Pratury, who has been entrepreneur and venture capitalist, was a long-time Silicon Valley resident until she recently moved to Bangalore. Excerpts from an interview:
Pratury answers some of our questions about what to expect from the event, while sometimes dozing off mid-sentence.
Q: Why is TED important to India and vice versa?
A: TED is about ideas worth spreading. These are global in nature, coming from young people across the globe. At this juncture, India has the maximum number of young people in the world. They are not only the future of India but of the world and therefore TED needs to reach out to them. For me obviously it's an emotional connect but I think there's a personal connect for Chris (Anderson) too. He was born in Pakistan and went to school in India for some years.
As to why India needs TED, I think this is the time we taught teenagers and young adults in India the importance of responsibility and where money figures in all this, otherwise the new generation is at risk of believing that only those who achieve financial success should be their role models. Our youth needs to be aware that they can be anything they want to be.
Q:But attendance is limited by virtue of the space available as well as the cost.
A: The cost can't be helped. If we have to cater to people's expectation of high quality content, we have to spend reasonably high sums on creating that content. When we imagined TED in India, we thought we would have 400 registrations, instead we have over 700! So people are willing to pay to attend. Meanwhile, I would encourage others to access videos online two weeks after the event is done. That way they won't miss out on the essence of TED India.
