Thalir Innovation Fest - Kumaraguru College of Liberal Arts & Science (KCLAS)

Igniting Possibilities: The Triad of Passion, Persistence, and Potential

Blitz-2.0

“Future begins today” says the Yi Coimbatore Chair, Vishnu with gleaming hope. This sets the tone for inauguration of the programme. Blitz could signify various meaning according to an individual, but this initiative presents a comprehensive ideology of innovation, collaboration, and visionary thinking. Young Indians (Yi) is an organisation which is providing us with endless opportunities to help in building your ideas into vision and implement it in future. What makes me stand out amidst of an average population? is the question that arises in every student’s mind and Blitz provides the right guide to achieve the goal. Ignite your potential, begin to explore your passion and shine amongst the ordinary.

PASSION

The journey of passion begins when you explore your surroundings and find out what satisfies your needs and goals. The 3-day programme shows us people who has taken a step ahead to work on their passion and bring out innovation through entrepreneurship, sports, science and technology, theatre, and art. The keynote speakers addressed the gathering through their business. Mr. Abiruben of Yi and Mr. Aravind Krupanan of V.K.A companies presented their thoughts systematically expressing their persistence and resilient mindset in building a business. Their knowledge is not something made in a day but rather years of learning and adaptation.

How to build a career out of passion? Ms. Preetha, Vice President of Vels University and Ms. Malvika, practicing as a life coach shared their journey by discussing their struggles and high notes through a panel discussion.

The Blitz 2.0 begins with providing endless opportunity and limitless competition. One such exhibit is Innovation expo, filled with enthusiastic entrepreneurs and startup initiatives. The excitement in their faces while meeting young minds indicates their humbleness and openness to learn from youth as well.

One such business that connects with the audience is POP station, an apparel fashion brand which helps in franchising, growth of business according to their need. This gives hope and confidence to people who has no idea on how to run a business. So far, this initiative has help fifty brands to scale up their venture. The future vision of the team is to help over five hundred brands around the city. “Discover, Design, Develop and Deliver” says POP Station.

Handlooms are one of the most underrated sectors when it comes to business venture. Mahaveers is a textile business which promotes their work and takes pride in the quality and intricate fashion designs. “It takes 3 days to make a saree, and it is made with utmost care and patience” says the manager. What makes mahaveers to stand out from their game? the passion in exhibiting their cultural roots along with innovation and inclusivity of customer’s need in business.

Endolite India limited is a company that provides artificial limbs, body parts to physically challenged individuals. The member of the team explained their motive to help people and make their life a bit easier, this shows a perception of how business is not the stereotypical profit oriented but also has a providing and service mindset. They focused on the nuance of reducing the weight of prostheses and ortheses making it painless for the individual. Khelo Kabaddi is a competition that empowers the players to pursue their passion as a career. There were more than 12+ schools and colleges participating in the tournament. “I play kabaddi out of passion” says a player proving that passion lays a foundation to achieve your goals. “Although it wasn’t easy at the beginning parents continued to support my interests which motivated me to focus and achieve my dreams” says a player showing the significant interplay of parent’s role and passion. Passion drives both entrepreneurship and sports, fuelling innovation and perseverance. In the business world, enthusiastic entrepreneurs must deal on how to solve problems creatively, often leading to groundbreaking innovations that disrupt industries. In sports, passion pushes athletes to train harder, improve performance, and adapt strategies, fostering a mindset of continuous improvement. It also sustains the resilience needed to overcome obstacles, making it a powerful force behind success in any realm of interest.

PERSISTENCE

The inauguration programme addresses science and entrepreneurial aspect of innovation, but our next speaker Administrative Commando Biju of Indian Army is no stranger to the word passion. He laid the emphasis on leadership and how power comes into play. “If you want peace, prepare for war” he says by drawing the irony of power and peace. He shared his experience with the Indian Army and spoke about persistence. This quality is often left unnoticed by humans as it requires high resilience to be persistent. The Blitz 2.0 highlights the quality persistence in innovation dimension. The innovation Expo is a product of persistent entrepreneurs, and few stories caught our attention. A human’s nature is to give up when faced with tough circumstances but building the persistence to work on things that you really want to achieve will put a spotlight on you. Most of the entrepreneur posses this quality, no matter how much difficult of a task it is, they have the determination to acquire the solution. The Bio Blooms Agro Private limited is an agricultural startup. This addresses how farming or gardening is efficient in a small area of land through hydroponic system or vertical farming. The owner has persistently collected information and challenges faced in our geographical status and has gone through various ideas on how to make this sustainable and suitable for modern day lifestyle. After many efforts he produced a sustainable way of reusing water forms to provide moisture to the plants and since its hydroponic it requires very less labour to maintain it which makes this suitable for modern lifestyle. A group of young minds in field of computer science took us to their journey of startup and had a dream to accomplish something big but they faced many hurdles like lockdown, did not know how to proceed with idea. They began to take small steps like joining in a hackathon, making small products, and getting it patented. In this journey of persistence they found their passion, an area of interest which is Cyber security. They encountered many challenges including financial struggles, no parents support yet he said, “I don’t want to give up.” They produced a cyber security platform which protects businesses information and got tied up with a US company. Is it too late to be persistent? The founder of Bee Flora, Mr. Vigneshwaran proved otherwise. Initially, he was HR for tech companies and during lockdown he had an idea to do a startup with Honey as he thought it was the most adulterated product in the market. He started to identify diverse types of bees and honey produced with the help of local tribes. His vision is to make India healthy through unadulterated products and he believed this product is a starting line for more to come. In Sports arena of Khelo Kabaddi event of Blitz 2.0, “I got rejected to join the team initially due to my physique, but I wanted this and I worked for it” says CMS college player. He not only had the passion, but he worked persistently to achieve it. I got the opportunity to speak with the event official and they shared their struggles to reach the position that they have right now. Hard work, persistence, commitment, passion will help in making your dreams come true. Persistence is key to achieving long-term success, as challenges and setbacks are inevitable. Entrepreneurs and athletes alike must continuously push beyond failure, adapt to changing environments, and remain focused on their goals. Innovative thinking enhances this persistence by allowing individuals to approach problems creatively, find unconventional solutions. It enables individuals to navigate obstacles and achieve sustained success in their respective fields.

Gathering of Young and Energetic Minds

The stage was set, and the air buzzed with anticipation as the Thalir Innovation Fest unfolded on the morning of 27th September 2024, at the Ramanandha Adigalar Auditorium. From 9:30 to 10:00 am, the inauguration marked the beginning of a day flowing with passion, ideas, potential, preparedness, and the promise of innovation. The room was a dynamic mix of young, bright, and energetic minds from schools across India and inspiring figures from Young Indians (Yi), all gathered under one roof, to solve the most pressing problem of today for a better tomorrow. The inauguration began on a spiritual note with a prayer song. Then, Mr. Jayaprashant shared some insightful words. Drawing inspiration from Einstein’s wisdom, he shared, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” Through these words said he highlighted the importance of looking at the problem at its core. He also reminded the audience about having a beginner’s mindset and thus emphasizing its importance in solving problems effectively. Next, the audience were captivated by Mr. Varun Jain, the Chair of Yi, who shifted the conversation to a broader perspective on innovation. “Innovation isn’t just about Science and Technology,” he said, “It’s also about collaboration, teamwork, and learning from each other.” Adding further depth to the morning’s wisdom, Mr. Vishal Agarwalla, the National Chair of YI, took the stage and echoed Mr. Jain’s thoughts, but with his own style. He shared that innovation is powered not just by intellect, but by determination and boundless spirit. “It’s about keeping the flame alive—moving forward with the belief that we can make things better today, not just for ourselves but for the world around us.” These impactful messages focusing on problem-solving, collaboration, and unwavering determination set the foundation for what would be a day of creative exploration and thoughtful innovation.

Potential

As we walked through the gates of the competition, we were witnessing a sea of vibrant displays—students from every corner of the country showcasing their innovative ideas. There were totally 30 schools participating. Each school has selected a problem statement and were ready to display them under four categories, Design Thinking, Science and Technology Expo, Poster making, and Theatre. The energy and the spirit of the students were high, each ready to present their solutions for the most important problems they see around themselves. I was particularly drawn to projects from schools such as Bharani Vidhyalaya, Karur, Mount Carmel School, Aizawl, G.D. Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, Bhavans Adarsha Vidyalaya, Ernakulam, Bharani Park Matric. HR.SEC School, Karur each presenting unique solutions to different problems.

One of the standout presentations at the Thalir Innovation Fest came from the students of Bharani Vidhyalaya School, Karur, who addressed a growing issue—excessive mobile usage and screen time among children. “And that this problem identification was done by the students”, stated by their faculty in charge. They identified the physiological and psychological consequences of prolonged screen exposure like, revealing troubling patterns like binge eating, metabolic syndrome, acute psychosis, and even suicidal tendencies linked to dopamine imbalance. Their approach to this problem was marked by preparedness and passion, as they created an app using Java language called Digital Detox, to help reduce screen time. But what truly stood out was their dedication to explaining their solutions effectively across multiple formats—a requirement for all participants. Their model demonstrated the science and technology behind their app, while their poster was made creatively to deliver the solution. With persistent efforts and hard work, they enacted a drama that brought the problem to life in a relatable and impactful way. It was clear that Bharani Vidhyalaya’s team approached this problem not only with technical skill but with a deep sense of dedication, collaboration, and team work to address this problem and create awareness.

Another impactful presentation was made by the school Bhavans Adarsha Vidyalaya, Ernakulam. They took one of the most prevailing issues where the farmer’s crops are destroyed by wild animals, which displays the importance they give to agriculture as a primary sector. They gave a brilliant solution to tackle this problem where they intent to help farmers detect wild animals around their farm. Added with the use of ultra sound and sprinkler which sprinkles a scent that has a combination of rotten egg, ginger and vinegar smells that help farmers get rid of the wild animals. They have made a wonderful model which would help them explaining the solution clearly and has very well used the platforms of theatre and poster making to deliver their solutions effectively.

An inspiring presentation was made by Mount Carmel School, Aizawl. They took a micro problem of their region which is more often overlooked but causes a major difficulty for the people of their region. As stated, “I felt so happy and enthusiastic when my students came up with this problem which was often overlooked and I was very encouraging in helping them to find the proper solution ” by their faculty. In their region usually the gas cylinders for a locality is delivered in a common point and it is the responsibility of the people to take it and fix it in their homes. The students came up with this particular problem statement as they witnessed a scenario where it posed a major challenge for a person. And imagined how great the difficulty would be for an elderly person and thus came up with an idea of developing an app, named Convenient Gas Service which would help them receiving the gas cylinders at their doorstep. “We have also designed the app with great care making it more accessible and reliable for the elderly who are not so well versed in technology “, stated by one of the students. Another presentation that stood out was the one made by G.D. Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, named Equal Hope. Their problem statement focused on service and accessibility. And they chose railway transport in particular as, “Trains are the biggest mode of transports in our country “stated by one of the student of the school. They were determined to focus on different differently abled people in terms of accessibility of railway transport and by working with persistence, they came up with Coach Locating System and an Automated Ramp. The idea of Coach Locating System was developed mainly to aid the visually challenged group of the population. And Automated Ramp to help all kinds of differently abled groups and to prevent accidents. Another presentation that drew our attention was, the one made by Bharani Park Matric. HR.SEC School, Karur. They designed an innovative device to prevent the loss of lives due to landslides. “We spent more time looking into the problem, its core, where does it begin and how to prevent the loss of lives immediately when the landslides start to occur and that gave them the idea to build a device that could predict landslides “stated by one of the student.

Epilogue

The Blitz 2.0 made a significant impact on students and entrepreneur. The members of Yi organisation empathised with the audience and gave us necessary skills and tools through workshops, competitions, expo, on realms like entrepreneur, leadership, team dynamics, sustainability, artificial intelligence and beatbox. Professionals of respected domains led these initiatives. The programmes were conducted in different zones like Technical Advancements, Healthcare advancement, Manufacturing industry and Gaming industries these were components of innovation expo and Yi3.

The Thalir fest is a great initiative to motivate young minds in domains of Design thinking, Science and Technology, Theatre and poster making. The year fest included 45 cities and 100+ schools with 3800 students. The National fest of Thalir’s motive was to bring determination, imagination and innovation within students and prepare them to face upcoming challenges in future. The Thalir fest’s goal is to rise number of job givers than job seekers in India. As the day’s events drew to a close, a sense of excitement filled the room as participants eagerly awaited the much-anticipated announcement of the winners. The valedictory ceremony began with a celebratory tone, recognizing the efforts of all teams and their creative and innovative solutions. After a day filled with boundless spirit and determination, the moment had finally arrived to honour those who stood out. The second runner-up, Wisdom High International school, Govardhan campus, Nashik, earned the praise for their thoughtful and impactful presentation.

The first runner up, Indus International school, Hyderabad, their innovative approach and the way they explained in detail earned them high praise from the judges, placing them just shy of the top spot. The top honour of the competition was claimed by Cochin Refineries School, Kochi, whose exceptional problem-solving skills captivated the judges. Their ability to think outside the box, coupled with a well-structured and innovative solution, made them the clear winner. Overall, this is a wonderful platform to diversify knowledge, gain experience, and network with people.