I was invited to speak at TEDxKinnaird, the first university-style TEDx event held at Kinnaird College in February 2010, themed Believe in Tomorrow.
There’s no video, but here are the slides and transcript of my talk that should have been titled “19, free and ambitious”.
About 2500 years ago, Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, said something that still holds true today. He said:
“Nothing endures but change.” (Slide)
As an individual, you will realize how your world is constantly changing. Over time, your goals change. Your prospects change. Your preferences change. Your abilities change. Now, see yourself as one out of 6 billion plus people in the world. Like you, their “world” is changing too.
In short, we live in a “changing” world. A world that has been changing since millions of years; a world that is changing as I speak; and a world that will continue to change.
Right now, most of you would be thinking.
Why should we think about change? (Slide)
Well, in this changing world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for an individual to stand out and live a healthy, happy life. Couple that with the fact that we’re living in a developing country with a highly corrupt bureaucracy, a discriminatory educational system, poor economic conditions, and you have a recipe for disaster.
However, if I was to ask you: “Would you rather work for change, or just complain?”
What would you say? Would this be your response?
(Cartoon Slide)
Don’t worry; I’m not here to take you on a guilt trip. Instead, I’m going to run you through some initiatives that I’ve been involved with and show you how it’s not difficult to make a difference. It’s actually possible!
(Why study English? – Slide)
The first project deals with answering this simple question: Why study English?
(CARE – Why study English? – Slide)
These are students of City District Government Girls High School at Qot Lakshman Singh in Lahore. They are part of a two-year English Language development program run by an NGO for students of ages 14-20 in which they’re taught English from scratch. But, even though they’re learning English as a language, they’re not taught how to “use” English as a tool to learn about other stuff like science or culture. On my first visit to one of the schools, a 16 years old girl asked me: “Why should I study English? My parents say I will forget Urdu.” That is exactly what we addressed. Around 50 of our volunteers went to these schools every weekend for about 3 months and talked to them, in English, about issues like the political deadlock, Pakistan cricket team’s downfall and discussed the latest fashion trends.
The goal of this project wasn’t just to teach these students how to use English. These visits also exposed our volunteers, students from private schools and colleges, to that side of the world. A small step towards changing how “we” look at “them” and vice versa.
Next: What happens when you’re 19, free and ambitious? (Slide)
In July 2007, I had just gotten done with my freshman year at LUMS. I was almost 19, had time and wanted to do something. I dragged some friends along and went to talk to an instructor. He gave us a few random ideas and sent us off, expecting us never to return. Two weeks later, we had done the initial implementation of one of the ideas and were back asking for more. Once again, he put more on our plate and sent us off. A few weeks later, we were back again, hungry for more.
What started off as a summer project that even we didn’t take seriously (at first), has turned out to become…
chOpaal.pk (Slide)
Pakistan’s Largest SMS Social Network with almost a million users from Gwadar to Kashmir sending more than 8 million messages a month. A free group SMS service that thousands of people use everyday to interact with their friends, family and colleagues. A platform that makes it very easy to look for blood donors, allows event organizers to keep their attendees updated and lets small retailers run highly effective advertising campaigns for as little as 100rs. A technology startup owned and run by college students. Who said only Stanford or MIT students were cool?
We hope our endeavour will encourage others to ditch the conventional “dream” of working at an MNC and, instead, do their own thing. We’re actually very lucky to be in Pakistan. There’s so much to be done.
Lastly, I’m going to tell you about a new project that’s set to launch in a few days. It’s called… Let’s Paint Lahore! (Slide)
The idea is to remove wall chalking and make use of these public walls across the city to display our art, culture, history and traditions and to promote our heroes and leaders.
The first wall has already been done. Have a look:
(Let’s Paint Lahore! – Slide 1)
This wall is at Hussain Chowk, a very busy roundabout of Lahore. Now, it looks like…
(Let’s Paint Lahore! – Slide 2)
This! Isn’t that beautiful? There are 70 such walls in Gulberg Town and there are 9 towns in Lahore. Do the math. That translates to more than 600 reasons to bring people out of their homes and let them enjoy painting their neighborhood. What could be more fun?
Again, the idea behind this campaign is not just to paint walls, but also to change people’s perception of their city and their environment. A small step towards bringing people together.
Winston Churchill said:
“There’s nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” (Slide)
In this changing world, we need to realize that the world won’t stop for anyone. We need to be open to change and be ready to face new challenges.
As the clock ticks, we cannot take a back seat, be followers and watch the world change. Instead, we must step forward, take on grand challenges, and lead the change.
This is our country and this is our world. We should be the ones shaping its future.
Thank you!