(When I attended #IhaveanIdea event, I was looking forward to write about Ani Choying and Paras Khadka's stories but guess what i ended up writing)
Let
me start by a brief introduction of the event that was held on the 13th
of July 2014 in Kathmandu. It was called #IhaveanIdea, a part of the initiative
by UNICEF and ChildReach Nepal. Idea Studio Nepal is a platform where people
can send in their craziest idea, it gets screened and then 40 of those ideas
are selected. Then these idea creators are
trained for 30 days in an incubation center where they will learn about
business plan, cash flow, financial analysis and so on and so forth. At the end
of all this, the ideas are presented to few investors, and if it looks
promising to them, they are going to invest.
I was
pretty impressed with this idea and saw Anil Keshari Shah (renowned banker in
Nepal) , Ani Choying ( the singing nun), Paras Khadka ( Nepal cricket team
captain) and MAHA Jodi ( Hari Bansha and Madan Krishna Shrestha) to be
associated with this initiative, which was a double assurance for me. All they
said was this is a chance for the Nepali youth to persuade their dreams and
ideas.
Now
if I start writing about what Ani said and what Paras said, it will get too
long and will drift from what I REALLY want to write about. I have super huge
respect for Ani Choying and Paras Khadka for what they have done for the
country. Summing it up, their presentation was extremely heart touching and
they know what they have done and they want to do for Nepal, being in Nepal.
Now
after such powerful presentation from such icons of Nepali society, comes Nisha
Adhikari, the actress who had climbed the Mt. Everest in 2013. She came to
stage with her story of her expedition. Now point wise I will tell you things I
have noticed and I have immense dissatisfaction with.
Point no.1:- When you come as a speaker for such an
event where you are considered as a youth icon and you are talking about national
pride and integrity, please one thought on your attire wont harm. I know this
is a very trivial thing, but wearing a skin fitted short one piece dress doesn’t
look really nice on the stage. No matter how much you debate, a saree will
always steal the show. DISAPPOINTED with the sense of dressing.
Point no.2:- I was already disappointed with the
sense of dressing; on top of that she comes to the stage with a bunch of paper
and pen. She looked unprepared, the first thing she says was “I don’t want to
mess with the facts and figures, that is why I have it all written down here”.
EXCUSE ME, she was told to prepare for this event over a month ahead, what was
she doing then? I am sorry I might sound like a bad arse class teacher but to
be in the same platform as Ani Choying and Paras Khadka, anyone needs to be
super prepared. On top of that by the end of the presentation, I didn’t see her
sharing any such technical term or jargons for which she needed that thick lot
of papers.
Point no.3:- This is the funniest part, after
talking for almost 20 minutes about her daily experience at the expedition,
which was not even closely related to the event where you need to discuss IDEA…..she
looks at the audience and says “I am sure most of you are lost by now”. Trust
me I couldn’t believe she said that. 1200 plus people were there and it was a
stunned moment for all of them. You are on the stage and the only one talking,
and you yourself think that the audience is lost? Means it’s not their fault
that they are lost…that also if they are lost….it is you who had to keep them
captivated with the talks. And I guess she failed in that regard miserably!
Point no.4:- After baking such disastrous cake the
cherry topping was, she generalizing the entire profession of journalists as
useless and senseless for not working properly. I don’t know why she said that
since it was not even relevant with the topic. Attacking on media when you are
at a media program, with a lot of media there, it was nothing but a very dim-witted
step to probably get cheap publicity. I actually missed out on that statement
when my journalist friend sitting next to me, called her a name and said she
has lost it!
Anyway, thank you for that voice that came from the
balcony of the hall as an aakashwani crying
“PUGYO” and very awkwardly she wrapped it up.
I loved the entire event and the speakers as well,
very motivating and futuristic. I think it is an amazing initiative from a
private sector to motivate the youth to stay in the country and do something to
be self sustainable and improve the lives of others as well. Hopefully Nisha
Adhikari will also learn from her mistakes and be a better well versed speaker
next time.
For more
details on the project check their official website :- www.ideastudionepal.com
Last edited: 15-Jul-14 05:00 AM
