Hunger for knowledge in India striking, says TED’s Anderson
MUMBAI: Fifteen years ago, when Chris Anderson, head of the nonprofit, TED (which organises the eponymous talks and conferences), met Nandan Nilekani, they had an interesting exchange. “Aren’t you concerned about the exploding number of people in India?” Anderson recalls asking. Nilekani replied, “The way to think of those numbers is as a billion minds—an incredible asset. With the right education, imagine what they can do.”
Now, Anderson is watching some of those minds sharing the ideas they’ve developed. On the new season of Star’s TED Talks India Nayi Baat, 26 young Indians share experiences and ideas that are making a social impact. In a departure from the first season, Nayi Soch, which featured speakers like cricketer Mithali Raj and filmmaker Karan Johar, Nayi Baat spotlights relatively unsung heroes. There’s a young woman who’s developed a cheap way to detect contamination in water, another is working on scaling indigenous farming knowledge to grow award-winning organic coffee. There’s also a social activist who offers education, legal, medical and psychothem logical support to survivors of sexual violence. Episodes are shot twice, in English and Hindi, and will also be aired in Tamil, Telugu and Bengali. “That’s where India is,” says Sanjay Gupta, country manager for Star and Disney India. “We want a lot more Indians to be able to understand what the show as about and the power of each of these ideas.”
English-language viewers know this well. TED talks online, and independent TEDx events showcase innovative ideas, explained simply. Anderson calls the talks “a serious attempt at free public education in a way that is compelling” to viewers. “You can learn one thing from one speaker, something else from another speaker—but hearing in sequence lets your mind new put things together,” he says.
Anderson went to school in Mussoorie and attended the University of Oxford before he took over TED, turned it into a nonprofit, and put videos of the ticketed talks for free online, turning it into a global phenomenon. He finds that India has changed in the years he’s been visiting. “There’s a rise in confidence and belief in the potential of what one can achieve, which is exciting to see. And it is striking how much of a hunger there is for knowledge in India, and how many innovators and inventors here do extraordinary things at a lower cost or with fewer resources.”
TED, meanwhile, has found a firm place in pop culture. Parody videos of the speaking style show just how popular it is with the internet generation. Sustained criticism of TED’s predominantly male speakers has been addressed too. “The number of talks hosted (by men and women) in the last year is almost exactly 50-50,” Anderson claims. On Twitter, an explanatory self-indulgent thread of posts usually ends with the person saying, ironically, “Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.” Anderson takes it as a compliment. His upcoming book has exactly that title.