***Continued from Part 1

Back after stuffing my face with only a mini samosa and and small veg sandwich, as there was time only for that. I grabbed my seat again, looking forward to the second half of Josh Talks.

Anirudh took over the host duties for the second half and invited Sijo Kuruvilla to take the stage. Sijo is the co-founder of Startup Village, a space that promotes entrepreneurship in college. Sijo shared his tale about growing up in Kerala, bunking college, playing basketball and starting a company.

The next speaker was one of my favourites of the afternoon. Revanna Umadevi is and has been a typist in the Karnataka Horticulture Department for some 35 years now. It was at the age of 29 that she discovered her love for and her skill at billiards. She started learning, practicing and playing and in 2012 Revanna won the World Billiards Championship.

Revanna is a quiet simple woman, whose humility was the most moving thing for me in her talk. Vineeth Vincent who came to speak aftercare was anything but that. Vineeth is a beatboxer, that’s a person with the art of producing drumbeats, rhythm and musical sounds with the mouth and voice.

Vineeth was another speaker that is not heard but experienced. A chirpy smiling full of energy guy, he takes your breath away. He started his talk with teaching how to beatbox, beginning with the simple stuff. He then followed it up with examples of what he does and his growing up years. Vineeth didn’t seem like he had struggled much to achieve his dream but then again, maybe there’s more to that smile.

Madan Padaki took the stage after and told us about his childhood, his first company MeritTrac, his learnings and experiences and his journey to Rubanomics. His current project that aims to bridge the gap between Rural and Urban.

Madan was followed by Shradha Sharma of Your Story. Shards reminisced about when she was in 3rd standard. Her teacher had told her she was not good enough and that set her off to keep proving herself. That incident made her believe everyone had a story, a story that makes them stronger people, and it was this inspiration that was behind Your Story.

The event wound down with the last speaker Niranjan Mukundan. Niranjan was born with a rare medical condition – Spina bifida. He was lucky in that the condition did not affect his mental faculties, only his body. He was told to swim by his doctors to strengthen his body, his mother took him to Jayanagar Swimming Club and the rest is history. Niranjan is now a many time state and national champion and one of India’s hopes in the next para-olympics.

The event closed with a vote of thanks and the entire team of volunteers took to the stage to be acknowledged. The team had done an awesome job, the event had been organised well and it ran on time without many glitches.

The brain child of two 20 year olds, Shobhit Banga and Supriya Paul, Josh Talks amazed me. I hadn’t gone with very many expectations but I certainly hadn’t expected this. The event far exceeded my expectations. 😀

An event that aims to showcase India’s Most Inspiring Stories, Josh Talks delivers on it’s promise.
Their speakers were gems, simple people from around us but yet local unsung heroes. Listening to ordinary people who had done extraordinary things and their tales about their struggles leaves you feeling inspired, filled with an urge to get out there and do your thing.

Still a relatively new idea, this was just the third edition of #JoshTalks. But that doesn’t faze Shobhit and Supriya who have plans of doing a lot more events across India before the end of this year. I wish them luck and look forward to attending future Josh Talks.

Please visit the Josh Talks website for more details on events and speakers.
 

Photo Credit: Chenthil Mohan

 
P.S. – Day Six of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge.

This morning as we walked the dogs, Che & I got talking, and out of the blue came the plan for me to accompany Che to a shoot he was doing in the afternoon. I’m super glad I said yes when he asked, for what followed was something else.

When I walked in tailing Che into the venue at ITC Fortune I didn’t know a thing about Josh Talks. I just walked around looking at the setup, taking a few customary pictures to say ‘I was there’, you know, it’s that social media thing we do. 😛

Then I met an old friend Umesh (we’ve worked together over 10 years ago!) and he gave me a little background. I got to know that this was a series of motivational speeches. He was inspired by the idea and was hence volunteering.

He told me a little bit about the speakers. There is a typist in the line up he said, but he added mysteriously, she isn’t just a typist, she is also a World Billiard Champion. I smiled and arched an eyebrow saying ‘and…’ He continued on to tell me about a paralympian and world travelled musician.

With that teaser I settled in and was happily surprised to find Vasanthi Hariprakash take the stage. Vasanthi is a dear friend and an excellent host. The afternoon was already looking better.

Before launching into the speakers list Vasanthi did quick introduction of herself, Josh talks and the minds behind Josh Talks. When we had walked in, we met quite a few people, but two people made a indelible impression. And it was a surprise to realise that two kids I met thinking ‘volunteer’ in my head were actually the brains behind Josh Talks. Supriya and Shobit, were such a pleasant surprise.

That set the tone for an afternoon filled with positivity, dreams, inner strength, and incredible spirit. There were 12 speakers and they were a varied set, ranging all the way from a typist to a Beatboxer.

The evening started with Tushar Vashisht sharing his story of how from an investment banker he become an Indian below the poverty line to understand what it really meant to be poor in India. His experiences and insight led him to start the Healthify Me project.

The next surprise of my evening was Shreena Thakore, who is a part of No Country For Women, a campaign that intents to change the attitude of India. I’ve posted about NCFW sometime back, and I think Shreena and Ria are doing awesome stuff, so you know why I was so excited. 😀

After Tushar and Shreena’s presentations, Malathi took stage. She wheeled in, adjusted the mike and launched into words. Malathi Krishnamurthy talked about her childhood, being paralysed neck down at the age of 1 due to polio, 33 surgeries in an attempt of correct her disability, and finding herself in it all.

The 389 time Wheel Chair Racing champion talked about being a bank manager, an activist and a para-athlete, and about Mathru, a foundation she started for disabled children. Today the shelter has over 16 children.

Shishir Belvi, the programme coordinator at GoSports then came on stage and introduced us to the organisation. Shishir did a good job but I’d have liked to have heard the story from Nandan Kamath, one of the founders of Go Sports.

And then came Benny. Benny Prasad isn’t a person, he is an experience. Constantly smiling Benny shared his story about his difficult childhood. His misdiagnosed asthma, the very many injections he took, the loss of 60% of his lungs, his depression and giving up.

Then there was the voice of Jesus that saved him. Benny today is the world record holder for travelling across 245 countries (that’s all the countries in the world) in 6 years 6 months and 22 days. Benny has 14 books in his passport and is also the only owner and player of the Harp/Bongo Guitar. A Guitar that has 2 Bongos, a 14 String Harp and 6 strings.

The last speaker of the first half Akkai Padmashali took my breath away with her story about struggling to just be. Akkai was born with a penis and she never felt like a boy. She got told off a lot for not conforming, for not being how a boy should be. The struggle led her be a sex worker for 4 years.

Out of all of this Akkai emerged, a stronger person for her struggles, a person actively fighting and working for the rights of transgenders, a person her family takes pride in and a woman who looks the world in the eye confidently and smiles.

In the coffee break I went about meeting the speakers. It was wonderful to shake hands with Shreena, give Akkai a big hug, get more words of wisdom from Malathi and a receive a warm handshake from Benny.

***Continued – Part 2
 

Photo Credit: Chenthil Mohan

 
P.S. – Day Five of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge.