…experience of a newbie toastmaster
24 years ago, when I was lying in a hospital cradle beside my mother’s bed, I must have cried a lot, and I guess, that was the beginning of something - my own way of communicating with the outer world. I cried for anything and everything that I wanted to express to others.
Days have gone by. I learnt how to tell my mom that I was hungry. I learnt how to tell my dad that I needed a new toy car. And I learnt how to say the answers to questions asked by my teachers. I was happy that I could speak, speak up and speak out my mind.
I was communicating. And I was communicating well; people around me could understand me properly. But poor me, I never knew there was a climax waiting. And as I grew I met with new people who were not so similar to me, in the sense that they didn’t use the language that I was accustomed to. Oh dear! I met the demon called English. I was frightened. I was down. I wanted to escape. But then to my utter dismay I realized I really can’t let loose. And that demon is not really a demon but the way I look at it – and that can be even a genie that can help me to reach out to people, beyond the boundary of my province, beyond the border of my country.
I met with a teacher when I was in standard IVth. And he started with a conversation which at that time I really couldn’t make out. But ever since I grew up as a high school kid, I could understand the meaning underlying his first piece of words to me. He said something like this: English is just like your own mother – a beautiful lady covering her face with a veil on it – but she is always calling you in – I will help you to reach there – but it’s you who only can unveil her face.
And I was on my way to unveil her, and he always guided me in that path. But I grew up to pass out from school, left the hometown to join college. I joined job, I changed places, and all throughout I missed him.
I missed him, and I rambled here and there, completely lost in my way. And then I stumbled over the door of Toastmasters. And the door, I discovered, is leading to a way, the one that my first English teacher showed to me years ago.
Being a commonplace Bengali guy, and having studied in Bengali medium till 18 years of age, I really found it hard to cope up with the need of English speaking in my personal as well as professional life. But I had the will to conquer that fear. Where there is a will, there is a way. And in this case, the toastmasters became that way for me.
When I came to deliver my first prepared speech (the project 1 of Competent Communicator manual), the first thing that I left behind was my fear of failure. When I spoke on the first table topic in the Salt Lake Orators club, I didn’t pay heed to time limits and I feel something instilled in me the courage to keep on babbling for 3 minutes and 23 seconds! When I am burning the midnight oil to jot down this entry for the club newsletter, something is inspiring me to keep on writing. Something’s snatching the sleep out of my eyes. Something’s benumbing my senses against the feeling of tiredness. Something’s doing all such magical things.
Once in one of our club meetings a veteran speaker of our club was given a table topic where he needed to speak about a stone that has got magical power in it. He spoke about the club itself. Compared it to the stone, enunciated how the club does the magic and turns us on to be more courageous, confident and cogent in our approach to speak in public. Now I am feeling the same magic. And I agree to each and everything I heard from him that evening. That was one of the absolute moments of truth.
After every speech in toastmasters, we are given helpful evaluations. When I was in school, I used to get a report card after each of my exams. But a few days ago, an evaluator for my speech that I gave in the previous week, called me up and told, he couldn’t tell this in front of all that I needed to improve on the subject matter of my speech! How often have you heard schools giving two report cards? - One with less number of red marks on it, and so that you can show it to your mom easily, but along with the other one which is more helpful to assess yourself in a better way. God! People here are so considerate.
In regular toastmasters’ meetings, when I see a fellow toastmaster looking at his mentor every time he speaks, and at the same time his mentor putting ‘Thumbs up’ to him to boost his confidence up, I feel where else could I see the same kind of bonding between two people who do not belong to the same family. I always thought I have only one elder brother. But recently, like that fellow toastmaster I have found out that I have one more, who is actually like a bade bhaiyaa (an elder brother) to me too – A mentor, but more like a lighthouse in my dilemma. ‘Toastmasters’ is indeed a second kind of family, where we are members not by birth but by our desire to learn, to share and to grow, individually as well as collectively.
I owe toastmasters the motivation that helps me stand tall after every time I stumble. I owe you the confidence that evokes the smile of my face even at the most nervous situation. I owe you the courage that I muster before every single word I speak.
Until I joined toastmasters, I never believed in the theory of rebirth. But now, being a part of it, I have started to believe in the same. If it was the first time that I learnt how to cry in that hospital cradle, the next is this one, in the Kolkata Toastmasters Club. It inspired me to begin a new life. A life enlightened by the company of toastmasters.
Days have gone by. I learnt how to tell my mom that I was hungry. I learnt how to tell my dad that I needed a new toy car. And I learnt how to say the answers to questions asked by my teachers. I was happy that I could speak, speak up and speak out my mind.
I was communicating. And I was communicating well; people around me could understand me properly. But poor me, I never knew there was a climax waiting. And as I grew I met with new people who were not so similar to me, in the sense that they didn’t use the language that I was accustomed to. Oh dear! I met the demon called English. I was frightened. I was down. I wanted to escape. But then to my utter dismay I realized I really can’t let loose. And that demon is not really a demon but the way I look at it – and that can be even a genie that can help me to reach out to people, beyond the boundary of my province, beyond the border of my country.
I met with a teacher when I was in standard IVth. And he started with a conversation which at that time I really couldn’t make out. But ever since I grew up as a high school kid, I could understand the meaning underlying his first piece of words to me. He said something like this: English is just like your own mother – a beautiful lady covering her face with a veil on it – but she is always calling you in – I will help you to reach there – but it’s you who only can unveil her face.
And I was on my way to unveil her, and he always guided me in that path. But I grew up to pass out from school, left the hometown to join college. I joined job, I changed places, and all throughout I missed him.
I missed him, and I rambled here and there, completely lost in my way. And then I stumbled over the door of Toastmasters. And the door, I discovered, is leading to a way, the one that my first English teacher showed to me years ago.
Being a commonplace Bengali guy, and having studied in Bengali medium till 18 years of age, I really found it hard to cope up with the need of English speaking in my personal as well as professional life. But I had the will to conquer that fear. Where there is a will, there is a way. And in this case, the toastmasters became that way for me.
When I came to deliver my first prepared speech (the project 1 of Competent Communicator manual), the first thing that I left behind was my fear of failure. When I spoke on the first table topic in the Salt Lake Orators club, I didn’t pay heed to time limits and I feel something instilled in me the courage to keep on babbling for 3 minutes and 23 seconds! When I am burning the midnight oil to jot down this entry for the club newsletter, something is inspiring me to keep on writing. Something’s snatching the sleep out of my eyes. Something’s benumbing my senses against the feeling of tiredness. Something’s doing all such magical things.
Once in one of our club meetings a veteran speaker of our club was given a table topic where he needed to speak about a stone that has got magical power in it. He spoke about the club itself. Compared it to the stone, enunciated how the club does the magic and turns us on to be more courageous, confident and cogent in our approach to speak in public. Now I am feeling the same magic. And I agree to each and everything I heard from him that evening. That was one of the absolute moments of truth.
After every speech in toastmasters, we are given helpful evaluations. When I was in school, I used to get a report card after each of my exams. But a few days ago, an evaluator for my speech that I gave in the previous week, called me up and told, he couldn’t tell this in front of all that I needed to improve on the subject matter of my speech! How often have you heard schools giving two report cards? - One with less number of red marks on it, and so that you can show it to your mom easily, but along with the other one which is more helpful to assess yourself in a better way. God! People here are so considerate.
In regular toastmasters’ meetings, when I see a fellow toastmaster looking at his mentor every time he speaks, and at the same time his mentor putting ‘Thumbs up’ to him to boost his confidence up, I feel where else could I see the same kind of bonding between two people who do not belong to the same family. I always thought I have only one elder brother. But recently, like that fellow toastmaster I have found out that I have one more, who is actually like a bade bhaiyaa (an elder brother) to me too – A mentor, but more like a lighthouse in my dilemma. ‘Toastmasters’ is indeed a second kind of family, where we are members not by birth but by our desire to learn, to share and to grow, individually as well as collectively.
I owe toastmasters the motivation that helps me stand tall after every time I stumble. I owe you the confidence that evokes the smile of my face even at the most nervous situation. I owe you the courage that I muster before every single word I speak.
Until I joined toastmasters, I never believed in the theory of rebirth. But now, being a part of it, I have started to believe in the same. If it was the first time that I learnt how to cry in that hospital cradle, the next is this one, in the Kolkata Toastmasters Club. It inspired me to begin a new life. A life enlightened by the company of toastmasters.
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