Voices in Vasant Valley School 10th August, 2016

Voices in Vasant Valley School
10th August, 2016

An interactive session with achievers and thought leaders 9:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m - 10th August, 2016

1. Dr. P.C. Jain- Dr. Jain is the Chairman of CII-Indian Green Building Council and designer of various services for Rashtrapati Bhawan, Prime Minister's Office, Vigyan Bhawan, AIIMS and many other Iconic projects.

2. Megha Joshi- Ms. Joshi is an Indian artist promoting art as activism for social change and works around changing the perception people have about various taboos in Indian society.

3. Namrata Joshipura- Ms. Joshipura is a fashion designer with the vision of a global aesthetic. Her clothing easily translates across geographies and other artificial constructs.

4. Marut Sikka- Mr. Sikka is well known as the culinary ambassador of Indian food, he has organized numerous food festivals in India and Overseas. He has curated special meals for dignitaries like President Barack Obama, President Bill Clinton, President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and conceptualized and executed menus for events of national magnitude such as the Golden Jubilee of the Parliament of India and many others.

5. Deep Kalra-The pioneer of online travel in India, Deep Kalra founded MakeMyTrip in April, 2000. Drawing on his experience from his years at GE Capital, AMF Bowling Inc. and ABN AMRO Bank, under his stewardship, MakeMyTrip has become the largest online travel company, as well as the largest e-commerce business in India.

6. Sehaj Singh Virk- Mr. Virk is an Indian equestrian and show jumper who has represented the contingent at the Asian Games in 2014. He is also the CEO of Hoofs Shoes. He is the partner rider and brand ambassador for Hermes as well.

7. Karanvir Singh- Mr. Singh is an alumni of Vasant Valley School and is a well established international DJ. He has played at music festivals across the globe; ranging from Tomorrowland Unite to Sunburn and many more.

8. Dr. Shashi Tharoor- An author, politician, and former international civil servant, Shashi Tharoor straddles several worlds of experience. Currently a second-term Lok Sabha MP representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, he has previously served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development. During his nearly three-decade long prior career at the United Nations, he served as a peacekeeper, refugee worker, and administrator at the highest levels, serving as Under-Secretary General during Kofi Annan's leadership of the organisation.

In yet another iteration, Voices in Vasant Valley has never failed to impress and inspire students and teachers alike, instilling in us the sense of purpose and directions to help us lead our lives tomorrow. Voices delivers a powerful message unto us through its diverse delegation of speakers from a variety of fields and disciplines, from Entrepreneurship to Art, Politics to Music Production and Sports to Cuisine. While extremely different, all these speakers had one message to deliver to us - " Utilize your hidden potential and never give up."

In a surreal interaction, speakers came up to the podium, walked around the stage, emptying their hearts out to the audience, sharing the highs and lows of their lives, talking about the lessons life taught them and answering the audience's multiple questions with gusto. Through their varied rhetoric, they gave us a diversity of ideas to help us find inspiration within ourselves, and also find motivation to follow our dreams, no matter how unconventional they may be.

All in all, we thank the speakers who took time off their busy schedule to honour us with their presence and instill in us the sense of importance, direction and aspiration. Dear speakers, we thank you for making this edition of Voices even better.
- Jay Jaganaath, 11B