I have been invited to speak at not one, but two TEDx events in February – at TEDxBITSGOA, in Goa on February 6th, and TEDxSSN, in Chennai on February 9th.

From TED.COM:

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

This is quite an honour for me, and I hope that I live up to the expectations of the organisers and audiences.

I intend to speak on almost the same topic – “The Next Billion Users”, but from two different perspectives, to suit the different themes of the events. At TEDxBITSGOA, I will be looking at the topic from the human perspective, while at TEDxSSN, I intend to address the technological side of the topic.

As some of you know, “The Next Billion Users” is my “bee in the bonnet” for the next few years – it is a topic I am very passionate about, and I hope to get this across at my two talks. I really look forward to these two events, and I hope to meet many of you at the Goa and Chennai events.

Doing two events this close together, halfway across the country, is going to be quite a strain, but I plan to go into this in a very relaxed manner. You will understand that when you see me at these events – I plan to get burnt to a crisp on the beaches of Goa, where I will be vacationing with my wife from January 31st to February 7th. This will be our first “bratless” vacation since 2003, a vacation we both very badly need. Next to my two homes (Bangalore and Berlin), Goa is my favourite place in the world, and I can’t tell you how much I look forward to being there.