Twelve talks, one question: who decides what we become?

On 5 November I spent the day in Rohania. TEDx Dalimss Sunbeam Schools Youth was being held at Dalimss Sunbeam School & Hostel. From the lamp lighting to the vote of thanks, the programme held twelve talks and two performances.

The first talk set the tone. Divesh Bathija, a mathematician who runs a maths debate league, spoke on "The Expectation We Never Questioned: The Mathematics of Life." It was a title about the assumptions we never check, and that turned out to be the thread running through the whole day.

Charvee Malhotra followed with a title that felt like it had been written by the audience itself: "Who Gets to Decide My Future?" Then Mansha Wadhwa, a student, walked up and called her talk "I Broke the Script." It is one thing to hear adults talk about breaking expectations. It is another to watch a classmate do it in front of the people who set those expectations.

After a performance from Rohania, Sumita Khanna Wahi spoke on "The Courage to Be Different: Why You Don't Have to Fit In to Belong," and Rudra Shankar Mishra of the Banaras Gharana on "Unexpected Change. Extraordinary Impact."

After the tea break, fashion designer Shimona Agrawal opened with "Failure Was Not In My Plan." Student Mihika Mishra came next with "What They Said Was Impossible." Then Dr Jivitesh Satija, a cardiologist, talked about "The Day I Changed the Definition of Success." Three people at very different points in life, all circling the same idea: the plan you were handed is not the only one.

After lunch, early years educator Shivani Kapoor spoke on "More Than A Mark." Lawyer Bismanjit Sabharwal followed with "The Career My Parents Never Imagined."

A performance from Mehmoorganj came before the last session. Anjali Singh, the third student speaker, took on "Unboxed Minds: Smart Students, Smarter Futures with AI," and clinical psychologist Dr Shweta Sharma closed the talks with "The Future Has No Job List: Unboxing Young Minds Beyond Labels, Pressure and Expectations."

Looking back, almost every title was a version of the same question Charvee asked in the morning. Who decides? The parents, the marks, the job list, the script? I don't think the day settled it. But it gave a hall full of young people permission to ask it out loud, and three of them answered from the stage themselves.

That, more than any single talk, is what I took home from Rohania.