‘Irrational optimists’ create campaign to invite Obama to B’luru

BENGALURU: Ask Shreyans Jain to describe the Under 25 community and he says, “We are a bunch of irrational optimists.” Case in point: Under 25, a city-based media and entertainment company, is aiming on getting former USA president Barack Obama as the keynote speaker for their Under 25 Summit, their annual youth festival, in February ‘19.

“The youngsters who come for the summit get inspired. But we need to extend this to our parents too and that’s where we suffer from a generation gap. Who better than a global ambassador like Barack Obama to bridge this gap?” asks Anto Philip, who co-founded the company with Jain.

In order to achieve this goal, the Under 25 community released an open letter in the form of a video, dedicated to the former president. The video features students, influencers and members from the community talking about why the country needs Obama to visit us. Released on December 11, the video has already received over 29,000 views on YouTube. “We’ve seen students from Odisha, Bhubaneswar and other parts of the country share our video too. They’ve used every platform available to try and reach out to Obama,” says Jain.

But while the support pouring in has been overwhelming, naysayers have also told Philip that the attempt might be “too ambitious.” “Of course, there will be those who remind us that there is no way we will have access to Obama. But the ex-president’s personal belief is what keeps us going: If we don’t try to go against all odds, we will never grow or progress,” says Philip.

The summit will be held in February next year and the team is going all out to draw Obama’s attention to the video. “We’re trying our best to reach out to him and haven’t placed any timelines yet. This is a
genuine effort in gauging the power of the youth,”explains Jain.