[Music]
how are you oh my god it’s not a class
of karaoke la allakum assalaam but yes
like but I change production D I feel
like you guys are looking up to me now
but yes my name is Raja Chaudhary and I
am here because father hoon was busy I
don’t really feel qualified to speak at
a TED talk but the organizers couldn’t
get hold of Hulu but who is known for
breaking barriers so I am here so anyway
I’m going to present before you my
analysis of the show Breaking Bad no I’m
just kidding I have three perspectives
on breaking barriers and I would like to
talk about them but yes please watch
Breaking Bad is one hell of the show
anyway my first perspective on breaking
barriers is when it comes to your career
let me give you some context I am a
comedian most of you if any of you know
actually who I am probably know me in
that context but as the host mentioned I
am also an engineer and you might think
Eric comedian engineer a weird
combination he is much like shalwar
kameez and joker
but yeah so I really this year in May I
graduated from the University of Florida
with a master’s degree in aerospace
engineering and I took courses with
taunting names like advanced
computational fluid dynamics and
convective heat transfer these courses
were not funny
and I was very happy there and I
graduated with the C GPA of 3.7 in
contrast I specialized the vendor when
we is phonetic in contrast I did my
undergrad in mechanical engineering from
peonies in dust and I was very unhappy
there I received the scholarship on
admission to NASA but ended up
graduating with a GPA of 2.8 and with
broken spirits contempt for my teachers
and no interest in engineering
whatsoever so I don’t say these things
to France my achievement or invite
sympathy I say these who put some
context but what I am going to tell you
guys and that is GPA does not matter as
much as you think it does he gets the it
is far more important to develop your
skills holistically as a person there is
no point to having a 4.0 GPA and being
unable to talk to your interviewer or
your friends or your lovers for example
but having said that having a higher GPA
certainly opens more doors
then a low one does so that is my first
point the second one is throughout of my
time at NASA I was continuously told by
my teachers that you cannot be an
engineer and a comedian at the same time
you must stick to one path and and it
doesn’t bother me that my teachers did
not believe in me because I was able to
accomplish what I wanted to regardless
what bothers me is that my classmates
and other people who could have done
well with being encouraged their dreams
and aspirations were squashed so I
personally feel that people don’t say
these things out of a place of malice
they don’t disbelieve in you out of
malicious intentions it is usually a
projection of their own limitations
so surround yourself with the people who
anywho surround yourself with the people
who enable your asportation and you will
soar as high as the media students
right now so that is one thing and
finally upon the first perspective never
takes the easy way out
I personally observe this pattern in my
journey thus far after graduating I had
a very nice corporate job and by very
nice corporate job I mean it paid really
well but I quit that and then I took up
comedy full-time for two years and it
was going really well after which I put
that on hold and went abroad for grad
school and instead of staying back and
doing another very nice corporate job
the Intolerable Casa I came back and
started doing this instead and I’m not
saying there’s anything wrong and doing
a corporate job is perfectly all right
to graduate put yourself through the
system and rise up rise up the ladder
but you will not break any barriers if
you stick to the easiest path that is my
opinion you are not going to break any
barriers if you are another cog in the
economic machine so to speak that is my
first point of view on breaking barriers
number two is breaking barriers when it
comes to art and science we grew up
thinking that art and science are two
distinct things with little or no
overlap and in I have been privileged to
dabble in both Arts and Sciences and I
firmly believe that an artist can
benefit as much from an appreciation of
scientific structures as a scientist can
with an appreciation of the Arts because
thing about it is it really natural to
separate arts from science does that
make sense to you and the answer to that
is no it is not you can turn to nature
and think just look at a waterfall for
example it looks beautiful it is
inspirational for many artists it is a
piece of art within itself and yet the
same thing you can apply them a bunch of
equations and describe the fluid
behavior exactly a spider does not know
the complexity of the web it weaves and
yet it is both visually and
mathematically sound so separation of
the Arts and Sciences in my opinion
unnatural and and I think especially in
our society
where we grow up and we are told a
engineer but that doctor bundai lawyer
but my accountant one night nobody ever
says no bassy parent has ever said if
it’s a body ok for medium when job dr.
kemar iran sigma nobody ever says that
and why is that is it that there is only
a bunch of professions which will make
you successful no it is not like that at
all
back in 2011 when i started doing comedy
there was a book and full of comedians
and even fewer shows since then I’ve
done hundreds of shows across Pakistan
in a few other countries as well and my
improv troupe lalala we’ve done over 100
shows in various cities across Pakistan
and back in 2015 we started this amateur
comedy thing which has blossomed into
what is it over a hundred people in the
comedy community now and if you if you
do follow comedy you’ll see that there
are many many shows every weekend now so
we went from having literally a bunch of
shows once in a year to having multiple
shows on a weekend that is that is this
progress and five years ago nobody would
have thought this possible but here we
are and the meteoric rise in stand-up
comedy and improv especially in Karachi
club the exact thing
and my final perspective on breaking
barriers is breaking barriers using
comedy you might have heard this ain’t
it when when you make somebody laugh you
give up yourselves currently do that
basically system Islamia work ok you can
make anybody like you if you make them
laugh and this is most evident in
late-night shows like for example if you
watch late-night with our sorry last
week tonight with steep and John Oliver
that is what it is even locally if you
follow the work of generic terms that is
what it is using humor to talk about
taboo things tackling uncomfortable
subjects which people are not normally
normally comfortable talking about
so that is the power of humor and a lot
of people have asked me over the past
few years of comedian Engineering a
casual rhythm and my region is it’s not
it’s not common but but at least I feel
very passionately about this is the
engineering is inherently a very dry
subject and if I am able to use my
comedy talents to teach engineering in a
more relatable more engaging palatable
way then I think I can do a service
through the students in this country
instead of because when we are students
everybody holds us accountable nobody
holds the teachers accountable for
actually being good or being an
entertaining or engaging soo-ji Jumeirah
a commission had last year around this
time I was performing at a Diwali event
in in America in front of about 400
Indians and I ended my set with this
slide that the average Pakistani has no
reason to hate India you gave us Sania
Mirza and only focus on Sameer
that video has since been viewed over a
million times and the comments were full
of Pakistanis and Indians talking about
peace and understanding their similar
similarities so that is the power of
humor that you that is humanized me a
Pakistani in front of 400 Indians most
of whom had not even met a Pakistani in
their lives and as we often hear with
with power comes responsibility and that
brings me to my final thought on the
matter that we should use comedy or
humor responsibly all of us frank jokes
and I have realized we as comedians
maybe have a larger responsibility
because we talk to a larger audience but
the point is that our words have impact
our words matter the words we use they
matter for example if you take pusher me
know best annoyed a bit
it’s from the perspective what principle
of a comedian I believe that I
absolutely everything and anything
should be and can be joked about but if
I wanted to talk about this thing it is
okay if I for example joked about
shamino bad layup now Oscar piggledy
aerospike said bond ADEA duel Zika for
example both Korea’s okay many calm
little bit but that is one way to joke
about it but it is not okay to joke
about harassment because when we joke
about something it loses power when we
talk about something it fibulas the
matter and and invite to the best of my
knowledge one example is the klu klux
klan in america it’s one of the oldest
or maybe largest white supremacist
groups and they’re basically a bunch of
racist and what happened was one man he
infiltrated their ranks learnt all their
secrets and told everybody to the point
where kids on the streets were playing
with KKK costumes and just having a good
time so that that little thing about
making light of their whole agenda that
led to the downfall of the KKK so
basically just to reiterate the point
when we joke about something it loses
power and therefore when we joke about
something like harassment it trivializes
it and that is not OK because the men in
women in our in our lives
they have experienced it and it is not
okay for us to trivialize or make light
of their plight that is all and I would
leave you I would like to leave you all
with one final thought
please watch Breaking Bad it is good
thank you all so much
how are you oh my god it’s not a class
of karaoke la allakum assalaam but yes
like but I change production D I feel
like you guys are looking up to me now
but yes my name is Raja Chaudhary and I
am here because father hoon was busy I
don’t really feel qualified to speak at
a TED talk but the organizers couldn’t
get hold of Hulu but who is known for
breaking barriers so I am here so anyway
I’m going to present before you my
analysis of the show Breaking Bad no I’m
just kidding I have three perspectives
on breaking barriers and I would like to
talk about them but yes please watch
Breaking Bad is one hell of the show
anyway my first perspective on breaking
barriers is when it comes to your career
let me give you some context I am a
comedian most of you if any of you know
actually who I am probably know me in
that context but as the host mentioned I
am also an engineer and you might think
Eric comedian engineer a weird
combination he is much like shalwar
kameez and joker
but yeah so I really this year in May I
graduated from the University of Florida
with a master’s degree in aerospace
engineering and I took courses with
taunting names like advanced
computational fluid dynamics and
convective heat transfer these courses
were not funny
and I was very happy there and I
graduated with the C GPA of 3.7 in
contrast I specialized the vendor when
we is phonetic in contrast I did my
undergrad in mechanical engineering from
peonies in dust and I was very unhappy
there I received the scholarship on
admission to NASA but ended up
graduating with a GPA of 2.8 and with
broken spirits contempt for my teachers
and no interest in engineering
whatsoever so I don’t say these things
to France my achievement or invite
sympathy I say these who put some
context but what I am going to tell you
guys and that is GPA does not matter as
much as you think it does he gets the it
is far more important to develop your
skills holistically as a person there is
no point to having a 4.0 GPA and being
unable to talk to your interviewer or
your friends or your lovers for example
but having said that having a higher GPA
certainly opens more doors
then a low one does so that is my first
point the second one is throughout of my
time at NASA I was continuously told by
my teachers that you cannot be an
engineer and a comedian at the same time
you must stick to one path and and it
doesn’t bother me that my teachers did
not believe in me because I was able to
accomplish what I wanted to regardless
what bothers me is that my classmates
and other people who could have done
well with being encouraged their dreams
and aspirations were squashed so I
personally feel that people don’t say
these things out of a place of malice
they don’t disbelieve in you out of
malicious intentions it is usually a
projection of their own limitations
so surround yourself with the people who
anywho surround yourself with the people
who enable your asportation and you will
soar as high as the media students
right now so that is one thing and
finally upon the first perspective never
takes the easy way out
I personally observe this pattern in my
journey thus far after graduating I had
a very nice corporate job and by very
nice corporate job I mean it paid really
well but I quit that and then I took up
comedy full-time for two years and it
was going really well after which I put
that on hold and went abroad for grad
school and instead of staying back and
doing another very nice corporate job
the Intolerable Casa I came back and
started doing this instead and I’m not
saying there’s anything wrong and doing
a corporate job is perfectly all right
to graduate put yourself through the
system and rise up rise up the ladder
but you will not break any barriers if
you stick to the easiest path that is my
opinion you are not going to break any
barriers if you are another cog in the
economic machine so to speak that is my
first point of view on breaking barriers
number two is breaking barriers when it
comes to art and science we grew up
thinking that art and science are two
distinct things with little or no
overlap and in I have been privileged to
dabble in both Arts and Sciences and I
firmly believe that an artist can
benefit as much from an appreciation of
scientific structures as a scientist can
with an appreciation of the Arts because
thing about it is it really natural to
separate arts from science does that
make sense to you and the answer to that
is no it is not you can turn to nature
and think just look at a waterfall for
example it looks beautiful it is
inspirational for many artists it is a
piece of art within itself and yet the
same thing you can apply them a bunch of
equations and describe the fluid
behavior exactly a spider does not know
the complexity of the web it weaves and
yet it is both visually and
mathematically sound so separation of
the Arts and Sciences in my opinion
unnatural and and I think especially in
our society
where we grow up and we are told a
engineer but that doctor bundai lawyer
but my accountant one night nobody ever
says no bassy parent has ever said if
it’s a body ok for medium when job dr.
kemar iran sigma nobody ever says that
and why is that is it that there is only
a bunch of professions which will make
you successful no it is not like that at
all
back in 2011 when i started doing comedy
there was a book and full of comedians
and even fewer shows since then I’ve
done hundreds of shows across Pakistan
in a few other countries as well and my
improv troupe lalala we’ve done over 100
shows in various cities across Pakistan
and back in 2015 we started this amateur
comedy thing which has blossomed into
what is it over a hundred people in the
comedy community now and if you if you
do follow comedy you’ll see that there
are many many shows every weekend now so
we went from having literally a bunch of
shows once in a year to having multiple
shows on a weekend that is that is this
progress and five years ago nobody would
have thought this possible but here we
are and the meteoric rise in stand-up
comedy and improv especially in Karachi
club the exact thing
and my final perspective on breaking
barriers is breaking barriers using
comedy you might have heard this ain’t
it when when you make somebody laugh you
give up yourselves currently do that
basically system Islamia work ok you can
make anybody like you if you make them
laugh and this is most evident in
late-night shows like for example if you
watch late-night with our sorry last
week tonight with steep and John Oliver
that is what it is even locally if you
follow the work of generic terms that is
what it is using humor to talk about
taboo things tackling uncomfortable
subjects which people are not normally
normally comfortable talking about
so that is the power of humor and a lot
of people have asked me over the past
few years of comedian Engineering a
casual rhythm and my region is it’s not
it’s not common but but at least I feel
very passionately about this is the
engineering is inherently a very dry
subject and if I am able to use my
comedy talents to teach engineering in a
more relatable more engaging palatable
way then I think I can do a service
through the students in this country
instead of because when we are students
everybody holds us accountable nobody
holds the teachers accountable for
actually being good or being an
entertaining or engaging soo-ji Jumeirah
a commission had last year around this
time I was performing at a Diwali event
in in America in front of about 400
Indians and I ended my set with this
slide that the average Pakistani has no
reason to hate India you gave us Sania
Mirza and only focus on Sameer
that video has since been viewed over a
million times and the comments were full
of Pakistanis and Indians talking about
peace and understanding their similar
similarities so that is the power of
humor that you that is humanized me a
Pakistani in front of 400 Indians most
of whom had not even met a Pakistani in
their lives and as we often hear with
with power comes responsibility and that
brings me to my final thought on the
matter that we should use comedy or
humor responsibly all of us frank jokes
and I have realized we as comedians
maybe have a larger responsibility
because we talk to a larger audience but
the point is that our words have impact
our words matter the words we use they
matter for example if you take pusher me
know best annoyed a bit
it’s from the perspective what principle
of a comedian I believe that I
absolutely everything and anything
should be and can be joked about but if
I wanted to talk about this thing it is
okay if I for example joked about
shamino bad layup now Oscar piggledy
aerospike said bond ADEA duel Zika for
example both Korea’s okay many calm
little bit but that is one way to joke
about it but it is not okay to joke
about harassment because when we joke
about something it loses power when we
talk about something it fibulas the
matter and and invite to the best of my
knowledge one example is the klu klux
klan in america it’s one of the oldest
or maybe largest white supremacist
groups and they’re basically a bunch of
racist and what happened was one man he
infiltrated their ranks learnt all their
secrets and told everybody to the point
where kids on the streets were playing
with KKK costumes and just having a good
time so that that little thing about
making light of their whole agenda that
led to the downfall of the KKK so
basically just to reiterate the point
when we joke about something it loses
power and therefore when we joke about
something like harassment it trivializes
it and that is not OK because the men in
women in our in our lives
they have experienced it and it is not
okay for us to trivialize or make light
of their plight that is all and I would
leave you I would like to leave you all
with one final thought
please watch Breaking Bad it is good
thank you all so much
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