Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Lakshmi Pratury on letter-writing

Once, Lakshmi Pratury says, she was deeply troubled by the public lives of young people on the Internet, but now she has hope — because the same kids who post their party pics online are also posting their political outrage.

Her talk turns to a sad and shocking recent event: the gang-rape and torture of an Indian woman on a bus in New Delhi and her eventual death in Singapore. The public was outraged, and it quickly turned into an international online movement to raise awareness against sexual violence. For the first time in India, Pratury says, people were using the Internet to galvanize a political response. Pratury launched a forum called Billionaires of Moments to help the woman’s memory live on, and to keep an archive of similar moments of tragedy that need to be remembered. Her wish is that someday, along with the Fortune 500, there will be a list of 100 Billionaires of moments.

Here, the speakers who appeared in this session. Click on their name to read a recap:

Ben Affleck, straight off his Argo Oscar victory, introduced the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste.

Diana Reiss studies cognition in animals and the evolution of intelligence. She and her colleagues demonstrated that bottlenose dolphins (and Asian elephants) can recognize themselves in the mirror.

Musician Peter Gabriel is the co-founder of WITNESS, which distributes digital cameras to empower people to document human-rights abuses. A founder of the band Genesis, Gabriel is now a solo artist and record mogul, championing world music and innovation.

As Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, Neil Gershenfeld explores the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds.

Computer scientist Vint Cerf helped lay the foundations for the internet as we know it.

Beijing-based artist Liu Bolin silently comments on modern sociopolitical conditions by dissolving into his art.

Lakshmi Pratury is the host of The INK Conference and was the co-host of TEDIndia in 2009. She talks about her new website, Billionaires of Moments.

Eleanor Longden overcame her misdiagnosis of schizophrenia to earn a master’s in psychology and demonstrate that the voices in her head were “a sane reaction to insane circumstances.”

Born in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee left for China in 1997. Now living in South Korea, she has become an activist for fellow refugees.

Shane Koyczan makes spoken-word poetry and music. His poem “To This Day” is a powerful story of bullying and survival, illustrated by animators from around the world.

More Lakshmi video: At yesterday’s announcement of the TEDIndia speaker lineup, she gave this short commentary to the Financial Chronicle on how she put together the lineup of speakers for the TEDIndia conference, happening this November in Mysore. The interview comes via the Financial Chronicle’s website mydigitalfc.com. Lakshmi explains that it takes a village to find the best speakers for TED >>

From the same site, TEDIndia speaker Harsha Bogle, the cricket commentator, talks about his plans for the conference >>

Read the TEDIndia speaker lineup >>

Find out more about TEDIndia >>

TEDIndia co-host Lakshmi Pratury at TEDGlobal, July 2009. Today in India, she announced the speaker line-up for November’s upcoming TEDIndia conference.

Today, the TEDIndia team unveiled 40 speakers and performers for TEDIndia, to be held in Mysore, November 4-7, 2009 — the first TED event ever in India.

Speakers range from artist A. Balasubramaniam to Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com … from social entrepreneur Kavita Ramdas to dictionary innovator Erin McKean … from a Sesame Street star to Shashi Tharoor, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs … an inspirational and unusual mix of people from diverse disciplines. Doctor and researcher Hans Rosling will share surprising data on international health; the founder of Aveda, Horst Rechelbacher, will talk about his new life as an ecopreneur; and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik will talk about the surprising link between mythology and business. They’ll be part of a fast-paced, highly curated three-day stage program featuring TED’s famous 18-minute talks, plus music, comedy, dance, short talks, video interludes and other surprises.

And because the theme of TEDIndia is “The Future Beckons,” the event will welcome many young minds with stimulating ideas. Among the new voices from India and around the world will be Ryan Lobo, photographer and documentary filmmaker; Pranav Mistry, of the MIT Media Lab, the genius behind the blockbuster SixthSense demo; and Mukul Deora, the rapper and producer. Additionally, 100 TEDIndia Fellows will be announced next week.

See the full list of speakers and performers below. Even more speakers and special guests will be announced closer to the conference.

Register for TEDIndia >>

Download the TEDIndia speaker line-up announcement >>

Watch the TEDIndia preview video >>

TEDIndia speakers:
Anand Mahindra, managing director, Mahindra and Mahindra
Anil Gupta, from IIM Ahmedabad, the founder of the Honeybee Network
Anupam Mishra, expert on water harvesting
A. Balasubramaniam, artist
Banny Banerjee, architect
C.K. Prahalad, management and innovation guru
Charles Anderson, marine biologist
Devdutt Pattanaik, mythologist
Erin McKean, editor of the new online dictionary Wordnik
Eve Ensler, playwright and activist
Hans Rosling, medical researcher and data wizard
Harsha Bogle, cricket commentator
Horst Rechelbacher, founder of Aveda and Intelligent Nutrients
Jib Ellison, sustainability expert
Kamal Haasan, film actor and director
Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of Global Fund for Women
Mallika Sarabhai, social entrepreneur and performer
Matthew Spacie, founder, Magic Bus
Pawan Sinha, MIT vision researcher and head of Project Prakash
Pranav Mistry, MIT grad student and inventor of SixthSense
R.A. Mashelkar, business and innovation guru
Robert Thurman, Buddhist scholar
Romulus Whitaker, herpetologist
Ryan Lobo, photographer and documentary filmmaker
Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, yogi and founder of Isha Foundation
Sashwati Banerjee of “Sesame Street”
Sendhil Mullainathan, economist
Shamsul Wares, architect
Shashi Tharoor, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs
Shekhar Kapur, film director and producer
Shukla Bose, founder, Parikrama Humanity Foundation
Sunitha Krishnan, activist against human trafficking
Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com

Performers:
Ananda Shankar Jayant, dancer
Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil GuruCharan, classical musicians
Dan Nainan, comedian
Mukul Deora, rapper and producer
Sidi Goma, African Sufi dance troupe
Usha Uthup, legendary singer

Photo credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson

Photo: Lakshmi Pratury speaks about the upcoming TEDIndia conference at TEDGlobal in 2009. Oxford, UK, July 21-24, 2009. Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidson

TEDIndia director Lakshmi Pratury took the TEDGlobal 2009 stage to give a glimpse of what is on offer for the TEDIndia conference, which is only months away.

The conference, whose theme is “The Future Beckons,” comes at a time when, increasingly, India, China and the rest of Asia are making their presence felt globally in new technologies, design brilliance and countless instances of cultural and economic innovation.

As an attendee, you’ll enjoy a delicious cultural experience as the context of four days of jaw-dropping TED magic.

Registration for the one-of-a-kind TEDIndia Conference this November 4-7 in Mysore, India is now open.

Register now >>

Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism — and the power of passionate thinkers and doers:

The former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, talks about one key opportunity to grow African economies — by investing in women and the businesses they start:

(For more, watch Jacqueline Novogratz >>)

Scientist Nalini Nadkarni explores the world of the forest canopy — and shares her findings with the world below, through dance, art and bold partnerships. She’s working to inspire the next generation of women scientists:

The wonderful Nellie McKay sings “Mother of Pearl” (with the immortal first line “Feminists don’t have a sense of humor”) and “If I Had You” from her sparkling set at TED2008:

Find these four and many more astonishing women (including the legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, oceanographers Sylvia Earle and Tierney Thys, games theorist Brenda Laurel, Zipcar inventor Robin Chase … ) on TED.com >>

Watch Lakshmi Pratury’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

Read more about Lakshmi Pratury on TED.com.

“In most Indian states, when someone turns 60, they renew their wedding vows. (…) If India is turning 60, who would it renew its vows with and what would each party say?”

She starts by quoting India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, the eve of the independence: “at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.” Then she proceeds to analyze the wows in the context of “the cause of humanity”, discussing the destinies of the traditional elite (kings and princes), the middle class, the business conglomerate and tech elite (winners), and the poor, about which she says: “India has not delivered what it promised to them, but they delivered the spirit of India better than any other strata of society”.

“India is in a good place today. The world is watching us and the only hindrance to India becoming a super power is India itself. (…) It is only our humility of our capabilities and a dedication to preserving our culture that can catapult India into true leadership (…) while embracing the entrepreneurial and risk taking values of the west. It is my dream that the largest democracy, India and the richest democracy, U.S can work together to create a new democracy of ideas that can change the world we live in for a better tomorrow and this is my toast to the bride and the groom as they renew their vows on the 60th birthday”.

Read her full post.