velpanur, Karthik Naralasetty, Sachin Kukke, Sarath Champati and Charles Ma at Jain International Global Campus on the 20th April, 2012. The atmosphere of the session was exhilarating as students were mesmerized by the quality of talks presented to them.

The session started off with TED Fellow Nikhil Velpanur who set the mood on an all time high. He spoke about the journey he took which ultimately paved the way to his new project – Approves.it! His enthusiasm and ideas motivated the students and got them thinking about innovation and breaking the rules. Our second speaker was a young entrepreneur, Karthik Naralasetty, a dropout from Rutgers University. In 2011, he set up a project aimed at connecting people with thalassemia, a genetic blood disease, with potential blood donors through a social platform called Social Blood Org. Students were amazed by his work and applauded him for his efforts and humility to help others in need.

Our third speaker was Sachin Kukke, the winner of YouTube’s 2012 Space Lab contest for the Asia Pacific region. Sachin explained how he won this competition and told the audience what it was like to spend time at NASA and experience zero gravity. Being only a first year student from BMSCE, the crowd was very impressed with his achievements at such a young age.

Towards the middle of the session, INK took a break from speakers to give students from Jain University an opportunity to share their ideas. INK recognized three students who won a competition called Triggering Thoughts, and two students actually got on stage and presented their ideas. One student advocated creating a conceptual digital database for degradation solutions for soil contaminated by pesticides. The other student wanted to create an online database to connect students looking for sponsorship for their education to potential sponsors.

The fourth speaker was Sarath Champati, a wildlife photographer. Sarath presented his talk with the great passion. He pitched his profession in a very picturesque manner and was undoubtedly a crowd favorite. Our final speaker was Bharatanatyam dancer Charles Ma. Charles was extremely enthusiastic and upbeat, connecting well with the audience and wowing the crowd with his new Bharatanatyam piece. His advice to follow your passion left a great impact on the audience.

The University was delighted to have us and the response to this event was overwhelming. At the end of the session, we asked students to leave comments on a speaker board that was just outside the auditorium. From reading the comments one could tell that the speakers did leave an impact on the students and INK had given the students an opportunity to be inspired!

By Meghna Ashok, INK intern

April 30, 2012