Feb 8
Guruji was arriving in Bangalore at 9:30 pm. Our flight to Goa was at 4:30 pm. What horrible timing!
We grudgingly left Bangalore ashram for the airport, hoping that maybe our flight would get delayed or some other such miracle. Didn’t happen. As we boarded the aircraft, we realized that it was the ATR. Possibly one of the most uncomfortable airplanes to ply in Indian skies. Take a truck and stick some wings on it. Add the noisiest propellers you can find. See, it flies!!
It managed to lurch its way to Goa in record time though, and soon we were safely on the ground. We had a pretty big reception… Hema, Devang and all the people from BITS Goa were there to escort us to Hotle Fidalgo … a blot on the landscape of Panjim. It’s a really ugly building. BITS Goa were having a TEDx event and I was invited to talk there… For reasons unknown, they had decided to put the speakers up in one of the ugliest hotels they could find :)…
Panjim Inn
After a very nice meeting with all the speakers at the Panjim Inn, a beautiful, old heritage building, we moved out of Hotel Fidalgo and went to Nanutel Resort at the other end of Goa, a picturesque little place on the beach at Betalbatim.
I finished off my presentation and rehearsed it a few times before going to bed at about 2:00 am. Next morning, we had a Sahaj course with 50+ participants and after initiating them, we went off to the BITS Goa campus for the TEDx.
BITS was holding their annual techfest Quark, and the campus was abuzz with activity… We made our way to the convocation hall where our event was scheduled.
I was slated to speak at the very end of the conference and so settled down to enjoy the rest of the speakers.
All were pretty good, some were brilliant, and inspite of the buggy projector and a few technical glitches, the TEDx BITS was a fantastic show.
The ones that stood out for me were, in no particular order:
Young Bennet Orlando, a 13 year old who is world champion solver of the Rubik’s Cube. He does it in 15-20 seconds! He does it with just one hand. He even does it blindfolded!
Mr. Himanshu Parikh of Ahmedabad who has pulled ½ a million people out of poverty by bringing in water and sanitation to slums there. He had some amazing facts ratified by Cambridge University, about how simply providing water and sanitation to individual families can completely transform the quality of life of that family and their neighbours. Cost per family a measly Rs 6000! An amazing, benevolent man. Was a pleasure listening to him.
Mr. Amar Sen did hand shadowgraphy. A source of light, a simple screen and his hands. He did an entire show which kept all of us utterly entertained. Simplicity and Innovation personified.
Mr. Chris Csikszentmihalyi, I defy you to pronounce his name 
from the media lab of MIT, USA did a brilliant little presentation about what his students are working on. I utterly loved a blender that worked only when growled at
Bawa @ TEDx Goa
Mr. Arvind Gupta a physicist who works at IUCAA in Poona demoed his toys. Wonderful little things made out of everyday junk. He had all the engineers at one of India’s leading tech institutes enthralled with clever toys made with bits of paper, pencils, magnets, broken cds, bicycle tyre valves and tubes and other junk that others routinely throw away… It was really inspiring to listen to. His talk and Mr. Parikh’s talk were the ones which really made me feel… Science is exciting!
Speakers and Organisers of TEDx Goa
And then, of course there was my talk. It was one of those talks where everything works and falls into place at exactly the right times. Even I loved it. But I am not going to tell you anything about it other than the title which was “Mostly about Om”. Hopefully I should get a video recording of it and we will put it up on youtube and you can see it for yourself then ?
After the TEDx talk, we had another round of QnA with about 300 people from the BITS campus… I will leave it to them to put the transcript of what I spoke there.
Oh yes, there was an incident with the taxi drivers… but it got resolved before it could get interesting enough to merit more than this line over here.
The next day went by in a blur, the evening was very nice, we had a superb dinner at the Park Hyatt’s Italian restaurant, i would heartily recommend it… It was quite expensive, but really, really tasty. During desert, there was a lovely firework display outside which was a perfect ending to a brilliant meal. Later, we went for a midnight walk on the beach… and all too soon it was morning the next day and time to leave for Mumbai.
Harsha, Niraj, Jatin, Vaidahi, Poorva, Krupa, Archa and many others all took great care of us, as did the main organizers of TEDx Swetanshu and Shalini. A big thank you to all of you for making our stay in Goa so very nice!
PS I hope this loooong post makes up for my silence for the past week … Watch out for some really interesting stuff about Mumbai in the next day or 3
(7 votes, average: 4.86 out of 5)
JaiGurudev!
Nooooooo.You wrote only very little! It didn’t cover up for the silence.
We need more!!
Love;-D
Jgd
Jgd..
Enjoyed every second of ur trip 2 Goa.. Had so much o fun…
i ve got some reali intresting pics of ur trip 2 Goa…i’ll mail it to either of u as soon as i can….
Dsn is rockin here…!!! hope 2 c u soooooooon…
Already missin u both…
Purva
wow!!!!!!!
all you people are so very dynamic and extra ordinary…..
bawa you have made your life so much ……..something….
I dont have words…
can you tell me whats the secret?
I mean how can you believe in yourself so much??
I dont understand anything else than his love and my love for him…
what makes you progress each and everyday?
Bau!!! Highlights:
Inspiring
Looking really smart and cute in the photo
Bau is there a website in particular whr u put up all the videos of yours?
Dying to watch…Its been long since i last heard your talk live…please let me know.
JGD
Kumar
Bau….. had just been waiting for this post of yours…. have been tracking the Ted x website for somehow being able to download the video of your speech and now heartily request you to put it up on you tube soon!
Jai Guru Dev
Love
Sakshi
Jgd. Wow! i am the first guy to comment . Liked it so much . Waiting 4 tomorrow . Plz don’t delay it. loads of love om
Ya …. you surely made it up Bau.I underwent HITNOSIS past week coz of you
:).
I hit this site for some 2 lakh times to see the mum test post everytime.So henceforth please dont be silent for so looong
@ this one ..
NICE Post Bau..could see things happening right in front of eyes as you described.
N 13 year Old !!! But what did he speak..did he tell you all the trick ?
\\Csikszentmihalyi …..LOLLZZZ I think you mis spelt it, otherwise I would have pronounced it correctly …ha ha
:)
Eager To see the video ..nice photos ..Bau..Is that Prahlad Kakkar by any chance or a look alike ?
NO it is prahalad kakkar … am not too sure who he is though … from his talk i gathered that he “sells dreams”
Owns a very successful ad agency and has tons of money by his own admission
Jgd Bau!!!!!!!!!! I was also awaiting to read your post please post the Video on yt… JJHS (Jitna jaldi Ho sake)…..Jgd
bau a request to u to please please put up your tedx talks in general i do find some of quite intriguing a nd interesting and unfortunately urs arent even on the tedx or youtube sites… okie yes the park hyatt in goa has awesome food but unfortunately i havent been 2 goa in a while also fiesta there has some good italian food….
Dear Bau,
U really spoke awesome even in Chennai TED talk
Luv to hear ur Goa TED Talk.
BTW u look like a lion in teh photo a cute, smiling LION:))))))))
JGD
LUV
Sudha.P
jai guru dev bau
u r soooooooo sweet
thank you for all your knowledge and advice( u know what i mean..:P)…missing u and dinesh da so much
love
niraj
Wow! Amazed at the 13 year old’s record!
Nice post!
jaigurudev !
missing u and dinesh bhaiyya a lot,had a brilliant time wid u ,it was truly a dream come true,
hope to see u again in Goa very soon
love
jatin
very nice post bau!the whole trip was sooo amazing
Jai Guru Dev
i sang for DSN satsang too. missed U Bau for the course. and missing You n Dinesh Daa so much…c u’ll sooooon
Thank You Bau n Dinesh Daa. It was Great spending SO much time with you’ll. it was a dream come true.. I enjoyed each n every moment with you’ll. DSN was superb Salil Dada was amazing! one more thing i would like to add, especially for Dinesh Daa is, after DSN i eat 4 times compared to what i used to have
Love
Jai Gurudev
krupa
Bau….ur glowing like a angel in the photo!….Woooow
those 3 days with bawa and dinesh bhaiya was real fun………especially for me ,, and there are two events of that trip, that i can never forget …
:) ..
first the taxi incident (i was the one responsible) and next one is my shaj mantra…… my sahaj episode might be the lolest incident that can ever happen in any sahaj course
hey i got a story ready to share in my next advance course yuppyyyy :):)
.love you bawa and dinesh bhaiya :): )
jai gurudev
Wow Goa is blessed or what! thats an awesome pic Bawu - you look so stylish with OM on the back ground. jai gurudev
Well done - it’s great you got to talk at TED. I follow these talks quite a lot - where can I find yours for download? x
hey barbara … no idea
please tell me if you find a link 
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa