The first official TEDx event on PDPU, the tryst of the university with TED begins with the TEDxPDPU. Featuring 10 speakers from varied and diverse areas of interest, we provide a place for people to meet and let ideas flow.

PDPU
Auditorium PDPU
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University
Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382007
India

Akul Raval

Musician + Percussionist

Akul Raval, the founder of Rhythm Pulze has been a man closely associated with Hindi Film Music since a tender age. From banging on tin oil cans with spoons to playing impeccable percussions and octapad, he has come a long way. With the aim of teaching people about rhythms, he started Rhythm Pulze as a place to impart training for percussion music. Over the years, Rhythm Pulze grew with more and more people taking interest in the lesser known dimensions of music. Rhythms flowed in more and more minds as people, small and big started learning percussions.

Amit Sadh

Actor

Amit Sadh, born on 5th June, 1983, is a well-known Indian actor. He started his acting career on television, acting both, fiction and non-fiction genres. He soon realized his love for films and potential to make a mark in the Indian Film industry. To master his craft, he joined The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. Upon his return, he landed an important role in the film, ‘Kai Po Che!’ (2013), where he played the character of Omkar Shashtri, which garnered him a lot of appreciation and paved the way for his journey ahead. Having done several films like ‘Guddu Rangeela,’ ‘Sultan,’ ‘Akira,’ ‘Running Shaadi.com’ and ‘Sarkar 3’, Amit is now known for the versatility he brings to his roles. Amit currently stars on in the critically acclaimed show on Amazon Prime, ‘Breathe.’

Bishal Paul

Director + Writer + Manager

Bishal Paul is an author, screenwriter, filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Little Monk Communications, a digital marketing agency managing works of a host of Bollywood personalities and brands and is in the Top 5 Social Media Agencies in the Entertainment business. At 23, he's amongst one of the youngest serving CEOs of a thriving company in the entertainment sector. He is a mass media graduate and holds the experience of have worked with the biggest of the names including Times of India, Filmfare, CNN IBN and Red Chillies Entertainment. In 2013, Hindustan Times named him one of the youngest bestselling authors in India for his debut novel, Footprints of Life. Currently, he is co-writing two feature length film scripts for some leading production houses and working on a travel based show.

Kunal Savarkar

Architect + Quizmaster

He is the CEO of Xpress Minds Edutainment, which creates and conducts Knowledge based Events and Quizzes in India and abroad, He specialises in designing, structuring and organising knowledge based events for a multitude of end-users. His forte lies in providing accurate, entertaining customised content for contests that cut across all genres of media. He has also worked as an architect for the last 17 years, in India, as well as abroad, on a variety of projects. He describes himself as a nuts-and- bolts architect, who aims to maximise resources while trying to create spaces that allow us to work and live better. He is also a Director in India's third largest knowledge events company, Quizcraft.

Mukund Shukla

Media Management + Journalist + Strategist

Media management, launch, and communication expert, Mukund Shukla, is the DGM at Indian Express and an esteemed professor at PDPU. He can weave stories to explain any theoretical concept! Come hear him speak on how small steps can bring about big results, with some timeless tactics in the media and entertainment industry.

Nisha Nair

Author + Storyteller + Architect

She is the founder and principal curator at The People Place Project and the principal architect at Design Variable. With varied work experience as an architect, journalist and being an active participant in public art initiatives, she oscillates between her two interests of design and writing. She has spearheaded People Called Mumbai and People Called Ahmedabad, People Called Shillong is the third in the series.

Pragya Tank

Teacher + Psychologist

Trying to create a positive impact on the society, Pragya is currently working as a Fellow with the Wellness Center of Vidya Bhawan which takes care of psychological well-being of it's students and staff. She believes in the theory of social learning and hence, wants to unfurl the deeper understanding of empathy through her actions while working with children. This being one of the reasons for choosing psychology for graduation, the other one was trying to understand and evaluate different reactions to various human behaviours. Her interest in psychology grew further when she witnessed Schizophrenia closely which taught her the value of empathy, perseverance and grit.

R.D Prabhu

Teacher + Scientist + Researcher

Prabhu RD has had a lifelong love affair with Physics which started as a youngster when he read a book on space rocketry and fell deeply in love with the stars, the galaxies and the Universe. After completing his Ph.D in Astrophysics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he worked on important research projects for over 15 years in leading universities and companies in the US, Singapore and India. His work contributed to the development of some of the tiniest of components that go into ground-breaking smartphones. Currently Prabhu teaches science undergraduates at a college in Bangalore. He is very passionate about languages, poetry and learning Sanskrit. He loves playing chess, table tennis, running, doing yoga and is an ardent advocate of hands on learning.

Shikhar Kamat

Psychological Illusionist + Storyteller

Shikhar Kamat chooses to identify himself as a psychological illusionist. With sheer presence of mind, and the ability to break down the psychological constructs of his audience, he manages to trick their minds with spellbinding illusions. His idea, behind his work, is to introduce different forms of magic that people are not accustomed to. Feeding off David Blaine shows, and Sherlock Holmes, Kamat learnt and trained himself the ardous way. He started off a street magician, enjoying the the little bursts of amazement he induced in the minds of his audience, and today, he is one of the pioneering names in the industry.