L J Ravi Dreams are not meant only for the rich. Anyone can dream. I still dream” says Deepika Kumari February 26, 2021: XLRI- Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, one of India’s premier B-Schools, recently hosted the 8th Edition of TEDxXLRI virtually. The theme for this year’s TEDxXLRI was “Surviving the Storm.” ‘TEDxXLRI 2021’ witnessed eminent speakers from different walks of life came together on a single platform. They spoke about how they defied all odds and storms in their personal and professional lives and emerged victoriously. The event began with a mesmerizing musical performance by singer Praniti Khanna aka. Peekay with a mesmerizing performance. Sarah Hussain opened up about her journey to become one of the youngest and most successful food bloggers of India encouraged students to take the road less traveled, focus on their hobbies and turn our passions into professions. Aditya Gupta, an IIT Roorkee & FMS Delhi alumnus, founder of three successful startups and an ace mountaineer shared his story of scaling Mt. Everest at the age of 50 and further elaborated on how the valuable lessons learned during the summit will also help in the corporate world. He taught the audience how to use their emotions like fear and anxiety to our benefits. Dhaval Jain, President’s Gold Medal award-winning IAS officer spoke about the challenges faced while handling the COVID-19 crisis in Howrah, West Bengal, and the changes he has been able to bring through his work. His experiences helped students understand the intricacies involved in managing a crisis and how aspects like – effective leadership, problem-solving, collaboration and keeping human resources and the community motivated to play a huge role in it. Amit Behl’s talk centered around the media and the entertainment industry, the recent storms it faced, and how it is undergoing a drastic transformation over the years. While answering a question, he also stated why he believes OTT platforms are a positive disruption for the Indian Movie and Television Industry as the focus has now been turned to creating quality content. Tanmaya Jain, the founder & CEO of A.I. startup, inFeedo focused his talk on the need and importance of mental health, how social media deteriorates it and how vipassana helped him deal with his issues and achieve mental fitness. He walked the audience through his life when the startup was in its formative years and how he dealt with courage during moments of uncertainty in his personal and professional life. The last speaker of the evening, Archer Padma Shri Deepika Kumari, shed light on her life journey and emphasized how poverty can either make people helpless or give them the necessary courage to deal with any storm in their life. Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari spoke about how self-confidence helped her achieve her dreams despite the poor circumstances she grew up in “Poverty is a situation that can either make you brave or miserable,” she recounted at the recent TEDxXLRI 2021. Sharing her share of struggle in her journey to the top, she said, “I was quite poor; we didn’t have enough food to eat. But I would dream. Dreams are not meant only for the rich. Anyone can dream. I still dream. And to fulfil those dreams, I left home. My dreams kept getting bigger. My performance kept getting better. Sometimes life gives you more than what you can handle, but if you face it, nothing will be impossible.” “We often create comfort zones for ourselves and prefer to stay there because we know it will be difficult outside of it. We only think of what could go wrong. Self-confidence is vital,” she explained.
