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The Idea That Surprised Us All | Mumbai | TED Idea Search

TED45:37Added Aug 30, 2026

In Mumbai, the TED Idea Search lands in India's bustling financial and creative capital, where 10 speakers are challenged to deliver the talk of their lives and compete for a one-of-a-kind opportunity: a spot on the TED stage in Vancouver. What emerges is a moving portrait of vulnerability and ambition, as ideas about vanishing tribal art, maternal health and India's forgotten fashion history look to shift perspectives on a global scale. Only one can make it thro

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. Intro

  2. 00:02J Hind J. These batch of talks are definitely like the most creative.
  3. 00:07The human who has her own stories, her own loves, losses, victories, failures.
  4. 00:13A mother once begged me to let her four-year-old daughter die. The bar is so high. If you're anything
  5. 00:19less than perfect, it's going to be hard to be in the top. Two, three. Uhoh.
  6. 00:26We're all separated. The winner is
  7. 00:36My name is Reggie Watts and my life changed forever when I got the opportunity to speak at TED.
  8. 00:43Now TED is searching the globe for ideas that could change everything.
  9. 00:50Nine TED X events around the world. Giving a global voice to the unknown.
  10. 00:57six minutes that can inspire, motivate, and change their lives forever.
  11. 01:03But that's not all. Coached by an expert panel, one lucky speaker will be surprised with the
  12. 01:09opportunity of a lifetime. It's just so exciting. Wow.
  13. 01:17This is exactly the opportunity to reach out to millions of people. It's the biggest stage in the world.
  14. 01:22It's bigger than any dream. There were a bunch of people that were reading their scripts.
  15. 01:27Small batch lines. Um, there's a lot of work to be done. No, no content notes. Can I start again?
  16. 01:34This cannot go. It blew me away. Wow.
  17. 01:39I'm really sorry. It's so big. This is the TED idea search.

  18. Meet the Speakers

  19. 01:54The next stop on our whirlwind tour is Mumbai,
  20. 01:59home of India's financial sector, Bollywood and our next batch of hopeful
  21. 02:06speakers. My teenage self would be really really excited because while I was growing up,
  22. 02:12I used to listen to a TED talk every day with lunch. My purpose in life is to make sure that
  23. 02:19people understand that there's an extraordinary in the ordinary as well. That's my goal.
  24. 02:24After a rigorous selection process, the chosen few are ready to share their ideas with the TED team.
  25. 02:34Hello speakers. Welcome, welcome, welcome. How are y'all feeling? Amazing.
  26. 02:39Good, good, good. Well, you should be feeling great because you guys have been chosen to take the stage here in Mumbai
  27. 02:46because we believe that each one of you has something truly special to share.
  28. 02:52Honestly, when I got selected, I I couldn't believe it. I thought there was the there there's something wrong in the
  29. 02:58email. It's a real honor actually to be part of this forum. My name is Ashan
  30. 03:03Kosla. I'm a graphic designer and a type designer. The message of my talk is really to use design and technology to
  31. 03:11transform crafts that are vanishing into a new avatar like a type face or a font
  32. 03:17that you can use to celebrate that culture. This idea is really close to my
  33. 03:23heart and it's really important because India has a rich and vibrant culture but
  34. 03:28yet it's not really looked at by designers so seriously because it it's seen as traditional and handmade and
  35. 03:36design tends to be mechanized. We can bring some of that humanity and the handmade quality into the work that we
  36. 03:42do as designers. As you know, you were chosen as part of a global idea search and tomorrow
  37. 03:51the stakes are pretty high. One of you will be chosen to take the stage at
  38. 03:57TED's main conference in Vancouver.
  39. 04:02Now, this is a place where talks are seen by millions, where movements are
  40. 04:08born, perspectives are shifted, lives are changed.
  41. 04:13I was amazed and it was a surprise for me also that out of this 10 speakers one
  42. 04:20would uh go maybe it would be me. Fingers crossed. Uh I would be so
  43. 04:27excited to represent India. It'll be like following in the footsteps of my role models.
  44. 04:33Hey, I'm Sukriti or you can call me Suki. The idea that I'm sharing tomorrow um the big idea is about India's fashion
  45. 04:41history and how we deserve to be seen as a fashion superpower. It came to me when
  46. 04:46I began shopping for my wedding clothes and fell into this Alice in Wonderland
  47. 04:51like rabbit hole of uh amazing fabrics and textiles and figuring out these old
  48. 04:56hidden bazaars of India. I get to represent the power of fashion
  49. 05:02uh which is so easily kind of dismissed as a girls thing, a ladies matter. But
  50. 05:08really fashion is the story of India. I feel like I'm just a mouthpiece or a vehicle for so many many weavers and
  51. 05:15embroiderers and amazing textile artists of India. I'm getting goosebumps right now talking about it. As you give your
  52. 05:21talk, we the TED panel, myself, Kelly, and Yash Raj, we're going to be looking
  53. 05:28out for things like the strength of your idea, the power of your storytelling,
  54. 05:33your stage presence, and your delivery. You're going to have to give the talks
  55. 05:39of your lives, basically.
  56. 05:44I'm Kelly Stzzel. I'm leading the TED panel. My role at TED for the past 20
  57. 05:50years has been curation. So I've worked with thousands of speakers on the TED
  58. 05:55stage to select them, to help them develop their talks and get them ready to share them with the world. I'm so
  59. 06:02passionate about this initiative in particular because it brings up ideas that we could not have found any other
  60. 06:09way. Things that I look for are really the strength of the idea, but you then
  61. 06:14have to make it land. The delivery is how well they connect with the people in the room.
  62. 06:20My name is Kelly Shu. I run Ted's YouTube channel. So, anything that gets distributed on Ted's YouTube goes
  63. 06:27through me first. I always believe that content is king. And so, if it's a great
  64. 06:33talk and it's great delivery, it will do well. But selfishly, I'm always looking for a really concise way to like present
  65. 06:40it to people. I plan to bring my knowledge of what I think our audience
  66. 06:45enjoys. You can honestly have an amazing talk in person, but sometimes on the screen, it's like not as intriguing as
  67. 06:52it was in real life. I'm a sucker for an inspiring TED talk that just makes me
  68. 06:57feel like there's hope again. Joining them on the panel is TEDex
  69. 07:02organizer and Mumbai local Yash Akashi. India is a country of 1.6 billion
  70. 07:08people. We built Terrace Gateway as the platform for new India and shared ideas
  71. 07:14from India to the world. For the winning talk today, I'm going to be looking for someone that represents India well.
  72. 07:20Someone that changes perspective of India and someone that shares a big idea for India. It's a new world and we bring
  73. 07:28in a new perspective from our part of the world. Just make India proud. That's it. Nine
  74. 07:34countries later, I want India to be the best. So give it your best, have fun and
  75. 07:40jind jind.
  76. 07:51Stepping on to the TED Main stage really is the opportunity of a lifetime.
  77. 07:58It has hosted some of the world's most influential visionaries, leaders, and architects of the future.
  78. 08:03We have a long way to go in front of us. sharing their ideas to a room of thousands. Entrepreneurs, investors, and
  79. 08:10change makers, each waiting to be moved, provoked, and inspired. This is a moment when we have to rise to
  80. 08:18this occasion. But the power of TED doesn't end when the lights go down because the talk
  81. 08:24joins a global library of ideas watched by billions.
  82. 08:30Doors opened, media attention, book deals, and funding and support for their projects.
  83. 08:36Standing on the TED main stage is more than delivering a talk. All I want to do is show joy and hope.
  84. 08:44Your impact magnified far beyond the moment. That's what life is about. About daring
  85. 08:50greatly about being in the arena. It's a journey I've been on myself. So I know how hopeful the speakers will be
  86. 08:56for that opportunity.

  87. Rehearsals

  88. 09:06In preparation for tomorrow's main event, the panel spends time with the speakers as they rehearse their talks,
  89. 09:12giving them invaluable coaching on storytelling and delivery. Let's welcome our next speaker is Sean.
  90. 09:21Hi everyone. Today was quite scary. It was pretty intimidating and kind of took
  91. 09:27away the flow. So there was just a lot going on. Hundreds of craft traditions from tribal tattoos to embroideries are
  92. 09:35vanishing. When these art forms fade away, it's not just the designs that we
  93. 09:40lose. We lose the voices, the stories, and the memories that they hold. We're really starting to notice that
  94. 09:46each city has a totally different feel on rehearsal day. And you also start to feel the culture come out in the talks
  95. 09:53that we're seeing. These batch of talks are definitely like the most creative. I see typcraft as a
  96. 09:59bridge that connects people across the world to the beauty and vitality of
  97. 10:05South Asian crafts and tribal arts. For me, the most exciting part was just to see the different people and their ideas
  98. 10:11and talks. Balancing is like meditation for restless mind. It pulls you away from
  99. 10:17the screen and puts you in that moment. My name is Goautam Vishnau and I do the
  100. 10:22art of rock balancing which feels that it's not possible and it's gravity
  101. 10:28defying thing. It will enhance your focus, patience, stillness. You will
  102. 10:34find or experience the flow state of mind and it is like you are touching a
  103. 10:39rock which is on this earth from billions of years. People used to call me mad but whenever I see a person doing
  104. 10:46it and I'm teaching him the emotions which are come out from that person is like mindboggling.
  105. 10:53All of a sudden one firefly came and sat on my index finger and it was like book
  106. 10:59book and in that light I was able to balance it. It was so delightful. It it was so like
  107. 11:06fun like the whole time I'm smiling the whole time. As always, I'm going to be looking at which talks I think also have
  108. 11:12a life outside of the stage on YouTube. And I think this batch specifically is a
  109. 11:18really good one for that because they're all so visually appealing. All right, everybody. Let's welcome our
  110. 11:23next speaker to the stage, Siti.
  111. 11:28I have I have You're welcome. Let's practice again. Snow walking and talking. This is for everyone.
  112. 11:34The rehearsals have been good. Now you guys will catch me probably trip and fall on my face in the on the main
  113. 11:39event. But I'll I'll go out on a limb and say rehearsals have gone very well. I have only one goal today to convince
  114. 11:46one uncle that fashion not tech not engineering is India's superpower. It
  115. 11:52kind of felt like talking to family and friends and to get to show off all the beautiful fabrics. So it it was a bit of
  116. 11:58a meat cute moment. Till today excavation into ancient Egyptian tombs
  117. 12:04keeps throwing up scraps of Gujarati cloth. They were so prepared. You can
  118. 12:09see how much they have practiced. Every single person today this could
  119. 12:16have been their stage talk. We had two people who got up and tried different things with clothing. One of them was a
  120. 12:22really a poem and this like it actually it made me cry. I just really it was like the most moving thing. She said,
  121. 12:29"The world will gift you responsibilities. Don't shoulder that burden. Don't lose yourself or your dreams in the folds of the arms of
  122. 12:36others. Do not hold on to people, places, promises, things. Only depend on yourself. Do not be me." I came in with
  123. 12:43a lot of butterflies in my stomach. I don't know if they were nervous, they were excited, they were all over the place. But rehearsals have been fun.
  124. 12:49We've been getting to know each other better. And there's a lot of u buzz in the room at the moment.
  125. 12:56People know me as Peavey because nobody can pronounce my name. Too many L's, too many A's. And I'm a spoken word poet. My
  126. 13:04talk is about going back to your roots. It comes from a very personal place. It's my journey. I resisted my family. I
  127. 13:11resisted my traditions from the very get-go. I believe that the traditions is what were holding me back. Traditions is
  128. 13:17what were holding women in my family back. And I realized that traditions are simply stories that are passed down.
  129. 13:22Once I accepted those traditions into myself, I became those traditions. I learned to embrace them. I became a
  130. 13:29better version of myself. People walked out my door and I followed them right out to pick up pieces of myself to put
  131. 13:34myself back together again like Humpty Dumpty. I came back to the start line.
  132. 13:40I want to get a few more seconds to feel that. And the third time I'm with you and you run faster than me. And the
  133. 13:46fourth time I'm with you, you run faster again. So somewhere a breath or a pause
  134. 13:52just for me to feel the feedback that I've gotten is go slow right now. As you can see I speak really
  135. 13:57fast like I'm about to catch a train. I'm standing in front of the mirror constantly practicing with the tech team.
  136. 14:03This is a very impressive lineup of speakers if I do say so myself. There are some speakers where the work they do
  137. 14:09is so extraordinary. A mother once begged me to let her fouryear-old daughter die.
  138. 14:18Remy was a severely malnourished little girl. Terrified. She was completely
  139. 14:25blind. No mother should ever have to wish death upon their child.
  140. 14:32My name is Dr. Radhika Batra. I'm going to be speaking about how we cannot have
  141. 14:39healthy children unless we have healthy mothers. As a pediatrician, all around me, I see
  142. 14:46women being ignored, neglected, and just not being allowed to thrive.
  143. 14:54It's really important for me to deliver my best because I want the world to hear
  144. 15:00why it's important to protect our women. And then I saw Remy.
  145. 15:09I'm sorry. This it's not changing. No, I was a little conscious because I
  146. 15:14couldn't figure out the slides. It's the first time I'm practicing with the slides. Practice like crazy with the slides because that is in your control
  147. 15:21today. You just do not want that to be the thing that throws you. The feedback from the TEDex team is like
  148. 15:27next level. If you are stuck somewhere, they are just patient enough to listen about you and guide you.
  149. 15:33And so the type face that we uh co-created with this community um becomes like a living archive of um
  150. 15:41tribal knowledge. You really have to have that hope and excitement. If you don't, it just doesn't transfer.
  151. 15:47Today is seems like a little nervous. He can dial it up a little bit. Dial up the delivery. Dial up the energy level. This
  152. 15:54is something just because I've I'm now working with 90 speakers that I've noticed a lot of is what if I told you.
  153. 16:00You might think about how you could reframe that leg by saying you just said it. Oh, I said it today.
  154. 16:06You said what if I told you every time you type a letter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I thought we had talked about that, but I couldn't remember. I've told
  155. 16:11that to so many people. All the talks were so good and the bar
  156. 16:16is so high that I think if you're anything less than perfect, it's going to be hard to be in the top. I'm already
  157. 16:23stressed for having to make this decision.
  158. 16:30Across the city, the TEDex stage has been set, ready for our speakers to step
  159. 16:35onto the red dot for the very first time.
  160. 16:41Stepping onto the red dot for the first time was iconic. There are some, you know, moments that
  161. 16:46you see on screen your whole life, and stepping onto the red dot of Ted feels like your own little hero moment.
  162. 16:53was pretty intimidating. As a professor, we're not really used to inunciating and
  163. 17:00emoting. We talk pretty straightforwardly. If you tend to deviate from a set script
  164. 17:06in mind, sometimes you just get thrown off. So, I don't want that to happen. The first thing I noticed was the timer.
  165. 17:12My entire goal was just to not look at the timer and just focus on the talk. But then all I did was look at the timer.
  166. 17:19I just want to give it my best and I want to make the work that I do reach the dead stage.
  167. 17:24If I can go as one person representing the story of this nation, it would mean a lot to me.
  168. 17:30My chances to go to Vancor are 10 on 10th because I'm confident it will connect to everyone out there.
  169. 17:43As rehearsal day comes to a close in Mumbai, a place on the TED main stage is anyone's for the taking.
  170. 17:52Only time will tell what tomorrow will bring.
  171. 18:03We're going to do a huge yawn like you're in a cartoon.
  172. 18:09Stretch it out. Stretch it out. Ah, you got to use your whole face today. I just feel like I want to deliver my
  173. 18:16best and I don't want to disappoint myself in delivering a subpar performance and the rest is all destiny.
  174. 18:25How do I keep it spontaneous enough? How do I keep it exciting, interesting, engaging for the audience?
  175. 18:31Let's remind our bodies that they are real and let's tap our legs. Let's wake
  176. 18:36everything up. Wake everything up. I mean my hope is that people walk away and take something from it. If even one
  177. 18:43person walks away and says, "Hey, I want to like collaborate or whatever," that would be amazing. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 right foot. 1 2 3 4 5 6
  178. 18:547 8 foot. Fears and anxieties that I'll forget something really, but um you know, none
  179. 19:00of you know what I'm going to say, so it's okay. I'll just wing it maybe. My talk is quite interactive, so I hope
  180. 19:06people respond and yell things back at me. Hands in the middle, everyone. 1 2 3.
  181. 19:19Before the event begins, a ceremony takes place to honor the Hindi deity Ganesha,
  182. 19:29god of new beginnings, wisdom, and luck.
  183. 20:05The time has come. The audience is arriving at TEDex Gateway
  184. 20:11and our speakers have done all the preparation they can
  185. 20:18to be able to speak at that main stage and have that big of an audience. I I'm not even sure I can imagine what what
  186. 20:25the future after that would look like. If there's, you know, someone out there, a young uh Indian girl or boy or someone
  187. 20:32from another country who catches this story uh and follows my journey over the years, of course, that would be super
  188. 20:39special. It will make me and my country proud
  189. 20:44that something which was not seen by a lot of people and it has been seen on
  190. 20:50the world stage. I'll be very happy but I know I'll go.

  191. The Talks

  192. 20:57Please put your hands together for the DIY the cool Gotham Bash.
  193. 21:07Hey. Hey, Kelly. Mumbai. Oh my gosh. Really, really intimate room
  194. 21:14out there. Yeah. Um, good vibes all around for sure. First up, we have Gautum, our delightful
  195. 21:21rock balancer. When I first tried to balance a rock, I almost broke it and my
  196. 21:27patience also. I was going through frustration, anxiety, anger all at once.
  197. 21:33I love this way that he starts. He's such a character. I feel like he's having so much fun up there.
  198. 21:39And finally after 45 minutes, I was like, I balanced it and I literally felt
  199. 21:44like a butterfly. I was weightless. It was not the rock which got balanced, but
  200. 21:49it was me. So when you are doing rock balancing you will not think about
  201. 21:55anything. It shows you it will keep you in that complete focus and in it will
  202. 22:01force you to be in that exact moment. I mean this is one that is honing in on something so specific and kind of niche
  203. 22:07rock balancing but at the core of it is a pretty broad message. And after all
  204. 22:14that you have to just the lesson that everything in your life
  205. 22:20is just temporary. I got to admit it's a little painful to see that arch fall down. Yeah.
  206. 22:26Not only rock balancing but I have expanded the horizon from balancing a
  207. 22:31bike, balancing a spoon, balancing a chair, balancing liquid in a glass also.
  208. 22:38I have an homework for you guys. See, take a brick which has eight corners.
  209. 22:44Try to balance it on one corner. Don't leave it unless and until you balance it. And in that patience, you will find
  210. 22:52presence deeply. Listen to it and try to balance it. Thank you.
  211. 23:04Yes, Gautam. You did it. You did it. Wow.
  212. 23:10I am feeling amazing. It's like uh something has been uh loading there and
  213. 23:16it is like released now and I'm just in a amazing mood to have food now.
  214. 23:23My chances to go to Vancouver is 100 on 100. I just I love that talk so much. I mean
  215. 23:30he's an amazing character. It's a fun talk. The thing is if you if you take that all
  216. 23:36away then it's really it's a talk about mindfulness which is important. Is it
  217. 23:43new? So now we have Paulie spoken word artist. I I mean this really moved me
  218. 23:50yesterday. She told me before this talk as well that she's surprising her mom with this talk. Her mom is in the
  219. 23:56audience and didn't even know she was giving a TEDex talk. and she told her mom, "Show up at this address wearing
  220. 24:04orange." When I was just a little girl, I asked
  221. 24:11my mother, "What will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?" Here's what she
  222. 24:20said. Great opening. Her talk definitely made me cry yesterday in rehearsal and I'm
  223. 24:28hoping the same reaction happens in the room tonight. Palvi, whatever you be, don't be me. As
  224. 24:35my mother sat there on one of four chairs in the dining room table at our home, peeling an orange, I wondered if
  225. 24:43the tears in her eyes were shooting stars that she was wishing upon. And if so, what was she wishing for?
  226. 24:49She's such a great storyteller. like she is just painting this entire thing so
  227. 24:54well. I feel like people can visualize it. She said, "The world will gift you responsibilities, shower you with
  228. 25:00responsibilities. Don't shoulder that burden." She said, "Puff out your chest and stand your spine straight. Even when
  229. 25:07the world makes you feel small, you don't feel small." She said, "Don't let the world wrap you around its fingers.
  230. 25:13Don't lose yourself or your dreams in the folds of the arms of others. Don't
  231. 25:18measure your worth by what somebody else tells you. Don't hold on to people, places, promises, things. Only depend on
  232. 25:25yourself. Do not be me. And this is not an easy thing to do what
  233. 25:30she's doing right now. Like this requires so much choreography and practice. And doing it while she still
  234. 25:36has so much power and emphasis in her speech.
  235. 25:41The woman who was the entire sun in my eyes suddenly turned cloudy. And I
  236. 25:46realized that as a woman, the world paints a picture of you. And you fight your whole life to remove yourself from
  237. 25:53that frame, to remove yourself from that lie. And as with most of us, I finally
  238. 25:58realized my mother is human. Not the mother who knows where my smelly socks are. Not the mother who knows my school
  239. 26:04timetable by heart. Not the mother who knows me inside and out. But the woman,
  240. 26:09the human who has her own stories, her own loves, losses, victories, failures.
  241. 26:15This cannot as the mother of a young adult this is like the most.
  242. 26:22And that day the sari stopped becoming a symbol of a blanket soaked with tears of repression and sorrow and loss. That day
  243. 26:30the sari became strength a manuscript that each woman wears around her telling her story if the world dares to listen.
  244. 26:39Oh my god. I realized that the orange peels were
  245. 26:46not my mother looking for her misplaced hopes or dreams. My mother was removing the frame for me so that I could paint
  246. 26:52my own picture. And so that's exactly what I did. I painted my own picture. I reframed it around myself. And I
  247. 26:59understood that to be an individual, I didn't have to leave the hole behind to be a modern woman. And so I brought the
  248. 27:07traditional woman along with me. I held her hand and I let her fly with her dreams in the sky. And by the way, she's teaching us how to
  249. 27:13put on a sari at the same time. Come on. So now, my dear friends, when a
  250. 27:1915year-old girl wrapped up in her mother's old sari comes to me on the second chair of four at the dining room
  251. 27:24table in our home and asks me, "What will I be?" I'll tell her, "You, my darling, are your mother's daughter. And
  252. 27:31I am a brown girl in a sari." You've been a wonderful audience. Thank you.
  253. 27:38And yes, Paula V. The audience is loving
  254. 27:44this one. They love her. This is a talk I want to send to every person I know.
  255. 27:51You know, it's just so breathtaking and I want to send it to both my daughter and my mother.
  256. 27:57I think the talk was beautiful. I think I enjoyed the process more than anything. I believed in what I was saying. I was enjoying what I was saying
  257. 28:03and so for me it was the best thing like I'm still reeling from it. I don't know how to react to it.
  258. 28:09Her talk is mesmerizing for me. I don't know if I'm walking away from this talk
  259. 28:14necessarily learning anything new and I think that's kind of a big issue for me.
  260. 28:19Next up we have is Sean. We had a few minor tweaks for him yesterday and in rehearsals. Let's see if he's taken our
  261. 28:25advice. The way you write something can be as important as what it says.
  262. 28:31So, if I write I love you in these different ways, which one do you connect
  263. 28:36with and why? They all say the same thing, but they're saying it differently
  264. 28:42due to the design of the letters. Now, what if I tell you? Oh, he said, "What if I tell you?" It's
  265. 28:49just It's fine. It's just one of those things so many people say, "What if I told you in their TED talks?" Well, just
  266. 28:56tell us. Yeah, just tell us. Across India, hundreds of craft traditions from
  267. 29:02tattoos to embroideries are vanishing. And when these art forms disappear, it's
  268. 29:09not just the designs that we lose, but we actually lose the voices, the stories, and the memories that they
  269. 29:16hold. He was a little nervous yesterday, but he is crushing it. Mhm. Yeah. There's this confidence
  270. 29:21that's like exuding from him right now that I didn't see yesterday in rehearsal. So when I visited the beggar
  271. 29:27adiwasi community, I noticed that the women tattoo their forehead with something called the chula or the herth.
  272. 29:34It is a symbol of food on the table, but it's also a marker of tribal culture and
  273. 29:41identity. But sadly, these tattoos are no longer being practiced by the
  274. 29:46community. And so the type face or the font that we co-created with the same community
  275. 29:53becomes a living archive of tribal knowledge and it also allows them to hold on to their culture.
  276. 29:59I think this is really beautiful I guess because it's it's sort of a niche topic that may have sort of a niche audience
  277. 30:05who would love it. Does it create as much global impact as some of the other talks here? Let's see.
  278. 30:10Yeah. Next up we have Dr. Ratica. Yesterday she was really thrown by the
  279. 30:16slides. I think it was tripping her up quite a bit. So, I'm really curious to see if, you know, she can get that down
  280. 30:22and really deliver the talk she wants to deliver.
  281. 30:29A mother once begged me to let her 4-year-old daughter die.
  282. 30:34I was working as a pediatrician in a busy government hospital. Please, doctor, she said, give us some comfort,
  283. 30:42but let her die. I froze. How could any mother possibly say that? How could any
  284. 30:49mother lose hope so completely? That's wow. That is the most devastating story
  285. 30:56too that she started with. I mean, I think she has everybody with her. But the solution doesn't lie in a
  286. 31:03billion dollar technology, nor does it lie in any new genetic therapy. It lies
  287. 31:09in just two tiny drops of vitamin A. Just two drops could save a child's
  288. 31:15sight and their future. This feels like one of those talks that could be world changing if it was
  289. 31:21spread. But soon I realized it wasn't enough because this deficiency didn't
  290. 31:27just begin in childhood. It actually began much earlier in the body of a
  291. 31:32young malnourished girl. She grows up in a house where the boys
  292. 31:37eat first. She gets only the leftovers. When she attains puberty, she starts to
  293. 31:43lose blood. Month after month, she becomes anemic. Soon she becomes a mother and gives
  294. 31:50birth to a baby already starved of nutrients. This baby, born low birth
  295. 31:56weight, is now three times more likely to go blind or die before its fifth
  296. 32:02birthday. And the mother continues to suffer. She's doing really well today. She sure
  297. 32:08is. The blindness we must cure is not just in our children's eyes. It is in
  298. 32:13our collective vision of equality. If we want to end preventable blindness,
  299. 32:19we first need to end the blindness that keeps our women unseen and undernourished.
  300. 32:27I love how she's getting a mid talk applause. Yeah, this audience reaction, I think, is really fueling her, too. She's really
  301. 32:35relaxed into this talk. Mhm. I don't think she's nervous now. Let's make sure no mother ever has to
  302. 32:43beg for her child's death again. And no child ever lives or dies in the dark.
  303. 32:50Thank you.
  304. 32:57High claps. Always a good sign. The audience loved her. This was a strong
  305. 33:03talk. It's a big idea. It feels more like a talk about her work or a pitch to
  306. 33:10a pharmaceutical company or a donor versus being about an idea. I was told that some people in the audience teared
  307. 33:17up and they started crying because it was a hard-hitting talk. I'm feeling so
  308. 33:22good and so relieved that I gave a good performance and now it's over. I can breathe a little.
  309. 33:27This whole program is so good. Like, how is this whole program so good? It's so said we were going to have the hardest time deciding who goes to Vancouver.
  310. 33:35Now we have Suci. She was nearly perfect in rehearsal yesterday and there's a lot of moving
  311. 33:41parts. So, I'm really really hoping that nothing goes wrong for her on stage because I don't know how that would
  312. 33:46throw her off. Buckle up and come back in time with me to 3,500 BC ancient Egypt. We see an
  313. 33:55Egyptian pharaoh getting dressed, right? Kajal, gold crown. And then he reaches
  314. 34:00for his favorite fit from Gujarat. Colorful cloud soft cotton muslin
  315. 34:07malmal. Look at her confidence and her poise and her delivery and her energy.
  316. 34:13And here she goes with the props. So far so good. Jetting ahead though to 33 AD Jerusalem.
  317. 34:21At Jesus's burial, his body is shrouded in a super fine cotton. It's known as
  318. 34:28the shroud of Turin, but the Greek call it synindon, meaning from Cind, Hind,
  319. 34:35Hindustan. Mhm. Exhibit Bola,
  320. 34:40baby. Do you know what would happen if one of us, Riffraff, turned up in 15th
  321. 34:46century Java wearing all of this? We'd be chased by royal guards and stripped.
  322. 34:52In Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, only royalty wears poll. I could honestly do
  323. 34:58a TED talk just about this, but the Javanese guards are still in pursuit. So, let us flee across oceans and time
  324. 35:04to the wild, wild west of America. Clipclop clipclop.
  325. 35:10Well, I love the way she's making these transitions. That was so thoughtfully crafted.
  326. 35:16Mhm. Yep. The all- American cowboy bandanna was imported. Tie-dye. Gujarati kchiefs.
  327. 35:23But wait, wait, wait. What about the dangari? Where does it come from? Here
  328. 35:29in Maharashtra, the town of Dongari produces a rough and tough cotton weave.
  329. 35:34And the dangari becomes a staple in factories and military in the west. From
  330. 35:403,500 BC through the 1600s, Indian fabrics draped the globe. I'm just so
  331. 35:48impressed that she is able to pick up all these items, put them down, wrap them around her. She makes it look so
  332. 35:54easy. And I know hours of rehearsal went into this.
  333. 35:59Yes, she's doing all this without missing a single beat in her talk. You'll know the first products of the
  334. 36:06British Industrial Revolution, not cars, not weapons. Spinning jenny, power loom,
  335. 36:12jakard loom. What took Indian hands 50,000 hours can be made by British machines in 2000. For the next 250
  336. 36:20years, the Indian textile industry was ripped to shreds until this dude led a
  337. 36:25revolution. Gandhi was a legit fashionista. Y'all he championed khadi and entirely handmade
  338. 36:33fabric, spun cotton at rallies, and even put a spinning wheel at the very heart
  339. 36:38of the old Indian flag. This is like a performance, a history lesson told in like super modern language.
  340. 36:45Recently, we've come to think of Indians only as brainy, but our oldest identity
  341. 36:52is on its way back as a superpower of style.
  342. 37:00I think the audience loves they the audience is going crazy. The audience like really love this.
  343. 37:06Yeah. Feeling really good. That talk went well and the audience is super responsive. They applaud and everything.
  344. 37:13I love listening to people laugh at the right jokes. I feel like you know you know they're getting it.
  345. 37:18Do we think this talk is global? I think it's deeply global. To me it is
  346. 37:25about the way that ideas spread and and how they always have. So I think for me this talk is actually about its global
  347. 37:33nature. I think I now rate my chances a bit lower because everyone did so well.
  348. 37:38I think she is going to be right up there and we are going to have a tough decision to make. No, I want to take them all to
  349. 37:45Vancouver. They all need to be heard and seen. I predict a long discussion ahead.
  350. 37:50Mhm. With each of the talks complete, the event comes to a close, allowing the
  351. 37:57audience to reflect on the evening's ideas. I loved it. It was my first uh TED X
  352. 38:03gateway event. To find Indians doing such amazing things and contributing in ways was very very heartening for me.
  353. 38:11The best moment that happened was that stone balancing before entering into the hall. We had a hands-on experience on
  354. 38:18you know how to balance it and then having him on the stage created a kind of an emotion and that is going to last
  355. 38:25forever and etched in my memory. There was this doctor's talk where they are treating blindness and they are
  356. 38:33doing a great job. Bali was very interesting because she took the sari which is a very strong
  357. 38:40metaphor for intergenerational stereotypes of women. I loved that idea
  358. 38:45that she shared. I would say Sukriti was my favorite speaker. I have a family business of
  359. 38:50textiles and I have never been so fascinated by clothes. the way she's trying to globalize the idea of the
  360. 38:57history of India and fashion together and that niche is coming out on a global stage and I would love to see her talk
  361. 39:03and interact more about the topic. I think they showcase India in a light
  362. 39:09that normally moves away from the snakes and the charmers and you know the elephants that's such a stereotype. So
  363. 39:16let's look at India with a new set of eyes. But the decision ultimately lies with
  364. 39:21the TED panel. Wow. What do we think? Oh my gosh, everyone was so good. I

  365. Deliberation

  366. 39:30think this is our hardest idea yet. This is hard. They really kind of all
  367. 39:35blew me away. Each one of them had such a unique story. Yeah. I don't think we've ever got so many
  368. 39:40unique ideas on stage ever. Now, we're going to have to make a really a really hard decision, y'all.
  369. 39:46Okay. Is Sean, I love his talk. I think it's so unique. It's so so unique.
  370. 39:53I love a good font talk and I love how he brought in, you know, the community and tradition and the work that goes
  371. 39:59into making them. I thought it was beautiful talk. I agree. It's beautiful work. Gamuch
  372. 40:09I think he was just center point to everyone's energy, right? Just the way people are rooting for him. What a guy.
  373. 40:16What a guy. It was wonderful and a lot of fun. Poly
  374. 40:21tears. I went into the bathroom after her talk. Six women crying and wiping off their tears.
  375. 40:26Paul's words were beautiful and I do think she tapped into a universal feeling for mothers and for daughters
  376. 40:33especially too was poetry. It's such a centric talk to India but
  377. 40:39what you take away from it I think it touched everyone regardless of where you're from. And also we learned how to
  378. 40:44drapari in the fastest time ever. Yeah. Siti.
  379. 40:50Oh, I mean, yeah. And it wasn't even just a talk. It was a full performance. It was a movement. Yes. Being in India,
  380. 40:56not knowing about the garments that shaped the world, I was taken back and I was like, "Wow, we don't learn this."
  381. 41:02So, I think there is history. There is relevance to youngsters and she did it so well. She also really inspired us to think
  382. 41:09about India as the center of fashion. And this I love too because this is a
  383. 41:16total classic idea search talk. You could not have found her to give this talk through any sort of research or
  384. 41:22anything. This is an idea search talk and I absolutely it blew me away.
  385. 41:28Radica amazing work that she does, right? I mean, wow. I really love her talk because it's
  386. 41:34so tangible, you know? It's like something that's literally actionable and it can actually change the world,
  387. 41:39but it's like there's a solution rooted in it. And I think you don't get that very often.
  388. 41:45I think we've narrowed it down to three. On the count of three, and we got to all do this at the same time. Point at your
  389. 41:52choice. Okay. Ready? You ready? One, two, three.
  390. 41:58We're all separated. I knew. Wow. Okay. So, we've got a tough
  391. 42:04decision to make. Impossible decision. You can take all three of them.
  392. 42:09Mumbai's top three speakers have been chosen, but there can only be one that will make
  393. 42:16it to the TED main stage. Speakers, y'all are incredible. I mean,

  394. The Winner Is…

  395. 42:23each one of you absolutely killed it today. Y'all should all feel just so so
  396. 42:31proud about the talks you just gave. Huge congratulations to y'all. Huge well done.
  397. 42:41This is the hardest thing in the world because I want to bring every one of you everywhere I go and especially to
  398. 42:48Vancouver. But we had to choose a winner and we
  399. 42:53have the winner is
  400. 43:06Greetings.
  401. 43:22I'm feeling grateful. I'm feeling proud. It feels like an outof- body experience.
  402. 43:29I almost felt like it was someone else's name who was being called up. But I am so excited to represent India. Um, in
  403. 43:35all the work that I do about India's forgotten histories, this is what I try to bring out.
  404. 43:40Sukiti gave this talk that is like nothing we've ever seen. just feels
  405. 43:46really special and really unique. There's so much that could have gone wrong with her talk today from the
  406. 43:51choreography to her speaking, but she nailed every single moment of it and it showed because the crowd was obsessed
  407. 43:58with it. I I feel like we're leaving this as a group of friends and I hope you will
  408. 44:04trust me uh to represent India uh at Vancouver. Um, and I I hope I'll be able
  409. 44:10to take this energy that we've shared together all the way across the oceans and do it justice.
  410. 44:19Just seeing an Indian go on stage, Ted in Vancouver, I think it's a big thing for a billion people, it was a lot about
  411. 44:27someone that represents India, someone that represents a powerful idea and someone that changes perspective about
  412. 44:34India. I got to scope out this international competition, don't I? I got to see what
  413. 44:39these other countries are doing and we got to represent India out there. So, practicing hard and then seeing what the
  414. 44:45others are doing.
  415. 44:56With Secreti earning her place on the TED main stage, our time here in Mumbai comes to a close. But the TED idea
  416. 45:03search continues. Next time we're in Athens, where ancient
  417. 45:08gods once ruled the skyline and ideas changed the world forever. Are we ready?
  418. 45:13Are we ready? There were a bunch of people reading their scripts. You're going to make me cry.
  419. 45:21Can I start again? Stuff like that can really lose an audience. I had a couple of meltdowns. So much
  420. 45:26could happen in 24 hours, I guess.