[Music]
in case you’re wondering that is
supposed to be me I wonder if I look a
little heavier or lighter than that we
need to have a word with whoever drew
this you know they say problems create
creative geniuses if there was no
darkness
maybe Edison wouldn’t have invented the
lightbulb and if there wasn’t a need to
communicate long distance maybe Graham
Bell would not have had the opportunity
to discover the phone invent the phone
and maybe we did not have the problems
we have in our area we may not have
given BT srida the opportunity to bring
out the internal cartoonist in him take
a look at this unless you lived here in
the area you would not appreciate the
humor in this and here he depicts a
drama queen who’s been brought the war
to lake she’s an actress she was
promised a trip to Switzerland anybody
that is aware of were to lake or Belen
thoroughly understands the forum
situation and how it looks like snow in
the background he also takes potshots at
ministers who say that potholes in
Bangalore are not the reason for so many
accidents it is in fact the citizens
themselves that are driving pretty badly
but jokes aside this is really worth
Orlick and that is really toxic foam and
these are real pictures that we’ve taken
and we take them often in fact that form
got into somebody’s eye and they nearly
lost their eye they had to have six
surgeries and now he has a minimal sight
there and that is a case we know and
there are numerous such cases that we
don’t know anything about garbage
everyday affair open drains
another everyday affair here’s an
interesting thing on the right hand side
you see this sticking out of a
transformer pole that actually is it
would come up to this height for me and
a younger child it could probably
decapitate their head because that is
straight on the footpath directly in the
way of a pedestrian it’s an interesting
picture isn’t it and a most common one
for many of you over here Road is dug up
that poor lady is already in crutches
maybe because of an accident that has
been caused by the road in the first
place she can’t walk on the footpath
because foot paths are not pedestrian
friendly really and now she can’t walk
on the side of the road either because
somebody has dug the road and gone away
without fixing the road with impunity
but that was still better than this
you see there are still people here
thousands living on roads like this
where there is no road there is no tower
this actually depicts traffic here in
the white field area sometimes it has
taken us three hours to do six
kilometres this is the reality
there is a reason the TEDx here has been
held on a Sunday and all this actually
results in a huge amount of air
pollution these are this is a real
reading this is not Delhi this is
Bangalore and if you think what’s
happening in Delhi is not going to come
to Bangalore it is imminent these are
real pictures that we have ourselves
taken what is going on what is happening
to us in a country we produce all kinds
of geniuses I mean we have Nobel Prize
winners
we gave the world Gandhiji and the idea
of non-violence we fought for years
before we got our freedom all those
people that died more than 70 years ago
all of those people that are protecting
this country and are
out on the borders serving us all how
would they feel and how must they be
feeling as they see this is what has
happened to India are we indifferent
could it be that we are actually
indifferent you know
this tree is an example of a tree that
triggered me I was going by this tree
often and its limbs were regularly being
cut it was at a time about five years
ago where there was news across
Bangalore that trees were just being cut
overnight many of you may remember this
was around 80 para Koramangala areas and
I was watching a tree just like this
this is not the actual tree I was
watching a tree just like this every day
as I went by it was steadily been cut
and suddenly it occurred to me was I
indifferent so I actually googled the
term indifference and what I found
changed my life there’s an amazing
speech that all of you must read it’s by
Elie Weisel
who was a Jewish Holocaust survivor he
said one thing he said it was actually
better in relative comparison to have
experienced what he did in the
concentration camps was his coming out
and finding out that people were
indifferent because you see the whole
time he was suffering in those
concentration camps he felt that if only
somebody knew it could not be possible
that they would leave me lying over here
they would see our children dying no way
people care it’s because they don’t know
and then he came out he was finally
liberated he was delighted to see the
anger in the eyes of those that
liberated him and and those that was
still surviving but he came out and he
eventually found out that people knew
and still no action was taken was I
indifferent to a problem I know there’s
a problem
and I’m not acting
on it but then I realized I am NOT
indifferent and Elie Weisel was wrong
people are not indifferent people care
but what they are is they are indignant
I was indignant
I felt the government needs to be
resolving this why am i the citizens
supposed to be doing all this I was an
acceptance this is India this is what
you get I was definitely in ignorance I
didn’t even know how the system worked I
had no idea who to call if something was
to be resolved I didn’t even know if I
called some effect would happen
it’s definitely lacking initiative I was
busy with my life I was definitely in
fear people would say you know why are
you going up to this tree if you do
something you know there will be kun
does that will come up to you and there
was a general feeling of helplessness I
am alone what can I do but then if I am
alone and I can’t do anything that Who
am I reading for to come and resolve
this whose responsibility was it going
to be to come and solve these problems
would it be a guy like this I mean he
barely has the ability to have two
square meals a day
for himself and his family and am i
waiting for somebody like him that forms
a large percentage of the population of
India to be coming and solving the
problem that I saw looked around and I
found that I was the only one in the
circle I knew that hadn’t yet made a
change that hadn’t yet begun an
initiative this lady many of you may
recognize her name is Manju Meera for
years now she simply woke up became part
of this traffic warden organization that
is run by Bangalore traffic police
officially and she’s been on the roads
every single day just doing her work
volunteering this is Tarun another
neighbor that number 600
remember that huge number of kids from
the area who were school dropouts who
may have gotten into drugs into alcohol
or simply been deemed worthless by their
families or society he encourages them
to come to a class and he helps them
graduate in six months where people
teach him teach all those children
during the six months things like time
management ethics computers English
self-respect confidence and they come
out like shining stars
that’s the notes before he joined the
program and this is him today
actually giving his finals for his
Chartered Accountancy exam that is
Samantha she’s actually here in the
audience long before I even woke up to
my lack of initiative she and a team of
70 volunteers had already been working
in six government schools teaching over
2,500 kids they were teaching English
but they were teaching beyond English
they actually demonstrated that they
cared and anytime there was a need or a
problem they would reach out to the
extended community for support but these
other types of individual stars this guy
suddenly got the inspiration that he has
the technical expertise to help out
people who were stressed out when the
government suddenly decided that if your
house was on a storm water drain then it
was deemed an encroachment remember that
they were given approvals in the first
place by the government but the
government suddenly woke up and said it
would be an encroachment and they would
simply come at the bulldozer and
bulldoze it down so what he did use
technology created a website and all you
had to do was log in to that website not
even log in just go there put your
address in and it to tell you if your
house was on a storm water drain or not
because you see the records from the
government it was very hard to pull that
out and actually visit a local office to
pick that up and see if your house was
encroaching or not so many people could
sleep for weeks because of his effort so
all this gave us the idea that you don’t
actually have to engage in grand heroic
actions
to participate in the process of change
small acts when multiplied where
millions of people can transform the
world but the key word here is
multiplied you see shift our own man Joe
and Samantha we’re doing brilliant
things on their own but on their own
without amplification the impact was
going to be just that small and local we
hooked around and said oh my god there’s
already other groups that are doing
amazing things the ugly Indians they
can’t be anybody in Bangalore that
hasn’t heard of them they simply go and
transform places with new band camp
cello attitude there’s a league that’s
been rejuvenated right around us there’s
groups that have been valiantly fighting
for better rail systems here looked
around and said man there’s people doing
good stuff maybe just maybe we could do
that too the solution wasn’t bringing it
all together that’s it that was the
birth of Whitefield rising few people
came together initially about 50 people
and said you know what all these
solutions that exist out there
let’s figure out if we can divide it
amongst ourselves let’s go learn if we
can take it from somebody else who’s
already figured it out great if not
we’ll figure it out bring it all
together and see we can be one platform
from which all these amazing ideas can
be implemented for impact didn’t matter
that we were a very small group then
just literally 1% or less if you took a
sample size of any area maybe somebody
who was working for you you know what I
don’t really want all this and she
readily says I’ll take it all and she
actually has no use for it we said what
if we found use for every item that we
didn’t want and kept it within the local
area so to enterprises started one is an
existing one called Cornish a which is a
hospice and it’s a second store where
you can give things and they resell it
for really small amounts the other is
restore so we sent this walking stick
for someone in need and here he is using
it similarly
you can rent instead of by and these are
all initiatives from geniuses amongst us
so the learning was if we really took it
far
there was a heck of a lot of things we
could do but for true impact we really
needed all of us to be doing this the
bigger learning was the government could
be persuaded and look at the balance
guys the people are currently on the
left and not in control when the
government is the one in control and why
is that because only a few people are
demanding that change and if we all
demanded that change this is what could
happen because who is the government the
government is who we actually elect so
if we at an individual level bring some
change
segregation motor drive not paying a
bribe there is some impact if we can do
it at our apartment complex level you
saw that 1500 people not generating any
garbage isn’t that amazing but you see
at a neighborhood level is where the
change truly starts impacting can you
imagine if what Nellore Harley rising
did if every area took on these
initiatives of their own doesn’t take
much does it
other people have figured it out all you
have to do is spend a little bit of time
and if we did that the impact is
automatically at the world level at the
constituency level and the city level
that is the magic so change is possible
and the model is leverage all solutions
and create more naturally risings and
they are emerging look at this ECC Road
blue brookfield Riyadh residents through
Pirelli extension VP Arad spawned on
avert arising all in different degrees
of maturity and they are going to change
they are going to change our ward they
are going to change our constituency and
thus they will change our city how does
it all happen is it just that you come
together and it all works out do you
think you could be an rwa right RWS have
already existed why our rwa is not as
successful because there is a special
secret ingredient all these four are
actually here in the room today but this
is what makes it work
and this is the essence of why so far we
have been successful first is we joke
you have to be named hand certified you
have to be crazy you have to take
responsibility because we have people
coming up to us and saying Whitefield
rising why haven’t you fixed my road I’m
supposed to come fix your road no the
model is about you figuring out how you
fix your road and we take a learning
from you back in turn for our own road
there’s no personal gender none of them
has a business to sell to this network
to none of them is part of a political
party they build credibility because
they’re hands-on they do work themselves
they do a little they do a lot
no one cares how much they do is how
much they are able to contribute either
because of their capability or their
time or whatever else watch that ego you
see five years in when you’ve achieved
all this suddenly you walk with a
swagger nobody likes that and unless you
have fun you have teamwork nobody wants
to work with you and if you can’t work
in a group it’s not going to work no
Bray’s you have to be a follower
sometimes many of these people will
simply follow when someone else is
leading but many of us are also leaders
they take charge and readily get
followers because of who they are
they’re often in the background there’s
no hierarchy can you believe it this is
not an organization this is a movement
there is no one person leading this
movement because every person needs to
lead themselves it’s a model that we all
follow a most important they’re
unassuming no compromise
ethics inclusive humble stay nonpartisan
it is simple
so are you rising can you rise all you
have to do is go to this website where a
lot of the problems that we have solved
have been documented you can log in
create your own identity your identity
this is our identity called Whitefield
rising make your own you can be that
change because if we are trying to get
here unless there is an amplification a
few people will continue to toil many of
us will continue this no matter what the
impact is because that is what we want
to do as I said we are selfish not
selfless we enjoy doing this thank you
[Applause]
in case you’re wondering that is
supposed to be me I wonder if I look a
little heavier or lighter than that we
need to have a word with whoever drew
this you know they say problems create
creative geniuses if there was no
darkness
maybe Edison wouldn’t have invented the
lightbulb and if there wasn’t a need to
communicate long distance maybe Graham
Bell would not have had the opportunity
to discover the phone invent the phone
and maybe we did not have the problems
we have in our area we may not have
given BT srida the opportunity to bring
out the internal cartoonist in him take
a look at this unless you lived here in
the area you would not appreciate the
humor in this and here he depicts a
drama queen who’s been brought the war
to lake she’s an actress she was
promised a trip to Switzerland anybody
that is aware of were to lake or Belen
thoroughly understands the forum
situation and how it looks like snow in
the background he also takes potshots at
ministers who say that potholes in
Bangalore are not the reason for so many
accidents it is in fact the citizens
themselves that are driving pretty badly
but jokes aside this is really worth
Orlick and that is really toxic foam and
these are real pictures that we’ve taken
and we take them often in fact that form
got into somebody’s eye and they nearly
lost their eye they had to have six
surgeries and now he has a minimal sight
there and that is a case we know and
there are numerous such cases that we
don’t know anything about garbage
everyday affair open drains
another everyday affair here’s an
interesting thing on the right hand side
you see this sticking out of a
transformer pole that actually is it
would come up to this height for me and
a younger child it could probably
decapitate their head because that is
straight on the footpath directly in the
way of a pedestrian it’s an interesting
picture isn’t it and a most common one
for many of you over here Road is dug up
that poor lady is already in crutches
maybe because of an accident that has
been caused by the road in the first
place she can’t walk on the footpath
because foot paths are not pedestrian
friendly really and now she can’t walk
on the side of the road either because
somebody has dug the road and gone away
without fixing the road with impunity
but that was still better than this
you see there are still people here
thousands living on roads like this
where there is no road there is no tower
this actually depicts traffic here in
the white field area sometimes it has
taken us three hours to do six
kilometres this is the reality
there is a reason the TEDx here has been
held on a Sunday and all this actually
results in a huge amount of air
pollution these are this is a real
reading this is not Delhi this is
Bangalore and if you think what’s
happening in Delhi is not going to come
to Bangalore it is imminent these are
real pictures that we have ourselves
taken what is going on what is happening
to us in a country we produce all kinds
of geniuses I mean we have Nobel Prize
winners
we gave the world Gandhiji and the idea
of non-violence we fought for years
before we got our freedom all those
people that died more than 70 years ago
all of those people that are protecting
this country and are
out on the borders serving us all how
would they feel and how must they be
feeling as they see this is what has
happened to India are we indifferent
could it be that we are actually
indifferent you know
this tree is an example of a tree that
triggered me I was going by this tree
often and its limbs were regularly being
cut it was at a time about five years
ago where there was news across
Bangalore that trees were just being cut
overnight many of you may remember this
was around 80 para Koramangala areas and
I was watching a tree just like this
this is not the actual tree I was
watching a tree just like this every day
as I went by it was steadily been cut
and suddenly it occurred to me was I
indifferent so I actually googled the
term indifference and what I found
changed my life there’s an amazing
speech that all of you must read it’s by
Elie Weisel
who was a Jewish Holocaust survivor he
said one thing he said it was actually
better in relative comparison to have
experienced what he did in the
concentration camps was his coming out
and finding out that people were
indifferent because you see the whole
time he was suffering in those
concentration camps he felt that if only
somebody knew it could not be possible
that they would leave me lying over here
they would see our children dying no way
people care it’s because they don’t know
and then he came out he was finally
liberated he was delighted to see the
anger in the eyes of those that
liberated him and and those that was
still surviving but he came out and he
eventually found out that people knew
and still no action was taken was I
indifferent to a problem I know there’s
a problem
and I’m not acting
on it but then I realized I am NOT
indifferent and Elie Weisel was wrong
people are not indifferent people care
but what they are is they are indignant
I was indignant
I felt the government needs to be
resolving this why am i the citizens
supposed to be doing all this I was an
acceptance this is India this is what
you get I was definitely in ignorance I
didn’t even know how the system worked I
had no idea who to call if something was
to be resolved I didn’t even know if I
called some effect would happen
it’s definitely lacking initiative I was
busy with my life I was definitely in
fear people would say you know why are
you going up to this tree if you do
something you know there will be kun
does that will come up to you and there
was a general feeling of helplessness I
am alone what can I do but then if I am
alone and I can’t do anything that Who
am I reading for to come and resolve
this whose responsibility was it going
to be to come and solve these problems
would it be a guy like this I mean he
barely has the ability to have two
square meals a day
for himself and his family and am i
waiting for somebody like him that forms
a large percentage of the population of
India to be coming and solving the
problem that I saw looked around and I
found that I was the only one in the
circle I knew that hadn’t yet made a
change that hadn’t yet begun an
initiative this lady many of you may
recognize her name is Manju Meera for
years now she simply woke up became part
of this traffic warden organization that
is run by Bangalore traffic police
officially and she’s been on the roads
every single day just doing her work
volunteering this is Tarun another
neighbor that number 600
remember that huge number of kids from
the area who were school dropouts who
may have gotten into drugs into alcohol
or simply been deemed worthless by their
families or society he encourages them
to come to a class and he helps them
graduate in six months where people
teach him teach all those children
during the six months things like time
management ethics computers English
self-respect confidence and they come
out like shining stars
that’s the notes before he joined the
program and this is him today
actually giving his finals for his
Chartered Accountancy exam that is
Samantha she’s actually here in the
audience long before I even woke up to
my lack of initiative she and a team of
70 volunteers had already been working
in six government schools teaching over
2,500 kids they were teaching English
but they were teaching beyond English
they actually demonstrated that they
cared and anytime there was a need or a
problem they would reach out to the
extended community for support but these
other types of individual stars this guy
suddenly got the inspiration that he has
the technical expertise to help out
people who were stressed out when the
government suddenly decided that if your
house was on a storm water drain then it
was deemed an encroachment remember that
they were given approvals in the first
place by the government but the
government suddenly woke up and said it
would be an encroachment and they would
simply come at the bulldozer and
bulldoze it down so what he did use
technology created a website and all you
had to do was log in to that website not
even log in just go there put your
address in and it to tell you if your
house was on a storm water drain or not
because you see the records from the
government it was very hard to pull that
out and actually visit a local office to
pick that up and see if your house was
encroaching or not so many people could
sleep for weeks because of his effort so
all this gave us the idea that you don’t
actually have to engage in grand heroic
actions
to participate in the process of change
small acts when multiplied where
millions of people can transform the
world but the key word here is
multiplied you see shift our own man Joe
and Samantha we’re doing brilliant
things on their own but on their own
without amplification the impact was
going to be just that small and local we
hooked around and said oh my god there’s
already other groups that are doing
amazing things the ugly Indians they
can’t be anybody in Bangalore that
hasn’t heard of them they simply go and
transform places with new band camp
cello attitude there’s a league that’s
been rejuvenated right around us there’s
groups that have been valiantly fighting
for better rail systems here looked
around and said man there’s people doing
good stuff maybe just maybe we could do
that too the solution wasn’t bringing it
all together that’s it that was the
birth of Whitefield rising few people
came together initially about 50 people
and said you know what all these
solutions that exist out there
let’s figure out if we can divide it
amongst ourselves let’s go learn if we
can take it from somebody else who’s
already figured it out great if not
we’ll figure it out bring it all
together and see we can be one platform
from which all these amazing ideas can
be implemented for impact didn’t matter
that we were a very small group then
just literally 1% or less if you took a
sample size of any area maybe somebody
who was working for you you know what I
don’t really want all this and she
readily says I’ll take it all and she
actually has no use for it we said what
if we found use for every item that we
didn’t want and kept it within the local
area so to enterprises started one is an
existing one called Cornish a which is a
hospice and it’s a second store where
you can give things and they resell it
for really small amounts the other is
restore so we sent this walking stick
for someone in need and here he is using
it similarly
you can rent instead of by and these are
all initiatives from geniuses amongst us
so the learning was if we really took it
far
there was a heck of a lot of things we
could do but for true impact we really
needed all of us to be doing this the
bigger learning was the government could
be persuaded and look at the balance
guys the people are currently on the
left and not in control when the
government is the one in control and why
is that because only a few people are
demanding that change and if we all
demanded that change this is what could
happen because who is the government the
government is who we actually elect so
if we at an individual level bring some
change
segregation motor drive not paying a
bribe there is some impact if we can do
it at our apartment complex level you
saw that 1500 people not generating any
garbage isn’t that amazing but you see
at a neighborhood level is where the
change truly starts impacting can you
imagine if what Nellore Harley rising
did if every area took on these
initiatives of their own doesn’t take
much does it
other people have figured it out all you
have to do is spend a little bit of time
and if we did that the impact is
automatically at the world level at the
constituency level and the city level
that is the magic so change is possible
and the model is leverage all solutions
and create more naturally risings and
they are emerging look at this ECC Road
blue brookfield Riyadh residents through
Pirelli extension VP Arad spawned on
avert arising all in different degrees
of maturity and they are going to change
they are going to change our ward they
are going to change our constituency and
thus they will change our city how does
it all happen is it just that you come
together and it all works out do you
think you could be an rwa right RWS have
already existed why our rwa is not as
successful because there is a special
secret ingredient all these four are
actually here in the room today but this
is what makes it work
and this is the essence of why so far we
have been successful first is we joke
you have to be named hand certified you
have to be crazy you have to take
responsibility because we have people
coming up to us and saying Whitefield
rising why haven’t you fixed my road I’m
supposed to come fix your road no the
model is about you figuring out how you
fix your road and we take a learning
from you back in turn for our own road
there’s no personal gender none of them
has a business to sell to this network
to none of them is part of a political
party they build credibility because
they’re hands-on they do work themselves
they do a little they do a lot
no one cares how much they do is how
much they are able to contribute either
because of their capability or their
time or whatever else watch that ego you
see five years in when you’ve achieved
all this suddenly you walk with a
swagger nobody likes that and unless you
have fun you have teamwork nobody wants
to work with you and if you can’t work
in a group it’s not going to work no
Bray’s you have to be a follower
sometimes many of these people will
simply follow when someone else is
leading but many of us are also leaders
they take charge and readily get
followers because of who they are
they’re often in the background there’s
no hierarchy can you believe it this is
not an organization this is a movement
there is no one person leading this
movement because every person needs to
lead themselves it’s a model that we all
follow a most important they’re
unassuming no compromise
ethics inclusive humble stay nonpartisan
it is simple
so are you rising can you rise all you
have to do is go to this website where a
lot of the problems that we have solved
have been documented you can log in
create your own identity your identity
this is our identity called Whitefield
rising make your own you can be that
change because if we are trying to get
here unless there is an amplification a
few people will continue to toil many of
us will continue this no matter what the
impact is because that is what we want
to do as I said we are selfish not
selfless we enjoy doing this thank you
[Applause]
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