Some expressions of life that came to mind.......


Izhaare-zindagi

Woh parinda hi kya jo ud na sake?
Woh kismat nahi jo footkar jud na sake.
Woh jeev kaisa jise jinda rehne ka shukr nahin?
Woh man kaisa jo zindagi ko apna na sake?

Woh zindagi kaisi jismein koi chaah nahin?
Chaah hai toh zindagi hai
Badlaav hai toh zindagi hai
Bas behte rehne ka naam hi
Khushkismati hai!

THE ENTERTAINING SPEECH

Objectives: 

• Entertain the audience by relating a personal experience

• Organize an entertaining speech for maximum impact

• TIME: 5 to 7 minutes

Love to Express

Do you watch romantic Bollywood movies? Dilwale Dulhania, Chennai Express, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, and Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania? Can you name the one thing that really inspires all the directors of these romantic movies? It is something in these movies that I also really love!!!

It is trains!! Can you think about how many bollywood scenes have been shot with heros and heroines catching trains? The typical scene goes like this: Hero on the train. Heroine on the platform. When the Heroine's tubelight comes on, she stretches her hand, and suddenly she starts to run and run in slow motion alongside the moving train. She is panting, but instead of her, the cinema audience are totally out of breadth! Finally, Lasssssssstt moment, hero confidently reaches out his biceps! Actually, I mean his arm! He grips heroine's hand and pulls her in.


Whew! The whole cinema hall sighs with relief!!! Thank god he caught her hand, and she caught the train!! No? And then the couple smiles beautifully or they sing a song!!

Well naturally, it is fun because Bollywood stars don't have to book train tickets at the famous IRCTC website!!! Okay, if you do not know, let me tell u. All online train bookings are done through IRCTC website. And if you can manage to book your tickets through the IRCTC website without tearing your hair out in frustration, I think, boss, you are an international cyber genius!!!

You see, the IRCTC website has an antique Indian system. At any given time probably a million users in India are trying to book their tickets at the same time. And just when the website is about to display some meaningful information, SHIT!!! The site will hang or crash!

So Barack Obama has almost declared it as a technological wonder! You can store the MOST confidential military intelligence data on the IRCTC server, it is guaranteed the Chinese or Mujahideen will never be able to access it, leave alone hack it!!! Thanks to superb Indian IT talent- the cheapest and best in the world!!

Now despite these IRCTC problems, I still think train journeys are still the best, and extremely entertaining!!! Thinking of trains brings up nostalgia from my childhood days. Those were the days we used to do a lot of second-class, budget travelling. We would carry bedholders, food, and large containers of water. Mind you, those days only the rich would buy water, or Bisleri.

Luggage has always been free, and of course unlimited. We normally had about 6-7 Aristocrat suitcases on the to journey. Double the luggage items on the return journey. Had to be yaar, after visiting grandparents!

And then those were the days we had no mobiles, no tabs, no instant cameras, and no videos in a train coach. So what did we do? Ah well, we had Windows!!  Na na, che, not Microsoft Windows, but Real Windows. For fresh air, scenery and total timepass.

And somehow, there was no shortage of food or entertainment on a 24-28 hour journey. In fact, I think the diversity of India is best seen on the trains. There were some typical interesting characters and scenes on the journey. Any day better than saas bahu and comedy soaps on SAB and Sony TV.

 The day would begin with the familiar hollering. Chala chai garam chai, kopi, wada sambar, wada sambar, omlette, kopi kopi kopi omlette! One just looked around and here is what one usually found.

A big noisy group, with lots of jovial  comments and loud laughter, singing and swearing ? Aha this had to be large punjabi family on board with Pappi, Pinky, Happy, Lucky!!!. A smaller group but with a larger hamper? Okaii,  that's got to be Gujjus. Watch the food hamper - 100% there would be pickle, salad, chutneys, farsaan, papad, dhokla, theplas, fafdas, handwa and lots more.

And you were lucky if you had a smart Fauji soldier on your coach, then he was your rail information desk!!! You could ask him anything about the train, the halts, the reason for the unscheduled stop, the precise minute-wise train delay and whatever. He would have all the answers. And then there would surely be a large Maarwari or UP group invariably headed for a marriage.

Usually the day would end with a mild pop-up with the bald government babu or the obese aunty who occupied the lower berths. They would insist on going to bed at 8 pm. Within 6 seconds flat they would be snoring away, while you somehow had to squeeze up with 5-6 others on the opposite or upper seat and munch your dinner.

Yet the hours would fly by happily, even if the train was running a 3-4 hours late. In any case who expects punctuality on long train journeys in India!! Most important part is that during the journey if the loo availability matched with the timing of your nature's-call, then all was well, and would surely end well!!! Yahi hai hamesha Bharatiya rail ka vaada!!!

So get on the train babe, ready steady and po!!! 

CC-10: Ask and You Shall Receive

CC-10 project : Inspire Your Audience 
An inspirational speech motivates an audience to improve personally, emotionally, professionally, or spiritually and relies heavily on emotional appeal. It brings the audience together in a mood of fellowship and shared desire, builds the audience’s enthusiasm, then proposes a change or plan and appeals to the audience to adopt this change or plan. 
This speech will last longer than your previous talks, so make arrangements in advance with your VP Education and meeting Toastmaster for extra time. 
Time:8 - 10 minutes
Objectives:
 • To inspire the audience by appealing to noble motives and challenging the audience to achieve a higher level of beliefs or achievement.
 • Appeal to the audience’s needs and emotions, using stories, anecdotes and quotes to add drama.

 • Avoid using notes.

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Ask and You Shall Receive - by Manisha Mago

    “Oh god, right now I am about to deliver my CC-10, please please please please help me get a good evaluation. Izzat ka sawal hai, bacha le bhagwan. Rupees 500 ka prashaad chadhaongi” How many of you have done this sometime? For me, connecting with God like this was a habit whenever I was in trouble in school and when a situation was about to get out of control. Then I went to college, became an adult and life was rosy and "all was under control”. So my signal became weak, and god and I were out of touch. Few years later, after marriage, some things happened that brought me back to the door of God and sparked off a spiritual awakening within me.


I was about 23 then, just married. I was the youngest adult in a large joint family, trying to adjust to the new relationships and responsibilities at home. I was also working in a growing ad agency as a copywriter and I was reluctant to quit my career and be a housewife for the rest of my life. But coping with long hours, other work pressures, competitive and maligning peers and seniors, and the politics at work was very challenging, and my work began to suffer. Because I had to put in extra hours to stay aboard, and I could not contribute anything to the household duties and obviously I had to take some criticism for that. Due to the stress I started making too many mistakes and my performance went down to a dangerous level. I began to lose confidence in all my writing abilities. Friends and family thought I should probably give up my work. I continued to be miserable with the negativity around. I feared that if I quit my job and be at home all day, I would sink into a terrible depression. So I was continuously frustrated, moody, victimized and depressed.  And things came to a point where I nearly lost my job. I felt like there was no one on my side. What could I do?

I sent a desperate SOS to God! I began to reconnect with God. One day I began to meditate on something deep inside me. That moment I suddenly found a sort of latent inner power awaken inside me. I felt compelled to shut out my negative thoughts and take some effective action. I just took a pen and paper and wrote down a few passionate affirmations to myself and to God:

GRADUALLY I WILL CLEAN MY MIND OF ALL NEGATIVE THINKING.

I AM ALWAYS CALM, COMPOSED, AND FULL OF CONFIDENCE

I AM AN EXCELLENT WRITER AND I DO MY JOB VERY WELL

I WILL LEARN AND DO SOMETHING NEW ALL THE TIME. EACH DAY I AM BETTER THAN YESTERSDAY

I AM STRONG AND CAN EASILY BALANCE MY CAREER AND MY FAMILY

I ENJOY GOODWILL IN ALL MY RELATIONSHIPS AT HOME AND AT WORK.
OKAY GOD ????

After that I started reading some books on mind control, meditation, and positivism. These books gave me a new, positive perspective and diverted my attention away from my problems.

A couple of years later, I was well in control of the situations I came across the diary where I had written those affirmations. I realized that EACH one had come true. Maybe subconsciously, through my thoughts, I had attracted those realities. I had put positive energy and focus in that direction. It had worked. Uncanny but true! The spiritual connection I had made at time was proven and tested. Since then writing out affirmations and meditating on them has magically manifested many of my wishes and desires. There have been many such spiritual and miraculous phenomena in my life.

I realized that as human beings we have some mysterious and immense power inside us. This power is what we commonly refer to as good luck that can fulfill our heart’s desires and miraculously turn many situations to our advantage. In spiritual terms this good luck is nothing but your connection with the source energy from which all life forms come into existence.

Have you ever wondered why God gave us a brain or a mind?
As humans our true our true purpose is to use out thoughts and mind to dream up, visualize and imagine, the realities that we want. Our connection with higher intelligence or source energy then manifests those realities. It is that simple. The “law of attraction”, which is a universal law makes this happen. However, the law of attraction brings whatever you think about the most, whether you think good thoughts or negative thoughts. So instead of allowing our desires to manifest, but thinking of any negative situations we “resist” our own desires.

Why would we resist our own desires?
      Because our minds are conditioned to dwell on negative situation and limitations due to our own past experiences or experiences of people around us. So your mind constantly dwells on negative thoughts, such as “Oh miracles don’t just happen”, or that “life is not that easy”, or, “Oh this is too good to be true”, and so on.

How can you “allow” the higher intelligence to bring forth the physical manifestation that you desire?

1)      First thing is simply “stop resisting”. Let go of negative thoughts and limiting thoughts. Any thought which tells you “This will take a lot of time to manifest” is a limiting thought. “I can’t get what I want” is a limiting thought. Guard your thoughts. Allow only good thoughts about things that you want.

2)      Secondly, learn to “relax” and go with the flow. Most of the time we typically use our mental capabilities to analyze what is wrong with our life now, what was historically wrong, or what could go wrong. If we focus our thoughts continuously on the “wrong situations” in our life, then we attract more of those “wrong situations”.

3)      Third is to Understand that You are a powerful creator. Your job is to do whatever needs to be done now, by giving it your full attention, doing it wholeheartedly, and without resistance. At the same time allow your mind to desire and dream of a better reality that you can move to and allow the universe to do the rest, to make your dreams a reality.


So my friends, start believing in miracles, start believing in coincidences, in angels and in the higher order of well-being. Let me tell you, I have over 100 slides on my PC which contain my daily affirmations and wishes, and more than 99 things I asked for on those slides have come true. Trust me, it works! Anything that you desire can effortlessly be manifested. Ask and you shall receive. It’s really as simple as that. So Good luck to you!

CC-9 Project: Persuade with Power 

The ability to persuade – to get other people to understand, accept, and act upon your ideas – is a valuable skill. Your listeners will be more likely to be persuaded if they perceive you as credible, if you use logic and emotion in your appeal, if you carefully structure your speech and if you appeal to their interests. Avoid using notes because they may cause listeners to doubt your sincerity, knowledge, and conviction. 

Time:	5 - 7 minutes
Objectives:	•	Persuade listeners to adopt your viewpoint or ideas or to take some action.
	•	Appealing to the audience’s interests.
	•	Use logic and emotion to support your position.
	•	Avoid using notes

SEEING IS BELIEVING! SO LET’S TALK ABOUT CHANGE- by Manisha Mago

Good afternoon toastmasters, friends and guests. Can anyone tell me in which state was Mahatma Gandhi born? Correct! 

In December that’s where I went on a 10-days road tour with my family. We visited Vadodara, Rajkot, Gir Forest, Somnath temple, Bhuj and then the Rann of Kutch. In the land of the Mahatma, I got a first-hand experience of the much talked about progress and development of Gujarat. In most cities I saw huge hoardings of the famous leader of this state. One line that started coming to my mind during the tour “Be the change that you want to see in the world”. Yes, these are the inspiring words of the great Mahatma that resonate till today in the inspiring land of Gujarat!!

They say seeing is believing. I saw progress in Gujarat. I saw a change in Gujarat. I saw unprecedented growth that has put Ahmedabad, a city of Gujarat on the world map as the 3^rd fastest growing cities of the world as per Forbes magazine. I saw real development brought about by the exemplary administration of a visionary leader! AND now I see hope for my INCREDIBLY beautiful country, India!!! 

At the Rann of Kutch I saw that a barren dessert area has been converted into a beautiful, luxurious tourist attraction due to strategic planning and publicity. The Rann provides unprecedented employment opportunities to locals in those remote villages. I read somewhere that according to central govt's Labour Bureau's report, Gujarat has the lowest unemployment rate in country. Here was a real example. Not just this tourism endeavor, but even the amount of thorny green bushes cultivated in these otherwise sandy and barren villages was really commendable. And what’s more, I had unexpectedly superb access to WiFi at this remote village of Dhordo in the little Rann of Kutch. All due to excellent leadership and governance.

As we planned to visit so many places in Gujarat, we were on the road practically for all the ten days. My husband was the sole driver, and he had to drive a lot. On some days it was two hours and on some days he drove for almost ten hours. But thanks to the fantastic road infrastructure throughout Gujarat, he drove without any stress. I’d heard that Gujarat roads are of international standards. I saw that the roads were indeed superb. Butter smooth, without any undulations! No traffic jams, no crisscross lane-cutting, no holdups. So we could actually complete a road trip of around 500 kms from Rann of Kutch to Ahmedabad in under 6 hours, including an hour for lunch break and tea break! On the way, I also noticed most rivers were running in full spate, offering the most clean and green panoramas in urban India. No slums and no garbage on the river banks. An example of excellent infrastructure and administration.

I’d heard that Gujarat has "high speed wireless Broadband service and continuous power supply with no outages in its all 18,000 villages. And sure enough, enroute to Bhuj, I saw these countless wind mill farms that generate electrical power using wind energy. Another example of excellent leadership and planning.

My husband also operates his security business in Gujarat, and through him I got first-hand evidence of many of the efficient e-governance systems, minimal bureaucracy culture in Gujarat. Gujarat’s aggressive tourism and marketing strategies are in the news, we’ve all heard about them.

These are just a few of the many examples of what a democratic state government with an authoritarian style leadership has been able to achieve.

So, if this is what good leadership and effective governance can do in Gujarat, it made me think why can’t we have such progress in all states of India?

You see my friends, politics trumps economics. Good economic principles can only be implemented when the local and central administration operates in tandem. Without proper implementation at a micro level, growth strategies are useless. Today India does not need promises. It needs commitments and dedication. It needs a change. Folks, I urge you to vote wisely to bring about this change. Vote for leaders with a vision, a proven track record, and a passionate commitment to delivering that vision. And most importantly, as citizens it’s not enough to just vote for the change we need in India. Like the Mahatma rightly said, we also have to BE the change that we want to see in India. Jai Hind!!!

TM CC-8 speech: "Eating Sugar, No Baba!!!"

Speech Objectives:

• Select visual aids that are appropriate for your message and the audience.
• Use visual aids correctly with ease and confidence.

Time Available : 5-7 minutes

"Eating Sugar, No Baba!!!"

How many of you have a sweet tooth and love your desserts? How many of you like cakes? Ahhh…what are these cakes mostly made of? All the unhealthy ingredients! Sugar, white-refined flour, (maida), butter and eggs.

 You know my cousin Manish is overweight.  He loves his desserts, especially he has a weakness for cakes and pastries. People used to tell him not to eat fat, but soon we realized became clear that sugar that was the bigger problem. Today added sugar is one of the key staples in the modern diet, from sweetened cereals to soups to sauces. On an average we consume more than 700g of sugar a week. This causes a lot more damage than we realize.

The doctor was after him to cut out on white sugar, fats, and also eggs. So Manish finally decided to follow the doctor’s recommendation as a New Year resolution in 2013. For him that meant that meant a lot of foods, drinks, and desserts were banned, especially his favourite cakes!

Not having sweets was so difficult that he started to suffer withdrawal symptoms, in the form of headaches, mild anxiety and irritation. His newly wed wife called me and said “Didi, he is most frustrated that he can’t have any cakes and pastries. What shall I do?” So I approached Google Dev baba and with the help of the famous google search magic, I baked a cake for Tushar with no Maida, no Eggs, no Sugar and no Butter!!!! And Voila! Manish could have healthy cakes that he loved.

Can you actually bake a cake without maida, eggs, butter or sugar? Really? A lot of people asked me! So today I’ve decided to share the secret! My secret is that I used a recipe with some healthy substitutes like jaggery, whole-wheat flour, olive oil and curds as the main ingredients.

Grains, especially whole grains like wheat, are an essential part of a healthy diet and good sources of complex carbohydrates and contain some important vitamins and minerals. Grains are also naturally low in fat and high in fibre.

Jaggery is more like a healthy carbohydrate, is rich in iron, has lots of antioxidants and also has selenium. It cools your stomach, relaxes you, and has less calories than sugar. Curds, we all know is an excellent source of calcium and helps improve digestion. And of course, olive oil contains monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), which are a healthy form of dietary fat.

So here’s the recipe:

NESTLÉ Slim Dahi- 1 cup (150g)   

Water- 1/2 cup      

Oil-2/3 cup (100g)        

Wheat flour (Atta) -2 cups (200g)    

Cocoa powder – 4-5 tsp, per taste

Baking Soda - 1 ½ tsp  

Baking powder - ½ tsp 

Jaggery, grated or powdered - 2 cups (200g)      

Chopped walnuts and soaked resins – as required       

Method               

1.       Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and flour an 8X8 inch cake tin.

2.       In a bowl, mix together NESTLÉ Slim Dahi, water and oil. Beat well with a beater or whisk till it’s frothy.

3.       Sieve the atta, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together. Add jaggery to this & mix well.

4.       Add the dahi mixture into the flour mixture and blend well. Add the chopped walnuts and resins and mix well.

5.       Pour into cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, till toothpick inserted comes out clean.

6.       Cool for 5 minutes, remove the cake tin. Slice and serve.

Got "Best Speaker" title for my 7th project speech at Toastmasters session.

Title: On the Other Side of God’s World

The objectives for this speech project were to conduct appropriate research and then incorporate this research into your speech to provide support for your key arguments.

Finally my turn!!! I was wondering what made me say “yes” for this!!! The instructor came. See here madam, he said, take deep breadth from mouth. Inhale! Exhale! Don’t use nose!

OK! he said. Ready to go? I held up my thumb! Yes! I put on my mask and sent up a silent prayer to God “Oh God, help me – show me this other side of your world today”

Slowly I let go of the handle bars I was holding and we embarked on the journey.  I could immediately feel a sense of weightlessness like an astronaut orbiting the Earth.

Toastmasters, friends and guests- I’m afraid to swim with my face under water even in our small pool, and here I found myself in an underwater, scuba diving adventure in the Arabian Sea near Malvan. Within minutes I was 10 feet underwater exploring the amazing underwater world with my diving buddy guide.

Very soon I got adjusted to breathing underwater through an oxygen mouthpiece that was connected to a diver’s umbilical, which is a long pipe attached to a diver’s breathing regulator fixed on a boat.

As I began to enjoy the undersea wonders, it felt like I was suspended in a greenish blue aquatic world.

The whole new underwater world of exotic marine life is recently discovered in Sindhudurg near the shallow waters of Tarkarli.  Tarkarli is a coastal village 8 km south of Malvan and 546 km from Mumbai on the west coast of India.

On a sunny day here, you can see the sea- bed up to a depth of 20 feet. The coastline around Tarkarli has sparkling lagoons and backwaters that provide breathtaking landscapes, seascapes  and rockscapes. It has a variety of marine life including  shark, dolphins, Groupers, Butterfly fish, Fusiliers, Puffer Fish, Snappers, Cobia and beautiful coral reefs.  

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, and contain colonies of marine animals.

So why the name SCUBA diving? "SCUBA"  is an acronym for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus")  which allows the diver to breathe while diving.

It is not enough simply to supply air to breathe comfortably underwater. As one descends, in addition to the normal atmospheric pressure, the water exerts increasing hydrostatic pressure of approximately 1 bar (14.7 pounds per square inch) for every 10 m (33 feet) of depth. The pressure of the inhaled breath must balance the surrounding pressure to allow inflation of the lungs. You constantly need to take very deep breadths. And, while diving is a treat for your eyes, your ears might hurt due to the pressure!

A recreational diver’s kit consists of breathing apparatus, a wet suit and a half mask which covers the eyes and nose. Talking is impossible under water! So what do divers do? Use hand signals, of course! 
Problem! 
OK! 
Great! 

For me it the whole experience was great!

I realized that we human beings are the luckiest creatures because of all the experiences that we can enjoy. Sometimes we can go gliding and fly just like a bird high in the sky, Sometimes we can go scuba diving and swim deep underwater, just like a fish and enjoy the other side of God’s beautiful world!

Won First place at SAS Speaker's Club 

 Title: My Favorite Freedom Speech: Where The Mind Is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore.

This verse has been taken from his poem ‘Gitanjali’, which he wrote prior to independence. Tagore has expressed a simple prayer for the country, where he visualizes a paradise called “India”. This verse has been used extensively in public speeches and is my favorite.

Although India is a free, or independent country today, in reality, we’re far from that ”heaven of freedom” that Tagore has dreamed about.

The India of Tagore’s dreams is a country where there is an atmosphere of fearlessness, but in the India of today, citizens live in constant fear of bomb threats. For women, there is no freedom from fear of sexual violence in this country.

The India of Tagore’s dreams is a country where knowledge should be free for all. In 1950 India made a Constitutional commitment to provide free education to all children up to 14 yrs. In 2002 they made this into a fundamental right for children. Yet universal implementation and access to good quality elementary education is a highly questionable.

The India of Tagore’s dreams is a country with no boundaries. But the India of today does not stand united. Internal divisions among states, communities, religions and political parties pose a bigger risk than any external threat. Our biggest enemies are within the country, not outside. And we know that these are more notorious than any external foes.

The India of Tagore’s dreams is a country where truth and honesty prevail. The India of today is a country rife with political scams, fraud and corruption. Anti-corruption mechanisms are ineffective, and there is widespread public cynicism. Faith in administrative, judicial and democratic systems is wavering.


The India of Tagore’s dreams is a country where Indians are constantly striving for improvement, where the people are logical & progressive in thoughts & actions. But unfortunately the growth and progress is not inclusive. Not all parts of India are shining.

Are we living in an India of Tagore’s dreams? In the India of today, then, can we hold our heads high? SO friends……….

Let us wake up to the reality of an “India” that is sadly losing its sheen.

Let us rake up the beauty and universality of Tagore’s words, Tagore’s poem and Tagore’s dream.

Let us live up to his vision that we have been unable to realize till today, more than 50 years since he penned those words in ink.

What should we do about this?

I think we should stamp his words on billboards. Stamp his words in the media. Stamp his words in our minds, in indelible golden ink!

And each and every one of us must contribute our bit towards change, and towards fullfilling the dream.!!!