Eloquence

eloQuence

Edition: 38 MARCH 2014

WMC Toastmasters#603459

Area 35, Division K, District 20, Kingdom of Bahrain

DREAM….BELIEVE

ACHIEVE

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President’s Message WHERE LEADERS ARE MADE

OFFICE bearers 2013-2014 WMCTMC

President TM Raveendran VP Education TM Roshni Pinto VP Membership TM Khushboo Rajusth VP Public Relation TM Alka Kumra

Secretary TM Sanjeev Bhalla

Treasurer TM Leena Pillai

Sgt At Arms TM Vikrant Sawant IT Co-Ordinator TM Bhuvanesh Kumar

OUR MEETINGS OUR MEETINGS Meeting time and venue: First and third Friday every month 4 pm – 6:30 pm at Boardroom Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bahrain

Dear Friends, Every morning first thing I do is to drink one liter of lukewarm water……for over 10 years now. Of course, this is a healthy habit and has brought a lot of goodness into my body. When I delivered my project speech on water therapy about few months ago, several toastmasters started following my habit of drinking water. I am sure they must have benefitted out of this habit.

Similarly before joining Toastmasters Club, several friends told me that joining toastmasters is a waste of time and energy. Hence, even though my son, Dilvrish joined, participated and learnt from the YLP programme conducted about 9 years back by WMC TMC for the youngsters of Marthoma Church & Indian Ladies Association, I did not join. Time flew …..

Four years later, Dr. Suresh Karunakaran dropped in at my office for a chat. During our conversation he mentioned about WMC Toastmasters. I was convinced about its value and growth possibilities for me and as per his invitation; I went to Mercure Grand hotel to witness the WMC TMC meeting. Upon attending the meeting I felt good and was tempted to join the WMCTMC. Later, I attended 2 meetings consecutively and joined WMCTMC. 5-years have now passed……

All these happened as a dream and today I am the President of WMCTMC, one of the best toastmaster clubs in Bahrain. Toast mastering immensely helped my personal and professional growth.

We started our term with the theme “Believe in yourself” on 1st July 2013. Let us all believe in ourselves and move forward for a brighter tomorrow.

CONTACTING WMC-TMC wmc-excom1314@googlegroups.com

M. Raveendran

President WMC Toastmasters Club 2013 - 14

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The Toastmasters International

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The Toastmasters’ Growing Community

From the Editor’s Desk As the third quarter of our term passes by and we get closer to the end of our term, it is time to reflect back and assess our achievements and to have a specific gameplan to march forward to fulfil the remaining aims and objectives by end of June 2014. That is what inspired me to choose the theme for this edition, viz., success or achievement.

The quarter of the club year that ended, was practically dedicated to the annual contests. And as our members were preparing for the contests, with enthusiasm and expectations of succeeding in their pursuit, at club level, the objective of getting the perfect DCP points has been driving everyone on.

At the same time, at professional level, this is the time when we reap the rewards of our dedication and hard work throughout the previous year. Depending upon the policies and circumstances of the institution that we work for, some of us are happy getting bonuses and others feel a sense of achievement getting promotions or incentives.

Toastmasters International (TMI) is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations.

While TMI was founded in 1924, and grew gradually across the US, by 1941, Ralph C Smedley, its founder, realized that Toastmasters needed his full-time attention.

He resigned from the YMCA and opened a small office in downtown California, with a desk, typewriter, telephone and a second-hand address machine. A secretary would handle his correspondence while he wrote materials for the club’s use.

The first Toastmasters manual was copyrighted by Smedley in 1928, which is now called the ‘Club Management Handbook’. He also wrote several other books/ articles on public speaking and parliamentary procedure. The Voice of the Speaker, Speech Evaluation and The Amateur Chairman were some of these writings. Meanwhile, TMI expanded and the single-room office expanded to four, with past international president Ted Blanding at the position of executive secretary, while Smedley became educational director and concentrated on evolving the learning processes and materials. Smedley was involved in the educational program of Toastmasters International until shortly before his death in 1965 at the age of 87.

In 1962, Toastmasters built its own 27,000 sq-ft office building in Santa Ana, as it grew to 3500 clubs. A second growth spurt came with the decision to accept women as members in 1973. In June 1990, Toastmasters International moved into a new building which is the present headquarters of TMI. The above has been referenced from Orange Coast magazine. For more information about Toastmasters clubs, please visit www.toastmasters.org.

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At the home front, in most families, this is the time of the year when the children are preparing for final exams of their academic year and getting or looking forward to getting their results, with a sense of anticipation and expectation. We come across proud parents and grandparents, happy children and their friends basking in the glory of their achievements.

The term ‘achievement’ or ‘success’ might have a different meaning for each of us, but it is definitely something that makes us proud, whether it is in the field of academics or an art. The talented members of our versatile club, which achieved the distinction of having completed a successful decade of its existence during this term, have presented their version of achievement through their articles on the next few pages of this newsletter.

As the TMI founder Ralph C Smedley said, “The destination determines the direction.” And so it is, that our personal goals determine our achievements, be it in life in general, or any exam, profession or position in specific.

Set your aims and you will reach there with patience and perseverance, as we see our club marching ahead to glory with the only aim being to achieve excellence with a belief in ourselves.

Alka P Kumra

Club Vice President Public Relations

Success and Achievement The meaning of the word “Success” as per the MacMillan dictionary is “the achievement of something that you planned to do or attempted to do”. The word “Achievement” is used to describe success in the dictionary and people might even use them interchangeably. Although success and achievement may sound synonymous to many, I still perceive them to be different.

Achievements for me are like goals we set or the milestones in our lives. One may be proud of his/ her achievements. Again achievements are purely personal and subjective. Achievement for one person may mean something else for another person. Achievements may be tangible and measurable.

My belief is that, when your achievements are in line with your values then, you can term it as “success”. Again this is an individual perspective. Success is usually associated with emotions (feelings) and belief system and is intangible in nature.

Success gives one a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction, whereas Achievements may or may not give a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction.

One could equate Achievement with a result and Success with a process. Achievements are directed outwards and Success is directed inwards. A person may not have achieved much in terms of materialistic wealth and if that person has a kind heart filled with love, contentment and an attitude of gratitude then indeed that person can be termed successful.

Success is all about persistence with patience and enthusiasm. Success is more about living a life filled with joy, bliss, richness, flexibility, adaptability, contentment and an attitude of gratitude. Success is not final and it is continuously improving oneself by raising the bar each time.

For me the great people like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Swami Vivekananda were successful and at the same time they have achieved a lot in their lives. They have set an example for others to follow.

Success is getting up after falling down. Success is the ability to smile at setbacks and to keep your intensity and motivation high. Success does not define us, we define success. I have decided to fight every day and keep the fire in me burning and achieve goals set for the next 2-3 years. The process by which I will achieve my goals will be a success for me.

TM Shankar Prasad

Winds of change “If you don’t know where you are going, the path you take will lead you there,” I recently heard a professor say while lecturing on failures and success of projects.

In my opinion life is a project and success is a subjective word, success to one individual may not be anywhere close to success to another.

As a teenager, my main ambition was to be free,

to do whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to and however I wanted.

I have always experienced that freedom comes at a cost which I have paid and keep paying the price one-way or the other and now understanding that freedom comes with responsibility.

I have always wanted to be a free bird, I still remember the poster displayed on my friend’s room wall in my early teens which said, “Don’t drink and drive, smoke and fly”.

I am the eldest in the family, a status that came with a lot of responsibility from a young age. I had decided in my 10th grade, that I would start working as soon as possible, so I could have fun and freedom. I always wanted to be independent from a young age, but in reality I remained with my parents even after I got married.

When my classmates decided to go to university, I decided to 5 - eloquence

attend technical school by day and evening college by night. I felt good when I cleared both the exams the same year and was happy that it was now time to start earning money realizing then that with money come more needs and responsibilities.

I was 17 ½ years old, when I earned my first official salary, which was called stipend and soon after the training department of this central government company got to know about my minor status. For safety reasons they got me to work in their planning office, which to my good fortune, kept me away from the dusty iron ore plant and greasy coveralls.

Part of my dream of living an independent life came true when I moved to Goa with a cousin of mine, immediately after appearing for the government apprenticeship exams. At 19, I had to work hard to make a living far away from home. I worked for an old retired angry army man, who owned a fabrication work shop and had a fixed contract with a major pharmaceutical company. Old man was well built but had severe problems with his hip joints and would walk in pain using a walking stick.

After a couple of months the angry old man threw me out of his workshop along with a few others for no fault of mine. Within a couple of weeks he called me back and soon handed over the responsibilities of his workshop to me and very soon we became good friends. I worked for him for around 2 years and left Goa to continue my studies, with his words ringing in my head, “Son, fortune favours only the brave, so don’t give up on your dreams”.

We occasionally kept in touch, until he passed away a few years back. This relationship was an experience of a life time, of understanding a man’s struggle to lead a decent & successful life until the day he passed away.

I attended a campus interview in the final year. I had not heard the name of the company, nor did I bother to know anything about them. My intention to attend this interview was to gain experience on handling such interviews in the future. It was pure destiny that I secured this job and

surprisingly I am still working with them as I write these lines.

Around 9 years back, immediately after the christening of my 40 days’ old daughter, I came to the Gulf, looking for financial success after giving up with the company in India. Once in Dubai as I walked the streets, took a bus ride or taxi, knocking on corporate doors, trying to find a suitable job, I would day dream of staying with my family in a nice villa & owning a nice car and becoming rich and successful. After 2 months of struggle in Dubai my prayers were heard by God. The same company that I had been working for in India had an urgent requirement. They called me for an interview and gave me an appointment letter immediately. With the grace of God, I quickly achieved my goals. I found out in time that materialistic success does not guarantee happiness and spirituality is the corner stone to build lasting happiness.

This year I complete a quarter of a century, since I started working. Personally it is one of my greatest achievements till date.

For me the word success has evolved with time and now I believe that success can only be truly measured by the amount of happiness that one presently experiences in life. Constant happiness is the perfect measurement of a successful life, I am getting there, and I am aware and agree that I am still far away from it.

I hold on to my dream of being free one day and constantly happy, and also wish to have total control over my thoughts and thereby aligning them via words and actions and not to be dumbstruck as usual while attending Toastmasters meetings.

My dream of attaining nirvana in this chaotic world sets my thoughts galloping like a wild horse on how to reach this ultimate goal of mine. Time will tell if I have managed to come closer to achieving it or if the winds of change have blown it further away from me...……..

TM Joseph Pinto

Go MAD!!!

Have you ever wondered what the remarkable accomplishment in your life is? How does one feel to live his life to the fullest!?

I have been trapped in this vicious loop of questions for long time & it really does nag my conscience.

existence is like reaching for the horizon. The more you feel closer to it the farther you are. It is possible to assess your notions and stance about life by questioning yourself.

Life, as we know, doesn’t come with a prepackaged meaning.

In fact we create the meaning. The real essence of Life comes from all the corners in the cusp of a day through the friends we meet, colleagues we deal with or even the passersby.

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“How do I wish to be known as after my death?”

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“What’s my real purpose of life?”

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“What do I have to give to the world?”

Everybody has something to teach if you keep your heart wide open. As days pass one by one from our life, we evolve into a new individual. But the question remains, am I a better person than what I was yesterday? We all know that to exist as a human is easy, but to live! Finding the meaning of one’s

•

“Am I able to laugh my heart out”?

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Just think about the following.

If you have a clear cut answer for them, you are living your life with a purpose! Otherwise start overhauling your mind.

On deep introspection, I have found a couple of ways, which

could bring about a difference in one’s perspective towards life Live in the present! Albeit it sounds clichéd, has a hell of a power in it. Bill Keane once told, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, which is why we call it the present!” So we must forget the worries of yesterdays and live in the present. Life will be much better if you can let go of the past. Merely worrying about the miseries will only help piling up of negativities in the mind, which could ultimately lead to us being busy doing nothing.

Keep smiling always! Try fixing a smile on your face all the time.

You wouldn’t believe how drastic a change occurs around you in no time. I feel smiling is most infectious. When you smile, the world smiles with you. Perhaps we can’t comprehend the thoughts the beholder evokes on seeing us smile. So keep smiling always, for smiling helps you reduce the stress and apparently cleanse your conscience.

Be genuinely interested in the other person. While in a conversation, whatsoever, if a person invests his time & emotions by engaging in a talk with you, he deserves to be listened with rapt attention. He chooses only you among others because he has faith in you & expects you would listen keenly. This feeling of compassion could make a lost person feel better and equip him to face the challenges thrown.

Pay sincere and honest appreciation to a person for the smallest of the deed he does. This will motivate him to create wonders. This puny yet worthy act will help him hike his confidence. A person with low self esteem & self confidence only requires a slight motivation to reach the track.

situation if you could fit yourselves in their shoes and act compassionately, then you have won their hearts. The empathy, love & compassion for his fellow being is what people are lacking today, which I feel is the root cause of all miseries. Albert Pine once quoted “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, remains and is immortal”. How profound, right?

Being a successful person or achiever in life is a matter of one’s determination, hard work and perseverance. All the successful personalities we respect and admire today have undergone a lot of ordeals in their life. If they had quit after one of the dumbest attempts, they wouldn’t have been the ones they are today. There will be instances in life when we will be pulled back by our conscience echoing “Quit! Better Quit! It’s not your cup of tea!” No matter what, if we decide not to succumb to that mental tantrum and cross the point of no return, we are likely to excel in life. That is where the real spur of achievement lies. That is when the whole universe conspires to help you as quoted by Paulo Coelho in the Alchemist “And, when you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” Many of life’s greatest accomplishments will come when we are able to bless someone else while going through our own storm. So regardless of what’s going on in our life, let’s be gentle and kind. We are born to make a difference, so embrace every opportunity to do so.

Change your perspectives, have a vision and live life to the fullest.

Precisely Go MAD!!! – wondering what??

Go…Make a Difference!

Show empathy & kindness. It is one of the finest attribute that can be found in any human. In any given miserable

TM Kiran Chandran

A Way of Life Success and achievement have a surreal aspect to it because very often it is others who define you as a success or an achievement. I don’t think the one who is successful feels it.

I look at many people around me and am awestruck by their achievements. It surprises me when people turn around and say “you do so much”. To me personally, I always feel that I do so less!

myself each time. For I have seen too many people – friends, colleagues- who fall into this trap of living in their one success story. Then they try to recreate the same success by using the same strategy. I do not think success works that way. Each goal has to be approached differently and a person needs to identify the skills that helped him achieve success and keep honing those skills rather than repeating the strategy.

The fact is that when there is a job in hand, one does not think that “if I complete this I will be a success”. Rather, you just roll up your sleeves and get the job done in the best possible way. Other people tell you that it was a huge success. So isn’t success a byproduct rather than a goal itself?

It is a good strategy not to look back but move forward always when you are successful. It is only failures that we need to look back into so that we can again and again learn from it.

But when you are successful it gives you an amazing sense of accomplishment. It revitalizes you to do more and uplifts your self esteem. I take everything as a project to be done and I move on. This is a conscious decision on my part to reinvent

We make a big deal out of success I feel. Does success make us happy? The achievements that make me happy have always been associated with helping someone. Whether it is teaching in a Spoken English class, or counseling or doing a course, it always has been associated with people. Even at work my position has never defined me. Maybe because

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I started working very late, at the age of 39, and have had bosses who are much younger to me, I have maintained that their experience at work was more important than my age.

The one thing you realize is that it is who you are, that earns you respect. Hence my position never bothered me. Your knowledge and how you behave with others is what makes a difference, is what I have learnt. The minute you depend on your job to define you, then the success you chase will only end up in leaving you exhausted and miserable. Real success is the difference you have made in someone’s life while interacting with them. When people look up to you for direction and guidance, then your life has been a success. If you can help one other than yourself succeed in something they have set their heart upon, then it beats all your other

academic or professional achievements.

A successful person always feels that there is so much more to do and so much more to achieve because within themselves they have not maintained a register of their so called success or achievements. They simply see a need and fill that to the best of their ability. Nelson Mandela once said that his choice to fight apartheid came from the belief that discrimination in the name of color is not right and to resist it was the only path left open to him. So success is not a choice or an ambition, but it is the result of a way of life.

TM Rekha Utham

Success- Enjoying Small Things It is said Success is in the big things and Joy is in small things.

But for me Success is about finding joy in everything I do. To mention a few, I feel a sense of achievement when………..

I try a new recipe and watch my daughter and husband licking their fingers…………

Every time my puff roti comes good…………….

My brass lamp shines like gold after I clean it ………

I look around my house after spending one full day dusting…

I see my cupboard after arranging everything………….

I take a glance at my bookshelf……after rearranging all the misplaced books………………….

I solve a difficult Maths question………………

I am able to get the lyrics of a song without browsing………………

I answer a Riddle……………….

I solve a Sudoku…………….

I get each word in a Crossword Puzzle……………..

I help an average child to score A+ in Maths………….

I deliver a good Speech……………

I let another person take the turn before me in a queue and he/she smiles at me……………..

I get hold of a child who is about to fall………….

I am able to overlook people’s negative behaviors and help them in need…………

My hug brings smile on my husband’s grandmother’s sad face….…………..

My daughter says, “I am very happy that you are my

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mother”…………

These may appear very insignificant……. but to assess one’s life as successful based on one BIG thing he/she achieves with his/ her whole life seems to me as injustice to others who are not that successful. It makes people obsessed to make their lives as successful as someone else’s. In that process they fail to see the small achievements they make in their day to day life……. and they fail to see their children’s achievements that are not so big. Everybody cannot sit on top of the pile.

Some end up being at the bottom. But because they are there……….coming first has a significance……..If everybody reaches the top……..what is the way forward ???????

As John Gardner put it…..”Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life.

You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something.

The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together in that pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for YOU. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.”

TM Leena Ponnambalam

Meandering Thoughts After a relatively long break in India I am back – back with all of you. The first message I get is “Please contribute an article for the forthcoming edition of “Eloquence”. Wow! This is great – two editions are already out and work is in progress on the third issue this term . A real achievement… Congratulations to the VP PR TM Alka and her sub-committee. With those words of appreciation let me get down to what I can pen / type (with my fairly poor knowledge of hammering at a key board – the single finger tap).

“How was your vacation?” a question commonly asked when you return after a short / long break. Addressed to me I would say “It’s good to be back”. For me my pretty long break was to settle property issues. Don’t think that I am a millionaire or that I am a zamindar with acres of land. On the contrary, the experience in India dealing with property issues is a big hassle (a very big hassle). I was fortunate to have squeezed out of the whirlpool of corruption and cheating that I encountered while dealing with people who are out to make a fast buck in an unscrupulous manner. My home town, Trivandrum – the capital city of “God’s own country” (What an adjective - Sorry, even God can’t get things moving here, then what about we mortals)

! least they appeared impressed.

Now to blow my trumpet - Mary says I am very good at this and my sons too agree. I participated in Table Topics and Evaluation at the club meeting and was voted as the Best

It was God’s Grace, my wife Mary’s committed prayers and your wishes that supported me through this hard phase of life – I have enough material for around thirty project speeches which I will share with you in the coming days, but that’s another story/stories . My access to the internet was limited, as I was involved in a lot of travel but whenever time permitted, I would browse the WMC TMC group mail. This really was like sighting “water in a desert”. In my mind’s eye I saw our vibrant group applauding one another, the exchange of ideas, the informal discussions at the Crowne Plaza… Just reading those mails relaxed me. Suresh ‘our grand old man’ landed in Trivandrum while I was there and I am amazed at the confidence he gave me to fight back at the circumstances that were haunting me. Together all of you contributed, knowingly or unknowingly in pepping me up. Thank you for being there, dear friends.

Can I forget toastmasters even when I am miles and miles away from home. Well I put up my antenna and honed in on a Toastmasters club in Trivandrum – The Trivandrum Toastmasters club – two years old. On a pleasant Sunday morning I walked into a small gathering in a non air conditioned room on the fourth floor of a hospital - not a doctors’ toastmaster club but it was mentored by a doctor .

You have to walk up three winding staircases to reach the venue – good exercise. Around twenty members were there. I realise how privileged we are – holding meetings in a five star ambience, elevators that take you to the meeting rooms and good snacks (by the way there were no snacks provided in Trivandrum Toastmasters club – if you want a coffee you go to the cafeteria and buy one). However, I admire the enthusiasm of the members there. They were all keen to know more about improving communication skills and this gave me a chance to exercise my vocal cords. I bragged about our club and about our meetings and newsletters. They were impressed or at

Table Topic commentator as well as the Best evaluator.

Moreover I gave a motivational speech too. Now I am sure you know who talked most at the meeting (if you have reached reading this far). I got in touch with our Mohandas and Jyothi who are in Kerala. The young couple is putting their skills to good use – empowering people, mentoring toastmasters, social service, the list goes on …. See, there is no such thing as retirement in life – it’s a perception. So dear friends, it’s time to sign off . Life is really exciting. Continue to “BELIEVE IN YOURSELF” and BE THE CHANGE!

TM Dr Babu Ramachandran

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Do you Believe in Yourself????

If you are serious about being successful in life then, you can do nothing better than educating yourself about the inspiring stories of successful and famous people.

gains but rather about attaining a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction within oneself. These feelings are what lead to that place we call success.

By knowing the inspirational stories of successful people and having an idea about what that person went through of and how they succeeded will help us believe in ourselves.

Believing in yourself is the way to success. Self–improvement means self–discovery and self–trust. If you don’t try, you will never know if you can. But trust yourself and challenge

Thomas Edison’s success story is one of the stories that can motivate anyone after experiencing failure. Thomas failed about 999 times to invent the lamp before he succeeded in doing it on the 1000th attempt. When people asked him how did you manage to keep going even though you were failing all the time he replied telling them, each time it didn’t work I used to say “I discovered a new way how to not invent the lamp”. Thomas Edison’s success story should make us conclude that failure should never stop us even if it occurred more than once. Certainly the story of Thomas Edison will inspire, motivate and encourage us to succeed in work, business or life.

The most precious lessons I learnt are: 1.

Rejection should never stop you

2.

Failure is not a problem at all

3.

People who reject you know nothing

4.

Believing in yourself is the key to success in life

Courage is choosing to believe in yourself, in the face of the thousands of thoughts that tell you not to believe in yourself.

Each one of us human beings has this old, annoying tape playing in our heads that constantly makes up reasons to not believe in ourselves. It’s as universal as breathing.

It says things like: “You don’t have enough experience.” “Why would they listen to me?” “Who am I?” “You don’t deserve that.” “You’re okay, but there are so many people who are smarter and better than you.”

The simple reality is that being successful requires believing in yourself. A person who believes in himself will not be afraid to push himself to the next level and to risk the possibility of failure.

Successful people, enlightened people, happy people learn to notice these thoughts and dismiss the relevance of the voice. Achieving success isn’t so much about financial

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! yourself for new things which can bring you a new life.

Although it takes tremendous courage and energy to get out of your comfort zone for something new and unknown, just try and just do it. There is nothing to regret if you put in the effort. Believing in yourself is the key to success.

If you don’t believe in yourself and your abilities, who will?

TM Roshni Rodrigues PintoClub Vice President - Education

End or beginning?

It gives me immense sense of pleasure, delight and gratification to write this Article, as it comes immediately after bagging three prizes at Area 35 contests, which concluded with a glittering ceremony at Gulf Hotel on 14th March.

Trust me, at the end of the event, there was one question that almost everybody asked me and you know what that was? “Which Club do you belong to?” and I was more than proud to say “WMC Toastmasters Club”. Why not? I had to feel proud about being a WMC TMC Member because after all, this is the Club which transformed me from a mundane, monotonous speaker to somewhat entertaining, interesting speaker. Perhaps, this was one of the reasons why I chose to join WMC TMC, besides the Club’s illustrious history & legacy provided by great Toastmasters on the Island and its matchless reputation for creativity, uniqueness and out-of-thebox thinking, coupled with innovative way of functioning.

As far as the Area contests are concerned, believe me, I knew that the stakes involved were very high and there were lots of expectations from the Club, myself and my better-half. I could easily overlook the first two parties, but dare not ignore the third one. ☺ Owing to these factors, I was extremely nervous at the beginning of the contests and a couple of our members informed me that it was clearly visible on my face. So at that juncture, I reminded myself that “tough times never last, but tough people do” and hence, I had to withstand that pressure, come what may and eventually, flourish in the performances!

The beauty was that the Almighty God was by our side and helped us with some good results and eventually, “Pappu pass ho gaya”. ☺

But if we reflect on yesterday’s results, a question then arises is, “was this the end of the story?” Well, certainly not, because “success is a journey and not destination.” Again, this was actually a very small success and one must not get carried away by it if one wants to really progress in his/ her life. Moreover, learning is a life-long exercise and must never stop at any cost. Hence, I would look at yesterday’s results as a beginning of preparations for Division Level Contests and would look forward to giving my best there and bringing more laurels to WMC TMC. I would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of those who were present during the contests to cheer me up and for sending in good wishes, blessings or prayers for my success through other communication mediums.

Also, my heartfelt thanks to ICAB Toastmasters Club, an Institution, which taught me how to overcome the fear of public speaking and laying a robust foundation, while also educating me with tricks of the trade, the communication trade and immaculate Toastmastering protocols. I am sure, but for ICAB leaders and my well-wishers there too, I couldn’t have possibly tasted this success.

I am now looking forward to do better in the new (beg) inning, another inning in pursuit of success!

TM Sandip Rajpopat

Fitness feat I have always heard that running a marathon relay is an experience that cannot be put into words. And here I am trying to gather all of my emotions, thoughts and reflections and translate them into something tangible, actual and real words that will mean something to someone.

In the year 2011, my first marathon relay, lot of questions came to my mind before the practice session: Am I physically fit to run?

Am I taking a risk to my life?

Whether it is allowed to run after 40?

On the first day of my practice, I could not even run 500 meters and I was totally exhausted. My team leader, Mr. Robert Grey gave me all encouragement and tips to overcome the situation. Gradually I could complete more than 3 kilometers, which is the required distance for marathon relay. I have been running Bahrain Relay Marathon for the last 3 years now. I have been getting all support from my family especially from my two teenage boys. My elder son Vinayak is an upcoming bodybuilder, who suggests to me all sort of vegetarian menus

to improve my stamina and my younger son Karthik is a cricketer, who gives me company in running. I am grateful to my mentor cum physician, Dr Babu Ramachandran for all encouragement and support.

In the beginning, during my practice, my heart rate would skyrocket and take minutes to come down. Now, with practice, as I get stronger and healthier, my heart rate goes up and comes down quickly, a sign that my heart can withstand the higher-intensity workouts. My endurance has increased; the same activities don’t require as much of a recovery period. I have been able to beat my type 2 diabetes and improve my diabetes profile test.

My dear friends, finding time to work out is always a struggle for us. With my experience I can undoubtedly say, that if we sincerely want to do some work out we can achieve the same, if you give 100% of your effort. Eating habits also play an important role in our fitness. I have started eating healthier foods in smaller portions more often. Whenever I get time, I go for running.

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!

I have always heard that running a marathon relay is an experience that cannot be put into words. And here I am trying to gather all of my emotions, thoughts and reflections and translate them into something tangible, actual and real words that will mean something to someone.

In the year 2011, my first marathon relay, lot of questions came to my mind before the practice session: Am I physically fit to run?

Am I taking a risk to my life?

Whether it is allowed to run after 40?

On the first day of my practice, I could not even run 500 meters and I was totally exhausted. My team leader, Mr. Robert Grey gave me all encouragement and tips to overcome the situation. Gradually I could complete more than 3 kilometers, which is the required distance for marathon relay. I have been running Bahrain Relay Marathon for the last 3 years now. I have been getting all support from my family especially from my two teenage boys. My elder son Vinayak is an upcoming bodybuilder, who suggests to me all sort of vegetarian menus to improve my stamina and my younger son Karthik is a cricketer, who gives me company in running. I am grateful to my mentor cum physician, Dr Babu Ramachandran for all encouragement and support.

In the beginning, during my practice, my heart rate would skyrocket and take minutes to come down. Now, with practice, ! as I get stronger and healthier, my heart rate goes up and comes down quickly, a sign that my heart can withstand the higher-intensity workouts. My endurance has increased; the same activities don’t require as much of a recovery period. I have been able to beat my type 2 diabetes and improve my diabetes profile test.

My dear friends, finding time to work out is always a struggle for us. With my experience I can undoubtedly say, that if we sincerely want to do some work out we can achieve the same, if you give 100% of your effort. Eating habits also play an important role in our fitness. I have started eating healthier foods in smaller portions more often. Whenever I get time, I go for running.

My advice to all of you is, to make small goals and when you reach them, reward yourself, and then make a new small goal, achieve it and march forward further for another new goal.

“Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running”.

TM Ganapathy Narayanan

The wondrous moment My name was called and I stood up to receive my prize. We had been made to practice it twice earlier and it just seemed the same. But when the actual moment came, I felt like I was walking in a trance, looking at the lady, who was going to honour me, completely mesmerized by her grace, dynamism and the sheer charisma of her personality. I had seen her in pictures in magazines and newspapers and on TV before, and I had read about her, but nothing had prepared me for the shock of the actual moment when I would meet her. This was the year 1984, the date 27th September and the lady was ‘the iron lady of India’ the late Mrs Indira Gandhi. I had the honour of receiving the second prize for an All-India Essay Contest at the hands of the great lady at her residence, just a few days

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before her assassination.

For years, I had idolized her. In fact, since my childhood I dreamt of emulating her. So much so, that at the age of 8 or 9, my parents officially changed my second name from my original surname ‘Khurana’ to ‘Priyadarshini’ (which is still my middle name), after the maiden name of my idol, Indira Priyadarshini. At that young age, my admiration for the lady was based simply on her tough stance and support to East Pakistan in the Pakistan Civil War, which led to India’s victory and the formation of Bangladesh. I was already impressed by the dignified way she conducted herself and for me she was no less than Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. As years went by, my admiration for her grew. She earned a formidable reputation

across the globe as a ‘statesman’. Her sheer political acumen and exceptional skills, made her a success to reckon with, catapulting her position in the Indian politics as she went on to become the first elected woman prime minister of a democratic country, were something that I dreamed of possessing one day.

What earned my infallible respect for the lady’s acumen were her forward-looking policies, whereby she succeeded in bringing about a radical change in the country’s economic horizon. During her terms as Prime Minister of India, she implemented three Five-year plans, of which during two the country had met the targeted growth. Among her various achievements, I feel that the nationalization of fourteen major commercial banks was a crucial economic decision, which brought banking to the doorstep of ordinary citizens by improving the geographical coverage of banks. The number of bank branches rose immediately from 8,200 to 62,000. This also helped increase household savings and investment in small and medium-sized enterprises as also the agricultural.

My name was called and I stood up to receive my prize. We had been made to practice it twice earlier and it just seemed the same. But when the actual moment came, I felt like I was walking in a trance, looking at the lady, who was going to honour me, completely mesmerized by her grace, dynamism and the sheer charisma of her personality. I had seen her in pictures in magazines and newspapers and on TV before, and I had read about her, but nothing had prepared me for the shock of the actual moment when I would meet her. This was the year 1984, the date 27th September and the lady was ‘the iron lady of India’ the late Mrs Indira Gandhi. I had the honour of receiving the second prize for an All-India Essay Contest at the hands of the great lady at her residence, just a few days before her assassination.

For years, I had idolized her. In fact, since my childhood I dreamt of emulating her. So much so, that at the age of 8 or 9, my parents officially changed my second name from my original surname ‘Khurana’ to ‘Priyadarshini’ (which is still my middle name), after the maiden name of my idol, Indira Priyadarshini.

At that young age, my admiration for the lady was based simply on her tough stance and support to EastPakistan in the Pakistan Civil War, which led to India’s victory and the formation of Bangladesh. I was already impressed by the dignified way she conducted herself and for me she was no less than Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. As years went by, my admiration for her grew. She earned a formidable reputation across the globe

!

as a ‘statesman’. Her sheer political acumen and exceptional skills, made her a success to reckon with, catapulting her position in the Indian politics as she went on to become the first elected woman prime minister of a democratic country, were something that I dreamed of possessing one day. What earned my infallible respect for the lady’s acumen were her forward-looking policies, whereby she succeeded in bringing about a radical change in the country’s economic horizon.

During her terms as Prime Minister of India, she implemented three Five-year plans, of which during two the country had met the targeted growth. Among her various achievements, I feel that the nationalization of fourteen major commercial banks was a crucial economic decision, which brought banking to the doorstep of ordinary citizens by improving the geographical coverage of banks. The number of bank branches rose immediately from 8,200 to 62,000. This also helped increase household savings and investment in small and medium-sized enterprises as also the agricultural sector. Another of her accomplishment was the Green revolution and also the White revolution in India, underlining the importance of the major life lines of the country’s economy, viz., agriculture & dairy.

It was much later that India became a regional power in South Asia with considerable political, economic, and military clout during her prime minister ship. This only increased my admiration for her. Her influence was evident even in my choice of subjects at college, as I went in for Political Science as my major and International Studies for my Masters degree.

When the opportunity for this all-India Essay contest came, for me, the motivating factor, besides the prize itself, was that the prizes would be personally handed over by madam prime minister.

While she later became notorious for political ruthlessness, centralization of power and nepotism, for me it was enough that Indira Gandhi not only strengthened the democratic structure and tradition of India, she also formulated economic policies that would lead to national growth. In addition, she was also instrumental for bringing India on to the World’s nuclear map ! by conducting the first nuclear tests at Pokhran. Long after her assassination, she was named ‘Woman of the Millennium’ in a poll organised by the BBC in 1999 and voted as the greatest 13 - eloquence

Indian Prime Minister in a poll organised by India Today.

I had always held her in high regard for her message of peace, “You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.” But when that actual day of meeting the lady came, my fists were actually clenched, out of sheer nervousness and happiness.

And as I went forward to take the prize and shake hands with thegreat lady, just in time I remembered her quote and made a conscious effort to unclench my hands. And then the hand shake that I still remember…..My mother who attended the event with me later told me about the thunderous applause, to which I was oblivious, as I soaked in my memory the wondrous moment…..the moment that I consider as one of my satisfying moments…..the moment I fulfilled my wish

through my perseverance….the moment that stands fresh in my memory….. Even though there are many more moments and events before and after this event, which I could consider as an achiever’s moment, this is an accomplishment that is close to my heart…..the moment that I cherish…….

TM Alka Kumra

Define Success Your Way There is no concept more subjective than SUCCESS! Success for some may be money, for some recognition, for some family and for some it may be peace of mind! Success may also be defined differently at different stages of our life.

When I first started work in Bahrain, I had a senior colleague, with a decade more experience, who was not being promoted for reasons unknown. He had spent a long time already in the organization with an excellent track record in everything he did. We used to have this career oriented discussions wherein I would want to be a manager, COO, CEO, master of the universe and what not! I would often wonder why he did not feel frustrated or demotivated with his stagnant circumstances and what made him perform his role with such finesse even now, in spite of not being promoted nor being given any hope.

I asked him this burning question in my mind. I got a reply,”Abhi, I have 3 kids and a wonderful wife. My wife works and 3 kids are going to school. My priority in life is not to become a CEO of any company. I consider myself successful if I have 3 things in my life – Love, Peace, Happiness.”

I always thought money could buy all 3! He saw that thought in my eyes and said, “Success has different meanings to different people at different stages of their lives and that is how it is meant to be. You cannot be successful if your requirement in life is the same as mine.”

These words are stuck through in my mind even today and I am sure, it will be an integral part of my thought process. I continued my struggle for growth in a relatively flat organization but achieved success, as I had defined it then, at various levels.

Then came a time when I had a team of my own. A scary

thought for team-in-charge who was in his late 20’s and the youngest member of the team was more than 15 years older.

A challenge and an intimidating one at that! My success was not that we performed exceedingly well and did record numbers but my success was acceptance. My success was being liked as a leader, friend and confidante.

I remembered what my colleague had told me when I started my career - Peace, Love and Happiness! I was happy because I got love and happiness. Maybe, I was too young to appreciate peace!

It is important we visualize success at every stage of life. This will help us chase it, build it or achieve it. Our needs, wants and desires keep changing as we cross levels in existence.

Our desires become wants; our wants become basic needs and needs become the air we breathe.

A man is incomplete without a woman, a key is of no use without a lock to open and success cannot be appreciated without failure. Success is good and I wish everyone lots of it but it is failure that teaches. When we fail, we learn. The knowledge about what to do in life is easily available but what exactly NOT to do is what failure explains. That is invaluable information which only experience can give you.

I exhort my fellow toastmasters to enjoy the process which will make you successful in all spheres of life. Toastmasters’ fraternity is probably the only prototype where we just learn without failing. Learning made easy and enjoyable. At a given moment of time, we learn and succeed simultaneously.

Here’s wishing all Toastmasters happy learning and succeeding!

CHEERS!

TM Abhimanyu Gopinath

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Evaluation workshop What is

Evaluation:

}

Speech evaluations: 2-3 minutes with the same objectiveTo help the speaker improve.

An evaluation is unique to you and is your opinion. That is why it is valuable

} }

Speech: the 93% rule

}

the total impact of a message is only about 7 per cent verbal (words only) The remaining 93% is:

} }

Evaluation Workshop

} }

38 per cent vocal - How you say it – para linguistics (including tone of voice, inflection and other sounds); and 55 per cent non-verbal - body/ appearance.

Evaluation – Contest Angle

Rekha Utham 3rd January 2014 WMC-TMC - Bahrain

}

Look at the judge's form for points } } } }

When I evaluate }

} } }

}

Taking Notes

I H.E.L.P }

H - Help the speaker improve E - Encourage the speaker to do another speech L - Lift the speaker's self-esteem P - Provide useful recommendations

I remember the C.R.Y

Eliminate the C’s - Criticize Complain Condemn Do the 3 R’s Review Reward Recommend Speak about the 3 I’s: I Heard I Saw I Felt } I EncourageEncourageEncourage….. } What are we encouraging people to do? } We are encouraging speakers to do it again; } To say that you look forward to the next speech is a bit overused but the sentiment is correct. }

}

} }

} }

}

Example: When you say i.

Your arms did not stick out at all ii.

Or if you used your arms a bit more then…

First one is critical; The second one is a recommendation for improvement.

See,Hear,Feel ¾

What you heard. What words were used? Was the language descriptive and

evocative? Did the speaker use ums, ahs or other fillers? Were there any grammatical goodies (alliteration or rhyming) or faux pas (“there was several…” or “some examples is….”)? ¾

What you saw. Did the speaker use effective gestures and appropriate body

language? What facial expressions were demonstrated? Was eye contact maintained with the audience? Did the speaker step out from, or hide behind the lectern? Did the speaker go over the allotted time? ¾

What you felt. What emotions were felt by you as a listener? What images could you see in your mind? Were you moved to action? Could you empathize with the speaker?

Did you experience happiness, sadness, anger or excitement – and did it seem like your reaction was what the speaker intended? Could you feel the speaker’s passion?

Review

In your review you should answer the question, “Did the speaker accomplish what she set out to?” If she did, publicly acknowledge that fact in the evaluation. On the other hand, if you have doubts on this aspect, you may wish to include your comments in your written evaluation or discuss them privately with the speaker, later.

2.

Contestant delivers great “praise” and “areas for improvement”, but neglects specific suggestions to improve. This contestant will score well on Analytical Quality (40 points), but poorly on Recommendations (30 points).

Tip: Remember the meat, vegetables, and cheese from the sandwich technique.

Contestant fails to watch the clock and does not have time to summarize — a potential loss of 15 points.

Tip: Don’t try to cover everything. Use the five minutes with your notes wisely to pick out only your best points. With my speech evaluation form, I typically capture about twice as many things as I can describe in a 3-minute evaluation.

Use a plus or a minus to indicate things you liked and areas for improvement Draw a picture of where they are and if they make a move, you can annotate and map what you saw on the "stage” Example: where you were loud and where you were soft and where you turned etc.

It is hard to take in a whole speech Another option is to outline the speech } } } } }

Opening Main points You should be able to write what the points of the speech were Collect that as that is probably what they spent their time thinking about Conclusion

}

Did you understand the main points?

} Was

the speech clear?

Specify } What

did I like? did I see? } What did I hear? } What you can do to improve? } What

How to Personalize Your Language Magical Words

Butt out the BUTs

Use words like exemplary, outstanding, effective, admirable, praiseworthy, pleasing or beneficial } It’s a good idea to explain why the aspect was worthy of note by quoting the exact words or reenacting a gesture. } Say it like this: My reaction was…

It appeared to me…

I felt that you…. } Not like this You should have....

You failed to....

Your opening was.... }

} } } }

}

Be careful with "but" as "but" is a big eraser.

But needs to be an "and" or a "but it got even better". Otherwise, leave "but" out.

Talk about me and my personal reactions.

Speak like this….

I suggest I think your next speech will have a stronger impact on me if you A technique I have found helpful is Not like this…

You should You must

Winning recipe

Why We Don’t Win! 1.

How do you take notes? }

}

}

40% analytical 30% recommendations 15% technique 15% summation

3.

4.

Contestant covers only the points mentioned by other contestants. It is possible to deliver a good (or even great) evaluation, but still score poorly because you will invariably be compared to other contestants.

Tip: Hone your speech critique skills.

Try to avoid the obvious elements of the speech which all other contestants will notice. Instead, aim to analyze elements many will miss.

Contestant has marvelous analysis, but poor evaluation delivery. They score low on the 15 points for Technique.

Tip: Based on my personal experience, I think delivery tends to be weighted even higher by most judges. Particularly at higher levels when many contestants are very strong, the contestant with the most dynamic delivery often wins.

Speech Critique Skills ¾Identify purpose ¾Evaluate the introduction & conclusion ¾Delivery style ¾Gestures & Posture ¾Your reaction to the speech ¾If you were doing same speech would you do it the same way?

Club Evaluation Climate

HOW TO BUILD A POSITIVE CLUB CLIMATE FOR EVALUATION 1. Emphasize quality evaluation 2. Help members become better acquainted 3. Assign evaluators when assigning speakers 4. Encourage dialogue between speakers and evaluators 5. Evaluate the evaluators 6. Encourage group evaluations 7. Emphasize manual speeches

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Photo Gallery Evaluation workshop

by TM Rekha Utham

International speech workshop

by Jiju Verghese

A Toastmaster wears many hats

New members’ induction

!

New members !

TM Khushboo – the Go-Karting Champ

!

TM Yashodhan

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TM Kapil Kumra

TM Pranjal Shah

TM Dr Babu Ramachandran – the Quiz Master

Photo Gallery 1st meeting of year 2014

Evaluation & Humorous speech contest

Table topics & International speech contest

This newsletter became possible with the support of contributions, in the form of articles and pictures, from members and the efforts of the Executive Committee. Eloquence is the official publication of the WMC ToastMasters Club. It includes official notices and details of activities of the club. However, no responsibility is assumed for the opinions of members who have contributed other articles.

Editorial Team Alka P Kumra, VP-PR, Shankar Prasad, PR Sub-committee

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