Ranjith Venkatesh | Speaker Shine

Hold On One fine morning in the year 2012, a teenage girl takes a bus to school. There was HOPE in her mind, MUSIC in her stride, and HAPPINESS in her heart. A young man, enters the bus, calls out to her, pulls out a gun and shoots her BANG BANG BANG One of the bullets enters her forehead and exits through her shoulder – shattering the HOPE, stopping the MUSIC and halting the HAPPINESS. Contest Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen This teenage girl was Malala. Malala raised her voice for the education of girls in a traditional society in Pakistan. A society which believed that women were made for bearing children, for cooking in the kitchen and worshipping God. What would you do if somebody shot you? Would you crumble and let go of the belief dear to your heart or would you enlist help to shoot down your enemy? This teenage girl said “I am Malala” and I am not afraid to hold on to my belief. In her 15 years of mature wisdom Malala said “I do not wa...