Before I die, I want to…

I attended the TEDx Gateway event at Mumbai yesterday. What I saw there literally swept me off my feet.

For those who aren’t aware, TEDis a non-profit initiative devoted to sharing ideas worth spreading.

Essentially, it’s a platform where speakers from around the word – with ideas spanning from technology, design, social services, and entertainment – come together to give the talk of their lives (even I harbour a dream of giving a TED talk at some point in my life 🙂 )

I won’t go into much detail but just share with you that yesterday, among many others, I heard…

• Cynthia Koenig, who is bringing safe water close to rural households through her product called Wello water wheel
• Shree Bose, a 17-year old girl, who is involved into cancer research
• Neil Harbisson, who was born completely colour blind, but has created a technology that helps him “hear” colours
• Arunachalam M, an inventor from rural Coimbatore, who has created and patented a machine that manufactures low-cost sanitary pads serving the need of the rural women
• Daniel Kish, who can’t see through his eye but through his mind, and helps the blind learn the ways to live life as if they could see through their eyes
• Ruma Roka, who teaches sign language to the deaf and helps them get gainful employment
• Karthik Naralasetty, who has created a social networking site, Socialblood, which connects blood donors to those who need it
• Evan Grae Davis, who champions the cause of the poor and exploited, especially the girl child, and has directed a documentary called “It’s a Girl”

The event was rounded off by Usman Riaz, a 21-year old musician from Pakistan who learnt his art via Youtube videos, and believes that anyone can learn anything if he/she is willing to learn it. While I don’t have Usman’s yesterday’s video, here he is playing at a recent TED event in Scotland.

I felt so small…
The reason I am writing about these amazing beings is that I felt small (very small indeed!) hearing these wonderful human beings.

These people inhabit the same planet as I do, breathe the same air, and live on the same kind of food. But they are doing such amazing things in their lives that I have always “thought” of doing.

One of them said, “All you need to live a meaningful life is a problem,” and that said it all.

These people have identified some real problems that face humankind, and have dedicated their lives as the solution to these problems.

The thought that I am doing some good work by educating people to become sensible, long term investors – and thus touching their lives in some way – brings me some respite.

But the fact remains that we are a lucky lot. We have our homes filled with everything we need (and don’t need), our plates full with everything we can eat (and not eat), and our lives filled with enough happiness…and despite all this, we continue to want more, at least more than the other person has!

Life is short, and precious. And there are so many important things we must do in the short time we have on this planet than to run a race to nowhere.

Mahatma Gandhi once said and one of the speakers shared this yesterday, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”

I am not sure how, but if each one of us can pledge to live a life by finding a problem that needs to be eradicated – a problem that concerns the society – and then go about actually eradicating it, that would be a live well lived.

By the way, they also showed a recorded speech of Candy Changwho has started an initiative called “Before I die I want to…”, where a board with the sentence “Before I die I want to _______” is kept at a public place and anyone walking by can pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share their personal aspirations with others.

Just reflect on this thought, “Before I die, I want to ______”, and notice the difficulty you face in identifying that one thing you really want to do before you die.

I think one simple way to get an answer to this “before I die” idea is to cut the clutter from our lives and focus on just the things that matter the most.

Then we may be left with just a few things that we “really” want to do before we die.

Like, before I die, I want to…

1. Sponsor 100 underprivileged children
2. Write a book
3. Run a marathon
4. Travel the world
5. Speak at the TED

Believe me if you will, but by writing this out for the first time, I felt a sensation down my spine.

If I can focus on just these things from now on, life would be so much simpler and beautiful!

Anyways, you tell me – What is that one thing you want to do before you die?

Think hard, and then share here. You will feel a sense of amazement. I bet on that!

About the Author: Vishal is the Chief Tribesman at Safal Niveshak, where he works with small investors to help them become smart, independent, and successful in their stock market investing and personal finance decisions.