Our Speakers

Asha (known by the stage name Revathy), is an Indian film actress and film director, known for her works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and Tamil. She has won several accolades, including the National Film Awards in three different categories, and Filmfare Awards South.

Click here to listen to Revathy.

Balaji Sampath is an Indian educationist, social activist, the founder and secretary of a Non-profit Organization, Association for India’s Development, India chapter, an India-based NGO that carries out science teaching and primary school programs for children to aid their educational development.

Catch Balaji’s hugely popular talk on Science Education.

Sundar Ganesan is Director of the Roja Muthaiah Research Library. Founded in 1994, RMRL has a collection of over 1,50,000 books, journals,newspapers, pamphlets, and rare audio records, that covers fields as diverse as indigenous medicine, and classical, medieval and folk Tamil literature.

Listen to Sundar here on Archiving and History

Kamakshi Subramanyan, widely known as Adyar patti, is an 91-year old young social activist. Along with TD Babu, they had instituted SPARK, a civic organization which works on addressing Chennai’s plaguing civic issues. Some of SPARK’s key achievements include renovation of the Schmidt Memorial on Besant Nagar Beach and getting a park on 4th Avenue Besant Nagar. With an active 30 core volunteer team, they have been spearheading drives to sensitise local residents to the need for preserving the biodiversity of the area’s beaches, and campaigns for noise-free and litter-free beaches.

Kamakshi Patti and Dr. Babu had the audience in a spell. Catch it all here.

Eminent neuro biology scientist Vatsala Thirumali is Group Leader, Neural Circuits and Development Lab, at NCBS. She graduated from Anna Univeristy, Chennai with a B.Tech in Biotechnology. She finished Ph.D in Neuroscience from Brandeis University, Waltham, MA and completed Post Doctoral Fellowships in Neuroscience from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY and the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Vatsala focused on research in mechanisms that govern motor circuit function and development.

Vatsala demystified electric impulses that flow throughhuman body at the Jigayasa project event on June 9th.

Catch the talk here.

Dr.Sowmya Sanak has been researching intensively to find solutions through Carnatic music system for varied body- and mind-related medical issues. She has a doctorate in this field.

She and her husband, Shri. Sanak Kumar Athreya are reaching out the benefits of Indian music therapy through their organization, Svarakshema Foundation.

Sowmya’s talk about Music and Healing was moving. Listen to it.

Gayathri is a renowned Bharatnatyam dancer who discovered the power of choice when she chose to return to dance after a long gap. She has won many accolades for since and lives to prove that following your passion is always rewarding.

Listen to Gayathri’s inspiring talk here.