THE ICE BREAKER SDTM REDEFINED S– SUPERB in • D– DEDICATION • T—TRAINING •
&
• •
M–
MENTORING
About SDTM SDTM is a community un‐ der the aegis of Toastmas‐ ters International. It has its genesis in 2006. Since its inception SDTM has been able to carve a niche for itself in the world
of Toastmasters. Moreover, it has been providing ample opportuni‐ ties to its members to be‐ come effective leaders. The club has been able to churn leaders who have brought back laurels to the
PRESIDENT’s NOTE
With this 2nd issue of SDTM newsletter ‐ I would like to take the opportunity to share some‐ thing special about SDTM EC team. Now, It has been more than 3 months being the part of cur‐ rent EC team and it is and will be a privilege to be an integral part of this exciting bunch of toastmas‐ ters. Our club’s extended EC team comprised of elected club officers and volunteer back‐up members which is, needless to say, an excel‐ lent mix of skills plus motivation factor. Though their skills & moti‐ vation levels are at different levels i.e. some are at a higher level as compared to others. But, each one of them is unique and far higher than just good enough level. Hence, EC team dynamics are uniquely placed and at times one‐ to‐one customized interactions are more helpful. Though the new age communication tool e.g. Whatsapp EC groups, at times spoils the fun. It especially hap‐ pens when there is a trade‐off be‐ tween group communication vs. individual communication. How‐ ever, it is a sort of two‐edged
sword. After all, the root causes of most of the worldly problems are said to be mainly two types ‐ a.) commu‐ nication gap and b.) wrong expecta‐ tions! At SDTM, we have always been blessed with the extraordinary mem‐ bers & EC teams both in the past & present. So obviously, the achieve‐ ments were bound to be extraordi‐ nary. The list of awards goes like ‐ Beat the clock, President's Distin‐ guished Club (DCP), Rising Star Club, Talk up Toastmasters & recent‐ ly The Golden Gavel! Let me remind you that SDTM club is not unfamiliar with this kind of fame. For example, in last 10+ years of club's existence, SDTM has bagged DCP award 8 times. Hence, it won't be exaggerated to deduce that SDTM club has been successful in providing a good plat‐ form for fellow toastmasters to hone their public speaking & leadership skills. Without the shadow of a doubt, there is something special in SDTM club that its flame keeps on the lighting life of its members.
PRESIDENT’s NOTE
Rather, it goes up as members discover their potential and contribute more wholehearted‐ ly. The leaders have to keep the enthusiasm of new members high by constant encourage‐ ment, support, and creative evaluations. If the leaders focus on developing only themselves at the expense of others, espe‐ cially the new members, the club may never grow. Instead, If the leaders contribute to the growth of new members, these new members attain self‐ confidence, get over the period‐ ic lows and achieve their goals as per the pre‐ordained path, chalked by Toastmasters Inter‐ national for them. The club is the basic unit of Toastmasters. Each club is gov‐ erned by an executive commit‐ tee which consists of the Club President, three vice presidents who focus on education, mem‐ bership, and public relations. These are supported by a treas‐ urer, a club secretary, and a Ser‐
geant at Arms. These roles are voluntary and involve a person‐ al time of each member of the committee. At times, a member may not be able to perform his /her role, he /she is supported by other members of the com‐ mittee. At SDTM we have de‐ veloped a 2 tiered leadership model. At the core are the elect‐ ed members who are supported by a 2nd tier of the club mem‐ bers who perform the support role in case the elected member abstains for some reason. This strategy will help develop new leaders who will bring their fla‐ vor and fresh ideas to make club strong and vibrant. Regards Umashanker
INSIDE THE ISSUE FOCUS FUNDA BY RAJIV ROY
NO PUSHOVER BY ADITYA SHARMA
FEAR MATTERS BY GUNA
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SDTM IMPORTANCE OF SELFDISCIPLINE BY NAVEEN SOOD
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NEWSLETTER
INSIDE THE ISSUE THE TRAGEDY BY RAJSHREE
ZIRO TRIP BY UMASHANKER
CLUB GLIMPSES
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SDTM NEWSLETTER AWARDS
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FOCUS FUNDA BY RAJIV ROY
amongst themselves to provide At TOASTMASTERS, the focus leadership at different levels , for rests on achieving two objec‐ performing various roles at meet‐ tives. One is to develop the oral ings, during contests and within communications skills. This is an executive committee that gov‐ achieved by approach‐ erns the club for 6 months. ing the stage to speak impromptu, to deliver prepared speeches as The main focus of the Distraction is easy, focusing is per the prescribed for‐ the tool to get desired results. leaders and experienced mat and also develop members is to develop the other faculties including new members who have just skills for Evaluations of the pre‐ joined the club. At that time, en‐ pared speeches, grammar, tim‐ thusiasm remains high, so is the ing, the use of the crutch words, potential to grasp the intricacies the Ahs and Ums etc. These of various activities which have skills need time to develop been standardized by Toastmas‐ based on the intellectual level, ters. the listening skills, and regular practice and most important, The best thing about Toastmas‐ the interest of the evaluators. ters is “If the leaders focus on developing only themselves at the expense of others, especially the new members, the club may never grow. “ that The sec‐ with ond im‐ the portant passage of time the passion does objective is to develop the lead‐ not diminish the enthusiasm. ership skills. As Toastmasters is a self‐help group, all the mem‐ bers share responsibilities
FOCUS FUNDA BY RAJIV ROY
Rather, it goes up as members discover their potential and contribute more wholeheartedly. The leaders have to keep the enthusiasm of new members high by constant encour‐ agement, support, and creative evaluations. If the leaders focus on developing on‐ ly themselves at the expense of others, especially the new members, the club may never grow. Instead, If the leaders contribute to the growth of new members, these new members attain self‐confidence, get over the periodic lows and achieve their goals as per the pre‐ ordained path, chalked by Toastmasters International for them. The club is the basic unit of Toastmasters. Each club is gov‐ erned by an executive commit‐ tee which consists of the Club President, three vice presidents
who focus on education, mem‐ bership, and public relations. These are support‐ ed by a treasurer, a club secretary, and a Sergeant at Arms. These roles are vol‐ untary and involve a personal time of each member of the committee. At times, a member may not be able to perform his /her role, he /she is supported by other members of the committee. At SDTM we have developed a 2 tiered lead‐ ership model. At the core are the elected members who are supported by a 2nd tier of the club members who perform the support role in case the elected member abstains for some rea‐ son. This strategy will help de‐ velop new leaders who will bring their flavor and fresh ide‐ as to make club strong and vi‐ brant.
NO PUSHOVER BY ADITYA SHARMA
All and all it is no use comparing it to life. Sport is profession and hobby. Getting emotional on wins and losses otherwise is not healthy. The ‘E’ in WWE signifies Entertainment so while the wres‐ tlers work hard to win various champions they know that the E factor is the most important one. It is what we want‐ drama, emo‐ It is quite ironical that when tion, hard work, comedy and teams are playing Test Matches, above all one goes home or the retired ones doubt the capa‐ watches it from home with an bility. Did this happen when empty mind. Ponting, Lara etc were playing and were between the ages of 25 Coming back to the sport, Eng‐ to 30 with experience of 40 to land will ‘Cook’ a different story 50 matches? In the last 3 for Virat Kohli. If Kane didn’t de‐ months we have seen over 19 cipher the land of mysteries, Test Matches being conducted which spreads to that concrete with all the nations involved surface, Cook will show how to and yet do it. I am going one sees “People will wonder, do WWE and cricket to mix and match Tests as go together‐ well I am not worried about a couple of sports that.“ redun‐ here so that the dant. T20 readers if any one has to understand is only don’t fall asleep citing my preju‐ extra for quick paisa but not at dice toward one sport. all serious. It is like going to a disco after a hard days work.
India under Kohli in the last 1 year has run over Sri Lanka, (21) South Africa (3-0) and West Indies (2-0) trampling them just like the parade does when provoked and add New Zealand to the list yeah but not the list of Jericho
NO PUSHOVER BY
Jericho and Kevin Owens‐ the World Universal Champion‐ ship seem to stir quite a partnership for themselves which are aided by the fact that both are from Canada, though by no means is the 9 time WWE World Heavy Champion look‐ ing to hold that Universal Title
in his arms. So when Jericho hinted at this, Owens cleverly manipulated the conversation to agreeing on being the part of Tag Tournament for the Tag Team Championship. They along with the surprisingly newly minted friendship of Sheamus and Cesaro and the rest of the Tag Team division against the New Day. New Day
ADITYA SHARMA
will always be at an advantage because of the extra candi‐ date and one of them blows the trumpets while the others crush. I do not agree with those who call Saha the best Wicket Keep‐ er in the country. He has a long way to go. One is saying out of emotions and not logic. His test will come against Anderson, Broad and Starc‐ the yorkers and the rest. India was lucky enough to reach 300 but the batting was poor. They might have gotten away with it against NZ but mind you England are going to come hard. Just like AJ Styles, Kohli pro‐ jects himself as the face that runs the place but England, Australia are ready for a mouth watering triple threat. People will wonder, do WWE and cricket go together‐ well I am not worried about that.
FEAR MATTERS BY
The world is evil, rightfully so! People are selfish and so are you too! Cherish your insecurities. Do not subdue them. They are your enemies and your friends. An enemy is only as val‐ uable as close he is. The deeper your insecurities are, the better it is. No matter how much you subdue them, they are going to come back to haunt you. Em‐ brace them and keep them at bay. Know them better. And then run. No matter how‐ ever many times you confront them, you are going to be afraid of them. Let them make you afraid. Run from them, and let them follow. But run along with your goal. For that matter, have a goal. If you haven’t got one, make that your goal until you find one. No matter wherever you run, your insecurities will follow you. Play them to your advantage. Noth‐ ing comes out of no‐fear, no‐ pain. After all, courage is just a
GUNA
word without your existential fear. Are you paranoid? Even better. Does the speeding car on the road looks like it’s going to take a U‐turn and hit you? Awe‐ some. Does the bridge above look like it’s going to break anytime soon when you are under? Wonder‐ ful. Are you afraid of magnets los‐ ing power, bones losing strength and the skin losing their containing capacity? All good. Be afraid. Be alive. Every day you make mistakes. Great deal. Know what’s worse than making a mistake? Not making one. Not learning from one. Not moving on. Think of it. A mistake makes you low. And then when you overcome it, you get to a high. You are in a sine curve. Something is moving, something is happening. That’s called life. When you don’t make mistakes, when you do not strive to overcome them, your curve is flat. You are dead. On a lighter note, men are intrinsically intelli‐ gent creatures. We know the value of curves. Nature has taught us this, already.
FEAR MATTERS BY GUNA “ You can be afraid of people, or The world is a you can pretend they don’t exist.“ point where you think so, deadly place and acknowledge. rightfully so. It isn’t created for And then move on. Life is too you, nor you for the sake of it. short to rumble in the scatters of You just happen to be here by the past. serendipity. A mere chance, gone well. Act like it. A chance hap‐ In the end, if you haven’t done pened good for you and not for what you wish for, it’s definitely the world. It doesn’t care. not theirs to blame. In deathbed, you are only going to count the People are good. People are bad. plucked fruits. You do not have No one is here to understand time for feeling good about situa‐ your pain and they are rightfully tions went bad. Life is too short so. No one is here to cuddle you. for excuses and complaints and a Everyone has a motive and so do deathbed is definitely even short‐ you. er. You can be afraid of people, or Life isn’t a precious shit, nor a you can pretend they don’t exist. worthless diamond. It all depends But they do. You connect with on how much you use it. Live some of them, some of them un‐ through it. If you don’t live it, derstand you. But no one under‐ don’t blame anyone. Not even stands you better than you, your‐ yourself. It’s just one more oyster self. If someone does, you aren’t gone unfound. The universe will living yourself. And if you under‐ suck you up and throw you some‐ stand someone better than your‐ where else, in some other form. self, you aren’t living for yourself. Better live there. Do things for others, get things Still living here? Start running! done. Learn to express. Things go Your fears are catching up, so is bad sometimes. Nothing is bad your life. until you think so. If it gets to a
IMPORTANCE OF SELF-DISCIPLINE BY NAVEEN SOOD
In today’s competitive world, it is extremely diffi‐ cult to succeed unless you have self‐discipline. You can find many successful people around you and one common thing among them would be self‐ discipline. How would a person who is dis‐ ciplined act differently than a person who is not? · A disciplined person would list the goals and work towards fulfilling personal goals despite failures and setbacks. · He or she would act ac‐ cording to thoughts rather than feelings or impulse. · A disciplined person would sacrifice instant gratifica‐ tion in favor of long‐term goals There are some traits that one must have in order to develop self‐discipline. First, one should have Self‐knowledge – decide what behavior reflects your goals. This process requires
constant introspection. Second, one should have conscious aware‐ ness – you should be aware of what you are doing and what you are not doing. Unless you are aware that you are undisciplined, you will not be able to make corrections. Third, one should have the highest level of commitment towards the cause. Fourth, one should have the cour‐ age to face difficult situations. According to Stephen Covey, who is recognized as one of the world’s foremost organizational experts and thought leaders, says, there are two types of activities in Life ‐ The IMPORTANT activities which rep‐ resent values & goals and URGENT activities which require your imme‐ diate attention; Plus there are four quadrants in which any person op‐ erates at any point in time. The first quadrant is the quadrant of High Importance and High Ur‐ gency – this is the Quadrant of Necessity.
IMPORTANCE OF SELF-DISCIPLINE BY NAVEEN SOOD
The second quadrant is the Quadrant of Effectiveness – This is the quadrant where you complete tasks which are important however are not so Urgent.
The third quadrant is the Quadrant of Deception – this is the quadrant where you are involved in tasks which seem Urgent however are not im‐ portant. Examples being Unnec‐ essary phone calls, emails, need‐ less interruptions, etc. The fourth quadrant is the Quadrant of Waste and Excess – this is the quadrant where you are involved in tasks which are neither Urgent nor im‐ portant. Examples being exces‐
sive TV or excessive internet basi‐ cally “escape” activities. Highly effective people operate in the Second quadrant – the quad‐ rant of Effectiveness… People who are a Self‐disciplined focus on this quadrant and focus on the tasks which are Important however have not become critical as of now. I started following the philosophy of Stephen Covey around 10 years back. What a change it has brought to my life!!! I prepare a list of Urgent activities and a list of Important activities on a daily basis and follow the activities to closure.
I firmly believe in the quote by Willian Feather – If we don’t dis‐ cipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.
THE TRAGEDY BY RAJSHREE
It was early morning when I and my friend were returning from India gate via Red Cross Road. We saw a lady with a veil covering her entire face in (Goonghat) was walking on the road. A car rushed onto the road at an average speed of 60Km/hr. The car smashed the lady; she flew in the air and was dropped on the floor. The car driver ran away without perturbing what would have happened to the la‐ dy. We rushed to the accident place. She was bleeding and no one around was ready to touch as they were petrified of the po‐ lice case happening and all the long driven formalities. We picked up the lady with the help of some police officials and took her to RML hospital. And it was shocking to tell that we kept waiting for a stretcher for 20 minutes outside the hos‐ pital. The most ironical part was that lady even in her semi‐ conscious state didn’t allow the
male doctors to operate her owing to some shyness. It was then, I screamed at her. Don’t you love your life and don’t you want to re‐ cuperate!
What would have happened after that? In just half an hour of leaving the hospital, I got 40 missed calls from the police station to enquire about my identity despite the fact that there was one police official who al‐ so witnessed the entire incident but still they were concerned about our identity and statement.
THE TRAGEDY BY RAJSHREE
The most annoying part was after 20 days police officials “ I screamed at her. Don’t you love your realized they are unable to life and don’t you want to recuperate! ” find the car. So they called me again and asked, madam could you please come to the po‐ lice station and write your state‐ ment. “I said no, I don’t have trust in the Indian law system.” Then he replied me madam ok don’t write your statement just help us to locate the car by look‐ ing at the CCTV footage as if 1000 cars would have passed with the same number plate and given specification which I would have been able to see and they weren’t able to.
This raises a real question on our culture, society and the system.
ZIRO TRIP BY UMASHANKER As our educational system has conditioned us to focus on goals first and then make a strategy around it the hence goal is of primary importance. For example, if you want to top the class by outperforming the rest of the students then you have to perform best in exams. The emphasis is not placed on the means rather the end. The knowledge inculcation is of lower importance. Students are able to game the education system by "ratification". The final result, you see very few loose co-relation between the school toppers and their wealth generation capacity - have been able to earn the highest income than all of their classmates. Last month, I went to Ziro - Festival of Music in Arunachal Pradesh. Its biggest modern music festival in India. Many famous bands & music lovers across the world participate in it for 4 continuous days (Wednesday - Sunday).The venue is on hills surrounded by scenery backdrop. Let me first tell you how it all started. One of my office colleagues is from Manipur and was aware of Ziro festival though never been there. He shared this with our recruitment team and our boss instantly organized a formal team meeting to dis“ I have been lone traveler earlier as well but it was the longest distance. “ cuss the planning. In the meeting, I was assigned to the duty of researching the best possible route and share with the team. The more research was done on the internet, it appeared more interesting. I think, was sold to the idea of going Ziro in this research phase only. Unfortunately, all of my colleagues including Manipur guy dropped out citing personal reasons. But, I have already come a long way. So, went ahead with booking travel tickets to Arunachal Pradesh even though it meant traveling alone. I have been lone traveler
earlier as well but it was the longest distance. It was supposed to break my earlier records, after all, records are meant to be broken! Finally, the "D" day arrived - I was supposed to catch Friday evening flight from Delhi to Guwahati at 5:35 PM and reach by Saturday afternoon. It would have given me one and half day to spend in Ziro festival. Even with all conservative planning, thanks to Delhi traffic, missed the flight by 12 minutes. But, I was determined to go so booked next morning flight at almost triple the cost. Waited entire night at Airport without a single minute sleep and at morning 5:55 boarded in flight to Guwahati. By the time reached Guwahati (Assam) bus stand, direct bus to Ziro (Arunachal Pradesh) had already left 30 minutes ago. Now, a distance of around 485 km was required to be covered as next challenge. Locals advised me to reach Khanapura stand which is at outskirts of Guwahati and there were chances of getting the direct bus. After, traveling in shared auto for 20 minutes, reached Khanapura. There was no direct bus from here as well. Longest distance bus towards my destination was for Tezpur, 165 Kms (Assam). After 4 hours journey reached Tezpur. The bus dropped me on Highway and conductor arranged an auto for me for bus stand (also known as a counter).It was already 4 PM. But to my disappointment, all the buses to Ziro already left as its evening time and only one bus to Lakhimpur (157 km) was about to leave. As expected, hopped onto this bus. After reaching almost half the distance, this bus broke down in a secluded area with a handful of people with me. Now, stories about Assam's ULFA started flashing in my mind. Luckily, we got next bus after 40 minutes. By the time, we reached Lakhimpur, it was already 10:45 PM. There was no transportation mode available in the night due to a hilly area. Hence, stayed in a local hotel which was local in the
true sense. Before sleeping, entire day flashed before me and it felt like a riddle which was getting tougher after clearing each level.
ZIRO TRIP BY UMASHANKER Next morning around 11 AM, I took fastest possible transportation mode i.e. shared Sumo for Ziro (still 110 Kms). It’s a hilly area and average speed was around 15-20 Kms per hour. Around 5 PM, Sumo dropped me at Hapoli which is now 7 km away from my destination. Now, it was time to take shared auto and it dropped me some 1.5 km away from the venue. Finally, music festival venue was visible. It was like dream come true. In dark hilly area, now was required to walk for 1.5 km with my two luggage. By the time reached the venue, it was Sunday 6:30 PM. Only 3.5 hours festival was there for me to witness. Spent 3.5 hours with quality music and crazy folks around me. Everyone was on high, you name it and they had it - Local rice beer, liquor, cigarette, weed and
what not. It was almost impossible to find out a single sober person out of 3000 odd folks camping for last 4 days. After the concert joined a bonfire of 20 odd folks with equal gender diversity and we were chatted with each other entire night. In last 3 nights, it was second night, without a minute's sleep. After having a conversation with them, come to know that they are not hippies rather all of them are living a normal life. Some of them were working as software engineer, mother of 3 years old child and even
teacher. But, they came all the way alone like me and were camping for last 4 days. Living life without any prejudice by submerging them into a different world. There were no taboos attached to so-called social evils like liquors, weeds, and even sex. I felt like they are undercover hippies who are trying to fit into the society but somewhere they are true rebels. In normal life, they live politically correct life but here it was all about freedom to do anything. It was an experience of a lifetime. I made a promise to me to come next year again and spend entire 4 days/nights with these undercover rebels. The life in Toastmasters is same. It's all about the journey, not the destination. In toastmasters, the ultimate destination is Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) and communication plus leadership tracks are the routes. These two routes are full of riddles and level increase after every stage. Many hurdles will come in your way and it might make you drop-out. But, you must continue. The real fun is in chasing not just hunting. Once, you reach the destination i.e. DTM, bound to find a different type of individuals in this league. All of them are passionate about public speaking and even few are or planning to branch out as independent professional be it, trainer or entrepreneur. So, my friends, persist with your determination to reach the destination (DTM) and enjoy the communication/leadership journey. After all, it's about the journey which makes you improved individual not just the destination in its own right.
GLIMPSES OF INDOOR MEETINGS
GLIMPSES OF OUTDOOR MEETINGS
AWARDS : CLUB LEVEL
AWARDS : AREA LEVEL
AWARDS : DIVISION LEVEL
Shraddha will compete at District 41 for Humorous Speech.
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