What happens when a bunch of creative, passionate, articulate and talented people get together for two days of brainstorming and bonding? They Cerebrate.  This year’s Cerebrate was held in Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan at the beautiful Club Mahindra Fort Kumbhalgarh resort. The group included such talented individuals like Commander Satyabrata Dam (the only Indian to have scaled both the South and North Pole, Mountaineer Extraordinaire), R Madhavan the IITian turned farmer who is on his way to revolutionise farming, Timeri Murari the acclaimed author and film-maker and seven other highly interesting and motivated individuals.

What sets this event apart from any of the regular conferences is its structure and content. For starters, Cerebrate is an “unconference”, where everybody participates and contributes to the event. Because there isn’t a tight agenda, and the atmosphere is casual, people tend to be more honest and forthcoming in their discussions.

As the organiser, I had the privilege to participate at Cerebrate and come out wiser, and certainly more motivated and charged.

The topics covered were varied, as would be expected from this eclectic group and covered with such detail and enthusiasm. Nobody missed a word of what was said, which is surprising considering the disparity in the topics.  You had topics ranging from Mountaineering, Literature, Designs to Ethical Hacking! The days flew past in the midst of such interesting people, topics and the amazing camaraderie that weaved the group together.

Here are some photographs to sum up the event. I also plan to condense some of the topics covered as a video collage and post it on Youtube soon.

Notepad with the Cerebrate Logo

The Cerebrate 2009 Group

Satya takes us through an interesting mountain episode

Madhavan in Conversation