Theme: Prism of Possibilities

The large red letters TED are, today a universal symbol for knowledge, passion and as the tagline boldly declares, “ideas worth spreading”. Started in 1984 as a platform where technology, entertainment and design congregate, TED has grown not only across the continuum of learning but spans the globe in the form of independent TEDx in communities across the world.

TEDxChristUniversity is one such endeavor by the students of Christ University to create a global event at the grassroots level by bringing together people within the community with a shared passion to learn and be inspired.

It is with this goal in mind that the theme for TEDxChristUniversity 2016- “Prism of Possibilities” was chosen. The word “Prism” creates the distinct imagery of a transparent object through which infinite colors and shades are refracted. To our mind, these colours represent the limitless possibilities that exist in one’s life.

In other words, every individual holds within them the potential for immense capabilities from artistic talent to
scientific innovation to entrepreneurial ability. Much as the prism, a simple transparent object before light reaches it at the right surface, we are sure our audience will benefit from the inspiration, advice and wisdom of our speakers, all achievers in their own fields.

Ultimately, TEDxChristUniversity hopes to be the catalyst that helps each individual uncover their enormous potential and truly discover their Prism of Possibilities.

Christ University
Christ University
Hosur Road
Bangalore, Karnataka, 560029
India

ABHIJIT BHADURI

Abhijit Bhaduri is an Indian author, columnist and management consultant. Bhaduri is Chief Learning Officer of the Wipro Group. Bhaduri is the author of three best-selling books- two novels of the ‘MBA’ Series-Mediocre But Arrogant, Married but Available and the management ‘guide-book’ Don’t Hire The Best. Bhaduri’s writings have appeared in journals and magazines including The Wall Street Journal, The Hindu Business Line, Operations Research & Management Sciences Today. He is second among the top HR influencers on Social Media according to SHRM, India. He writes regularly for The Economic Times, People Matters and blogs for the Times of India.

Aishwarya Kandpal

They dont conform to an identity. They dont conform to an image. What they do conform to is the need to break stereotypes regarding women in media. They're a 25 year old hardy, unsophisticated and dedicated team of media practitioners / professionals based out of Delhi who have redefined magic on Indian television. Graduates of AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, Aishwarya Kandpal, Akriti Suman and Mrigashree Pant have directed a travel show for a leading lifestyle channel successfully completing 2 seasons of the show, and are currently travelling across India shooting for the 3rd. They've incorporated a 360 degree approach in their brand promotions with the help of on ground activities, social media and person to person communication. They hold media workshops in Delhi for aspiring media practitioners regarding the power of communication and the art of telling stories. When they're not doing this, they're traversing the country's little known pockets hunting for magical stories.

Akif Kichloo

Akif Kichloo as the wonderful poet that he is. However what is lesser known is that he is also a doctor of medicine, currently pursuing the field of Anesthesiology in the United States. A multi-talented artist and scientist, Kichloo is also a musician, having played bass guitar in a rock band. Most recently and notably however, he has been credited with India’s first Spoken English Poetry Album ‘AGEING LIKE WINE, ONLY BETTER & ALIVE’. Apart from tumblr and instagram Akif Kichloo’s works can be found all over poetry enthusiasts timelines on Facebook. He has also written feature and opinion pieces for the huffingpost.in

Akriti Suman.

They dont conform to an identity. They dont conform to an image. What they do conform to is the need to break stereotypes regarding women in media. They're a 25 year old hardy, unsophisticated and dedicated team of media practitioners / professionals based out of Delhi who have redefined magic on Indian television. Graduates of AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, Aishwarya Kandpal, Akriti Suman and Mrigashree Pant have directed a travel show for a leading lifestyle channel successfully completing 2 seasons of the show, and are currently travelling across India shooting for the 3rd. They've incorporated a 360 degree approach in their brand promotions with the help of on ground activities, social media and person to person communication. They hold media workshops in Delhi for aspiring media practitioners regarding the power of communication and the art of telling stories. When they're not doing this, they're traversing the country's little known pockets hunting for magical stories.

ANUSHA JAGANNATH

Anoosher is the perfect example of passion driven soul . She thrives to be in the media field, she believes that YouTube is one of the best things she’s discovered till date. A photographer who co-founded the photography club in college makes YouTube videos which are RAD. She says ” I discovered this whole community on Youtube making a living by making videos. I don’t remember what I assumed they were making videos for before, I probably thought this was a hobby and they were all actually tie-wearing office goers. But I learned vlogging was actually their profession.” Although shes gained popularity by being one of the top 40 finalists in COMEDY HUNT by AIB , she says ” I just wish i had a little more faith in myself.”

ASHWIN MOHAN

Ashwin Mohan is a man with many facets to him. He runs the yoga academy Adesa, manages Na Boli trust, a non-profit for cultural change, and started Step Up, a training company for enhancing human potential. Arguably his biggest achievement till date, is however, training over 7 million children in martial arts. Due to his own experiences with bullying Ashwin started fighting when he was 11, since then he has been training in martial arts for 32 years and holds 6 black belts and certifications in over 24 martial arts.

Dr. Shalini Rajneesh

IAS Women Topper in 1989 Batch, handled Government to Citizen Service Delivery, Business Process Re-engineering in Government, E-Governance projects and big data Analytics, Women Empowerment, Entrepreneurship Development, Corporate social Responsibility, Social Media and Networking.National E-Governance Award Winner by DoPT, Govt. of India, Best IAS award by NAI

DR.B.V. MURALI KRISHNA

Dr.B.V. Murali Krishna is the Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Admin)Divisional Vat Office-1 previously worked as JCCT( e-Audit Unit), at the Commercial Taxes Department of Government of Karnataka, India. As JCCT (e-Audit) worked for implementation and rollout of e-UPaSS(electronic Uploading of Purchase and Sales Statement) which is a precursor for implementation of GST (Goods and Service Tax)), has conducted eUPaSS awareness and training sessions more than 140 in an year across the State to dealers and Stake holders in association with trade and industry associations. He was also involved in the establishment of an electronic platform for Audit under VAT.. His interests include assessing issues pertaining to works contract and sale in the course of import and software., photography etc.

GREG MORAN

The word “zoomcar” has become a fixture in the vocabulary of every college student in Bangalore. This self drive car company was co-founded by Greg Moran in 2013 when he and his partner noticed the gap in the Indian market for short-term car rental services. Started in Bangalore with a fleet on 7 cars, Zoomcar has grown exponentially. As of December 2015, the company operates a fleet of 2,000 vehicles in 9 cities across the country including Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon,Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh. Zoomcar also became the first car rental company in India to offer an electric vehicle by partnering partners with auto manufacturers like Ford and Mahindra.

KALYAN KUMAR

Kalyan wears many hats and that sometimes makes his friends wonder what exactly is it that he does. While he is a marketing professional by training with over 15 years of experience, he has had a career that has has seen a very interesting mix. After graduating from IIT Delhi, he worked with the then premier indie music and rock n roll magazine called Rock Street journal mostly organizing shows in campuses, helping musicians find their gigs and release their albums. Since then, post IIM Calcutta, he has worked with multiple companies and headed marketing for startups like RummyCircle.com and now runs his own firm Social Catalyzes. He consults with multiple early stage startups to hack their growth. A firm believer in ‘you can plan your day but not your life’, he has stories to tell.

MALA MARY MARTINA

Fondly known as Mcube is a social entrepreneur, education architect, business coach and trainer and perhaps most famously, the CEO of I Love Mondays. Among the millions of Indian students who enrolled in an engineering degree by default, Martina realised her true passion lay elsewhere. Hence, I Love Mondays was born, as a platform to educate youth about their career options, opportunities and abilities and thereby enable them to follow their dreams. With an emphasis on “new age careers”, I Love Mondays conducts aptitude tests, career counselling and even career training with industry experts! Martina spearheads this company along with other social initiatives towards youth education in India. All this and more centres around the aim of creating a generation of young adults, who simply love going to work on Mondays.

Manoj Rajan

Additional Secretary (Market Reforms) Government of Karnataka

Mrigashree Pant

They dont conform to an identity. They dont conform to an image. What they do conform to is the need to break stereotypes regarding women in media. They're a 25 year old hardy, unsophisticated and dedicated team of media practitioners / professionals based out of Delhi who have redefined magic on Indian television. Graduates of AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, Aishwarya Kandpal, Akriti Suman and Mrigashree Pant have directed a travel show for a leading lifestyle channel successfully completing 2 seasons of the show, and are currently travelling across India shooting for the 3rd. They've incorporated a 360 degree approach in their brand promotions with the help of on ground activities, social media and person to person communication. They hold media workshops in Delhi for aspiring media practitioners regarding the power of communication and the art of telling stories. When they're not doing this, they're traversing the country's little known pockets hunting for magical stories.

NEEL MADHAV

Neel Madhav is not your run-of-the-mill magician. This new-age illusionist combines magic with mentalism, neuro-linguistic programming and criminology, even applying it to corporate strategies. Neel has spoken at other conferences and college events in between shooting new episodes of his show “You Got Magic with Neel Madhav”. In Madhav’s own words, his magic’s aim is not to scare people but to “make them happy”. Neel Madhav is sure to have us all believing in magic before long.

NOUMAN KHAN

The 23 year old lad has achieved what most people his age would us merely dream about. From being the President in grad school to becoming the youngest chief guest in Jyoti Nivas College, Manipal University. Mount Carmel College & Ryan International. The handsome young lad is also the senior manager of Youth Ink . He also is a freelance artist manager and has judged over 100+ college events across Bangalore, Mysore and Manipal in 2 years. He is also an upcoming Entrepreneur and his passion is to help students with career building and also contribute to the Start Up culture.

Poornima SUKUMAR

She calls herself Poornima Travelling Sukumar and for good reason. This Fine Arts graduate from Chitrakala Parishat decided in her early twenties that making memories was more important to her than making money. Poornima steered clear of desk jobs but is in great demand today as a ‘wall artist’ and as an occasional art director for ad films. Says she, “A wall artist is not a graffiti artist. My work tells a story that a client has to live with. It is art that becomes a part of your living space.” “My idea of success is different. To me success means travelling to as many places as one possibly can and meeting new people and experiencing all that life has to offer. And to paint. It is not about making money though one does need that occasionally.”

RESHMA VALLIAPPAN

Reshma Valliappan, or as she is more commonly known, Val Resh, is an artist and an activist for mental health awareness and related issues. With a personality even more striking than her cool quirky appearance, Val Resh has been involved in causes from feminism to gay rights. She is the protagonist of the award winning PSBT documentary “A Drop of Sunshine” and the author of an autobiographical book detailing her life before being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her unique approach to living with her illness, variety of social causes and absolutely spellbinding artwork truly makes Valliappan a landmark on the international art scene.

TEJAS R

Meet the 23 year old, who’s found a way to turn his enthusiasm for freestyle football into a vehicle for social change. Known to many as “The Football Artist”, Tejas’s passion for football led him to drop out of engineering college to pursue it, since then he’s founded the NGO “Sparky Football” to inspire others to live by his motto “Make Your Wounds Proud’. From visiting slums as a “football clown” to entertain children with his tricks, Tejas now uses football as a teaching module to educate children about the importance of critical life skills and holistic development. He sees his students as talented footballers that are groomed to make a difference and feel responsibility towards society as a whole.

Yugratna Srivastava

Passionate about the environment and related issues, Yugratna is the representative for the Asia and Pacific region for TUNZA- Junior Board, a United Nation Environmental Programme. The first Indian child ever to be elected to this honour, she is undoubtedly a prodigy in leading the movement to save the environment. Truly having earned her position as Dsitrict child speaker champion, she has addressed gatherings from the Uniated Nations Summit on climate change to the Tunza International Children’s Conference in Korea. Her rousings words, “If not now, then when?.....If not us then who?” are a testament not only to her passion for the environment but also her remarkable prowess as an orator.