Wow, you look beautiful!

When a young British woman, Hannah Kern, said this to a bunch of well-turned-out Indian girls in the corridor of a Ranchi hotel, they initially looked at her with surprise but then smiled.

“See what I mean,” said Hannah, 25, a happiness activist here in Ranchi at a TEDx event along with 13 other achievers.

Hannah, on a 20,000km cycle trip from Hanoi to London, has so far cycled over 8,000km on her cycle that she lovingly calls Queenie. In all, she’ll cycle 24 countries.

“I’m cycling to raise funds for charity, and spreading happiness among people I meet on my way,” she said about her mission that began in Vietnam last April and is likely to continue for another year and a half. She’s cycled through Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh, she said, adding she had not got a Chinese visa. “I am not worried about the coronavirus. If I get the visa, I will go.”

“My aim is to raise 50,000 British pounds for charity,” she said, adding the money would go to Crisis (an outfit working for the homeless), Friends of the Earth (an environment group), Doctors Without Borders, and War Child, UK, that works for children affected by war.

What about her happiness project? “It’s simple. For example, whenever I make eye contact with people, I smile at them and they also smile in response,” she said, adding “smiles spread happiness”. “I say hello often. People from all over the world are friendlier when they hear a hello.”

Hannah Kern.

Along with Kern, at the TEDx event was Nandita Nagangoudar, the engineer-manager turned mountaineer who conquered four of the seven summits of the world, including Mount Everest. “I wanted to see how the world looks from the top,” she said.

Dr Arbinder Singal, a paediatric urologist who founded Fitterfly, a technology enabled child fitness and nutrition venture, said he believed “children are pulsating with life and energy”.

Caroline Chavier, co-founder of Paris Women in Machine Learning and Data Science, shared her journey as did Nirmal Saranna, an automative professional whose focus is on an accurate and timely information system in the Indian automotive industry.

Deepak Vohra, who began his career as a TV newsreader and eventually became a special adviser to the Prime Minister, shared his experiences.

Siddharth Kaushal who studied management at IIM-Indore and joined the IPS, narrated how they introduced “a low-cost digitisation that connected people with the policeman” in Andhra Pradesh.

Indian-born Archana Sharma, a scientist at CERN, Switzerland, who was part of the team that discovered the Higgs boson particle in 2012, as well as Manju Jakhar, an international golf regulation official, spoke about their diverse experiences. Ranchi entrepreneur Amitesh Anand also spoke at the meet.

The event ended with internationally renowned handpan player Sumit Kutani and Mumbai-based music composer Clive Vaz narrating their stories and performing.

The TEDx organised by a group of enthusiasts, led by Rajeev Gupta and Kanishk Poddar, had an audience of around 100. Tata Steel was the title sponsor with associate sponsors Coal India, TCS iON, Star Travels and XISS.

“Just a wonderful event,” said Deepak Maroo, former president of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries.