On April 30th, 2023, the seventh edition of TEDxMAHE kicked off with the MCH Hall opening its doors to welcome speakers and attendees alike, eager to gain wisdom and learn something new. The day was especially important as it was MAHE’s Founder’s Day and Dr. T.M.A. Pai’s birthday. Eager to hear distinguished speakers across different walks of life, the audience listened with rapt attention to the wisdom they had to share.

The first speaker was Major Pawan Kumar, a soldier with the Indian Army’s Jat Regiment and Shaurya Chakra awardee. He detailed his journey, about how he came from a small village in Rajasthan and went on to serve as a Major with the Indian Army. He hoped to inspire the next generation and teach them important lessons about agility, bravery, and perseverance. His accounts of his time in the military left the audience in both awe and admiration, for him and others like him who put their life on the line to protect their country.

Major Pawan Kumar at TEDxMAHE

This was followed by a presentation by Rebekah Sood, an entrepreneur who appeared on Shark Tank and owns India’s first major Kombucha brand. Although Rebekah’s parents encouraged her to pursue engineering, she discovered that her true calling was entrepreneurship. After gaining experience in the field, she utilized the Ikigai four-circle technique to identify her passion and founded India’s leading kombucha brand. Her appearance on Shark Tank gave her brand the platform it needed to flourish, and now her premium kombucha brand is paving the way for healthy living in India.

The next speaker was Pranav Mahajan, a motivational speaker and police officer, also known as the “spiritual cop”. He delivered a captivating speech on unlocking the power of the subconscious mind and the power of metaphysics. Drawing from his personal experiences and those of his friends, he shared instances where the subconscious mind had a negative impact on otherwise positive situations. With practical tips and insightful anecdotes, he inspired the audience to unlock the potential of their subconscious minds and harness its power to achieve success in all aspects of life.

Parth Bajaj, a celebrated chef and television host with a significant online following shared his inspiring journey from being an engineer to becoming a renowned food blogger. Having pursued engineering, he found solace in cooking and baking as a creative outlet. He shared his story of struggle as an amateur chef, creating a place for himself online as a uniquely talented cook and baker. His content garners millions of views across platforms. Having stepped out of comfort zone, he followed his passion and found success in an unlikely place.

Indian chef Anahita Dhondy is renowned for advancing the traditional Parsi culinary style. She formerly worked as the head cook at the SodaBottleOpenerWala, Bombay Irani Café, and Bar franchise. She was included in the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list in 2019 for her work to promote Parsi cuisine and ensure food sustainability. Anahita Dhondy was invited to share her experiences in the culinary field and offer students valuable advice on life and career. She compared one’s life to a pot of biryani, with each layer representing different aspects of one’s career and life and ended the talk asking students to discover the ‘spice’ in their life.

Anahita Dhondy delivering her talk.

Abhishek Asthana is an entrepreneur and a former software engineer, who goes under the handle Gabbbar Singh on Twitter. He spent over ten years working for corporations before founding his own ad firm, Ginger Monkey, in 2019. He co-founded the anonymous social networking platform Zorro (now Hood), which is his most recent endeavor. Abhishek Asthana started the talk with sharing experiences from his childhood and stories behind his start-ups GingerMonkey and Hood. He also talked about his career, his stint as the Brand Head for Reckitt, known for Durex and Dettol, his early days at Samsung India, and his television debut on Shark Tank India. 

The event concluded with a round of thanks to the speakers, the administration, the organisers, and all those behind the scenes that made this chapter of TEDx the grand success it was.

Speakers and organisers pose for a photo.