By: Saadia Bakhtawar

TEDx was back in town with yet another bang ‘TEDx MazarEQuaid’, which took place at The W Training and Networking Centre this Sunday 17^th July, 2011. First of all I would like to congratulate, Asadullah Khalid and his dedicated team for their hard work. An event worth attending was only possible due to their hard work since its inception to its final execution. Before I describe the excellence of the event through my words, firstly I would like to give you all a brief introduction about TEDx – what it is and how it works. TEDxLive is an extension of the TEDx program, launched by TED in 2010. TEDxLive events are TEDx events built around the live webcast of TED Conferences. TEDxLive events enable TED enthusiasts all over the world to experience live sessions of the TED Conference; events can be simple viewing events, and may also host live speakers.

More than one-fifty people registered for this event, however only seventy of them were selected to attend. After the introduction by Nazia Rehman, all together six videos clips from live TEDx were shown to the participants.

The first video captivated everyone’s attention because of the topic discussed in it. The topic was ‘Lie Detector’ by Pamela Meyer, she discussed how one can find out if the other person is speaking the truth or lying to hide something. She also said that it’s not our words rather our posture, eyes, breathing rates, fidgets, and a host of other indicators which help us whether the person is lying or not.

The second video was related to the field of psychology presented by Alison Gopniks who was a child development psychologist. She spoke about how ‘babies’ who, from a very tender age start to comprehend things around them.

 

Another video showed Robin Ince a comedian by profession and running his own radio show the ‘Uncaged Monkeys’ in which he has been trying to answer very basic questions, ‘Is rational thought funny? And is comedy scientific? He has brought in a new perspective towards comedy and that is its relationship with science.

Computer viruses and hacking are so prevalent in this era that in order to protect our computers we all have installed different antivirus. Mikko Hypponen a cyber security expert has leaded his team through some of the largest computer virus outbreaks in the history.

Extremism is another issue with which we all our linked very closely and when someone talks about it we are all keen to hear out very clearly. So was the case when Maajid Nawaz an anti-extremism activist started talking (in the video); though he himself was part of the one of the extremist’s party Hibz ut-Tahrir.

The party’s aims were to hijack Islam for political purposes and that its aims were dangerously similar to the aims of fascism. After going through an imprisonment Nawaz is now working as an anti-extremism activist and in 2009 founded Khudi, a counter-extremism social movement working to promote a democratic culture in Pakistan.  He has also co-founded Quilliam in UK, the foundation engages in “counter-Islamist thought-generating” – looking for new narratives of citizenship, identity and belonging in a globalized world. He also said: “I can now say that the more I learnt about Islam the more tolerant I became”.

We all admire art so it is of any form and Joe Castillo – sand artists, proved that art has no boundaries yet another time. Drawing with his finger through a screen of sand, Joe makes fluid lines that cohere into characters that become stories. For me personally watching Joe was very much thrilling it grabbed all my attention throughout. For even a split of session I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen and so was the case with everyone in that room. As if we all were glued to the screen it was such an inspirational work of art.

The live sessions in the end, by Talha Iqbal and Zain Goplani brought in the energy into the participants. However, they didn’t took much of our time but whatever they had they proved that they are best at doing their jobs. Talha in his very casual tone and body movements made us all realize one important which somehow we all have forgotten and that is of living with what we have. His activity was based on ‘Breathing.’ He said: “Whatever we do we can’t stop breathing therefore we shouldn’t even stop trying harder and harder. Breathing is important; therefore we need to breathe our hard works into our lives to keep it moving.”

Zain on the other hand, also had a mature thought process and determination. He shared his story of reaching the position he was today. It was not easy for him; he had to fight not only his family but also the society – a struggle worth inspiration. One of his statements, which is still intact in my mind is “Main karoga!” and yes he is still doing it.

A three hour event of remembrance; excitement and inspiration came to an end by thanking first of all the speakers; the management team and lastly the participants for making the event a success.