How long can you be without breathing? ( A Question to one person in the audience)
One minute or less than that!!! We cannot be without breathing for more than a minute or so but do we ever give it a deep thought. Not even once a year rite?

(I did not realize the importance of breathing the proper way till one hot afternoon…. And all of us were in the play ground enjoying a good match… suddenly one of the boys collapsed on the ground… he was rushed to the hospital… and the doctors said that his brain was damaged as he had been breathing in correctly… and the lack of oxygen to the brain had caused the collapse…)

Did you know that more than 87% of the time we breathe incorrectly. Did you know that 7 out 10 people suffering from respiratory diseases are suffering due to their incorrect breathing habits? Or for that matter, did you know that the way you breathe can affect your blood circulation, energy levels, sleep patterns, moods, anxiety levels, your thought processes, indeed your entire existence?

Well, friends I am here to introduce you to a few breathing techniques which would help you during difficult situations.

Let me first introduce you to the ATM of your body, Automatic Temperature Moderator. Your “Nose”. Do you know that you are always carrying your own heater and cooler along with you? Yes, You do. The amazing features of you Nose allow you to do that. If you breathe through your right nostril, your body temperature increases and if you breathe through the left nostril your body temperature decreases. An interesting fact is that all the explorers of Antarctica and Artic circle use this technique to keep their body warm. Well, we chennaiites do know that it can get very hot here on some days, or shall I say on most days (smile). So friends, on those days use this technique at least for 15 to 30 mins to keep your body cool.

Next let us see a technique which allows higher oxygen retention in your body. This technique can be very handy just before you are going to enter into a session of high stress or pressure like an exam or interview or business meeting. In this technique, you take a deep, long breathe at you own comfortable pace and then hold your breathe for 5 to 10 seconds, then release the breathe. As you become more experienced using this technique, you can increase the period to 10 to 20 seconds. This gives your body more than 200% extra oxygen than normal breathing. Hence your concentration level and thought process are enhanced for you to excel at your exam or interview or meeting.

Now, I am going to introduce you to the most amazing technique that I came across to rejuvenate your body. ( Then I Explain the technique). There are numerous advantages of this breathing technique but the most fascinating one is that if u can hold your breathe for 2 mins then you would be as fresh as you would be as fresh as you would be after 2 hours of sound sleep. So people feel refreshed for a fun filled evening after you long day at work or college.

Friends… small things… but these have a major effect on our health… Given the global warming and different levels of pollution, let us breathe whatever good air is left is the atmosphere the right way and live healthy.

“As Prayer is to Soul, Breathing is to Body and Mind”. Learn the Art of Breathing to have a healthy body and a powerful mind.

- Sunil Baffna

Hello my dear toastmasters and welcome guests. Global Warming is a
dramatically urgent and serious problem. It is mainly due to the
greenhouse effect. Now think about yourself floating in the space
looking the earth. it looks like a beautiful blue ball. Swirling
feathery clouds surrounds it. Normally when the sunlight strikes our
planet, it absorbs some heat and reflects the rest like a mirror. But
as the greenhouse gases such as co2 increased due to human activities.
The atmosphere behaves like a big magnification glass it concentrates
the all heat on earth .so earth absorbs more heat and retains it than
reflecting it. So the earth is getting hotter and hotter. The polar
caps are melting, polar bears are dying. When all ice melts the sea
level raises by 6m which would get Chennai and all lives under the
sea.

She is getting sick at a faster rate. To cure her fever named “global
warming”. We as an individual should show her warmth. Adopt a more
responsible lifestyle by starting from little, and everyday things.
It’s the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too
late.

Firstly, plant a tree. This could be easier than it sounds. Trees,
when fully grown, will help keep the planet cooler. A single tree
removes many tones of co2 in its lifetime. Join or help out a local
social service group and ask to plant a tree. While surfing I saw an
interesting thing which is “want a tree? Just SMS”. They provide
saplings for the tree you like to plant. It acts like a silver bullet
on the global warming vampire.

Something as simple as walking instead of taking the car will help
reduce pollution. As well as stopping pollution, you are giving
yourself exercise, something important for our bodies. So the next
time you get into your car, or your motorbike, think – do I have to
make this journey by vehicle or can I walk?

Greenest triad ever created is reducing, reuse and recycle. Only buy
what you need; don’t stock the cupboards with things you may or may
not use. Reuse whatever you can, like containers and paper, and
recycle what you cannot reuse. It really is as simple as that.

Wherever practical, replace regular light bulbs with compact
fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Replacing just one 60-watt incandescent
light bulb with a CFL will save your electric bills over the life of
the bulb. CFLs also last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use
two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat.
If every Indian family replaced one regular light bulb with a CFL, it
would eliminate many billion pounds of greenhouse gases, the same as
taking many million cars off the road.

If possible use solar energy, after all it is free; all you need to
buy is the equipment. You can get much of your hot water from solar
water heater. As in many homes either LPG or the electric heater is
used.

Finally, turning off unused sources of power such as televisions and
heaters will help the environment, as well as save you from electric
bills.

When one plants a tree, switch off unwanted appliance, uses solar
power. He might feel a little taller, little happier, little warmer.
We must show our warmth globally to stop global warming. Go green.
- Bharath Raja

Hello fellow and future toastmasters, welcome to the world of lucid
dreaming.(LD)

How many of you dream literally? Yeah everyone dreams. Let me briefly
explain about LD. LD means knowing that you are dreaming. By knowing
this simple fact you can control your dream .for me , it started with
the movie called inception. I was drawn to it and started to Google
about the ways to run the dream I like , and to my surprise it was
present from the past medieval period and was refined to the present
by many modern technologies. Unbelievable isn’t .but it is not a cock
and bull story.

Let us move on to ways to do it. There are many techniques to induce
LD in our sleep. The simplest way is to check for the dream signs
regularly i.e. once an hour in the real life. These signs are like
seeing the watch and seeing away and looking back on it the time
changes randomly in dream. You can also try the same with text. After
making this an habit. You would check your watch in the dream state
and realize “I am dreaming”. It just takes 5 sec an hour and a total
time of 5 min a day. For me it took 3day to become a lucid dreamer .

Then the next step is fun and adventurous part to start experimenting
with dreams. As you are safe inside the dream, there are endless
possibilities. At beginners level one can fly, build architectural
wonders, paint the sky, and see the novels you read recently as a
movie. These are all just a drop in the bucket . Then after practice
one can meet famous people solve hard problems, invent something new.

Ordinary people made extraordinary contributions to the world by using
D. For example, Indian born mathematician genius Ramanujam solved many
difficult problems in his dream. The clothes we wear today stitched by
the sewing machine, it was discovered in a dream.

. I would like to conclude by quoting Henry David “If you have built
castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they
should be. Now put the foundations under them. ”

- Bharath Raja

You can see this picture!

In the top you can see the gestures of people using mobile phones.

Pictures you see in the bottom is the result of above!

Don’t answer mobile while you are driving, Mr Emmaa may be calling you!

Good Evening TM & Guest,

Today I am going to talk about usage of Mobile phone is boon or bane?

Three important situations come in my mind!

1. Using mobile phones lead to safety related issues

2. With mobile phones, children are growing in a precocious manner (Children having developed certain abilities earlier than is usual).

3. Absurd usage of mobile phone which disturb others

Bane:

1. First we see about the Safety related accidents

· It’s become acceptable practice to drive vehicle with mobile phone in the shoulder or ride with one hand and holding mobile on other hand.

· Signals offer plenty of opportunity to quickly type an sms

i. In year 2008 India recorded 130,000 deaths because of road accidents, which was 10% of the world’s total fatal accidents.

ii. Nowadays, Safety does not depend upon on how carefully one drives but it depend upon how the others drive.

Boon:

· Same mobile phone helps in communicating to their relatives quickly

· During Emergency situation, getting an ambulance is a call away.

Bane:

2. Second Children are growing in precocious manner

· Olden days children spend time in evening after school, playing with friends, climbing trees, hopping on the play ground, running after butterflies

· But these days school children playing virtual game with phone & sending sms instead of engaging in real world

· Younger generation waste lot of money on endless cell phone conversation which can be avoided

Boon:

· Parents gift mobile phone to their children, to enable them to contact during emergencies.

· Parents get update from school on their safe arrival.

3. Disturbance

Bane:

· People talk loudly about their personal matters in public place with out due respect to fellow people.

· During meeting people use mobile phone with impunity

· Even priests are busy answering phone in midst of the rituals

Boon:

· Incase of theft or robbery, the mobile phone is friend in deed to seek help

· For frequent travelers, phone helps to inform his family of his where abouts.

Conclusion:

· Mobile phone started off as a means to communicate, has many advantages in today’s fast life

· Like the two side of a coin, mobile phones are a boon and a bane.

· Any scientific invention is a boon or bane depending on its use and misuse

There lives a wise man in a valley between two mountains. Wise man help people in the valley about when the rain will come so that they can sow seeds. He could tell them what was wrong with them so they could get over from illnesses.

Some boys in the valley do not like the wise man, plan to play a frank with him. They called the people in the valley and wise man to prove them he is wrong.

Boy with the baby bird in is hands holds them out and asked wise man, what is in my hand? Wise man quickly recognized and said answers is in you hand.

If I say, the bird is alive you crush it, if I say its dead, you will open the hand and bird will be alive.

Usage of mobile phones is boon or bane, answers is in our hands!

- Thothathri

What, you may well ask, does this “trivial” happening have to do with us Toastmasters

Gathered here to have a good time every Sunday? And I ask in return, Toastmaster of the day and fellow Toastmasters, does this not concern us? Why are we not taking cognizance of the spiraling incidence of domestic violence, of physical, sexual or psychological abuse against women, against children and even against geriatric parents? Shouldn’t we be aware of happenings in the society that we are a part of, and shouldn’t we be doing something about it?

Domestic violence is a crime that cuts across caste, class, color and creed, found in every culture and in every community in the world. The incidence of this horrifying, almost invisible, crime is growing in epidemic proportions across the globe.

Women have always been regarded as the inferior sex – ‘under her father’s protection first, then her husband’s, and finally her son’s’. How ironic that women have today to fear this very guise of protection.

A woman goes into her marital home with dreams and stardust in her eyes – it takes very little to keep that stardust shining – and as little to destroy it.

What are the main causes of spouse abuse? Pressure of work is cited as the main reason. Really? Then why not hit the boss? Or your colleagues? Why hit your wife? Because she can’t hit back.

Drug, alchohol or other substance abuse ranks next – and here we have a pattern of addiction that causes irrational behavior, but which can be controlled by medication and counseling.

The worst is the sociopath or the psychopath, who tortures for pleasure. If you think these belong to the movies, my friends, you are wrong. There are women who are beaten, tied to the bed for days on end, and literally tortured. For such women, physical escape & legal action are the only alternative if they are to remain alive.

Why is domestic abuse such an invisible crime? We do not know what goes on in any marriage, and in many cases there is provocation and frustration on both sides –I personally witnessed a neighbor bashing her husband with a rolling pin (she was working and he was an alchoholic stay-at-home), and it is still wrong.

But until society says spouse abuse is not an acceptable part of civilized society, until society takes a stand, this will continue.

Another reason for the invisibility is that the wife will not talk about it – feeling guilty in some obscure way that she is responsible for the man’s behaviour. And the man ensures that the bruises are not visible, or frightens the woman into submission, threatening to harm her natal family or the children if she does report him. Very often, it is the final fear of being murdered, or her children being abused that drives such women over the edge –and I say, let our women not wait till this fatal stage.

Toastmasters, what can you and I do in such situations?

The first step: lend a shoulder, or an ear –simply talking about it can help overcome some of the problems.

Second, recommend a centre for marital counseling, a doctor/psychologist or psychiatrist who can help with professional counseling or even medication.

Third, be aware of police, legal or social work centres where women can escape in an emergency; even the telephone directory actually has numbers for help lines or shelters.

Toastmasters, do you think you can help save somebody’s life this way? Are you willing to extend a helping hand? All those willing to help –raise your hands.

Toastmaster of the Day…

Note: It was gratifying to observe how many Toastmasters were willing and did raise their hands.

An additional point I would like to put in the Chennai blog is a statement of the ‘Human Rights in Close Relationships’ that gives us some guidelines of behaviour:

• The right to share equally with your partner all decisions and responsibilities related to your relationship, children, home and finances.
• The right to express your opinions and have them given the same respect and consideration as those of your partner.
• The right to expect your partner to give at least 50% to resolve difficulties in your relationship.
• The right to hold your partner responsible for their behavior rather than assuming that responsibility yourself.
• The right NEVER to be physically attacked or psychologically degraded by your mate and the right to terminate the relationship if either occurs.

- DTM Nina John

Fellow and future Toastmasters, as I prepared for my project 1 speech, I could not help but ponder upon these questions and their answers. I had to keep reminding myself that I am spinning my wheels on the muddy whys of the issue; that, in order to make forward progress on my project, I really need to shift my focus to the HOW of the question. FOCUS on the HOW.

SO – How does one deliver a perfect or proper introduction? What are its components?

Its pretty boring, usual, routine, mundane stuff if you really think about it. It comprises of some background or history, your current situation, family, education, career information, maybe even dreams, ambitions and goals if you are bold and extroverted enough to share them.

AND YET – Every ice-breaker is unique and fascinating at various psychological levels. Is it not?

Well, WELCOME to my version of – “ “ THE ICEBREAKER” “ And make of it what you will – as I know you will.

I am an architect by profession – that is, I design buildings and spaces for a living. My husband and I founded a firm called Architecture By Design back in December 2009. Our office is in Egmore, not far from here. I am very happy to share that our fledgling company is already very busy designing some very exciting projects.

On a more personal note: I am married to a most wonderful man. He is as wonderful as can be – if you know what I mean We are the proud parents of two delightful little boys, seven and three. We live in the Santhome area in the house that my husband grew up in. As a family, though, we have only lived in Chennai for a few short months. Last year, we made a big move here from Seattle, Washington, in the United States, where our children were born and where we had attended university, worked and lived for a decade.

As for the moving experience and re-adjustment to life in Chennai, I decided, was fodder enough for a separate speech project.

I was born and raised in Pune by my parents, along with a younger brother. Together, we enjoyed a blessed childhood full of play, adventure and sibling rivalry. We continue to share a very close bond to this day.

Marathi is, I am very proud to say, my beloved mother tongue. Although I speak the language fluently and probably love it even more, I tend to think, speak and write better in English. I suspect this has got something to do with the smacks I received on my knuckles while at Convent School, every single time a Marathi or Hindi word slipped out of my mouth.

I do not speak Tamil AT ALL. The only people I dare to speak to Tamil are auto drivers and household helpers – in other words, people who are ill-positioned to laugh out loud. Nonetheless, I do detect a subtle change in their facial expressions every single time I attempt Tamil, but I have learnt to continue on bravely – they have probably taught me an important lesson or two in Toastmastering!

In my leisure time, which I lately have little to none of, I love to go hiking, biking, climbing, mountaineering, camping – anything that gets me out of my cell phone’s reception zone, anywhere where there are no walls within sight, real or psychological. I also enjoy wind surfing and horse riding, in fact, I have been an equestrian coach in my yesterlife. In the US, I used to ski in the winter months, but that sport is going to be terribly difficult to pursue here in Chennai. And, I think I have recently found a hobby that will keep me well-fed, busy, fit and most importantly out of peoples’ hair after my retirement – I have recently taken to gardening!

Speaking of retirement brings me to a topic I have been avoiding all along – AGE! I am on the downhill side of my thirties and my age train is hurtling towards the forties, I can feel several Gs in its acceleration. To that train I say – I have never felt younger, or better.

To summarise, I am an architect, a womans entrepreneur, a wife, mother of two, daughter, sister, an adventure loving outdoor enthusiast, and last but not the least – a brand-spanking new TOASTMASTER!

Now that I have broken the proverbial ice, I’d like to welcome you aboard as I embark upon my Toastmastering journey. I look forward to your friendship, encouragement and feeback, and I promise you a generous helping of the same in return.

Coming back to why I think introductions are indispensable: personally, I really enjoy making intricate mental maps of peoples backgrounds, professions, mother tongues, past flames, what have you, and just that, for me, is reason enough for a “proper” introduction.

- Deepa Bharathkumar

Fellow Toastmasters, it is NOT what you think; neither is it some silly campaign on a social networking site. I am here to talk about humble compost – so humble, in fact, that I had to risk a mysterious title and a risque opening, just to keep you seated until his moment.

Anything that was once alive will, in time, turn into compost. In fact, by definition,compost is decomposed organic matter. Now – I am deeply aware that that sounds really gross – but compost is anything but. It smells like the first rain-shower, takes its colour after dark chocolate, and tastes like the brick walls you licked when you were a toddler.

Decomposition of dead organic matter is inevitable; it is its only destiny. Composting begins the moment you pluck that juicy fruit from the tree, or the moment you uproot that stalk off mint or coriander. You and I, all of us, are going to become compost one day. It is a part of the cycle of life, a phenomenon that breaks down toxic, noxious dead matter into nutritious, aromatic compost that i turn supports and nurtures new life. We cannot stop or reverse this cycle of life – but we CAN and MUST harness it to our, and more importantly, to mother nature’s advantage.

The nice thing is that compost is extremely easy to make at home. Because there are tools, ingredients, preparation and cooking time involved, the wild chef in me is begging to treat the method as a RECIPE – so here we go:

For tools you will need: One square foot of outdoor space, three stacking containers with lids – about the size of a medium sized bucket, and a small garden fork.

For ingredients you will need greens and browns – more on that in a minute. You will mix these two in roughly equal quantities and I promise you your recipe cannot go wrong.

Now on to preparation:

As and when you cook, simply separate vegetable and fruit peels, skins, seeds, cores and other discards, instead of dumping them in your trash bin,simply dump them in your compost bin. Almost all organic waste matter that exits your kitchen comprises the green portion of ingredients. Now we need some browns – these can be dried leaves from around your garden, and if these are not available, shredded paper will also do. Just cover up the greens with the browns – this is all you have to do on a daily basis. Once a week, pay your compost bin a little visit armed with your garden fork and just toss all the contents around for aeration.

Finally, on to cooking time -

It takes about 3 months for the complete decomposition cycle to turn waste into compost. A family of 4 typically takes 3 months to fill up 3 buckets. At the end of three months, the first bucket can be harvested. Just spread the compost around in your garden or in your potted plants.

That’s it! You are done! It really is that simple. You are all now expert composters – all thanks to my fool-proof recipe.

But recipes do not allow opportunities to discuss anything else other than method, so I’d like to take a minute to tell you why you must compost at home. If you really think that I am encouraging you to compost because I want you to have free soil enhancer, then I have COMPLETELY missed my mark.

Consider this – if you start composting today, you will be diverting 60% – I repeat – 60% of your household waste away from landfills. IMAGINE 60% fewer stinky garbage trucks. IMAGINE a 60% smaller Trash Mountain at the landfill.

Composting is the most easiest and effective ways for a community to make a humongous positive impact on the environment. THAT’S why you should start composting. TODAY.

In summary: We now know that composting is free, super-easy and the most effective way to put in your two-cents to save mother earth. I can personally testify that it is NOT the dirty, stinky, pest-infested, labor-intensive chore you imagine it to be. Today, for a few hundred rupees, you can buy good-looking, tall, dark and handsome composting bins that you can proudly display even at your front door. All this leaves you with pretty much no excuses left but to try composting at home today.

Just do the right thing.

Happy composting!

- Deepa Bharatkumar

Chicken Tikka Pizza and Shaadi.com ? JIs that a topic for toastmaster? Has this guy directly jumped out of a lunatic asylum? J

TM——— Can you please join me on stage? (As she/he comes to the stage)

What are you wearing today? (I will be calling somebody wearing jeans with kurtha)

Thank you TM——–.

Is there any relation with her/his attire and topic? Can somebody guess? ———Yes Jean is Modern and Kurtha is Indian. So is the topic, Chicken tikka is Indian and Pizza is modern. Shaadi i.e, marriage is our tradition and .com is modern.

Yes friends, I am going to talk about the tussle that happens at every age. The tussle between tradition and modernisation, which happened in the past, which is happening right before us and which will continue in the future.

But what is tradition? And what is modernisation? Tradition is something which is handed over by every generation to the next generation. Modernisation on the other hand is the process of becoming modern. Modern in terms of technology, education, economy and more importantly our thoughts.

Today, are we becoming entirely modern aping the west or are we still clinging to our traditions? The answer is neither. Then what is happening in our society now? I could see two parallel processes emerging out of this tussle between tradition and modernity. First is Indianisation of modernity(Chicken tikka pizza) and the second is Modernisation of Indian tradition(shaadi.com). I would say they are two sides of the same coin.

Let me begin with Indianization of modern tradition.

Indianisation of English is a reality now and it can never be overlooked. A couple of weeks ago one of the leading English newspaper reported in its first page that “ The bandh called by opposition was peaceful in Tamilnadu“ Is ——-(eg Bandh) a English word? We have not just introduced new words to English, but haven’t we heard people saying “Are you coming or not?”, ”Isn’t it no?” which are nothing but a literal translation of Indian expressions.

Not just English, we are Indianizing foreign goods and products as well. Gone are the days when any foreign product was seen with awe and reverence. Today for any product to survive in India it has to be Indianized. For instance, the Yum restaurants, which own the famous KFC brand, opened its operations in India mid-90s, immediately after the Indian market was liberalized. But they soon wound their operation. They entered the Indian market with the assumption that any foreign good is easily marketable in India. They learnt their lesson in a hard way. Their tastes were too alien to Indian taste buds. Only in 2004, after reinventing themselves they entered the Indian market again. Now they included a whole lot of Indian items in their menu. A recent ad says ‘Introducing Veg Zinger – Juicy Spicy Crunchy-100% Veg’. Imagine 100% Veg in KF –Chicken ?? J We made it happen.

Let me reason out as why is this Indianization happening. This is because of our spirit of accommodation. If we could accommodate people speaking different languages, of different races and culture why not modernity? “If the English become Indianized, we can accommodate them..” quote-unquote, said Mahatma Gandhi in Hind Swaraj in 1908. Let me extrapolate it to English language or KFC or anything modern. We are Indianizing modernity to accommodate it.

Let met move on to the other side of the story. That is modernisation of Indian tradition. Vint Serf, the father of internet and Johannes Guttenburg the inventor of printing press would be baffled to know that internet and newspapers are now playing the role of traditional match makers. (I will pick up the newspaper and read out a matrimonial column). JWe have not just privileged banking, but privileged matrimony as well. Shaadi.com or Bharat Matrimony provides privileged logins, details of prospective brides and grooms, chat facilities and what not.

In fact, we have invented a new form of marriage i.e neither love marriage nor arranged marriage. It is luv cum arranged marriage. To be love marriage it has to be between two individuals but in India marriage happens not just between two individuals but between two families. JSo our marriages are predominantly either arranged or love cum arranged marriages.

To illustrate the phenomenon of modernisation of our tradition let me give you another example. Joint families are a part of our tradition. Today nuclear family is the norm. But don’t we visit our grandparents frequently? Don’t we consult our elders for any important decision of our lives? Do any important events in our family like marriage or death happen without our extended family members? The traditional joint family has now modernised to joint-ness. We are structurally nuclear but functionally still joint.

But why is this modernisation of tradition happening? Because, tradition is not just thing of the past. It still has its contemporary legitimacy. And moreover, there can never be a linear change from tradition to modernity. It is based on the past we build the future.

Thus tradition and Modernity are neither contradictory nor exclusive. Individually neither of them is adequate to meet the needs of the society. At any given period of history, it is the combination of the two which has really served the society.

So yesterday it was bread pakkoda and marriage brokers,

Today it is chicken tikka pizza and shaadi.com

Tomorrow it might be tinned frozen idli and e-marriages. The tussle will continue…

Once somebody asked me, “What is the meaning of your name?” I told with great enthusiasm, it means somebody who has more hair and it is another name of Lord Shiva. I need not tell you what his reaction could have been. He gave me sarcastic smile. My hair is receding as fast as the glaciers in the Himalayas. There is not an iota of relation between me and my name and this is what they all “Life’s little ironies”

I was born and brought up in Trichirappalli. I had a wonderful childhood along with my two elder sisters. Being the last one in the family definitely makes family nothing but an earlier heaven. I had great teachers in school and made good friends. But won’t you agree with me, if I say challenges are what make life interesting?(pause)

The biggest ever challenge of my life came in the form of college. I got admission from BITS,Pilani Rajasthan. To somebody who had never been even to Chennai, going to a place which is 2500kms away from your hometown was really a herculean task. But then I was very firm in my decision to join BITS.

I landed in Pilani on July 29^th, 2000.First came the cultural shock, in the form of language, dressing sense, food habits, the weather and more. To be amidst all the metropolitan born kids with a fluent language in the tip of their tongue was definitely difficult for me. So, I preferred to be silent during the initial days. Before I could come out of this shock, came the second one in the form of academics. I went to BITS for a science degree hoping to make a dual degree with BE Computer Science, which is allotted based on your first year performance.

But my hopes dwindled when I got marks of my first test series. It was 7/60 in Thermodynamics, 4/60 in Physics. I would better stop here. Other subjects are even worse. I called my mother and told her that I am ruined and I want to get back to Trichy. My mother listened to me very patiently and asked me to maintain my cool. A week later I received a letter again from my mother. It was not one page or two page letter. It was more than 10 pages. She had written about her own life experiences, inspiring stories of great leaders, how to face challenges, how to win friends and more. I read it, re-read the letter many, many times. No looking back after that. I made a dual with BE computer science, finished my college, made a wonderful job and landed in Bangalore. Great job, I liked it and the company liked me. I was well ahead on the target of a 1234 life. 1 wife 2 kids 3 bed room flat and 4 wheeler.

If challenges make life interesting, dreams gives the spirit to your soul and makes life even more interesting. One fine day to everybody’s surprise I resigned my job and went to Delhi pursue my dream of becoming a civil servant.(I guess TM Subadra also has a similar dream). My friends questioned me, colleagues warned me but I was yet again, firm in my decision. My parents and sisters gave me all the support I needed. I tried my best, but I miserably failed in the first three attempts. Then came my last chance. It was ‘Do or Die’ for me. I learned from my mistakes of my previous attempts and then gave my final one with my best preparations. But life is not always like a movie with happy ending. It was an anti-climax in my case. I missed my boat yet again. It was just 4 months ago. I felt numb, weak and depressed. I was able to accept success with alacrity but not failure. I lost my spirits. I was wandering without any clue as what to do next. If I could say so, I was in the crossroads of my life.At this juncture, one day, I saw a roadside hawker selling peanuts and groundnuts. A thought struck like lightening to me. What is the hope that he would sell all his peanuts by the end of the day? And even if he is able to sell all of it, will he be able to make any profit? I now realized every moment shall pass and life moves on hope. I realized that becoming a civil servant was a means to an end and not an end in itself. I can still serve the country by various other means. From then, it was a fresh beginning to me. I made a wonderful job again, joined toastmasters and at this moment I think I have regained my lost spirits. And now looking for a bigger, better and brighter future. Over to toastmaster!!!

-TM Sadayappan