There couldn't have been a better and more important topic to be chosen for this year's Blog Action Day campaign - Climate Change.
For starters, here is an example of climate change simplified: Glaciers grow when climate cools and shrink when it gets hotter. The World Glacier Monitoring Service collects data annually on glacier retreat and glacier mass balance. From this data, glaciers worldwide have been found to be shrinking significantly, with strong glacier retreats in the 1940s, stable or growing conditions during the 1920s and 1970s, and again retreating from the mid 1980s to present. Mass balance data indicate 17 consecutive years of negative glacier mass balance.
The glaciers are in fact one of the most sensitive indicators of climate change around the world. To put it into context, if glaciers continue to melt at this pace, the water level in our oceans (which some nations term as "THEIR OCEANS") will rise exponentially resulting in submerging of land near the coasts and gradually growing further.
In essence, climate change is not a problem that would be talked around in the semi-urban or rural households of Africa or Asia and that's where the problem lies. If we would have to put the problem in terms of stages of a critical illness where First stage being symptoms, Second being diagnosis, Third being the period when its curable and Fourth being the incurable stage, then we are more than half way through. The symptoms were evident- loud and clear, the diagnosis was rather delayed, and perhaps already in the Third Stage of the illness which is curable period. But for this particular illness, there is one more stage, somewhere between the third and fourth and that’s exactly where we stand- its curable, strings (no, not the super cool pop band from Pakistan, I wish they could have solved this) attached.
The climate change problem has entered a phase where it’s curable but with a lot of precautions and needs an urgency not shown ever before by anyone. Some wrong steps and it will enter the fourth stage without warning - the point of no return.
So the question arises how can we solve it? Now I won't go listing down the number of things that we can and we must do in order to help fight the devil. Instead I would name the culprits who are NOT doing what they should be doing - cooperate.
Remember there was an assembly of some important and powerful world leaders in the steel-turned-green city of USA? The so called 'LEADER'S' statement of G-20 Pittsburgh Summit said the following:
"We will spare no effort to reach agreement in Copenhagen through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations."
Do you know where the above commitment was placed in the communiqué? At number 29 out of 31 declarations- that’s where it stands in the priority list of our LEADERS. It might not be as forthcoming as Iran's nuclear bomb (seriously, you people think they can build one?) or North Korea's list of long range missiles (impressive, I tell you), but it definitely deserves univocal commitment, urgency and unrelenting commitment from our REPRESENTATIVES (the leaders actually seems to forget that after elections).
Unless and until the leadership shows their seriousness towards this problem and start a campaign to educate the masses, the masses would not be even aware of the effects and catastrophic situations that awaits them.
Climate change is not a national threat, (No, don't worry, Bush's gone, thank god!), it’s universal. The efforts to tackle this needs to be taken collectively and should be binding, regardless of the clout of a country and its bank balances. We cannot have countries like India and China always in disagreement with the world and US always trying to stamp its authority. There must be a solution and we must learn to cooperate.
As they say- You can run, but you can't hide!
Melting The Political Glaciers
There couldn't have been a better and more important topic to be chosen for this year's Blog Action Day campaign - Climate Change.
For starters, here is an example of climate change simplified: Glaciers grow when climate cools and shrink when it gets hotter. The World Glacier Monitoring Service collects data annually on glacier retreat and glacier mass balance. From this data, glaciers worldwide have been found to be shrinking significantly, with strong glacier retreats in the 1940s, stable or growing conditions during the 1920s and 1970s, and again retreating from the mid 1980s to present. Mass balance data indicate 17 consecutive years of negative glacier mass balance.
The glaciers are in fact one of the most sensitive indicators of climate change around the world. To put it into context, if glaciers continue to melt at this pace, the water level in our oceans (which some nations term as "THEIR OCEANS") will rise exponentially resulting in submerging of land near the coasts and gradually growing further.
In essence, climate change is not a problem that would be talked around in the semi-urban or rural households of Africa or Asia and that's where the problem lies. If we would have to put the problem in terms of stages of a critical illness where First stage being symptoms, Second being diagnosis, Third being the period when its curable and Fourth being the incurable stage, then we are more than half way through. The symptoms were evident- loud and clear, the diagnosis was rather delayed, and perhaps already in the Third Stage of the illness which is curable period. But for this particular illness, there is one more stage, somewhere between the third and fourth and that’s exactly where we stand- its curable, strings (no, not the super cool pop band from Pakistan, I wish they could have solved this) attached.
The climate change problem has entered a phase where it’s curable but with a lot of precautions and needs an urgency not shown ever before by anyone. Some wrong steps and it will enter the fourth stage without warning - the point of no return.
So the question arises how can we solve it? Now I won't go listing down the number of things that we can and we must do in order to help fight the devil. Instead I would name the culprits who are NOT doing what they should be doing - cooperate.
Remember there was an assembly of some important and powerful world leaders in the steel-turned-green city of USA? The so called 'LEADER'S' statement of G-20 Pittsburgh Summit said the following:
"We will spare no effort to reach agreement in Copenhagen through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations."
Do you know where the above commitment was placed in the communiqué? At number 29 out of 31 declarations- that’s where it stands in the priority list of our LEADERS. It might not be as forthcoming as Iran's nuclear bomb (seriously, you people think they can build one?) or North Korea's list of long range missiles (impressive, I tell you), but it definitely deserves univocal commitment, urgency and unrelenting commitment from our REPRESENTATIVES (the leaders actually seems to forget that after elections).
Unless and until the leadership shows their seriousness towards this problem and start a campaign to educate the masses, the masses would not be even aware of the effects and catastrophic situations that awaits them.
Climate change is not a national threat, (No, don't worry, Bush's gone, thank god!), it’s universal. The efforts to tackle this needs to be taken collectively and should be binding, regardless of the clout of a country and its bank balances. We cannot have countries like India and China always in disagreement with the world and US always trying to stamp its authority. There must be a solution and we must learn to cooperate.
As they say- You can run, but you can't hide!
For starters, here is an example of climate change simplified: Glaciers grow when climate cools and shrink when it gets hotter. The World Glacier Monitoring Service collects data annually on glacier retreat and glacier mass balance. From this data, glaciers worldwide have been found to be shrinking significantly, with strong glacier retreats in the 1940s, stable or growing conditions during the 1920s and 1970s, and again retreating from the mid 1980s to present. Mass balance data indicate 17 consecutive years of negative glacier mass balance.
The glaciers are in fact one of the most sensitive indicators of climate change around the world. To put it into context, if glaciers continue to melt at this pace, the water level in our oceans (which some nations term as "THEIR OCEANS") will rise exponentially resulting in submerging of land near the coasts and gradually growing further.
In essence, climate change is not a problem that would be talked around in the semi-urban or rural households of Africa or Asia and that's where the problem lies. If we would have to put the problem in terms of stages of a critical illness where First stage being symptoms, Second being diagnosis, Third being the period when its curable and Fourth being the incurable stage, then we are more than half way through. The symptoms were evident- loud and clear, the diagnosis was rather delayed, and perhaps already in the Third Stage of the illness which is curable period. But for this particular illness, there is one more stage, somewhere between the third and fourth and that’s exactly where we stand- its curable, strings (no, not the super cool pop band from Pakistan, I wish they could have solved this) attached.
The climate change problem has entered a phase where it’s curable but with a lot of precautions and needs an urgency not shown ever before by anyone. Some wrong steps and it will enter the fourth stage without warning - the point of no return.
So the question arises how can we solve it? Now I won't go listing down the number of things that we can and we must do in order to help fight the devil. Instead I would name the culprits who are NOT doing what they should be doing - cooperate.
Remember there was an assembly of some important and powerful world leaders in the steel-turned-green city of USA? The so called 'LEADER'S' statement of G-20 Pittsburgh Summit said the following:
"We will spare no effort to reach agreement in Copenhagen through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations."
Do you know where the above commitment was placed in the communiqué? At number 29 out of 31 declarations- that’s where it stands in the priority list of our LEADERS. It might not be as forthcoming as Iran's nuclear bomb (seriously, you people think they can build one?) or North Korea's list of long range missiles (impressive, I tell you), but it definitely deserves univocal commitment, urgency and unrelenting commitment from our REPRESENTATIVES (the leaders actually seems to forget that after elections).
Unless and until the leadership shows their seriousness towards this problem and start a campaign to educate the masses, the masses would not be even aware of the effects and catastrophic situations that awaits them.
Climate change is not a national threat, (No, don't worry, Bush's gone, thank god!), it’s universal. The efforts to tackle this needs to be taken collectively and should be binding, regardless of the clout of a country and its bank balances. We cannot have countries like India and China always in disagreement with the world and US always trying to stamp its authority. There must be a solution and we must learn to cooperate.
As they say- You can run, but you can't hide!
An Enlightening Experience : TEDxDubai
For someone who hasn't even heard of TED till a month back, to attend, in fact to be a part of TEDxDubai was an enlightening experience.
I precisely remember it started as a passing mention by Masarat Daud during my first meeting with her. I came back home not even vaguely remembering the name of organisation or event.A week passed and then I stumbled upon a red coloured pigeon on twitter - @TEDxDubai. I have a twitter id since 28th November, 2008 but was never really posting or what I now call Tweeting. Then after some mouse maneuvers, I landed on TEDxDubai website. Ahhhh, another offline event for the online community, doesn't interest me, though no harm in registering. So I clicked on a subsection titled 'Attend'. Downloads another page which looks like any other registration form vastly common for someone who had 8 email addresses when he was just 16.
But here I got the first good vibe for TEDxDubai! It wasn't a simple Name, Date of Birth, Email, Cell blah blah blah kinda form! The questions were simple yet clear like- why do you wanna attend TEDxDubai? To answer this, one would have to know what the event is about, so I went to the top right box in my browser window and typed TED and go! Google never disappoints you, on came a string of results in less than a second which eventually took me to official TED website. What I saw on the website was not what I expected. There were videos, videos of people, ordinary people who had their ideas of changing, impacting the world. I got so engrossed in the videos that I forgot the primary task in hand- to register for TEDxDubai! So, I went back to face the next question in the form- what's your idea to change the world? This wasn't really difficult, I had it in the back of my mind ever since I came to Dubai, so I fill that in, answered the other questions and submitted the form.
And then began the wait. The wait for an invitation to the event. Time passed and then came the first list of attendees. Only 30 attendees, I surely didn't expect to be the top 30, but still, I jumped in, checked the names out, not mine. Then came the next batch, not there, then the 3rd batch, again disappointed. Along came the Eid holidays. As everybody else, I was on road, in the desert, in a camp when I decided to switch on my BlackBerry, 4th and 5th batches released. Anxiousness, am I in? Am I gonna make it? Somehow the holidays passed and I came back to find my name in the 5th batch. I froze the video and kept starring at the screen, it’s my name!!! That's me! I got selected as an attendee! Great!!!!
Than came an announcement asking for help from volunteers. Okay, here are two enthusiastic gentlemen - James Piecowye and Giorgio Ungania trying to pull-off a huge event, they can surely do with some help.
I sent in my details for the volunteers call. To my surprise, received an email from Habiba Hamid, someone I knew from Dubai Cares time and here she is, trying to contribute to social causes as always! Great, the good feeling started taking me hostage, something told me it’s gonna be big, huge!
Friday, 9th of October, the dry run for TEDxDubai. My first thought when I saw the Palladium was - this is no joke, it’s not some offline geek-get-together, these guys mean business! I entered the Palladium with one of the speakers and my inspiration - Masarat Daud and I saw a lot of friendly faces eager to help, eager to be a part of the revolution! Got our briefing as the volunteers, met the speakers and tada! - Let the show begin!
Big Day, 10-10-09, and couldn't have had a better start to the day than James telling me - "Look at this, people around the world stereotype Arab women and here, they sit behind these registration desks, eager to be the part of a change! Wonderful!!"
Went through the brief pep talks with fellow volunteers - Let's rock and roll! Everything was so perfectly managed that none of the volunteers even had to ask the organisers about anything at all! Saturday morning, up early, people started coming in and settling down!
Then comes the moment I have been waiting from past month or so. James starts with the humorous no-mobile-phones policy of TED! The two mandatory presentations from TED and Bruno Giussani, TED Europe director with his inaugural TEDxDubai talk!
Next were the TEDxDubai specific speakers. The total data available on the internet from evolution of mankind till 2003 - 5 Gigabytes and the data for the year 2008 alone - 487 Gigabytes, I surely don't know how to put it into context but I can understand the difference as a student of Mathematics! That’s amazing and it applies for the speaker also who presented this fact - Mohammad Gawdat.
The speakers were awesome, Leo Laporte and his signature style of mixing humor with reality, specially the 'Torches of Freedom' part, and so were Ian Gilbert, Ernst Van Der Poll and others.
Paul Bennett kept the audience interested with a very intriguing question - What is your dream for Dubai throwing back equally interesting replies!
Then came the rock stars of Dubai- the Al Awadhi Brothers or as the twiteratti call them- the Wild Peeta Bros! Entrepreneurship = Persistence, the words were so common yet when they were put together, it was a Eureka moment!
Dr. Naif Al Mutawa- a name I had never heard before, but one I will never forget. Frankly, my sense of religious understanding evolved manifolds after I heard him. The 99 - Hey, when's it releasing? Now this is someone trying to clear a lot of misunderstandings in the world through a relevant medium! He deserved the standing ovation he got after the world premiere of the trailer.
Frankly, it was only because of Masarat that I wanted to attend this conference and when I saw her entering the side stage from the green room, I could actually feel butterflies in my stomach. I have been telling here all the while she's gonna be fine, she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone and so on, but here I was praying myself, God, let's hope everything goes well. What she said & what she presented was summed-up by the standing ovation she got and by many attendees going up to her after the presentation with tearful eyes!
Samar Jodha and his passion to save the marginalised Buddhist community in Phaneng was evident in his work.
Then there was a 13 year old girl who wanted to win the Oscars (best wishes, you surely will). Dubai Abdulla Abulhoul was not just another 13 year old; she was the youngest animation film director in the Gulf Film Festival. After her presentation, almost everyone was convinced - age is just a number!!
The standup comic of Arab World Jamil Abu-Wardeh reminded everyone what they have sorely forgotten - laugh at yourselves first and to take responsibilities seriously and themselves! Then the face of modern Emirati women - Khulood Al Atiyat and her innovative way of binding people together - Unleash was another example of development of mindset in the UAE.
What began as a passing mention was a fulfilling experience; I was forced to reflect on something I had almost abandoned. NO, I AM GONNA DO IT, I AM GONNA MAKE IT HAPPEN, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES and as James summed it up, Let the discussions begin, start something new and finish it up in a month, let the spirit of TED live on!
P.S. I have been trying to work for the betterment of the construction labourers in Dubai from sometime. The group's called : The Help Humanity Foundation. After attending TEDxDubai, I am motivated to take the cause forward and will try all that I can to make their lives better. I need your help, please visit the website and learn how you can help!!
I precisely remember it started as a passing mention by Masarat Daud during my first meeting with her. I came back home not even vaguely remembering the name of organisation or event.A week passed and then I stumbled upon a red coloured pigeon on twitter - @TEDxDubai. I have a twitter id since 28th November, 2008 but was never really posting or what I now call Tweeting. Then after some mouse maneuvers, I landed on TEDxDubai website. Ahhhh, another offline event for the online community, doesn't interest me, though no harm in registering. So I clicked on a subsection titled 'Attend'. Downloads another page which looks like any other registration form vastly common for someone who had 8 email addresses when he was just 16.
But here I got the first good vibe for TEDxDubai! It wasn't a simple Name, Date of Birth, Email, Cell blah blah blah kinda form! The questions were simple yet clear like- why do you wanna attend TEDxDubai? To answer this, one would have to know what the event is about, so I went to the top right box in my browser window and typed TED and go! Google never disappoints you, on came a string of results in less than a second which eventually took me to official TED website. What I saw on the website was not what I expected. There were videos, videos of people, ordinary people who had their ideas of changing, impacting the world. I got so engrossed in the videos that I forgot the primary task in hand- to register for TEDxDubai! So, I went back to face the next question in the form- what's your idea to change the world? This wasn't really difficult, I had it in the back of my mind ever since I came to Dubai, so I fill that in, answered the other questions and submitted the form.
And then began the wait. The wait for an invitation to the event. Time passed and then came the first list of attendees. Only 30 attendees, I surely didn't expect to be the top 30, but still, I jumped in, checked the names out, not mine. Then came the next batch, not there, then the 3rd batch, again disappointed. Along came the Eid holidays. As everybody else, I was on road, in the desert, in a camp when I decided to switch on my BlackBerry, 4th and 5th batches released. Anxiousness, am I in? Am I gonna make it? Somehow the holidays passed and I came back to find my name in the 5th batch. I froze the video and kept starring at the screen, it’s my name!!! That's me! I got selected as an attendee! Great!!!!
Than came an announcement asking for help from volunteers. Okay, here are two enthusiastic gentlemen - James Piecowye and Giorgio Ungania trying to pull-off a huge event, they can surely do with some help.
I sent in my details for the volunteers call. To my surprise, received an email from Habiba Hamid, someone I knew from Dubai Cares time and here she is, trying to contribute to social causes as always! Great, the good feeling started taking me hostage, something told me it’s gonna be big, huge!
Friday, 9th of October, the dry run for TEDxDubai. My first thought when I saw the Palladium was - this is no joke, it’s not some offline geek-get-together, these guys mean business! I entered the Palladium with one of the speakers and my inspiration - Masarat Daud and I saw a lot of friendly faces eager to help, eager to be a part of the revolution! Got our briefing as the volunteers, met the speakers and tada! - Let the show begin!
Big Day, 10-10-09, and couldn't have had a better start to the day than James telling me - "Look at this, people around the world stereotype Arab women and here, they sit behind these registration desks, eager to be the part of a change! Wonderful!!"
Went through the brief pep talks with fellow volunteers - Let's rock and roll! Everything was so perfectly managed that none of the volunteers even had to ask the organisers about anything at all! Saturday morning, up early, people started coming in and settling down!
Then comes the moment I have been waiting from past month or so. James starts with the humorous no-mobile-phones policy of TED! The two mandatory presentations from TED and Bruno Giussani, TED Europe director with his inaugural TEDxDubai talk!
Next were the TEDxDubai specific speakers. The total data available on the internet from evolution of mankind till 2003 - 5 Gigabytes and the data for the year 2008 alone - 487 Gigabytes, I surely don't know how to put it into context but I can understand the difference as a student of Mathematics! That’s amazing and it applies for the speaker also who presented this fact - Mohammad Gawdat.
The speakers were awesome, Leo Laporte and his signature style of mixing humor with reality, specially the 'Torches of Freedom' part, and so were Ian Gilbert, Ernst Van Der Poll and others.
Paul Bennett kept the audience interested with a very intriguing question - What is your dream for Dubai throwing back equally interesting replies!
Then came the rock stars of Dubai- the Al Awadhi Brothers or as the twiteratti call them- the Wild Peeta Bros! Entrepreneurship = Persistence, the words were so common yet when they were put together, it was a Eureka moment!
Dr. Naif Al Mutawa- a name I had never heard before, but one I will never forget. Frankly, my sense of religious understanding evolved manifolds after I heard him. The 99 - Hey, when's it releasing? Now this is someone trying to clear a lot of misunderstandings in the world through a relevant medium! He deserved the standing ovation he got after the world premiere of the trailer.
Frankly, it was only because of Masarat that I wanted to attend this conference and when I saw her entering the side stage from the green room, I could actually feel butterflies in my stomach. I have been telling here all the while she's gonna be fine, she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone and so on, but here I was praying myself, God, let's hope everything goes well. What she said & what she presented was summed-up by the standing ovation she got and by many attendees going up to her after the presentation with tearful eyes!
Samar Jodha and his passion to save the marginalised Buddhist community in Phaneng was evident in his work.
Then there was a 13 year old girl who wanted to win the Oscars (best wishes, you surely will). Dubai Abdulla Abulhoul was not just another 13 year old; she was the youngest animation film director in the Gulf Film Festival. After her presentation, almost everyone was convinced - age is just a number!!
The standup comic of Arab World Jamil Abu-Wardeh reminded everyone what they have sorely forgotten - laugh at yourselves first and to take responsibilities seriously and themselves! Then the face of modern Emirati women - Khulood Al Atiyat and her innovative way of binding people together - Unleash was another example of development of mindset in the UAE.
What began as a passing mention was a fulfilling experience; I was forced to reflect on something I had almost abandoned. NO, I AM GONNA DO IT, I AM GONNA MAKE IT HAPPEN, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES and as James summed it up, Let the discussions begin, start something new and finish it up in a month, let the spirit of TED live on!
P.S. I have been trying to work for the betterment of the construction labourers in Dubai from sometime. The group's called : The Help Humanity Foundation. After attending TEDxDubai, I am motivated to take the cause forward and will try all that I can to make their lives better. I need your help, please visit the website and learn how you can help!!
An Enlightening Experience : TEDxDubai
For someone who hasn't even heard of TED till a month back, to attend, in fact to be a part of TEDxDubai was an enlightening experience.
I precisely remember it started as a passing mention by Masarat Daud during my first meeting with her. I came back home not even vaguely remembering the name of organisation or event.A week passed and then I stumbled upon a red coloured pigeon on twitter - @TEDxDubai. I have a twitter id since 28th November, 2008 but was never really posting or what I now call Tweeting. Then after some mouse maneuvers, I landed on TEDxDubai website. Ahhhh, another offline event for the online community, doesn't interest me, though no harm in registering. So I clicked on a subsection titled 'Attend'. Downloads another page which looks like any other registration form vastly common for someone who had 8 email addresses when he was just 16.
But here I got the first good vibe for TEDxDubai! It wasn't a simple Name, Date of Birth, Email, Cell blah blah blah kinda form! The questions were simple yet clear like- why do you wanna attend TEDxDubai? To answer this, one would have to know what the event is about, so I went to the top right box in my browser window and typed TED and go! Google never disappoints you, on came a string of results in less than a second which eventually took me to official TED website. What I saw on the website was not what I expected. There were videos, videos of people, ordinary people who had their ideas of changing, impacting the world. I got so engrossed in the videos that I forgot the primary task in hand- to register for TEDxDubai! So, I went back to face the next question in the form- what's your idea to change the world? This wasn't really difficult, I had it in the back of my mind ever since I came to Dubai, so I fill that in, answered the other questions and submitted the form.
And then began the wait. The wait for an invitation to the event. Time passed and then came the first list of attendees. Only 30 attendees, I surely didn't expect to be the top 30, but still, I jumped in, checked the names out, not mine. Then came the next batch, not there, then the 3rd batch, again disappointed. Along came the Eid holidays. As everybody else, I was on road, in the desert, in a camp when I decided to switch on my BlackBerry, 4th and 5th batches released. Anxiousness, am I in? Am I gonna make it? Somehow the holidays passed and I came back to find my name in the 5th batch. I froze the video and kept starring at the screen, it’s my name!!! That's me! I got selected as an attendee! Great!!!!
Than came an announcement asking for help from volunteers. Okay, here are two enthusiastic gentlemen - James Piecowye and Giorgio Ungania trying to pull-off a huge event, they can surely do with some help.
I sent in my details for the volunteers call. To my surprise, received an email from Habiba Hamid, someone I knew from Dubai Cares time and here she is, trying to contribute to social causes as always! Great, the good feeling started taking me hostage, something told me it’s gonna be big, huge!
Friday, 9th of October, the dry run for TEDxDubai. My first thought when I saw the Palladium was - this is no joke, it’s not some offline geek-get-together, these guys mean business! I entered the Palladium with one of the speakers and my inspiration - Masarat Daud and I saw a lot of friendly faces eager to help, eager to be a part of the revolution! Got our briefing as the volunteers, met the speakers and tada! - Let the show begin!
Big Day, 10-10-09, and couldn't have had a better start to the day than James telling me - "Look at this, people around the world stereotype Arab women and here, they sit behind these registration desks, eager to be the part of a change! Wonderful!!"
Went through the brief pep talks with fellow volunteers - Let's rock and roll! Everything was so perfectly managed that none of the volunteers even had to ask the organisers about anything at all! Saturday morning, up early, people started coming in and settling down!
Then comes the moment I have been waiting from past month or so. James starts with the humorous no-mobile-phones policy of TED! The two mandatory presentations from TED and Bruno Giussani, TED Europe director with his inaugural TEDxDubai talk!
Next were the TEDxDubai specific speakers. The total data available on the internet from evolution of mankind till 2003 - 5 Gigabytes and the data for the year 2008 alone - 487 Gigabytes, I surely don't know how to put it into context but I can understand the difference as a student of Mathematics! That’s amazing and it applies for the speaker also who presented this fact - Mohammad Gawdat.
The speakers were awesome, Leo Laporte and his signature style of mixing humor with reality, specially the 'Torches of Freedom' part, and so were Ian Gilbert, Ernst Van Der Poll and others.
Paul Bennett kept the audience interested with a very intriguing question - What is your dream for Dubai throwing back equally interesting replies!
Then came the rock stars of Dubai- the Al Awadhi Brothers or as the twiteratti call them- the Wild Peeta Bros! Entrepreneurship = Persistence, the words were so common yet when they were put together, it was a Eureka moment!
Dr. Naif Al Mutawa- a name I had never heard before, but one I will never forget. Frankly, my sense of religious understanding evolved manifolds after I heard him. The 99 - Hey, when's it releasing? Now this is someone trying to clear a lot of misunderstandings in the world through a relevant medium! He deserved the standing ovation he got after the world premiere of the trailer.
Frankly, it was only because of Masarat that I wanted to attend this conference and when I saw her entering the side stage from the green room, I could actually feel butterflies in my stomach. I have been telling here all the while she's gonna be fine, she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone and so on, but here I was praying myself, God, let's hope everything goes well. What she said & what she presented was summed-up by the standing ovation she got and by many attendees going up to her after the presentation with tearful eyes!
Samar Jodha and his passion to save the marginalised Buddhist community in Phaneng was evident in his work.
Then there was a 13 year old girl who wanted to win the Oscars (best wishes, you surely will). Dubai Abdulla Abulhoul was not just another 13 year old; she was the youngest animation film director in the Gulf Film Festival. After her presentation, almost everyone was convinced - age is just a number!!
The standup comic of Arab World Jamil Abu-Wardeh reminded everyone what they have sorely forgotten - laugh at yourselves first and to take responsibilities seriously and themselves! Then the face of modern Emirati women - Khulood Al Atiyat and her innovative way of binding people together - Unleash was another example of development of mindset in the UAE.
What began as a passing mention was a fulfilling experience; I was forced to reflect on something I had almost abandoned. NO, I AM GONNA DO IT, I AM GONNA MAKE IT HAPPEN, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES and as James summed it up, Let the discussions begin, start something new and finish it up in a month, let the spirit of TED live on!
P.S. I have been trying to work for the betterment of the construction labourers in Dubai from sometime. The group's called : The Help Humanity Foundation. After attending TEDxDubai, I am motivated to take the cause forward and will try all that I can to make their lives better. I need your help, please visit the website and learn how you can help!!
I precisely remember it started as a passing mention by Masarat Daud during my first meeting with her. I came back home not even vaguely remembering the name of organisation or event.A week passed and then I stumbled upon a red coloured pigeon on twitter - @TEDxDubai. I have a twitter id since 28th November, 2008 but was never really posting or what I now call Tweeting. Then after some mouse maneuvers, I landed on TEDxDubai website. Ahhhh, another offline event for the online community, doesn't interest me, though no harm in registering. So I clicked on a subsection titled 'Attend'. Downloads another page which looks like any other registration form vastly common for someone who had 8 email addresses when he was just 16.
But here I got the first good vibe for TEDxDubai! It wasn't a simple Name, Date of Birth, Email, Cell blah blah blah kinda form! The questions were simple yet clear like- why do you wanna attend TEDxDubai? To answer this, one would have to know what the event is about, so I went to the top right box in my browser window and typed TED and go! Google never disappoints you, on came a string of results in less than a second which eventually took me to official TED website. What I saw on the website was not what I expected. There were videos, videos of people, ordinary people who had their ideas of changing, impacting the world. I got so engrossed in the videos that I forgot the primary task in hand- to register for TEDxDubai! So, I went back to face the next question in the form- what's your idea to change the world? This wasn't really difficult, I had it in the back of my mind ever since I came to Dubai, so I fill that in, answered the other questions and submitted the form.
And then began the wait. The wait for an invitation to the event. Time passed and then came the first list of attendees. Only 30 attendees, I surely didn't expect to be the top 30, but still, I jumped in, checked the names out, not mine. Then came the next batch, not there, then the 3rd batch, again disappointed. Along came the Eid holidays. As everybody else, I was on road, in the desert, in a camp when I decided to switch on my BlackBerry, 4th and 5th batches released. Anxiousness, am I in? Am I gonna make it? Somehow the holidays passed and I came back to find my name in the 5th batch. I froze the video and kept starring at the screen, it’s my name!!! That's me! I got selected as an attendee! Great!!!!
Than came an announcement asking for help from volunteers. Okay, here are two enthusiastic gentlemen - James Piecowye and Giorgio Ungania trying to pull-off a huge event, they can surely do with some help.
I sent in my details for the volunteers call. To my surprise, received an email from Habiba Hamid, someone I knew from Dubai Cares time and here she is, trying to contribute to social causes as always! Great, the good feeling started taking me hostage, something told me it’s gonna be big, huge!
Friday, 9th of October, the dry run for TEDxDubai. My first thought when I saw the Palladium was - this is no joke, it’s not some offline geek-get-together, these guys mean business! I entered the Palladium with one of the speakers and my inspiration - Masarat Daud and I saw a lot of friendly faces eager to help, eager to be a part of the revolution! Got our briefing as the volunteers, met the speakers and tada! - Let the show begin!
Big Day, 10-10-09, and couldn't have had a better start to the day than James telling me - "Look at this, people around the world stereotype Arab women and here, they sit behind these registration desks, eager to be the part of a change! Wonderful!!"
Went through the brief pep talks with fellow volunteers - Let's rock and roll! Everything was so perfectly managed that none of the volunteers even had to ask the organisers about anything at all! Saturday morning, up early, people started coming in and settling down!
Then comes the moment I have been waiting from past month or so. James starts with the humorous no-mobile-phones policy of TED! The two mandatory presentations from TED and Bruno Giussani, TED Europe director with his inaugural TEDxDubai talk!
Next were the TEDxDubai specific speakers. The total data available on the internet from evolution of mankind till 2003 - 5 Gigabytes and the data for the year 2008 alone - 487 Gigabytes, I surely don't know how to put it into context but I can understand the difference as a student of Mathematics! That’s amazing and it applies for the speaker also who presented this fact - Mohammad Gawdat.
The speakers were awesome, Leo Laporte and his signature style of mixing humor with reality, specially the 'Torches of Freedom' part, and so were Ian Gilbert, Ernst Van Der Poll and others.
Paul Bennett kept the audience interested with a very intriguing question - What is your dream for Dubai throwing back equally interesting replies!
Then came the rock stars of Dubai- the Al Awadhi Brothers or as the twiteratti call them- the Wild Peeta Bros! Entrepreneurship = Persistence, the words were so common yet when they were put together, it was a Eureka moment!
Dr. Naif Al Mutawa- a name I had never heard before, but one I will never forget. Frankly, my sense of religious understanding evolved manifolds after I heard him. The 99 - Hey, when's it releasing? Now this is someone trying to clear a lot of misunderstandings in the world through a relevant medium! He deserved the standing ovation he got after the world premiere of the trailer.
Frankly, it was only because of Masarat that I wanted to attend this conference and when I saw her entering the side stage from the green room, I could actually feel butterflies in my stomach. I have been telling here all the while she's gonna be fine, she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone and so on, but here I was praying myself, God, let's hope everything goes well. What she said & what she presented was summed-up by the standing ovation she got and by many attendees going up to her after the presentation with tearful eyes!
Samar Jodha and his passion to save the marginalised Buddhist community in Phaneng was evident in his work.
Then there was a 13 year old girl who wanted to win the Oscars (best wishes, you surely will). Dubai Abdulla Abulhoul was not just another 13 year old; she was the youngest animation film director in the Gulf Film Festival. After her presentation, almost everyone was convinced - age is just a number!!
The standup comic of Arab World Jamil Abu-Wardeh reminded everyone what they have sorely forgotten - laugh at yourselves first and to take responsibilities seriously and themselves! Then the face of modern Emirati women - Khulood Al Atiyat and her innovative way of binding people together - Unleash was another example of development of mindset in the UAE.
What began as a passing mention was a fulfilling experience; I was forced to reflect on something I had almost abandoned. NO, I AM GONNA DO IT, I AM GONNA MAKE IT HAPPEN, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES and as James summed it up, Let the discussions begin, start something new and finish it up in a month, let the spirit of TED live on!
P.S. I have been trying to work for the betterment of the construction labourers in Dubai from sometime. The group's called : The Help Humanity Foundation. After attending TEDxDubai, I am motivated to take the cause forward and will try all that I can to make their lives better. I need your help, please visit the website and learn how you can help!!
G-20: Was it a success?
It was London's big chance to pull the world out of the hole it has dig itself in. It was historic given the fact that the top 20 world leaders sat around a table, trying to find a solution, which wouldn't have been any where near possible 2 years back. Although they were split in opinions, but united in resolve. Though for better measures, they did achieve something atleast.
The IMF restructuring is a good sign, especially for countries like China and India. They have got the attention they deserved. Moreover the world have now realised that the pre second world war structures of financial institutions like IMF and World Bank needs a massive overhaul. The countries like China, India and Brazil, which were no where in the picture than, have overtaken many of the top 5 then. Its a good sign, perhaps the beginning of end of West's domination on world politics and policy formation.
There were calls for transparency in banking system of certain countries. The 18th century clandestine traditions of Swiss Banks have no place in the 21st century. Infact most of the countries would benefit beyond doubts if the Swiss Banks are exposed. Another co-related issue was of Tax Havens. The Tax Havens of world were named and shamed by OECD, in a clear message to the world- the black money will become defunct if not accounted for in future. This might perhaps prove to be the most significant achievement of London Summit, if implemented thoroughly.
Looking at country basis might perhaps be difficult, if not impossible, so i'll stick to the continents, for wider audience.
Africa got what it called for. US$ 6 Billion will be raised by the dilution of gold reserves of IMF. Perhaps the desperation and inability to put in more money by the wealthier nations resulted in am embarrassing consensus of doing away with the proud gold reserves of IMF. That said, the resourceful continent needs as many helping hands to get itself out of the terrible hole, dug by the mighty, but the poor are left inside to rot for life. It is the responsibility of all those countries who exploited Africa for years to get this continent out of trouble, but sadly, they got nothing, but a raw deal. US$ 6 Billion raised by gold reserve dilution might help perhaps a bustling city of Addis Ababa at the max, forget even the whole of Ethiopia, though its just a reference.
America's (In both horizontal hemispheres) doesn't deserve a mention here, solely because the culprit lies in close proximity with them and they stand beside him, even after the whole mess is created by it. Mexico's promise to borrow more from the World Bank won't do any good to many other countries, crying for help.
Asia, perhaps the mightiest as it might look. With China, Japan, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, looks like taking the charge for future calls of the International FI's. With huge foreign reserves and budget surpluses/controlled budget deficits, the next century will belong to only and only Asia. China have already over taken Germany and is in top 3 nations of world in GDP(PPP). The might of Asian countries and fall of European and American countries was correctly described by BBC saying - While the west will start contracting, China and India will still grow, perhaps at a slower pace. That itself is a huge statement.
Europe, pity, the over-reliance on US of A and low local demand, have done them in. Perhaps the biggest loser in recession game and might be the last one to get out of this hole. Sarkozy remained defiant in face of a very strong opposition (USA and UK), supported by the ever stubborn Merkel. Perhaps the NATO-affiliated countries are to be blamed partially for the slowdown in Europe. The huge sums to both wars, just on the wink of an eye by master, have resulted a huge hole in there pockets.
Australia, well, are they a continent? Even a passing mention won't do any good.
Conclusion? Well, simple, there are so many US dependent economies in the world, infact many of them US nourished and nurtured, that it will all depend on there master. If the US of A stops playing its dirty games, perhaps the world would be a better place to live. The 'first world' doesn't seem to be far from the 'second and third' after all.
The IMF restructuring is a good sign, especially for countries like China and India. They have got the attention they deserved. Moreover the world have now realised that the pre second world war structures of financial institutions like IMF and World Bank needs a massive overhaul. The countries like China, India and Brazil, which were no where in the picture than, have overtaken many of the top 5 then. Its a good sign, perhaps the beginning of end of West's domination on world politics and policy formation.
There were calls for transparency in banking system of certain countries. The 18th century clandestine traditions of Swiss Banks have no place in the 21st century. Infact most of the countries would benefit beyond doubts if the Swiss Banks are exposed. Another co-related issue was of Tax Havens. The Tax Havens of world were named and shamed by OECD, in a clear message to the world- the black money will become defunct if not accounted for in future. This might perhaps prove to be the most significant achievement of London Summit, if implemented thoroughly.
Looking at country basis might perhaps be difficult, if not impossible, so i'll stick to the continents, for wider audience.
Africa got what it called for. US$ 6 Billion will be raised by the dilution of gold reserves of IMF. Perhaps the desperation and inability to put in more money by the wealthier nations resulted in am embarrassing consensus of doing away with the proud gold reserves of IMF. That said, the resourceful continent needs as many helping hands to get itself out of the terrible hole, dug by the mighty, but the poor are left inside to rot for life. It is the responsibility of all those countries who exploited Africa for years to get this continent out of trouble, but sadly, they got nothing, but a raw deal. US$ 6 Billion raised by gold reserve dilution might help perhaps a bustling city of Addis Ababa at the max, forget even the whole of Ethiopia, though its just a reference.
America's (In both horizontal hemispheres) doesn't deserve a mention here, solely because the culprit lies in close proximity with them and they stand beside him, even after the whole mess is created by it. Mexico's promise to borrow more from the World Bank won't do any good to many other countries, crying for help.
Asia, perhaps the mightiest as it might look. With China, Japan, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, looks like taking the charge for future calls of the International FI's. With huge foreign reserves and budget surpluses/controlled budget deficits, the next century will belong to only and only Asia. China have already over taken Germany and is in top 3 nations of world in GDP(PPP). The might of Asian countries and fall of European and American countries was correctly described by BBC saying - While the west will start contracting, China and India will still grow, perhaps at a slower pace. That itself is a huge statement.
Europe, pity, the over-reliance on US of A and low local demand, have done them in. Perhaps the biggest loser in recession game and might be the last one to get out of this hole. Sarkozy remained defiant in face of a very strong opposition (USA and UK), supported by the ever stubborn Merkel. Perhaps the NATO-affiliated countries are to be blamed partially for the slowdown in Europe. The huge sums to both wars, just on the wink of an eye by master, have resulted a huge hole in there pockets.
Australia, well, are they a continent? Even a passing mention won't do any good.
Conclusion? Well, simple, there are so many US dependent economies in the world, infact many of them US nourished and nurtured, that it will all depend on there master. If the US of A stops playing its dirty games, perhaps the world would be a better place to live. The 'first world' doesn't seem to be far from the 'second and third' after all.
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