Life Etc Etc

On March 20th 2016, I attended my last contest (at least for the foreseeable future) in Toastmasters. It was somewhat poetic justice that my four year journey in Toastmasters which started with a contest ended with another one. My journey in Toastmasters had come a full circle and I was proud that I was walking out with my head held high. More importantly this guy who had stumbled into Toastmasters all alone was walking out with a group of friends. Nostalgia has no place in life if it doesn't lead to wisdom and today I look back at my Toastmaster's career to recount some of the most important lessons I learnt while establishing myself as one of the premier competitors on the Toastmasters circuit. " Start Afresh ": I was a successful orator at both the state and national levels during my college days before I joined Toastmasters after a lengthy break. My results in Toastmasters initially were way below par. Nothing seemed to work. That's when I realized I st...

Of all the Competent Communication manual projects nothing troubled me more than the CC 6 project. Incidentally CC 6 is also the final speech project that needs to be finished if one has any ambitions of competing in the International Speech Contest  (ISC). So what makes this project complex when it has some simple objectives such as: Use voice volume, pitch, rate and quality to reflect and add meaning and interest to your message. Use pauses to enhance your message. Use vocal variety smoothly and naturally. Should be pretty easy right considering the fact all of us use our voice everyday to converse with friends and family? Wrong , there's more to this project than just plain voice modulation. Although the project is all about vocal variety, its objectives are only met when audience easily connects to what you are presenting through your voice. In other words if everyone in the audience closes their eyes they should still be able to feel what you are attempting to put...

A year ago my commentary on International Speeches talked about the myths that should be avoided while preparing a speech for an International Speech Contest (ISC). Today with the Toastmasters contest season once again in full swing I am going to point out certain pitfalls which if avoided will improve the overall value of your speech and also solidify the audience connect. The speaker and the audience <Photo Courtesy: Wan San Yip  on  Unsplash > I llogical Premise : A Premise is the base upon which your entire argument/speech is built and in many cases forms the opening statement of the speech. The conclusion that you attempt to derive through your speech is only as good as the assumption (the premise) you make.  Its therefore necessary that this premise is credible and is generally acceptable. Premises such as "You can't be successful until you hook someone who is successful", "Sleaze and not substance sells films", "There's no such thing c...

India's whitewash of Australia in the recently concluded T20 series was built on some strikingly brilliant individual performances.The victory obviously left me elated but also took me down the memory lane of some singularly awe inspiring performances in Cricket. Now a lot of these performances may not be not well known but inspiration in life comes from quality and not popularity. So without any further delay lets look at three ' stand and deliver'  performances from the 90s, a decade that revolutionized Cricket. WV Raman anchors : WV Raman's stay at the top was very brief but no body could deny his talent and ice cool temperament. Both of these skills were on display when India took on South Africa in the 3rd ODI of a series which was rapidly going down hill. South Africa batted first and set a target of 215 for India. The modest target looked unattainable considering the fact that India hadn't crossed 200 even once in the first two one day interna...

There are books which you read and then there are books which make you read them and change your life. Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari's (Rajaji's) Mahabharata belongs to the latter category. Mahabharata introduced me to the joy of reading books as a kid and today I couldn't have picked a better topic for my 25th post. I cannot describe what a pleasure and honor it is to extol the virtues of this classic book during this holy festive season of  Makar Sankranti . Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari The story of Mahabharata is as old as the mountains and has been retold several times. Mahabharata by Rajaji however stands out in my mind because here is a story which is spiritual yet not religious, is thought provoking yet not preachy, is compelling yet not tedious. The story left an indelible impression upon me for several reasons which are: Rajaji uses extremely simple language to convey some of the finer aspects of the saga. I was 10 years old when I read Mahabharata ...

The road to my 25th post had to go through Vera Cruz . Nothing fuels one's imagination quite like a rivalry between two evenly matched foes. As a kid I often wondered who would win if Superman squared off against He-Man and Batman took on Spider-Man. The quest for engaging rivalries and unique match-ups took a life of its own when I discovered sport. Who would win a rematch between Pete Sampras and Roger Federer ? Can Manny Pacquiao KO Floyd Mayweather ?  Will Justin Gatlin ever outrun Usain Bolt ? Whenever a match-up lived up to its potential (See Bibo V/S Kumar ) it became a memory to treasure. Magical rivalries however are not limited to sport and comics alone they have a unique place in movies too. Vera Cruz takes that rivalry to a brand new level by pitting an ultra-aggressive Burt Lancaster against an ice cool Gary Cooper  (both of them incidentally are in the Top 25 actors list of AFI ). But before going into the intricacies of the film we should explore the backg...

The time has come to induct another class of cricketers into the most meaningless hall of fame of them all. I was planning to postpone this induction to the new year but South Africa's epic blockathon  a few weeks ago triggered some painful memories. So without any further ado here are certain performances which will definitely up your BP levels and go down in the history of cricket as some of the most disgusting sporting fails . Kris Sricant : Before Sanath Jayasuriya and Virender Sehwag destroyed bowlers,  Kris Srikkanth  walloped them with the sort of a brutality that was never seen before. So complete was his mastery that even the most fearsome bowlers didn't escape the brunt of his bat. Who can forget the six he hooked of Andy Roberts  in the most important final of them all. But even greatness can wane with time, come 1992 the hero of 1983 was a pale shadow of himself. The confidence was absent, the technique was inconsistent and the reflexes were non-e...