Theme: Breaking Barriers

It takes courage to cross the line of so called impossibility - to go against the tide; to venture to areas where nothing is assured. A real-life leap of faith. And yet… there are those fearless enough to achieve what everyone once ridiculed. To penetrate what was said to be impenetrable.

So many more have ripped through every judgement, stereotype, expectation and obstacles to serve humanity through their diverse and varied talents. These individuals not only changed the world but showed us that we can too.

People like them exist today; here and now; all around us. They are just like us. But what we haven’t figured out yet is that they are us or that we are them.

And after this, one might still ask,
How?
Simple,
Break All Barriers.

TEDxYouth@Lovedale will finally bring down that wall once and for all.

Lovedale
Ooty. Lovedale
Ooty, Tamil Nadu, 643003
India

Anshuman Bhonsle

Student Speaker

TOPIC- Progress has shot down Evolution. Anshuman is a class 12 student studying at the Lawrence School, Lovedale. He has spent his life in both Singapore and Pune, however, he comes from a district in Maharashtra called Satara. He is passionate about animals and hopes to be a wildlife conservationist someday. The world has been telling him that evolution is an unstoppable process but Anshuman has another idea entirely.

Arvind Narrain

Lawyer

TOPIC- Loving The Constitution . Arvind Narrain is a human rights lawyer, activist and writer. He has written extensively on human rights issues including on LGBT rights, minority rights and discrimination law. He is the founder member of the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore, a human rights lawyering collective based in India.

Audrey Maben

Hobby Pilot and Educator

TOPIC- Living Life Microlight. Audrey Deepika Maben, a mother of three, is also an Educator who founded a holistic school called ‘I Can’ and is now Mysore's First Cambridge International School. She is a well-known and accomplished Aviator who holds many firsts to her credit. As a young student she was declared the All India best glider pilot, she became India' s first woman microlight flying instructor and set a record during Air Race India 2003,as the only woman to fly as pilot in command and covered a distance of 2400 in 5 days. She recently became India 's first woman Motor glider pilot. She also recieved a nomination recently to circumnavigate the earth. She is also an Educator who founded a holistic school called ‘I Can’ and is now Mysore's First Cambridge International School.

Boniface Prabhu

Quadriplegic athlete

TOPIC- Unstoppable. Boniface Prabhu was born to Harry J. Prabhu and Fathima Prabhu, on 14 May 1972, at Bangalore, in the south Indian state of Karnataka, as a normal child like his two brothers, Jerry and George. The tragedy struck at the age of four, when a blotched lumbar puncture made him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. However, he was brought up by his parents as a normal boy, sending him to institutions for normal children which helped the young Boniface to take up life as any competitive person would.

Kamal Sagar

Architect

TOPIC- Think Design. Kamal Sagar graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 1992, with a degree in Architecture. Kamal’s work has focused on mostly on creating warm spaces and a high quality experience in high-rise housing projects, through homes that embrace nature. His work has always been inspired by music and art. He founded Windmills Craftworks, in 2012, a Jazz Theatre, Microbrewery and Restaurant, where the audience is able to experience great talent at close quarters, with exceptional sound quality and in a beautiful, warm and comfortable setting .

Kshitij Khandelwal

CTO of Pixxel

TOPIC- How to be a Modern Day Cartographer. Kshitij is a final year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus. He was part of the cross-campus Hyperloop India team, that was one of the 24 finalists of the SpaceX's Hyperloop Weekend II, the only Indian team and one of the only two Asian teams in the competition.

Nikhita Thevannoor

Student Speaker

TOPIC- Perception and Imagination. Nikhita and Samriddhi are class 12 students at The Lawrence School, Lovedale. An AFS returnee with a penchant for sarcastic remarks, Nikhita loves travelling and writing. Samriddhi is an artist with a love for animals and all things fantasy. They're here to talk about how imagination and perception are intrinsically entwined.

Noureen K.V

Student Speaker

TOPIC - Other Side of the Mirror. Noureen is a class 12th student studying in The Lawrence School, Lovedale. She enjoys reading crime and mystery novels. She is here to talk about how differences, if looked at in a negative light, can cause chaos .But if these so called 'differences' are seen in a more positive way, we could celebrate and accept them instead.

Rohan Therattil

Student Speaker

TOPIC – The Last Barrier: Religious Conflicts. Rohan M. Therattil and Vedant S. Chuahan are class 11th students studying in the Lawrence School, Lovedale. Rohan is a happy, energetic and positive thinking student. He is also a good debater. Vedant is jolly and lively person. Both being brought up in religious families, respect religion and believe that conflicts and errors in religion can only be solved through education.

Samriddhi Jaichand

Student Speaker

TOPIC- Perception and Imagination. Nikhita and Samriddhi are class 12 students at The Lawrence School, Lovedale. An AFS returnee with a penchant for sarcastic remarks, Nikhita loves travelling and writing. Samriddhi is an artist with a love for animals and all things fantasy. They're here to talk about how imagination and perception are intrinsically entwined.

Sangeetha Jairam

Motorcyclist/Yoga Teacher

TOPIC- Unravel through Travel. Sangeetha Jairam was born and raised in the hills of Coorg and the Nilgiris. Her love for the outdoors was born from growing up in these environs. From an early age she was exposed to the world of motorcycle travel, as her father was an avid motorcyclist in the 60s. Adventure sport was always in her blood. Motorcycle travel for her was always exciting and never thought of as extraordinary, but just a love for a machine that allowed for the experience of the outdoors that much closer to Nature and meeting new people with no barriers.

Srividya Sivakumar

Poet

TOPIC-Writing Revolt: Breaking barriers one Word at a Time.. Dr. Srividya Sivakumar is a critically-acclaimed poet. Her second book, The Heart is an Attic, was published in 2018 by Hawakal Publishers, Kolkata. The Heart is an Attic debuted as the #1 New Release in Indian Literature on the Amazon global website, in March 2018. Its second edition is now in print.

Vedant Singh Chauhan

Student Speaker

TOPIC – The Last Barrier: Religious Conflicts. Rohan M. Therattil and Vedant S. Chuahan are class 11th students studying in the Lawrence School, Lovedale. Rohan is a happy, energetic and positive thinking student. He is also a good debater. Vedant is jolly and lively person. Both being brought up in religious families, respect religion and believe that conflicts and errors in religion can only be solved through education.