Tedx Lahore; Something To Talk About.

Sydney Smith said ‘A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of little courage’. In the case of our country it is something like this: A great deal of talent is lost due to the lack of exposure. One thing I concluded from Tedx Lahore 2010 is that baby Pakistan’s got talent!

Amidst an almost four hundred audience which encompassed people from all walks of life, and awesome speakers that did not fail to inspire and make us proud for what they are. One of the reasons I attended was that I needed a breather from all the bomb-talk and Problems of the country that never seek an end, and of course our incessant complaining. I had come to see the Pakistan that I knew was there, which unfortunately did not make to the limelight amidst the more important things to display on screens.

To sum it up, The Tedx team did a good job pulling the event on the scale it was this year as compare to last years. Apart from some little technical glitches that are forgivable, there was no big problem or interruption, and oh, the light didn’t go too. WAPDA was kind, or maybe the flooding is coming handy. All and all it was something to remember.  Fourteen speakers spoke. Sadly, Ahmed Rafay Alam could not make it to Lahore. Even though every speaker had something meaningful to say, they shone in their own respective fields, but here are some talks that I have labeled according to my own observation.

The Funniest Ted talk

Its hard to laugh on something as morbid as suicide bombings. But the funny thing about Zaubair Usmani’s talk was that all the time, he was serious and that was funny. ‘Let me show you a live demo’ and the audience laughed in confusion and in humorless humor; A live demo of a bomb explosion? Thankfully, He showed us how his software works, which stimulates the effects of bomb explosions (which was REALLY cool).  A Fulbright scholar, Decided to come back home on the notion ‘ Get a good education and move to a bad neighborhood’ He surely is and will come in handy to defy all those who say ‘ All is well’.

The Touchiest Ted talk

Being one in a group of engineering students, He took the burden of giving quality education to those who could not dream of having one, starting from tutoring, he eventually managed to open a school depending on no foreign aid but money from their own pockets and aid collected by students and whoever wanted to contribute. His Organization has a Blood donating group, that whole-heatedly donates to those in need. Mudassir Zia is a Patriot at Heart and more than a social worker, who believes that ‘the only helping hand is present on the end of your arm’.

The I’ll-note-that-down Ted talk

Zubair Bhatti, or the corruption Buster had an idea which is already being implemented in seven districts of Punjab; to fight corruption, corruption that bothers an ordinary citizen. As per the program, any one involved in some government transaction receives a call by officials asking if they have been bribed et cetera. According to Bhatti, This Program is hoped to be expanded and implemented via sending sms, so to reach more people.

The Most Engaging Ted Talk.

Google Mappers, Jabran Rafique and Omer Sheikh made sure that Attabad, where a new lake emerged and caused havoc by swallowing villages and killing people, was mapped on Google map, so that it is easier for relief efforts to get their. Omer talked about how information that belongs to us, is hidden from us. In order to solve our problems we need to know our problems better first, that means information regarding our electricity, water, food etc should not be confidential because as citizens we have a right to information of such importance.

Apart from this, Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haque talked about how we mimic the donor in our economics that we lose our own innovative capacity and socially impair ourselves. Talking to him afterward He told me that it was hard to convince the Planning Commission to sponsor Tedx, but he did so because he firmly believes in the intellectual capability of the young in Pakistan.

Dr Asher Hassan, the CEO of Naya Jeevan very nicely presented and talked about the social apartheid that rips our society apart.

Dr Tariq Rahman the Socio – Linguist told that switching codes between languages while speaking jese me abhi keh rahy hun is a sign of bilingual competence and does not mean ke aap ko na urdu sahi tareekay se aaty or na hi angarezi.

Dr.Amir Khan’s project for better health was quite impressive.

Other speakers included the Architecture Arif Hassan,  Musicologist Beena Sarwar, communication Designer Saima Zaidi, Dr. Tariq Rehman  and the journalist Ajmal Kamal, Social Activist Majid Nawaz; all of them shine in their own respective fields.

What I liked.

The Tedx Lahore original sound track by Arfat Mazhar in the background pumped up the spirit.

Noor Zehra’s (Noori’s Mom) performance with her Sagaar Veena was a big highlight of the event. She would strike a cord on the Sagar Veena and a beautiful sound would be produced that would echo its great detail and range. This was the same Instrument which she played on Coke Studio and just to add, she is the only one in Pakistan who plays Sagar Veena. She received a standing ovation for her brilliant performance.

The short film ‘Building Pakistan’.

The Dhol performance that finished off the event.

We not Me. Things to take back home.

A goody bag was given to the attendees as a reminder of the event. It included a sapling and an instruction note on how to plant a tree(It was a help, Thankyou.), A Tedx music CD, a copy of Natura Magazine and a matchbox that was used as a domino in the short film d Building Pakistan’, as a token of remembrance.

In a nutshell, Tedx Lahore 2010 inspired, motivated, and spread ideas worth spreading. It brought out the best; from the team that put the event up, from the speakers that proved their metal and the audience that applauded them generously all in the name of a future that would be different from the present.

Photo Courtesy: Tedx Lahore Facebook Group.