ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lakshmi Pratury - Connector
Lakshmi Pratury is the host of The INK Conference and was the co-host of TEDIndia 2009.

Why you should listen

After two decades in marketing, venture capitalism and social entreprenuership, Lakshmi Pratury turned her focus toward linking her home country of India more tightly with the American community. Her firm, Ixoraa Media, runs meetings and events to spark dialogue and make connections. In 2009, she co-hosted TEDIndia and saw such a warm response to the conference that she founded The INK Conference, in partnership with TED, that would pick up where TEDIndia left off. Watch the INKTalks channel  to see some of the brilliant ideas shared at the INK Conference. Pratury blogs at Lakshmi's Lounge.

She worked at Intel for 12 years as a marketer and evangelist, then moved to a VC firm, Global Capitalist Partners. At GCP, she focused on connecting India's legendary software-development community with US tech. She began to focus more strictly on relationship-building with her move to the America India Foundation, where she founded the AIF's Digital Equalizer program, offering technology education to some 80,000 children and 2,000 teachers in India. She also launched the AIF Summit for social entrepreneurs from India.

More profile about the speaker
Lakshmi Pratury | Speaker | TED.com
TED2007

Lakshmi Pratury: The lost art of letter-writing

Lakshmi Pratury fala sobre cartas

Filmed:
715,735 views

Lakshmi Pratury relembra a arte perdida de escrever cartas e compartilha anotações feitas por seu pai antes de falecer. Sua apresentação curta mas tocante pode inspirá-lo a escrever também.
- Connector
Lakshmi Pratury is the host of The INK Conference and was the co-host of TEDIndia 2009. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
So I thought, "I will talk about death."
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Então pensei: "Falarei sobre a morte."
00:14
Seemed to be the passion today.
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Parecia ser o tema do momento.
00:16
Actually, it's not about death.
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Na realidade, não é sobre a morte.
00:18
It's inevitable, terrible, but really what I want to talk about is,
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É inevitável, terrível, mas o que realmente desejo falar é
00:21
I'm just fascinated by the legacy people leave when they die.
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que estou sinceramente fascinada pelo legado deixado por aqueles que se vão.
00:24
That's what I want to talk about.
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É sobre isso que quero falar.
00:26
So Art Buchwald left his legacy of humor with a video
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Art Buchwald deixou seu legado humorístico com um vídeo
00:30
that appeared soon after he died, saying,
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que foi transmitido logo após sua morte, dizendo
00:32
"Hi! I'm Art Buchwald, and I just died."
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"Olá. Sou Art Buchwald e acabei de morrer."
00:36
And Mike, who I met at Galapagos, a trip which I won at TED,
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E Mike, que conheci em Galápagos, numa viagem proporcionada pelo TED,
00:41
is leaving notes on cyberspace where he is chronicling
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está deixando anotações no espaço cibernético que contam
00:45
his journey through cancer.
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sua jornada contra o câncer.
00:48
And my father left me a legacy of his handwriting
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E meu pai me deixou um legado escrito a mão
00:52
through letters and a notebook.
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em cartas e num caderno.
00:54
In the last two years of his life, when he was sick,
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Nos últimos dois anos de sua vida, quando estava doente,
00:58
he filled a notebook with his thoughts about me.
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ele preencheu um caderno com pensamentos sobre mim.
01:02
He wrote about my strengths, weaknesses,
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Ele escreveu sobre meus pontos fortes e fracos,
01:05
and gentle suggestions for improvement,
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além de sugestões sutis para que eu melhorasse,
01:09
quoting specific incidents, and held a mirror to my life.
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citando fatos específicos, dando-me um espelho para que eu examinasse minha vida.
01:15
After he died, I realized that no one writes to me anymore.
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Após sua morte, percebi que ninguém mais escreve para mim.
01:20
Handwriting is a disappearing art.
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A arte de escrever a mão está desaparecendo.
01:23
I'm all for email and thinking while typing,
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Sou a favor de enviar e-mails e pensar enquanto digito,
01:26
but why give up old habits for new?
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mas por que abandonar hábitos antigos por novos?
01:29
Why can't we have letter writing and email exchange in our lives?
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Por que não podemos fazer os dois?
01:33
There are times when I want to trade all those years
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Há momentos em que gostaria de trocar todos aqueles anos
01:39
that I was too busy to sit with my dad and chat with him,
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em que eu estava ocupada demais para poder sentar e conversar com meu pai,
01:43
and trade all those years for one hug.
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trocá-los por um abraço.
01:49
But too late.
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Mas é tarde demais.
01:51
But that's when I take out his letters and I read them,
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É nesse momento que pego suas cartas e as leio,
01:57
and the paper that touched his hand is in mine,
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e o papel que tocou sua mão está nas minhas,
02:00
and I feel connected to him.
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e sinto-me conectada a ele.
02:03
So maybe we all need to leave our children
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Talvez todos precisemos deixar para nossos filhos
02:07
with a value legacy, and not a financial one.
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um valor como legado, e não estou falando de dinheiro.
02:10
A value for things with a personal touch --
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Um valor por coisas com um toque pessoal --
02:13
an autograph book, a soul-searching letter.
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um livro autografado, uma carta existencial.
02:17
If a fraction of this powerful TED audience
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Se uma fração dos espectadores do TED
02:20
could be inspired to buy a beautiful paper --
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puder ser inspirada a comprar um papel bonito --
02:22
John, it'll be a recycled one -- and write a beautiful letter
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John, será papel reciclado -- e escrever uma bela carta
02:27
to someone they love, we actually may start a revolution
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para um ente querido, podemos de fato começar uma revolução
02:30
where our children may go to penmanship classes.
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na qual nossos filhos vão a aulas de como escrever a mão.
02:33
So what do I plan to leave for my son?
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Então o que planejo deixar para o meu filho?
02:37
I collect autograph books, and those of you authors
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Coleciono livros autografados, e todos vocês autores
02:39
in the audience know I hound you for them --
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na platéia sabem que corro atrás de seus autógrafos --
02:42
and CDs too, Tracy.
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e CDs também, Tracy.
02:44
I plan to publish my own notebook.
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Pretendo publicar meu próprio caderno.
02:48
As I witnessed my father's body being swallowed by fire,
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Enquanto testemunhava o corpo do meu pai ser engolido pelo fogo,
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I sat by his funeral pyre and wrote.
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sentei ao lado de sua pira funeral e escrevi.
02:56
I have no idea how I'm going to do it,
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Não faço a menor idéia de como farei,
02:57
but I am committed to compiling his thoughts and mine
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mas estou determinada a compilar os seus e os meus pensamentos
03:00
into a book, and leave that published book for my son.
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em um livro e publicá-lo para o meu filho.
03:04
I'd like to end with a few verses of what I wrote
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Gostaria de encerrar com alguns versos que escrevi
03:06
at my father's cremation.
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na cremação do meu pai.
03:08
And those linguists, please pardon the grammar,
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Linguistas, por favor perdoe-me por minha gramática,
03:11
because I've not looked at it in the last 10 years.
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pois há 10 anos não a revejo.
03:13
I took it out for the first time to come here.
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Trouxe esses versos pela primeira vez para vir aqui.
03:16
"Picture in a frame, ashes in a bottle,
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"Uma foto em uma moldura, cinzas em uma garrafa,
03:20
boundless energy confined in the bottle,
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infinita energia confinada em uma garrafa,
03:23
forcing me to deal with reality,
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forçando-me a lidar com a realidade,
03:26
forcing me to deal with being grown up.
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forçando-me a ser adulta.
03:29
I hear you and I know that you would want me to be strong,
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Ouço você e sei que iria querer que eu fosse forte,
03:33
but right now, I am being sucked down, surrounded
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mas neste instante, estou sendo drenada, circundada
03:37
and suffocated by these raging emotional waters,
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e sufocada por essas águas emocionais revoltas,
03:40
craving to cleanse my soul, trying to emerge
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ansiando limpar minha alma, tentando emergir
03:43
on a firm footing one more time, to keep on fighting and flourishing
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com pés firmes uma vez mais, para continuar lutando e crescendo
03:49
just as you taught me.
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da maneira que me ensinou.
03:51
Your encouraging whispers in my whirlpool of despair,
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Seus sussurros encorajadores no meu redemoinho de desespero,
03:55
holding me and heaving me to shores of sanity,
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segurando-me e lançando-me para terras de sanidade
04:00
to live again and to love again."
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para viver novamente e amar novamente."
04:02
Thank you.
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Obrigada.
Translated by Carla D'Elia
Reviewed by Belucio Haibara

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lakshmi Pratury - Connector
Lakshmi Pratury is the host of The INK Conference and was the co-host of TEDIndia 2009.

Why you should listen

After two decades in marketing, venture capitalism and social entreprenuership, Lakshmi Pratury turned her focus toward linking her home country of India more tightly with the American community. Her firm, Ixoraa Media, runs meetings and events to spark dialogue and make connections. In 2009, she co-hosted TEDIndia and saw such a warm response to the conference that she founded The INK Conference, in partnership with TED, that would pick up where TEDIndia left off. Watch the INKTalks channel  to see some of the brilliant ideas shared at the INK Conference. Pratury blogs at Lakshmi's Lounge.

She worked at Intel for 12 years as a marketer and evangelist, then moved to a VC firm, Global Capitalist Partners. At GCP, she focused on connecting India's legendary software-development community with US tech. She began to focus more strictly on relationship-building with her move to the America India Foundation, where she founded the AIF's Digital Equalizer program, offering technology education to some 80,000 children and 2,000 teachers in India. She also launched the AIF Summit for social entrepreneurs from India.

More profile about the speaker
Lakshmi Pratury | Speaker | TED.com