Theme: An Obstacle or a Stepping Stone

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Auditorium, The Heritage School
994, Chowbaga Rd, Anandapur, East Kolkata Township
Kolkata, West Bengal, 700107
India

Abhinandan Saha

Student

A student of The Heritage School, Kolkata, Abhinandan is a whiz at robotics. After offering to design an app for The Heritage School to recycle food waste at the age of twelve - he embarked upon various other scientific endeavours and hasn’t looked back since. He placed first in the selection test for becoming a part of the Asia-Pacific Forum for Science in Taipei where he represented our country. He takes a keen interest in photography, having participated in the INTACH competition 3 times. Abhinandan enjoys Maths and Computer Science, hoping to conduct research in these subjects in the future

Ankur Chaturvedi

Associate Vice President- Emami

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Ankur Chaturvedi remains a soldier at heart despite losing the career of his dreams due to an injury. Despite being denied his dream and losing his will to live, Ankur morphed himself into a corporate professional. He holds an MBA from ICFAI in addition to being an Alumni of the MDP of IIM Ahmedabad. He is a trained auditor, and a certified assessor for Tata Business Excellence Model and Indian Manufacturing Excellence Award. Alongside pursuing a Doctorate in Management, he passionately espouses various environmental and social issues. The cause of Officer Cadets being disabled in training is closest to his heart: he supports them to overcome trauma and leads their fight for justice on various forums.

Anubhav Jain

Sports Presenter

Anubhav Jain graduated as an industrial engineer from Georgia Tech with the highest honour. He had a highly rewarding job at the New York City headquarters of Goldman Sachs, where he worked as an investment banker. However, Anubhav decided to move back to India in 2018 to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a sports presenter. After many months with little luck, he had his big break when ESPN Cricinfo appointed him to work as a junior presenter for the 2019 cricket world cup. He then served as the Lead Presenter at Singapore headquartered 1 Play Sports before moving on to become a Presenter for Star Sports and IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.

Dr. Chandrashish Chakraborty

Intensive Care Specialist

Dr Chandrashish after his graduation from Calcutta Medical College and post-graduation from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, moved to the USA for further studies in Critical Care Medicine. He also did his MRCP and EDIC from the UK. Currently working as a senior ICU consultant in Kolkata, his other interests are oil painting, wildlife photography and mythology. He has written multiple health-related articles in newspapers and has many research articles published in peer-reviewed journals. He is also a teacher and faculty in post-doctoral courses and international conferences.

Dr. Debaroti Chakraborty

Assistant Professor in the Department of Performing Arts

Dr. Debaroti Chakraborty is an assistant Professor in the Department of Performing Arts, Presidency University, India. Her doctoral work broadly studies narratives of women in India and Latin America through a comparative perspective in the context of borders. She has been touring and working in collaboration with artist-researchers and communities in India and North America. She has been an instructor at the ‘Bodies at the Borders’ collaborative course between Cornell University and Jadavpur University, where she teaches Latin American Literature as a guest lecturer. She also writes as a performance critic with the Telegraph. As a researcher, artist and performance thinker, she focuses on making cross-cultural and inter-cultural performances based on lived experiences, narratives and oral history

Shashank Agarwal

Environmental Euntreprenuer

Shashank Agarwal is passionate about hydroponics, renewable energy and ecology. An alumnus of The Heritage School, Kolkata, he is known well and loved dearly for his keen interest in the environment and the uniquely candid ways in which he thinks about environmental issues. He has devoted his life to protecting India’s fragile wilderness. Shashank has worked tirelessly to come up with innovative solutions through which we can, directly and indirectly, save our natural heritage and encourage others to shift away from exploitation - to practices of conservation and protection. He strives to continue providing solutions to our current natural plights.