THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 15, 2015
“I am happy that the prime minister is resolute in resolving the Naga conflict. It is important that the settlement made is keeping in mind the Naga cultural system and based on their unique history.” — T.R. Zeliang Chief Minister, Nagaland
“The country should resolve to strive towards attaining social equality and dignity for every citizen of India.” — Hamid Ansari, Vice President
Youth are way ahead of their times BY JAMES MATHEW @mathewthejames
The guy on stage with self-confidence writ large on his beaming face that belies his age, early twenties, said, “I have saved three persons from ending their lives after I talked with them when they shared their suicidal thoughts after reading my online post…” Meet Shamir Gabriel Reuben, 22, who was one of the speakers at the first ever event organised by TEDxYouth@ KalyaniNagar in Pune at Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies in Khadki on Sunday (August 9). DOWN TO EARTH None of the speakers put on airs about their accomplishments. They stood along with the organisers and were seen helping them manage the stage. This informality could not be ignored. Even during the lunch break, they were the last to have food, a welcome shift from the rigid conventionality where guests and speakers are invited to have food first. SAVING LIVES Shamir wears many hats. He is a writer, spoken poetry performer, digital content writer, freelance senior correspondent and a seasoned online writer. “Everybody craves to grab the evershrinking attention spans online. The only criterion they look for is numbers, the count of their followers. Facebook and Twitter, the world’s two most popular social networks, boast of 1.3 billion and 271 million monthly active users. So, you can imagine what is written and what is
missed. In 2014, there were about 3,50,000 tweets and 3,82,000 Facebook likes every minute,” he said. The social media explorer advised all Shamir Reuben to go beyond numbers and use it qualitatively. Sharing his growing up years, Shamir said, “My father was an Air Force pilot who became bedridden after he met with an accident on duty. I lost my mother to cancer a few years ago. Only putting thoughts into words gave me the much-needed solace. And my writings have changed the lives of others.” He took to Wordpress and penned his thoughts on ‘the devastated dreamer. wordpress.com’ and followers follow suit. “I was overwhelmed by the response. Many people could empathise with my state of life and drew inspiration from it. Soon I joined ask.fm and started advising youngsters. There are times when I am on the phone well into the night talking to teenagers who are unable to handle the pain they suffer due to neglect,” he said. LIVING MUSIC Tejas Menon is a singer-songwriter of acoustic pop rock and writer. He made fans at Bandstand Revival Mumbai, ‘Live from the Console’, Ragasthan Music Festival, the Vans New Wave Festival (Goa) and Bacardi NH7 Weekender.
Tejas Menon is an acoustic pop/rock singer-songwriter and writer
that could generate electricity from agricultural waste such as rice husk, mustard seeds or corn cob. And many farmers are its beneficiaries now. This local renewable power source provides cheaper, reliable and better quality energy to low-income households in rural India,” he said, adding that the two per cent mandatory contribution in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives under Companies Act 2013 could be used as a step towards social entrepreneurship.
“I fell in love with science fiction during childhood days when my elder brother showed me Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’. I used to imagine extraterrestrials visiting my house. I learnt playing guitar because of my school friends. We used to practice during vacations. Soon I was singing to Michael Jackson and started creating and composing music when I was 16 and wrote my first (unproduced) musical at 19. I found telling stories through music an attractive concept. Transmedia storytelling was the gradual next step. It is a form of telling a story across multiple media and preferably with audience participation,” Tejas said. The alumnus of Symbiosis Institute underlined the importance of keeping friends. “We were a group of five in school. Even after so many years we keep in touch. I was not good in studies and once in school I laid bare by frustrations before my friends. Soon, all of them shared theirs and we felt so composed after putting forth our weaknesses. We felt so exposed, so vulnerable yet strong in each other’s presence. One should nurture such a human bonding,” he said, attributing his success as music producer, video editor, singer, songwriter at the age of 25 to his strong fellowship with friends and family.
MATTERS OF THE HEART Harnidh Kaur used to hate herself as a child and went through a two-year ‘in-ashell’ mode. The budding poet could always relate herself through poems. Accord ing to her blog: I write poetry and a few mediocre short stories here and there. Harnidh Kaur Borderline sociopath, maybe. I’m wholly, irrevocably, socially awkward. I do not understand social constructs and mores. Writing has always been a ‘refuge’ from some of the horrendously taxing years of my life, both emotionally and physically. It’s been a ‘solace’ at a time when no one, literally not one single human being, could understand what I was trying to express. I put these words into inverted commas because honestly, writing was exactly the opposite. It was a cage, a trap. Since I could not escape, I embraced it, and I turned to poetry. I was ‘the’ poet, ‘the’ fat girl whose identity revolved around the fact that she was oh-so-deep. Yet, Harnidh, an LSR College
JAMES MATHEW
The first event by TEDxYouthKLN in Pune is an eye-opener for those who undermine youngsters’ creativity, ideals and courage to improve society
A small step in nation-building
Pune school students paint homes in Karjat village to provide shelter to the underpriviledged BY SALONEE MISTRY @Sal0412 Developing world is fast adapting to the global trends toward democratisation, and economic, political, and social changes. These inevitable changes form children’s understanding about civic awareness and attitudes, their participation in c om mu n it ie s , and their construction of rights and other f undamenta l democratic concepts. With the Anupama Sagdeo mission to include children in nationbuilding, Amanora School (Hadapsar) Principal Anupama Sagdeo encouraged students to join the Rupee for Change campaign in July 2015. “Participation by children is important for children themselves, for their communities, and for democratic societies at large. Participation also plays an important role in other aspects of children’s social and personality development,” she said. Soon six schools from Pune — Podar International School (Pimpri and Chinchwad), Amanora School (Hadapsar), Prodigy Public School (Wagholi), Bharati Vidyapeeth (Balewadi) and Indus International School (Mulshi) joined the movement that is the brainchild of international NGO Habitat for Humanity (HFH). The NGO aims to cover 20 city schools and 100 schools from across the country, THE CAUSE Rupee for Change is a fund raising campaign aimed at providing an opportunity for students across the country to participate in improving the society. Children attend workshops that help increase their awareness of social issues. Rajan Samuel T h r o u g h
Students who took part in Karjat village mission found it a learning experience
participation, children learn ideas and values that are not easily understood if they are merely passive learners. For example, active participation can give children valuable experience in making difficult decisions, promote a sense of mastery and control, support a developing sense of altruism, encourage a favourable school climate, Smita Patterson and set in motion a lifetime pattern of engagement in civic activity that will benefit society considerably. “The workshops revolve around the need for sanitation, poverty housing and other issues that help elevate the standard of living of the poor. Schools also hold related activities. Children’s participation in a civil society encourages the development of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. Engaging children in various family, school, and community decisions throughout their formative years helps them learn constructive ways of participating in society,” Anupama said. WORKING ON-FIELD Students of Podar International School (Pimpri) recently visited a village in
MAKING RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS “When the children were onfield it was a proud moment. The activity gave children a fi rst-hand community service experience which is a must. It is their fi rst step towards becoming a responsible citizen and better human beings. They should be a part of such initiatives more often.” ~ Smita Patterson, Principal, Podar International School, Pimpri Karjat and assisted in building houses. They also helped paint the walls and conduct a poverty survey of the area. Students also made posters revolving around the themes ‘What home means to me’, ‘Importance of Sanitation’ and ‘Cleanliness and Hygiene’. Under the fund collection drive, Amanora School has managed to raise close to Rs 3.5 lakhs in two months. SANITATION FOR ALL HFH was set up 32 years ago with the aim to improve housing and sanitation facilities across the country. “Every single penny got from this campaign is directed towards providing sanitation facility and housing to the less fortunate. Twenty-four per cent of girl child dropouts is because of lack of availability of proper sanitation,” said Rajan Samuel, Managing Director, Habitat for Humanity. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com
PUNE
With online presence as facebook. com/tejasmenon.music, soundcloud.com/ tejasmenon and youtube.com/tejasmenon, Tejas sums up his success to ‘be a good, humble person. Don’t be a pushover. Humility goes a long way and being nice is way more important’. TAP THE SOCIAL QUOTIENT Saahil Mutha, the odd one out among the speakers, is a social entrepreneur. With the help of slides, graphs and PowerPoint presentation, he showed the ‘humane’ side of business. “Our economy is still dependent on agriculture and most farmers do not have proper irrigation facilities. Major business houses could easily change the living conditions of the neighbourhood of their factories and plants,” he Saahil Mutha said. “ S h e l l Foundation assisted Bihar-based innovative startup Husk Power Systems (HPS) that developed a gasification technology
(New Delhi) graduate pursuing her Masters in Public Policy from St Xavier’s Mumbai, tells us the way to handle our demons of rejection and failure. “We should let it go. We get hurt because we allow that weakness to overwhelm us. I have realised from my experiences that such bad feelings suck our lives. Face it squarely and give birth to positivity in your life. If I can do it and so can you,” the 20-year-old said. Apart from being a debater and social media addict, Harnidh’s first book, a poetry collection, is slated for a 2016 release. CUB EFFORT The overall arrangement and smooth conduct of the event get noticed when we come to know that the organiser is a standard XI science student of Nowrosjee Wadia College (Arts and Science) on Bund Garden Road. “I have been watching TED talks on the Internet since standard VI and always wanted our community to know of all the inspiration that prevail within. While browsing through their website in January 2015, I noticed the ‘pa r t ic ipate’ tab. I learnt of the procedure to apply for a licence to organise a TEDx event. And TED xYouth@ K a lyaniNaga r Vedant Lamba happened,” said 16-yearold Vedant Lamba, who rues the fact that the city does not have a platform as prominent as TED. Vedant calls the event ‘a mission with the simple aim of inspiring the youth of Pune with the brilliance contained within it’. james.mathew@goldensparrow.com