The Ice Breaker - My Project 1 Speech

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and guests, this world is so big, and this guy, standing in front of you, is so small, yet a long memory he has been carrying for the last 24 years of his life… And he, through the next few minutes, would take you through an unknown alley… the oblivious memory lane of his yester years.

Even I am, quite naturally, oblivious of what happened on the world environment day in the year 1985. But I am pretty sure that on that very day there was an unnecessary burden on the world environment as this innocently looking fellow took birth on this mother-earth and increased the already exorbitantly growing population.

I was born in a middle class Bengali family in Durgapur, and to my parents - dad, currently a retired school teacher and my mom, a simple and sensible housewife all throughout her life. Three and a half years before my human incarnationJ, there came a little guest too in my family – my elder brother, who is now settled in Bangalore and working in an MNC on telecom.

And now about my own childhood, well I can not tell you more, as I hardly remember what sort of things I did, what type of intelligible phrases I used to babble, or what kind of rap music would I create when I used to cry those cacophonies to express my feelings. But as I remember, despite an effacing effect of time and age, I was a guy, bit shy and reserved. But I was not quite an introvert. I guess, the correct word would be ‘ambivert’, i.e. talking on specific occasions or in a specific group of people, and simultaneously keeping mum else where. I was quite often so quiet, that fellow students in my class who used to have fun and enjoy in the most childish ways of childhood, must have imagined me the leader of the opposition. I was such a disciplined guy, until, one day when the breaking news was that I have beaten a fellow girl of my class with my umbrella. I hope that was the beginning of my becoming a not so good boy. But I continued doing good during my school in academics. I completed both my Xth and XIIth from a Durgapur school. I got the taste of an achievement for the first time when the Xth board result was announced, and I could know that I have been 2nd in my hometown and 24th in the state board. I was on cloud nine. Until then, I never dreamt big, but it was really one of those very few memories when I felt great for what I have done in my life. I never felt the same joy further. Because I never did something like that in my life ahead. And when I was in college, I screwed up my grade points big time, much the way the guys did in the “5 point someone.” I got eight supplementary papers in my 4 years’ B.Tech. course, and I struggled a lot in my final semester to come out of my coveted institution with due dignity. NIT Kurukshetra bade me good bye with two handsomely looking jobs as well. And the next month, I joined one of them, ALSTOM – a French MNC dealing in EPC in the power sector. I was relieved as I got a secured path in my life, through which I could traverse the distance called life and at the end of every month I could bring home some money. But friends, by now I am nearly 24 and I have gained something that I can safely call “An Experience” and that tells me two things –

1. I need money
2. But in a way which suits me better.

Now you must be wondering, what am I going to tell, its nothing, but just the fact that very recently, even in the amidst of this recession period, I have left my job and haven’t applied for any. I am searching for something new, something unique that suits me better. I want to do what I feel I should do, and what my company pays me for not doing.

Well, I am here to talk about my life, and not about my future plans, so better I start sharing with you some more in depth knowledge of the specimen standing in front of you. I have been an enthusiastic and optimistic person from childhood. I am a hard worker too, especially when I like what I am doing. I have two good hobbies, both related to some sort of creativity. The first one of them is web designing. I have been a passionate internet surfer like many, the difference is, I felt that I should not be restricting myself in just logging on to others’ websites, but also should create webpages for others to view them. The second hobby that I have, is of making craftwork, I really feel an indescribable joy when I see scraps turning out to be showpieces or some utility in the process of value addition as well as beautification.

I feel good when I listen Tagore-songs, I love to eat chicken curry and I like Satyajit Roy, the person he was… the list is so long, I am not going in to much details. But one thing I must mention, I am not quite a movie freak, nor do I watch English movies that often. But every time when I watch the last few minutes of the movie “Shawshank’s Redemption”, I literally shed tears in joy; yes I pronounced the word correctly – JOY, because it shows me the victory of two things, against all odds. – the Dream and the Hope. Inspired by the movie, I have cherished a big dream in my heart, and I have high hopes too, to fulfil them in near future. And I wish, to get all your wishes, wishing me, my wishes come true.

The Religion Called Cricket

The IPL Season 2 is just over and the T20 World cup is on its way. The cricket mania or rather, the T20 fever has broken out large. Yes, its just another game. And in comparison with football, this is too trifling a game, played by hardly a dozen countries in this world. It's chastity was hampered with events like "body line bowling" or "betting scandals." It has offered big money to already-so-rich cricketers and never invested anything substantial for the country's growth. It has been made extravagant over the decades by Cola companies which in turn has looted gullible public by selling them a mere mixture of water and carbon-di-oxide at an exorbitant rate. It has made our once-so-hallowed national game the backbencher. It has so many charges against its name.

But in India, a country with diverse diversities, it's nothing but a religion, preached by people of all other religions. Games and Sports have always urged people to get together at a single venue and share the fun, joy, and excitements. But Cricket has done something unique in this country. Football might have made Bengalis and Goans form the Mexican wave in stadia, people might have been frenzied in parts of Punjab with Hockey. But when Ganguly lofted a ball to the mid off boundary for a six, its not only the Bengalis, who have been enthralled and nor the Marathis alone, when Tendulkar's bat started roaring in high pitch. Cricket had rubbed off the provincial boundaries in India. I say that emphatically as I remember, I felt an indescribable pain when noble cricketers like Dravid or Kumble fought well but finally couldn’t clinch the prestigious IPL2 trophy, and I being a Bengali had no real reason to support a Bangalore based sports team. And I am sure all of you might have had similar instances when you rose above your provincial disharmony and supported team India just because you are Indians. I honestly confess few things here, I haven't cast my vote a single time, I don't usually attend Republic day ceremonies, I forgot when I last uttered the words of "Jana Gana Mana." But when the next time I will have India taking on some other country, Indian ness will be bubbling out from my heart for sure.

Election is just over. And we have seen vote bank politics ruling rampant. Political parties have nominated members with a target to capture votes from a special community or a specific religion. In a SECULAR sovereign democratic country, we all have done mockery of the terms that we use in our constitution to describe our motherland. But have you ever thought of the fact that we never judge their religion to cheer for Harbhajan or Zaheer. Have you ever wondered how many is the percentage of players who are SC/ST/GENERAL or OBC? We never judged, we never divided people on the basis of ancestry or skin colour when we followed this wonderful game that spelt its wand much in the way one contemporary Digital TV ad shows. In that ad, the magician magically turns two remotes to a single one. And in India, Cricket has done the same act, made people unified. And hey presto, "unity in diversity" is no more a vague phrase to use!

The booming economy of India has achieved great heights in eradicating poverty. The country has made numerous plans and programmes to uplift the people of lower strata of the society. But there have been umpteen number of news when people in India starved and died, shivered in cold and slept at footpath never to wake up again. India still, considering the majority, is a poor country. And here we have been accustomed to discrimination on the basis of wealth. The poor and the rich have made boundary walls around them. Their habits, traits and tastes have been dissimilar. And now think of the summer of 2007, India and Pakistan, the archrivals have decided to confront each other once more. Yes, it's the first T20 World Cup Final. 6 runs needed of the last 4 balls, and Yogindar Sharma pumping in with the ball in his hand, and look at that, you can see a sophisticated young lady in the VIP stands of Wanderers, Johannesburg, chanting a prayer to the God. And now look at the rickshaw puller at Burrabazar, Kolkata keeping his pocket radio tight to his ears and praying to the same God. Can you really differentiate between the two pictures? Can you even discriminate the happiness each of them got after the next delivery was bowled? I am sure, you never can. As I said it earlier, Cricket is a religion, preached by ALL. ‘Discriminations’ is a forgotten word.

Cricket has done a lot, and it will do so forever. Nothing can stop it from being the panacea of this strife torn country.