About 75 years ago, my grandfather, a young man, walked into a tent that was converted into a movie theater like that, and he fell hopelessly in love with the woman he saw on the silver screen: none other than Mae West, the heartthrob of the '30s, and he could never forget her. In fact, when he had his daughter many years later, he wanted to name her after Mae West, but can you imagine an Indian child name Mae West? The Indian family said, no way!
Prije otprilike 75 godina moj djed, mladić, ušetao je u šator koji je bio pretvoren u kino kao što je ovo i beznadno se zaljubio u ženu koju je vidio na filmskom ekranu: nitko drugi nego Mae West, miljenica 30-ih godina i nije je mogao nikako zaboraviti. Zapravo, kad mu se rodila kći nakon mnogo godina, htio ju je nazvati Mae West, ali možete li zamisliti Mae West kao ime za indijsko dijete? Indijska obitelj je rekla: nema šanse!
So when my twin brother Kaesava was born, he decided to tinker with the spelling of Keshava's name. He said, if Mae West can be M-A-E, why can't Keshava be K-A-E? So he changed Kaesava's spelling. Now Kaesava had a baby boy called Rehan a couple of weeks ago. He decided to spell, or, rather, misspell Raehan with an A-E.
Pa kad se moj brat blizanac Kaesava rodio, odlučio se poigrati s poretkom slova u imenu Keshava. Rekao je: ako Mae West može biti M-A-E, zašto Keshava ne bi bio K-A-E? Tako je promijenio Kaesavin poredak slova u imenu. Onda se Kaesavi rodio dječačić kojeg su nazvali Rehan prije nekoliko tjedana. Odlučio je napisati ili, radije, pogrešno napisati Raehan s A-E.
You know, my grandfather died many years ago when I was little, but his love for Mae West lives on as a misspelling in the DNA of his progeny. That for me is successful legacy. (Laughs)
Znate, moj djed je umro prije mnogo godina dok sam bio mali, no njegova ljubav prema Mae West živi kao pogrešno napisana riječ u DNK njegovog potomstva. Za mene je to uspješno naslijeđe. (Smije se)
You know, as for me, my wife and I have our own crazy legacy project. We actually sit every few years, argue, disagree, fight, and actually come up with our very own 200-year plan.
Znate, što se mene tiče, moja žena i ja imamo svoj vlastiti ludi projekt naslijeđa. Mi svakih nekoliko godina sjednemo, raspravljamo, prepiremo se, svađamo se i na kraju smislimo naš vlastiti 200-godišnji plan.
Our friends think we're mad. Our parents think we're cuckoo. Because, you know, we both come from families that really look up to humility and wisdom, but we both like to live larger than life. I believe in the concept of a Raja Yogi: Be a dude before you can become an ascetic. This is me being a rock star, even if it's in my own house. You know?
Naši prijatelji misle da smo ludi. Naši roditelji misle da smo šašavi. Zato što, znate, oboje dolazimo iz obitelji koje zaista poštuju poniznost i mudrost, no mi oboje volimo živjeti izvan okvira stvarnosti. Vjeujem u koncept Raja Yogi: Budi frajer prije nego postaneš asket. Ovo sam ja kao rock zvijezda čak i ako je to samo u mojoj kući. Znate?
So when Netra and I sat down to make our first plan 10 years ago, we said we want the focus of this plan to go way beyond ourselves. What do we mean by beyond ourselves?
Kad smo Netra i ja sjeli da napravimo svoj prvi plan prije 10 godina, rekli smo da fokus ovog plana ode daleko iznad nas samih. Što mislimo kada kažemo "iznad nas samih"?
Well 200 years, we calculated, is at the end of our direct contact with the world. There's nobody I'll meet in my life will ever live beyond 200 years, so we thought that's a perfect place where we should situate our plan and let our imagination take flight.
Dakle, izračunali smo da je 200 godina na kraju našeg izravnog dodira sa svijetom. Nitko koga upoznam u svome životu neće živjeti više od 200 godina, pa smo mislili kako je to savršeno vrijeme u kojem bismo trebali smjestiti naš plan i pustiti mašti na volju.
You know, I never really believed in legacy. What am I going to leave behind? I'm an artist. Until I made a cartoon about 9/11. It caused so much trouble for me. I was so upset. You know, a cartoon that was meant to be a cartoon of the week ended up staying so much longer.
Znate, zapravo nikad nisam vjerovao u naslijeđe. Što ću ostaviti za sobom? Ja sam umjetnik. Dok nisam napravio karikaturu o 11. rujnu. To mi je prouzročilo mnogo problema. Bio sam tako uzrujan. Znate, karikatura koja je trebala biti karikatura tjedna na kraju se zadržala puno dulje.
Now I'm in the business of creating art that will definitely even outlive me, and I think about what I want to leave behind through those paintings.
Sada mi je posao stvoriti umjetničko djelo koje će me sigurno nadživjeti i razmišljam o tome što želim ostaviti iza sebe s tim slikama.
You know, the 9/11 cartoon upset me so much that I decided I'll never cartoon again. I said, I'm never going to make any honest public commentary again.
Znate, karikatura o 11. rujnu me toliko uzrujala da sam odlučio da više nikad neću raditi karikature. Rekao sam, više nikad neću dati iskren i javni komentar.
But of course I continued creating artwork that was honest and raw, because I forgot about how people reacted to my work.
Ali, naravno, nastavio sam stvarati umjetničke radove koje su bili iskreni i sirovi, zato što sam zaboravio kako su ljudi reagirali na moje radove.
You know, sometimes forgetting is so important to remain idealistic. Perhaps loss of memory is so crucial for our survival as human beings.
Znate, ponekad je zaboravljanje jako važno da bi se ostalo idealistom. Možda je gubljenje sjećanja presudno za naš opstanak kao ljudska bića.
One of the most important things in my 200-year plan that Netra and I write is what to forget about ourselves. You know, we carry so much baggage, from our parents, from our society, from so many people -- fears, insecurities -- and our 200-year plan really lists all our childhood problems that we have to expire. We actually put an expiry date on all our childhood problems. The latest date I put was, I said, I am going to expire my fear of my leftist, feminist mother-in-law, and this today is the date! (Laughs) She's watching. (Laughter)
Jedna od najvažnijih stvari u mom 200-godišnjem planu koji Netra i ja pišemo jest što da zaboravimo o nama. Znate, nosimo sa sobom toliko prtljage, naših roditelja, našeg društva, toliko ljudi - strahova, nesigurnosti - i naš 200-godišnji plan stvarno nabraja sve naše probleme iz djetinjstva koje trebamo prebroditi. Zapravo stavljamo rok trajanja na naše probleme iz djetinjstva. Zadnji rok koji sam postavio je, rekao sam, da ću prevladati svoj strah od svoje lijevoorijentirane, feminističke punice i to je današnji datum! (Smije se) Upravo gleda. (Smijeh)
Anyway, you know, I really make decisions all the time about how I want to remember myself, and that's the most important kind of decisions I make. And this directly translates into my paintings. But like my friends, I can do that really well on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube. Name it, I'm on it. I've started outsourcing my memory to the digital world, you know? But that comes with a problem. It's so easy to think of technology as a metaphor for memory, but our brains are not perfect storage devices like technology. We only remember what we want to. At least I do. And I rather think of our brains as biased curators of our memory, you know? And if technology is not a metaphor for memory, what is it?
Kako god, znate, zaista cijelo vrijeme donosim odluke o tome kako želim pamtiti samog sebe i to je najvažnija vrsta odluke koju donosim. I to se izravno ocrtava u mojim slikama. No, poput mojih prijatelja. to mogu napraviti vrlo dobro na Facebooku, Pinterestu, Twitteru, Flickeru. YouTubeu. Navedite bilo što i ja sam tamo. Počeo sam prenositi svoja sjećanja u digitalni svijet., znate? No, to je popraćeno problemom. Lako je shvaćati tehnologiju kao metaforu za sjećanje, no naši mozgovi nisu savršeni mehanizmi za pohranu kao što je to tehnologija. Sjećamo se samo onoga čega se želimo sjećati. Barem je tako kod mene. I radije bih shvaćao naše mozgove kao pristrane urednike našeg sjećanja, znate? I ako tehnologija nije metafora za sjećanje, što jest?
Netra and I use our technology as a tool in our 200-year plan to really curate our digital legacy.
Netra i ja koristimo našu tehnologiju kao alat u našem 200-godišnjem planu kako bismo zaista uredili naše digitalno naslijeđe.
That is a picture of my mother, and she recently got a Facebook account. You know where this is going. And I've been very supportive until this picture shows up on my Facebook page. (Laughter)
Ovo je slika moje majke i nedavno je otvorila Facebook profil. Znate kamo ovo vodi. I jako sam je podupirao, sve dok se ova slika nije pojavila na mojoj Facebook stranici. (Smijeh)
And I actually untagged myself first, then I picked up the phone. I said, "Mom, you will never put a picture of me in a bikini ever again." And she said, "Why? You look so cute, darling." I said, "You just don't understand."
I prvo sam skinuo svoj tag, onda sam je nazvao. Rekao sam: "Mama, više nikad nećeš staviti sliku mene u bikiniju." A ona je rekla: "Zašto? Izgledaš tako slatko, dušo." Rekao sam: " Ne razumiješ."
Maybe we are among the first generation that really understands this digital curating of ourselves. Maybe we are the first to even actively record our lives.
Možda smo mi među prvim generacijama koje stvarno razumiju to digitalno uredništvo nas samih. Možda smo mi prvi koji aktivno bilježe svoje živote.
You know, whether you agree with, you know, legacy or not, we are actually leaving behind digital traces all the time. So Netra and I really wanted to use our 200-year plan to curate this digital legacy, and not only digital legacy but we believe in curating the legacy of my past and future.
Znate, slažete li se s naslijeđem ili ne, mi zapravo cijelo vrijeme za sobom ostavljamo digitalne tragove. Tako da smo Netra i ja stvarno željeli iskoristiti naš 200-godišnji plan da uredimo naše digitalno naslijeđe i ne samo digitalno naslijeđe, već vjerujemo u uređivanje naslijeđa moje prošlosti i budućnosti.
How, you may ask?
Kako, pitat ćete?
Well, when I think of the future, I never see myself moving forward in time. I actually see time moving backward towards me. I can actually visualize my future approaching. I can dodge what I don't want and pull in what I want. It's like a video game obstacle course. And I've gotten better and better at doing this. Even when I make a painting, I actually imagine I'm behind the painting, it already exists, and someone's looking at it, and I see whether they're feeling it from their gut. Are they feeling it from their heart, or is it just a cerebral thing? And it really informs my painting. Even when I do an art show, I really think about, what should people walk away with?
Dakle, kad razmišljam o budućnosti, nikad se ne vidim kako se krećem prema naprijed u vremenu. Zapravo vidim vrijeme kako se kreće unatrag prema meni. Zaista mogu predočiti svoju budućnost kako mi se približava. Mogu izbjeći što ne želim i privući što želim. To je kao prepreka u utrci u video igrici. I postao sam sve bolji i bolji u ovome. Čak i kad napravim sliku, zamišljam da sam iza slike, da već postoji, i da je netko promatra i vidim osjeća li je iz svoje dubine. Osjeća li je iz svog srca ili je to tek povezano s mozgom? I to zaista obavještava moje slikanje. Čak i kad imam izložbu, stvarno razmišljam sa čime bi ljudi trebali otići.
I remember when I was 19, I did, I wanted to do my first art exhibition, and I wanted the whole world to know about it. I didn't know TED then, but what I did was I closed my eyes tight, and I started dreaming. I could imagine people coming in, dressed up, looking beautiful, my paintings with all the light, and in my visualization I actually saw a very famous actress launching my show, giving credibility to me. And I woke up from my visualization and I said, who was that? I couldn't tell if it was Shabana Azmi or Rekha, two very famous Indian actresses, like the Meryl Streeps of India.
Sjećam se kad sam imao 19, imao sam, htio sam imati svoju prvu izložbu i htio sam da cijeli svijet to zna. Tada nisam znao za TED, no što sam učino je da sam čvrsto zatvorio oči i počeo sam sanjariti. Mogao sam zamisliti ljude kako ulaze, lijepo obučeni, izgledaju prekrasno, moje slike pod svim svjetlima i u svojoj predodžbi zaista sam vidio vrlo slavnu glumicu kako otvara moju izložbu, daje mi vjerodostojnost. Probudio sam se iz svoje predodžbe i rekao: Tko je to bio? Nisam mogao shvatiti je li to bila Shabana Azmi ili Rekha, dvije vrlo poznate indijske glumice, poput Maryl Streep Indije.
As it turned out, next morning I wrote a letter to both of them, and Shabana Azmi replied, and came and launched my very first show 12 years ago. And what a bang it started my career with! You know, when we think of time in this way, we can curate not only the future but also the past. This is a picture of my family, and that is Netra, my wife. She's the co-creator of my 200-year plan.
Na kraju je ispalo da sam sljedeće jutro napisao pismo i jednoj i drugoj i Shabana Azmi je odgovorila i došla otvoriti moju prvu izložbu prije 12 godina. I s kakvim praskom je moja karijera započela! Znate, kad razmišljamo o vremenu na ovaj način, možemo urediti ne samo budućnost nego i prošlost. Ovo je slika moje obitelji, a ovo je Netra, moja žena. Ona je suradnik u stvaranju mog 200-godišnjeg plana.
Netra's a high school history teacher. I love Netra, but I hate history. I keep saying, "Nets, you live in the past while I'll create the future, and when I'm done, you can study about it." (Laughter)
Netra je profesor povijesti u srednjoj školi. Volim Netru, ali mrzim povijest. Neprestano govorim: "Nets, ti živiš u prošlosti dok ja stvaram budućnost, a kad završim, ti možeš to proučavati." (Smijeh)
She gave me an indulgent smile, and as punishment, she said, "Tomorrow I'm teaching a class on Indian history, and you are sitting in it, and I'm grading you."
Obzirno mi se nasmiješila i kao kaznu rekla: "Sutra poučavam razred o indijskoj povijesti i ti ćeš ga odslušati i dat ću ti ocjenu."
I'm like, "Oh, God." I went.
Rekao sam: "Oh Bože."
I actually went and sat in on her class. She started by giving students primary source documents from India, Pakistan, from Britain, and I said, "Wow." Then she asked them to separate fact from bias. I said, "Wow," again. Then she said, "Choose your facts and biases and create an image of your own story of dignity."
Stvarno sam otišao i odslušao njezino predavanje. Započela je dajući učenicima izvorne dokumente iz Indije, Pakistana, iz Velike Britanije i rekao sam: "Opa." Onda ih je zatražila da razdvoje činjenice od pristranog mišljenja. Ponovno sam rekao: "Opa." Onda je rekla: "Izaberite svoje činjenice i pristrana mišljenja i stvorite sliku vlastite dostojanstvene priče."
History as an imaging tool? I was so inspired.
Povijest kao alat mašte? Bio sam toliko nadahnut.
I went and created my own version of Indian history. I actually included stories from my grandmother. She used to work for the telephone exchange, and she used to actually overhear conversations between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten. And she used to hear all kinds of things she shouldn't have heard. But, you know, I include things like that. This is my version of Indian history.
Stvorio sam vlastitu verziju indijske povijesti. Uključio sam priče svoje bake. Radila je za telefonsku centralu i slučajno bi čula razgovore između Nehrua i Edwine Mountbatten. I znala je čuti svakakve stvari koje nije trebala čuti. Ali, znate, uključujem i takve stvari. To je moja verzija indijske povijesti.
You know, if this is so, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, the primary objective of our brains is to serve our dignity. Go tell Facebook to figure that out!
Znate, ako je to tako, palo mi je na pamet da možda, možda je osnovna svrha naših mozgova da služi našoj dostojanstvenosti. Recite Facebooku da to shvati!
Netra and I don't write our 200-year plan for someone else to come and execute it in 150 years. Imagine receiving a parcel saying, from the past, okay now you're supposed to spend the rest of your life doing all of this. No. We actually write it only to set our attitudes right.
Netra i ja ne pišemo naš 200-godišnji plan za nekoga drugoga da dođe i izvrši ga u 150 godina. Zamislite da ste primili paket iz prošlosti koji kaže: U redu, sad bi trebao provesti ostatak života čineći sve ovo. Ne. Zapravo to pišemo samo kako bismo pravilno postavili svoje stavove.
You know, I used to believe that education is the most important tool to leave a meaningful legacy. Education is great. It really teaches us who we are, and helps us contextualize ourselves in the world, but it's really my creativity that's taught me that I can be much more than what my education told me I am.
Znate, vjerovao sam da je obrazovanje najvažniji alat kojim se ostavlja značajno naslijeđe. Obrazovanje je odlično. Zaista nas uči tko smo i pomaže nam staviti sebe same u kontekst svijeta, no zapravo me moja kreativnost naučila da mogu biti mnogo više nego što mi je moje obrazovanje reklo da jesam.
I'd like to make the argument that creativity is the most important tool we have. It lets us create who we are, and curate what is to come.
Volio bih dati argument da je kreativnost najvažniji alat koji imamo. Pomaže nam stvoriti ono što jesmo i urediti ono što slijedi.
I like to think -- Thank you.
Volim zamišljati -- Hvala.
I like to think of myself as a storyteller, where my past and my future are only stories, my stories, waiting to be told and retold. I hope all of you one day get a chance to share and write your own 200-year story.
Volim se zamišljati kao pripovjedača, gdje su moja prošlost i moja budućnost jedine priče, moje priče, koje tek treba ispričati i ponovno ispričati. Nadam se da ćete vi svi jednoga dana dobiti priliku podijeliti i napisati vlastitu 200-godišnju priču.
Thank you so much.
Puno vam hvala.
Shukran! (Applause)
Hvala! (Pljesak)