Day 1 SRCC’s Youth Conference kicked off with a packed hall, waiting to see their favourite speakers.
Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, India Council of Research on International Economics Relation, kicked off SRCC Youth Conference 2018, charming the audience with her intellect and personality. An exemplary leader, who has been a member of the elite academia for Economics in India for decades, Dr. Ahluwalia spoke to an eager audience in an engaging session, where she urged the leaders of tomorrow to stride towards economic prosperity utilising technology and modernization, while underlining the importance of basic values, which form the sine qua non of societal welfare.
The second speaker for the day, Actor and model, Freddy Daruwala, decided to do something different in life at the age of 24.
“Do not restrict yourself with things that you think that you can do,” he said. He advised the crowd to protect their dreams from the naysayers and negativity. After finishing his studies, Freddy decided to take up modelling. However, after a while, he started feeling that the profession wasn’t contributing to his personal growth anymore and switched to acting. “Change is the only thing that will rejuvenate you,” he explains.
The Race 3 star finds inspiration in Amitabh Bachchan and Freddie Mercury, to name a few. He also talked about the importance of breeding a healthy body, and creating an environment based on love and trust.
His session was followed by author R. Gopalakrishnan’s session. The author of 6 books informed the audience about his upcoming book, scheduled in the next month. R. Gopalakrishnan, who was very fond of reading the Time Magazine when he was young, narrated how he once encountered a copy that featured the photograph a retail company chairman being physically pulled out of his office by police, upon the orders of President Roosevelt, the then President of America. Elaborating, he talked about the ‘winner effect’ and how it turns leaders into gamblers. “The moment you have power and hierarchy, your brain gets damaged,” he said, explaining how the brain undergoes damage and physical change.
Upon being asked about whether it is good to be stubborn, he answered that one should be prepared for the consequences.
The day soon approached closer to the highly awaited session, of Buzzfeed India comedian Srishti Dixit. She talked about experiencing introversion upon shifting to Bombay. She advised young content creators to be creative, funny and relevant without getting exhausted, and also to seek therapy whenever necessary.
She said she has a ‘kyaut relationship’ with comedian Mallika Dua, and nicknames comedian Tanmay Bhat, who keeps telling her to pursue stand-up comedy as her ‘stand-up papa’. She talked about the constant pressure of being relevant, which she is afraid might fade away as she gets older. She also revealed that her biggest fear is becoming irrelevant and being replaced. She feels uncomfortable about being identified as a role model since she is afraid of messing up and disappointing people.
When asked if she plans to come up with her own YouTube channel, she said that BuzzFeed India is her YouTube channel.
To end the day on a high note, comedian Rahul Dua, first runner up of Indian comedy series Comicstaan, performed stand-up comedy in the SRCC auditorium. The session was made interactive by targeting random people and groups and making jokes about them. Students responded with bursts of hoots and laughter as Rahul cracked relatable comedy. The audience was reluctant to let him go when he announced about wrapping up his session. Upon concluding, he received a standing ovation.
Day one of the SRCC Youth Conference, 2018 thus came to an end.
Feature Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.
Ananya Acharya
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Nikita Bhatia
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