Accidental Toastmaster

“Bala, what if you visit any country in the world map and at the airport, there are twenty friends of you, waiting to receive you?” was the question posted by Sanjay to me.

"Listen and silent are made of same set of alphabets but slightly rearranged to convey different meanings". Most of us are under the impression that verbal communication means just talking. On the contrary, communication is seldom one way; it is a two way track with a continuous flow of words, expressions and minute gestures which often go unnoticed in an unsuccessful communication.

We have trained ourselves for a long and extended period of 12-15 years in schools, colleges and universities to handle written communications. Questions are put in front of us on hypothetical situations and answers drawn from us either in a descriptive manner or objective type as held as the basis of our knowledge, talents and capabilities what-so-ever.

Having crossed the rings of fire also called as tests and examinations, the ultimate challenge of real life is encountered. It is nothing but "Public Speaking". Written communication is like our comfortable movement on the land or earth, such a solid ground wherein we can walk, run, stand, sit, rest and sleep anytime without any difficulty. But speaking or verbal communication is an entirely different ball game.

Speaking to a group of small group of people in a company meeting or a large social gathering of people or even a simple one to one communication every day is similar to swimming in deep waters. There is a continuous flow of words, pauses, variety of pitch and tone, naturally and at times intentionally varied by the speaker, conveying a spectrum of emotions across the mouth to the ears.

Again, a piece of write-up would mean precisely what it was meant for. But the speech is delivered by the speaker with certain motives, not necessarily be the same way to appeal to the listener. The challenge in front of the leaders of today is to convey the message to his audience in such a way it is construed and understood by them, exactly the way the speaker intended to do so.

Passion for speaking and singing had been a hidden agenda for me since birth. But neither of them could receive a training or mathematical approach to convert into a finished product from the crude raw material. After many years of rudimentary and stereotypic work style, I could sense a bit of stagnancy in my thirties.

Staying with same set of individuals at office for 12+ hours every day, discussing the same subject of evading salary increments, promotions and the dream of a non-existing job satisfaction could be a energy drainer and ultimate soul killer. It was the same moment; I realized the lack of any hobby or pastime to replenish the cluttered and confused mindset arising out of mechanical and repetitive jobs, more or less matching with Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times”

Language has its roots in cleansing the mind and encouraging fresh and fruitful thoughts. Tamil has ever remained as my language of thinking, talking and assimilating the ideas since birth, whereas English has taken the place of business related communications.

Dammam Tamil Group gave me ample chances to revisit my Tamil speaking and singing skills with nostalgic memories of the past, peaceful glorious days in Thanjavur, my home town. This transformation then lead to regaining the energy levels, with the offshoot of fresh branches, leaves and flowers of thought process, like a green twig emanating out of a dead log of timber.

The real twist in this tale was Toastmasters. What is the meaning of toastmasters? If you are interested to know, please do visit www.toastmasters.org but wait; not now. After you complete reading this piece of writing, you may proceed to visit this website if at all you need.

“Bala, what if you visit any country in the world map and at the airport, there are twenty friends of you, waiting to receive you?” was the question posted by Sanjay to me.

This happened at a family gathering consisting of we parents, whose children happen to be classmates and buddies in the Dammam Indian School; not to mention the mothers were teachers/ colleagues too. We fathers had no other option than to join the majority.

Sanjay, Pooja/Poojit’s dad was introduced by our common friends Raji & Govindarajan couple. In the group of we so called camels, Sanjay stood apart with his glowing eyes, bright and compassionate smiles and his outstanding energy levels and brimming positivity implied a lot about the person and there should be some secret behind this man, I thought at that very moment.

Yes, Sanjay was an accomplished toastmaster by that time. He drew me like a magnet in year 2005 into the Toastmasters fraternity.  Leaders, managers, engineers, doctors and workers; every type of profession is equal inside the toastmasters meeting room. The club of twenty odd members runs an imaginary office, parliament, speech-craft training all in one place. 

In Toastmasters, everyone gets a chance to stand on the stage and express his ideas in a pleasant way, with plenty of facial expressions, body language. To entertain and enterprise the audience and get encouraged in the process by their applauses unlimited is Toastmaters.

More and more I will write about Toastmaster in this series, in due course of time.

Until then have a great time at work and home my dear friends!

Cheers

Dammam Bala