Theme: Imagined Realities

TEDxDharamshala will bring together our region’s most innovative, inspiring and creative minds representing all facets of life and culture of India including businessmen, educators, artists, homemakers, activists, doctors, lawyers, students, futurists, and every person that is interested in broadening his/her mind.
We aim to bring influential individuals and powerful speakers to share a stage in the hills and inspire attendees from all around the world by their ideas, talks and stories.

Dharamshala Auditorium
Police Line, Jawahar Nagar
Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, 176215
India

Indraja Saroha

Sexuality Advocate

Indraja Saroha is a sex positivity activist and blogger. She is the creator of Liberating Sexuality, a Youtube channel and online community that aims to promote discourse on taboo topics, mental health, and sexuality related issues, through videos, art, writing etc.

Mridul Surbhi

Social Worker

Mridul Surbhi has been associated with the Secular Ethics Program in collaboration with the Dalai Lama Trust and Tong-Len for the past 4 years. Presently she divides her time between independent Sociological research focusing on Himalayas and as a resource person for Secular Ethics programs and initiatives.

Nidhi Trivedi

Poetess

Nidhi Trivedi is the founder of Gulzariyat. A platform for budding poets and writers to showcase their talent. She is a part-time dentist and a full-time poet. Nidhi has also been extremely active during the India Against Corruption campaign and continues to be the voice of multiple issues troubling our country.

Niranjani Iyer

Founder d.r.i.f.t

Niranjani Iyer is the artistic director of The Pocket Company and founder of the community-run Dharamshala Residential and International Festival for Theatre (d.r.i.f.t). She studied theatre, and trained and worked in Paris for 13 years before shifting base to India. She lives and works out of Dharamshala/Delhi/Paris.

Pranav Manpuria

CEO of Flux Auto

Pranav Manpuria is the Founder & CEO of Flux Auto, a company building autonomous vehicle technology for trucks. His goal is to bring autonomous vehicles and their benefits to roadways around the world. Currently, Flux Auto is the only autonomous vehicle company to successfully run their vehicle in real time road and traffic scenarios in India.

Pranav Rawat

Mountaineer

Pranav Rawat is a farmer, mountaineer and explorer from Himachal Pradesh. He is one of the first to introduce the sport of ice climbing in India and is well known for popularising independent exploration in the Indian Himalayas.In August of 2018 Pranav traversed the Western Himalayas, linking a 950km trail on foot, under 47 days and without external support.

Somesh Goyal

Director General of Prisons in Himachal Pradesh

Somesh Goyal is the Director General of Prisons in Himachal Pradesh and has worked with the Black Cats (National Security Guard). He has been awarded President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services along with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award for Innovation in Governance in 2018. He is also an avid photographer and has written 10 books.

Swati Seth

Social Entrepreneur, & Founder of The Color Caravan

Swati Seth is a Social Entrepreneur, & Founder of The Color Caravan. She started The Wool Folk Project toempower the women through upskilling, capacity building & livelihood creation. The project has around 33 women working on skills like hand crocheting, handknitting, hand spinning, weaving, sewing & embroidery to earn their living.

Tenzin Mariko

Dancer/Makeup-artist (First Tibetan transgender woman)

Tenzin Mariko, an aspiring makeup artist, and dancer is the first ever Tibetan transgender woman to come out in public. Mariko renounced monkhood in 2014 and publically came out as a transgender woman in 2015 at Miss Tibet competition in Dharamshala.

Tenzin Tselha

National Director of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)

Tenzin Tselha is the National Director of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) Organisation. Started with a small a network of activists in Dharamshala and now has over 650 chapters in more than 35 countries, SFT aims to empower and train youth as leaders in the worldwide movement for social justice and campaigns for Tibet’s right to political freedom.

Vaibhav Chaturvedi

Musician

Vaibhav Chaturvedi is a percussionist who can play over 20 instruments most of which are rare. Famous for his street music and busking skills, he also hosts and organises the biggest Drum circles in Delhi NCR. A finance professional on sheets, Vaibhav has been practicing, performing and teaching music for the last 4 years.

Varun Rattan Singh

Entrepreneur

Varun Rattan Singh is the founder of Development Logics, a technology company headquartered in Dharamshala In last 7 years he has created more than 100 jobs in this sleepy town in sectors which haven’t been heard of in this region.