IBQ COMMUNICATOR AWARD - FINALIST - IGNORANCE

IGNORANCE

I visited the washroom just outside our hall. When I wanted to wash my hands, the tap just refused to work.
I tried turning the tap both ways to no avail.
Another gentleman walked in moved his hands in front of the tap and lo & behold the tap started working.
Intelligence struck like lighting,
Yes! The tap was working on sensors!

"Ignorance is never out of style. It was in fashion yesterday; it is the rage today and it will set the pace tomorrow."

Contest Chairperson, Judges, Ladies and gentlemen, good evening to all

Are we born with such knowledge?
No!
All of us must have some such instances where due to ignorance we commit blunders.

"If ignorance is bliss, there should be more happy people".

There are 2 types of clapping by the audience.
The first really enjoying the show & appreciating from the heart.
The second indicating we have tolerated you, so thank you, Bye-Bye!
At a Poetry session, the audience was bored by the Poet and gave him a thunderous applause indicating for him to end.
In his ignorance, relishing the response he went on to recite 2 more boring poems!

"To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant"

I was also learning the finer etiquettes by moving round in high society.
Once I was invited to a party at a Club where liquor and fruit juices were flowing like water.
I over heard, two persons talking.
But what should I talk to the person in the introduction?
Relax, don’t worry! Just ask simple questions,
Hi, how are you? Are you married? How many children you have? etc., etc.
The gentleman was pretty happy with this advice.

He approached a lady and asked,
Hi, how are you?
Fine!
Are you married?
No!
How many children do you have?
A resounding slap answered the question!

He realized that he had goofed up in the sequence of questioning.
He approached another lady.
Hi, how are you?
Fine, thank you.
Do you have children?
With a smile she said, yes. I have three.
Are you married?
Another slap was the answer!

"I believe in forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance."

I remember another incident of my elderly uncle at the bus stand.
In those days we had an electric coil lighter with a button to press to light cigarettes.
So once you press the button the coil gets hot with which the cigarette can be lit.
My uncle saw a number of people lighting their cigarettes.
However when he tried to light, he would not press the button so the cigarette would not light.
As his view was obstructed he could not see people pressing the button.
Next time he saw a person light his cigarette, He immediately rushed and pressed the coil!
His scream said it all!
The watching boys had a hearty laugh.
I was very embarrassed for him and asked him to give me the cigarette.
I lit the cigarette and gave it to him.

When I reached home I saw my father in a furious mood.
On entering the room he slapped me, “So you have started smoking cigarettes?”

I had a tough time explaining that I had tried to help his brother!

You know, today I could have used a cigarette as my prop but I used this pen as a cigarette. You know, why? I don’t want anyone from the audience to take my picture and send it to my father. I still remember that slap.

Yes, there are situations where we jump to conclusions!
"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure."


Over to the Contest Chairperson!

PROJECT 10 - SUCCESS IS WITHIN YOU

SUCCESS IS WITHIN YOU!

“Sir, Sir, Ashfaque Sir….”
I stopped my motor cycle and looked behind.
Oh! Hi Jagdish, what a pleasant surprise!
(He was one of my students at Dr.Baba Saheb Ambedkar College, where I was a short term visiting faculty for Programming Techniques and Practices in the year 1991.)
Jagdish got down from his car and smilingly came running towards me. He was looking very excited.
We decided to sit at a restaurant. At first he started telling me everything about myself. I was working in Qatar as System Controller, I have two sons, I was married in 2000, etc., etc.
I was really curious to know how he had all my personal details! I started asking him, “So Jagdish what about you. What are doing now?”
“I am working in Sudarshan Chemical as a Data…..” Suddenly his mobile rang. He excused and attended the phone. I thought he must be working as a data entry operator. While talking on the mobile he took out his pouch and gave me his visiting card.
It was really surprising, he was working as a Database Administrator & Programmer for his company also he was an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP).
When he finished his talk on phone, he explained “Sir your teaching techniques of programming inspired me to become an OCP and they are still useful in my job, sir, 99% credit of my successful career goes only to you. Without attending your lectures I would have never thought of entering into the Programming Profession. I was eager to meet you to tell you about my successful career and so I used to take information from your relatives and friends I meet.”

Toastmaster of the Day, fellow Toastmasters & dear Guests.
A Very Good Evening!

I was literally floored by his love, affection and respect!
I took a long breath and asked him “Jagdish, how many students were attended my lectures?”,
He recollected and answered “Twenty five”.
“As of today I have met you as the first person who has reached at this level, if my lectures were really motivating then all the other 24 students had to become successful programmers and OCPs.
However, this is not the case, you made your-self motivated through my lectures and you decided to reach at this level. Your ambition and hard work only made you to reach here. According to me, 99% credit goes to you and because you wish the remaining 1% I will readily accept.”

Hannah More, the British philanthropist, “It is not so important to know everything as to appreciate what we learn.”
How true! Jagdish you appreciated what you learnt & so are successful!
I saw reluctance on his face and so I narrated another incident of mine.

Once in my village while roaming I saw a shepherd with 15/20 goats. Suddenly I noticed among the goats there was a deer, but the style of walking and eating leaves of the deer was exactly like a goat.
With curiosity I asked the shepherd, “how come this deer is acting like a goat?”
“About 2 years back I found a small baby deer near her dead mother. Perhaps the mother died after delivering the baby. I brought the baby deer and kept with my goats.”
“Well you have done a very good job of saving the life of this deer; but you are now spoiling her life keeping her with the goats. You should have let her go in the forest to enjoy the nature of the forest and to enjoy the river side and let her be the part of the deer family.”
The shepherd smilingly said, “I have already tried all possible things, leaving her in the forest, near the river but nothing works and she comes back. So, I decided I would just let her be a goat until she decides to change."
"But what if she never decides to change? What if she stays a goat all her life?"
"Well, it would be sad," the shepherd said. "It would be a waste of her life. But, if that's what she wants to be, there's nothing I can do about it."
I learnt two valuable lessons:
You can't force a person to change. A person will not change until he or she is ready to change.
If you want to make a change in your life, you have to motivate yourself. Don't look to others to force you to change.

So I appeal to you, look into your inner self, know your strengths, decide what you want and then JUST DO IT!
Today when I am giving my Competent Communicator project, I recollect my joining the Toastmasters more out of keeping my boss happy!
BUT within a few meetings I realized the potential in this unique program, applied myself and today I can proudly say, it is not only myself but my 2 sons & wife who have also benefited from the Toastmasters!
Realizing this I have convinced quite a few of my friends to join the Toastmasters.
I am sure that they have no regrets BUT the important thing is realizing the potential on your own and NOT BEING FORCED TO UNDERSTAND!
We have members who regularly pay their membership fees but hardly ever attend a single meeting.
WHO IS THE LOSER???
We have members who attend but do not get involved in taking Roles or giving projects!
WHO IS THE LOSER???
I sincerely appeal to you; your success is within you.
It is just a matter of reaching out & grabbing it!
I recollect what Dr.Albert Schweitzer Philosopher, Physician & Humanitarian said,
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
Over to the Toastmaster of the Day!

PROJECT 9 - GLOBAL WARMING

GLOBAL WARMING

Sometimes little things can turn into big problems. Think about brushing your teeth. If you don't brush for one day, chances are nothing bad will happen. But if you don't brush your teeth for one month, you may develop a cavity. It's the same thing with global temperatures. If temperatures rise above normal levels for a few days, it's no big deal – the Earth will stay more or less the same. But if temperatures continue to rise over a longer period of time, then the Earth may experience a catastrophe!
Toastmaster of the Day, Fellow Toastmasters & Distinguished guests. A very warm good evening to all of you!
Are you aware of the reason for the increase in the number of instances of flooding all over the world?
GLOBAL WARMING!

Over the past century, the Earth has increased in temperature by about 0.5 degrees Celsius and many scientists believe this is because of an increase in concentration of the main greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorocarbons, these greenhouse gases trap energy in the atmosphere and make the Earth warmer.

Have you ever seen a greenhouse? Most greenhouses look like a small glass house. Greenhouses are used to grow plants, especially in the winter. Greenhouses work by trapping heat from the sun. This causes the greenhouse to heat up and keeps the plants warm enough to live in the winter.
The Earth’s atmosphere is all around us. It is the air that we breathe. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere behave much like the glass panes in a greenhouse. Sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, passing through the blanket of greenhouse gases. As it reaches the Earth's surface, land, water, and biosphere absorb the sunlight’s energy. Once absorbed, this energy is sent back into the atmosphere. Some of the energy passes back into space, but much of it remains trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases, causing our world to heat up.
What Might Happen?
Even a small increase in temperature over a long time can change the climate. When the climate changes, there may be big changes in the things that people depend on. These things include the level of the oceans and the places where we plant crops. They also include the air we breathe and the water we drink.
We Can Make a Difference
Climate change may be a big problem, but there are many little things we can do to make a difference. If we try, most of us can do our part to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that we put into the atmosphere. Many greenhouse gases come from things we do every day.
Driving a car or using electricity is not wrong. We just have to be smart about it. Some people use less energy by carpooling. For example, four people can ride together in one car instead of driving four cars to work.
Here are some additional ways you can help make the planet a better place!
Some Things to Think About
RecycleDid you know that you can help the environment if you buy recyclable products instead of non-recyclable ones? Look for the recycle mark – three arrows that make a circle – on the package. Recyclable products are usually made out of things that already have been used. It usually takes less energy to make recycled products than to make new ones. The less energy we use, the better.
Solar EnergyImagine that it's a hot summer day. You put a scoop of ice cream on the sidewalk, and it melts. Why? Well, you probably know that the sun causes the ice cream to melt. But you may not know that the sun produces solar energy. Solar energy is a fancy way of saying "energy that comes from the sun." Solar energy can be used to heat homes, water- heaters, to generate electricity, etc.
CarsCars are an important part of life for most people. But cars also cause pollution and release a lot of greenhouse gases into the air. Fortunately, there are some cars that are better for the environment. These cars can travel longer on a smaller amount of gasoline. Using these kinds of cars can help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the air.
ENERGY STAR®Many things, like computers, TVs, stereos, and VCRs, have special labels on them. The label says "Energy" and has a picture of a star. Products with the ENERGY STAR® label are made to save energy. Buying products with ENERGY STAR® labels will help protect the environment.
Plant TreesPlanting trees is fun and a great way to reduce greenhouse gases. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas from the air.
Talk to Your Family and FriendsTalk to your family and friends about climate change. Let them know what Global Warming is about.
Lets make it as our mission to cool the globe
Lets act today & not to wait till tomorrow as what Ida Scott Taylor, the famous Author says,
“Procrastination usually results in sorrowful regret. Today's duties put off until tomorrow gives us a double burden to bear; the best way is to do them in their proper time."
Over to the Toastmaster of the Day!

PROJECT 8 - WHAT MAKES A GOOD CONVERSATION

What makes a good conversation?

Toastmaster of the Day, fellow toastmasters, guests & dear children a very good evening to all of you.

Recently, a friend phoned me. He's one of those people who can talk endlessly regardless of the listener’s interest. I've discovered that I can even put the phone down and attend to something in another room while he is talking and he doesn't even notice. After about half an hour of his monologue he actually drew a breath and said, "Are you there? You haven't said anything yet." "No," I said, "I was waiting for a break in the conversation." As he was finally hanging up and said, "I love talking to you. That was a really good conversation!"

A second friend phoned me that night. I was very tired, but I soon forgot my weariness as we animatedly shared our opinions, beliefs and personal experiences. Time flew, and as I went to bed very late that night, I thought "Now, that was a really good conversation!"

Two different opinions on what comprised a good conversation. Since Toastmasters is about communication, it occurred to me that it might be an interesting topic to research for my speech tonight. So I asked some of my friends what they thought made a good conversation.

My friend's reactions to my survey were as interesting and revealing as the results were. Some of them wouldn't stop talking long enough for me to ask them anything. Strangely though, they are the ones who think they are having a good conversation. For some, the subject itself was a conversation stopper. When I asked, "What makes a good conversation?" I was met with a pained silence, or they changed the subject. So I tried asking, "What makes a boring conversation?" One of them immediately told me, "Talking about what makes a good conversation!"

I discussed the topic mostly by phone with about eight of my friends. They had different suggestions, but all agreed on three main points.
Mutual interest. Give and Take Trust

A conversation has to be of interest to all concerned. If someone comes to me and start chatting regarding Information Technology, Accountancy, Cricket etc. then I will listen him attentively because they are my professions & hobbies, on the other hand if someone starts giving me information about the personal life of Hollywood and Bollywood stars then I will definitely show him my yawing mouth so that he can shut his mouth.

Giving and taking can be done both through speaking and listening. Through talking we can entertain, inform, advice, and share personal experiences. By listening attentively we can make the other person feel good about himself. Giving and taking is only possible when there is a mutual interest.
In a conversation, the listener shows his attentiveness by doing hmm, right, ok, correct etc. or through eye contact and facial expressions. On not giving such signals of attentiveness then the sincere talking person will definitely reduce the volume of information and discontinue the conversation.

Trust contributes to more productive, happier workplaces and is created daily through an ongoing dialogue. You must have seen a huge crowd when a politician arrives to address. People trust their leader because they believe that the leader will help them to solve their social problems. The level of trust is so high that while addressing, the audience claps even for his illogical dialogues.
One of my friends said he feels frustrated when people don't keep to the subject. He likes the conversation to flow logically with no side issues. On the other hand, another one said he likes to explore side issues, because they often lead to a more interesting topic. Someone else suggested that a conversation should not be planned. It should begin with something trivial and gradually develop.

I was wondering how to sum this all up when my ten-year-old niece called in. I asked her if she had a good friend that she enjoyed talking to.
"Oh yes," she said. "I tell my friend Naziya everything."
"And who does the most talking?" I asked.
"Both of us," she said. "We're interested in the same things. I've known her for years."
There we have it, mutual interests, a balance of talking & listening and a good relationship.

“A conversation can be made good by including all those features in it which keeps both the parties away from frustration.”

Over to TM of the day

PROEJCT 7 - RURAL MIGRATION

RURAL MIGRATION

Ashfaque!!!! Shift to Mumbai from your Village.
Change your lifestyle to a modern lifestyle.
Educate your children in good schools and help your society.

I am really thankful to my uncle for his concern.
My concept of helping the society is not similar to his. Shifting from a village to a city is similar to leaving a small ever loosing political party and joining another who is already in Power. One should work hard for his small group and make it big and change the tag from looser to winner!

Toastmaster of the day, fellow toastmasters & distinguished guest, a very good evening to all of you.

Viewing from a distance - the Village, a peaceful small population, situated in a scenic environment, appears deceptively simple. A cluster of mud-plastered walls shaded by a few trees, set among a stretch of green or dun-colored fields, with a few people slowly coming or going, oxcarts creaking, cattle lowing, and birds singing--all present an image of harmonious simplicity.

It is often said that India is a nation of villages. There are approximately 500,000 villages in India according to the 1991 census

Writers & poets are always drawing beautiful images of village life using exotic words.
But is the beautiful painted image a reality?

Looking at my village and the surrounding villages aroused questions in my mind.
“Who is spoiling the beauty of the village?
What is the reason that villages are turned into forest & ruins” The answer I got is “MIGRATION” people are migrating very fast from villages to cities.

The question is why people want to migrate?
Villagers do not have enough resources to feed their children. They do not have facilities to educate their children. They do not get easy employment and also they want to avail good opportunities and improve their lifestyles.

What is the reason that people suddenly started thinking of grabbing opportunities and to change their lifestyles?
I feel the reason is Literacy and the Electronic Media

In the old days the electronic media was not very much popular and so people were unaware of the opportunities and facilities which were available in the city. Nowadays most of the villagers own TV sets & dish connections. Yes, the electronic media has reached jet fast to the smallest streets of Indian villages.

Let’s have a look at the impact of this migration. The first and biggest impact is on the people who are unable to migrate because of less capital. They are not able to bear the heavy expenses of the city life. They are forced to stay back in their village. Since majority of the people leave the village most of the already existing infrastructure is crumbling & is no loner self sustaining due to lack of population. E.g. Schools which required at least 50 students to function cannot be continued with 5 students.
The best example is my Village school which is to be discontinued next year because there is only 1 student left. How can the Govt. continue a school with Rs.5000 as a rent of the School building and pay 6000 to a teacher for only one student? Another impact is on the old people who are emotionally attached with villages & do not want to move to cities leaving behind their ancestral place. They suffer their old days without the support and love of their children and grand children. Since it is another issue, I don’t want to comment whether people should stay back with their old parents in the village or they should think for their future and of the future of their children.
Impact of rural migration to the cities is easily observed by everyone.
The problems of traffic, unavailability of residences, pollution, unavailability of employment and various uncountable & uncontrollable problems are just because of the huge population in the cities.

It’s really good that villagers are getting educated and I am also happy with the electronic media who are doing their work wonderfully.
However, we should take urgent remedial measures to stop the process of MIGRATION and mitigate the sufferings of these helpless villagers.

I suggest & request villagers who are planning to migrate to city.

· “Please be united and try to bring the maximum facilities in your village or in a nearby town to which you are going to migrate”.
· I request city residents to help the villagers to do so as their migration harmfully affects the beautiful Indian cities.
· Those migrated Villagers, please pump in money into your Village to sustain it.

Doing so, we all are helping the society as well as humanity.

Let us not forget what Tahar Ben Jelloun, the Moroccan poet and writer said, “The wounds of migration hit me in the face: men were psychologically destroyed.”
Over to the Toastmaster of the day!

PROJECT 5 - THE BODY SPEAKS

The Body Speaks

“Do you have an egg?” A customer enquired to a grocer.
The grocer replied “No!!! I have egg” (egg size to be shown)

Toastmaster of the Day, Fellow toastmasters and distinguished guests! A very good evening to all of you!!

Some of you are probably thinking that Ashfaque is just too lazy to think of a real title for his speech, so he has labeled it “The Body Speaks” just like labels on generic products in supermarkets, “Rice,” “Juice,” “Biscuits” “Oil,” “Milk”….. “The Body Speaks”.
But, you are wrong. “The Body Speaks” is really the title of my project.

According to the toastmasters manual “When you talk to your friends or co-workers, you move your hands and arms, walk around, make eye contact and change facial expressions. These expressions are called “Body Language”.

The body language normally works as the part of vocal communication. Like “Do you have eggs?”, “Give me a Pen”, “I want playing cards”, “Where is my Calculator?”, “He was drunk!!!”, “I am hungry”

We would never call loudly to our friend Aftab to come from his house to play cricket. Hitting on a drum 2/3 times below his building would make him understand that. He would come in the balcony and alert us with a signal………(showing a signal that his father is at home, you proceed and he will be coming after some time)

I remember an incident that happened with me in Mumbai. My friend Raheem and I visited his uncle’s house in Andheri. I had never seen his Uncle before. When we reached and knocked the door, his uncle opened the door and gave a pleasant welcoming smile and requested us to wait outside and looked inside the house and asked the ladies to go to another room and then he asked us to come in.
I was surprised, only later I came to know that Uncle was in the Traffic police!

Among body language expressions, the most important is eye contact. For example you are reading a news paper and your son ask your permission to go for a school picnic. Your slowly closing your eyes and then again slowly opening it gives a clear idea that he got the permission, on the other side if you are taking your eye balls to the corner of your eyes and look at your son, will clearly signal that you are not giving him permission.
These kind of expressions do not apply everywhere. I can never forget an incident where this eye contact did not work. I had been to attend a wedding ceremony in my village. Since I reached one hour early, most of the seats were empty and so I sat in a corner seat. After sometime an elderly known person came and sat in front of me and started chatting, describing the details of the wedding ceremony of his daughter celebrated a month earlier. I was thinking, “why this old man was describing everything about the wedding ceremony even when I was there in the wedding”. Looking at the old gentlemen I was just quietly listening to the story by giving proof of my attentiveness by doing the necessary haan, yes,… right. Suddenly the old gentlemen asked me “How are the other relatives in Saudi Arabia”. I was surprised!!! and even more surprised when a gentlemen sitting behind my seat said “All are Alhamdulillah fine”.
I realized that the old man was cross eyed.

Have you ever heard the speech of a dumb person? I had the privilege of this in the television news when Lalu Prasad Yadav asked a dumb person to address the audience. Initially I was thinking what kind of game is this? Was this person really a dumb one? Or he will be acting as dumb? Through the news reporter I came to know that Yes he was dumb. I was stunned when I saw the movement of his hands with the yelps coming from his throat, his facial expressions and his eye contact. Since it was the news, I could see only a small clipping, I could not understand what exactly he wanted to say. However, I could feel his emotions and feelings; he was confidently conveying some important message to the audience. I was lucky to be preparing for my 5th Toastmasters project with objectives as body language. This incident only made me to write the speech on the subject and title it as “The Body Speaks”.

Normally everyone is using body language while expressing their message to another, whether a Toastmaster or a non-Toastmaster. Body language comes naturally.
However, when new speakers come on the dais they just cannot involve themselves 100% in the matter.
Why?
Just because of the fear of speaking!
If they involve themselves fearlessly in the talk, then their hands, eyes, facial expressions starts reacting naturally with the words.

Deborah Bull the British dancer, writer, and broadcaster said,
“Body language is a very powerful tool. We had body language before we had speech, and apparently, 80% of what you understand in a conversation is read through the body, not the words.”
Over to the Toastmaster of the Day!

PROJECT 4 - CELL PHONE ETTIQUETTES

CELL PHONE ETTIQUETTES

Would you have imagined using Mobile phones say 15 years back? That too with a Camera???
Yes, the Mobile phone technology is moving with leaps & bounds!!
Yes, now you are getting faxes on your mobiles!!!
TM of the day, fellow Toastmasters and respected Guests, a very good evening to all of you!
The question is do we have manners in using our mobiles?
Cell phones: For many is an indispensable communications tool. For others, it is just another way to show off. I'm sure that many of you have experienced the pleasure of using a cell phone. Perhaps some of you are guilty of showing off the new ring tone or the new camera or the new MP3 player???
You are in a very serious meeting & somebody’s mobile starts ringing! Is it not a courtesy & good manner to have switched off or put on silent mode???
Fortunately in the Toastmasters we have the cell phone etiquette to be on silent mode or to be switched off!
I can never forget the scene at the funeral prayer when the Imam was giving a sermon and his mobile started ringing, that too with a nice melody from a film!!!
It's really bad manners, risky & dangerous using your cell phone when driving! When I got my cell phone, I got not just one, but two full-color brochures about why you should not use your cell phone while driving. People still do it. You see some people on the road with their cell phone in one hand and popcorn in the other. How are they steering the car!?
Years ago in pre-telephone days, we were using "How are you!" as a greeting. When the telephone came along, we learned to say "Hello" when answering the phone, whereupon both parties would ask "How are you?" after “Hello”.
Now the mobile phone has changed all that "How are you?" has been replaced by “Where are you?"
Sometimes the caller is a suspicious spouse and after the standard "Where are you?" the next question is "Why had you switched off your phone when I called you 30 minutes ago?" Then the answer came: "It was on the charger... I switched it off so it could recharge quickly." Additional cross-examination like "But your charger is at home!" This is also not very helpful because the prompt answer is, "I borrowed a colleague's."
Bosses never get the right answer of “Where are you” on cell phone from their juniors, invariably the answer is, “I am stuck in traffic”.
Last year on a Saturday I was watching a Cricket Match in the ICC hall. A person next to me had a call from his boss. “Yes Sir, I am on my way to Ras Laffan. Yeah Yeah..… I will talk with Mr.Abdulla about it. Ok Sir… I will be back after 4 and I will give you the report.… No problem sir… duty is the priority… ok sir bye.” And then he hangs his phone. At the same time I saw one another person sitting in the front seat also pressing the red button of his cell phone.
One more general habit people have when they receive any call on their cell phone they start walking very fast. Some people keep on walking while talking on cell phone in a particular area as they are giving their 5th project of Toastmaster which has its objectives as “Body Language”. One of my friends and I were gallivanting on the Cornish. Suddenly his cell phone started ringing. To my surprise he took 10-15 longer steps, pressed the answer button and after that he started walking very fast! I was running behind him. Thank god it was only a 2 minutes talk.
During my last vacation in India I being an IT professional had a call from a Trustee of a high school who planned to purchase 25 PCs for their school. He wanted me to decide which and from whom the PCs should be purchased. Since I already had some commitments, I promised him to come after a week. When I finally went into his office, he had his cell phone on the desk in front of him, right directly in the line of sight between him and me. He said to me, “Ashfaque, I want to express to you how Important it is to decide which PCs and from which supplier it should be purchased.”
At this point, his cell phone rang. When people interrupt a meeting to take a cell-phone call, they always say the same thing: “Excuse me, but I must take this.” He went on, “Hello? ... That’s okay. You are not interrupting me…. I am in meeting, but it’s not anything important.” Now it turned out, making a comparative statement to buy the PCs was not that important for him.
So, if you are a cell-phone user, please practice courtesy when using your cell phone. Don’t use your cell phone while driving. Don’t use your cell phone to show everyone you have a cell phone. And one other thing….. Oh, my cell phone is ringing. Excuse me, but I must take this….
Over to the Toastmaster of the Day.

PROJECT 3 - Ghost - A Reality or an Illusion

GHOST – A REALITY OR AN ILLUSION

“Hey Horse!! Are you afraid of your own shadow? Ha ha ha. Its ridiculous”
“Yes I am afraid of my own shadow, which I can see but what about you humans, you humans are afraid of GHOSTS which you cannot even see…

Toastmaster of the Day, Fellow Toastmasters & Distinguished guest a warm & eerie good evening to one and all!

How many of you believe in Ghosts?
Well, well, lot of courageous people!!!

You just start telling a Ghostly incident to your friends and sure enough everyone will have at least one ghost story or an incident to tell. No matter, whether your friends are literate or illiterate.
The difference between the literate and illiterate people’s ghost stories are only their dialogues.
The literate will say “I still could not make out how my cupboard was shaking itself!”
The illiterate will clearly say, “The ghost came in my room through the keyhole and started shaking my cupboard.”

Dear friends, my research shows there are four categories of people.
1. Who are illiterate and 100% unconditionally believe that there are ghosts.
2. Who do not believe in ghosts in public but their heart accepts that ghosts do exist. They will visit a Doctor as well as a Baba’s Darbar for a minor fever.
3. Who do not believe that ghosts exist and accept that ghosts are just a psychological image. But whenever they are alone in the dark and look at a hanging white shirt in the yard kept for drying purpose their logical thinking fails and their brain starts making a psychological image that there is a ghost in the yard.
4. is a very rare category who believe that the ghosts do not exist and are also brave enough to handle any situations.

I don’t want to ask you in which category you fall in but category I fall in No.3.
So whenever I am sleeping alone in my room, I take out all the hanging shirts just to avoid the psychological image of GHOSTS if I wake up in the midnight.

I remember an incident which happened with me which also proves that I fall in no. 3 category.

My elder brother & I were going to bring water from a well. Since in summer all wells in our village become dry, we would collect water in the night. My brother was carrying a torch and 2 buckets while I was carrying a small bucket tied with a rope to fetch the water from the well. While walking towards the well suddenly I felt that there was a snake behind me. Without looking back I started running and I could feel the snake also running behind me.
I started shouting asking my brother to help me. He shouted and asked me to stop and look behind. I stopped and I felt that the snake had also stopped. When I looked behind with fear, I found that the rope tied to the bucket which I was carrying was the scary snake!
This incident was used by my brother to blackmail me many times. I did not want to become a joke in front of my friends.
I am sure if I would have been alone this would have remained a ghostly incident.

There was a fear in a village that if someone goes to a particular tree at midnight he would die. Two qualified young guys happened to visit to that village and as a challenge one of them visited the tree at midnight. The next morning people found the person dead near the tree. His friend tried to find out the reason of his death. The postmortem report showed that he dead because of a Heart Attack. According to his friend he went to the tree, nailed a label as a proof that he came to the destination but unfortunately he nailed the label with the corner of his shawl and when he was trying to turn back he felt somebody was pulling him back. This fear became the reason for his heart attack and death.

There are many incidents of ghostly happenings but fortunately all are resolved because I came to know the logical reasons of those incidents.

I would like to share an incident during my school days.

To go to the school we used to walk through the forest starting 5 O Clock in the morning in the dark. One day a group of students including me ran back home from half way and told our parents that we saw a white huge ghost moving his hand like he was calling us. When some of the parents went to see the place at which we saw the ghost, they found that there was a skinless huge tree with two branches moving because of the wind.

Today I strongly believe that there are no ghosts but they are a psychological image and just an illusion.
The incidents of Ghosts that we have are just unresolved puzzles. Our brain does not accept that what we saw is not a ghost. It is similar to a magicians trick when he makes a note of Rupees 500 with a piece of news paper. Nobody from the audience understands how he does that. In reality he just hides the piece of paper and displays a 500 rupees note which he already has. Still the majority of the audience thinks it is magic!

In conclusion I state that there are no ghosts, they are just a figment of our imagination.

I recollect what Richard Harris Barham, the English novelist and humorous poet who said,
“Ghosts, like ladies, never speak till spoken to!”

PROJECT 2 - I MAY NOT BE PERFECT

I May Not Be Perfect

“I have so many wonderful qualities; it’s easy to overlook my few disgusting habits”, said Ashleigh Brilliants the famous author.

Toastmaster of the Day, distinguished guests and fellow Toastmasters,
A very Good Evening to one & all!

Perfection is not a concept that applies to humans. We tolerate one another’s faults and annoying habits because they are only a small part of the total person.

A well rounded person naturally has more than one side and it’s not always possible to be viewed from the best side of our profile. No matter how diligently we stay on our guard, someone will catch us on a bad moment.

One early morning as a joke my wife took my photo when I sat on the bed with the sign of my incomplete sleep with semi-closed eyes and an yawning mouth. I don’t know how you look like when you wake up in the morning but this is how the camera caught me………………

Now, I ask you, is that what I really look like? You bet it is! But only when I wake up in the morning – for a few seconds. You know what that means? There are over 50000 seconds every day when I don’t look like that!

Sometimes a bad impression is the first or even the only impression we have of someone.
Years ago, I recollect taking a bus from Mumbai to Mahad. The driver was driving very rashly and sure enough near Panvel he hit an auto-rickshaw. Instead of stopping he sped away and stopped at the Panvel bus-stand. Suddenly realizing that the auto-rickshaw was reaching the bus stand, he hurriedly asked us to board and again sped away. Now the passengers were very annoyed with him. They started shouting, asking him to stop.
He stopped,
Drive slowly!
I will drive as I want, if you want to travel, alright or just get off!
This was a real bad impression on me. I never saw him again, but I’ll always remember how rude and impatient he was. Maybe he was a rude impatient man - or maybe he was really a nice man under lot of stress and having a bad day.

It’s so easy to make judgments based on one incident in a person’s life without knowing why they are acting that way. Sometimes they are simply reacting to something that we are doing.

I will never forget the day I was judged by a stranger who visited my cousin’s residence, perhaps he was known to my cousin. Everybody was watching an exciting cricket match on TV and I was deep asleep in the same room. Due to the loud voices I could not sleep and I woke up. Sitting on the bed I was trying to catch the status of the cricket match. Later on I came to know through my cousin that the guest enquired about me and when my cousin told him that I am working as an IT Professional in kemco, in reply he commented “He doesn’t look like an IT professional”. I still could not make out how an IT person should look like when he is just gets up from a deep sleep?

Now I would like to share a success story! During my last vacation I met my very old college friend Shakeel. We exchanged our visiting cards. I raised my eyes when I found that he is working as a sales Manager in an international firm in Saudi Arabia. I was surprised, how an ordinary graduate person, being average in studies could become a Sales Manager of an international firm. I tried to recollect and found that Shakeel was not that good in studies but he was the champion in communicating with other people. Almost every year in the college he was elected as a Class Representative and in our last year of graduation he was elected as a General Secretary of the college. He was always having a good rapport with all the professors and the fellow students. Looking at his activities I used to say that he is wasting his time in the activities other than study. But now it was proved that his leadership skills and art of communicating was the reason of his success.

We are inclined to live up to the image of ourselves that we see reflected in another person’s eyes. The positive people in our lives look past our shortcomings and see us as the person we should be. This helps us to become that person. So if we look for the best in people they will usually respond by rising to meet our expectations.

Of course we will always have some faults and annoying habits. It’s all part of being a human being. But don’t let the little things stop you from seeing the good side of people.

As Ashleigh Brilliants says, “ I may not be perfect, but parts of me are excellent”!

Over to the Toastmaster of the day!

ICE-BREAKER

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

Toastmaster of the day, fellow toastmasters and distinguished guests. Good evening!

My name is Ashfaque Deshmukh, Born and brought up in a middle class family in one of the smallest villages, in Konkan region, a coastal plain of Maharashtra state, in western India. Married, and I have two sons, Ateeb and Shakaib. My wife is a home maker. Our family consists of 7 members, my parents, three elder sisters and my elder brother and me.

My father, a primary school teacher retired in the year 1986. My mother is a housewife. All three sisters are married and are settled with their families.

I have completed my primary Education in an Urdu medium school, located in my village. For secondary education I had to go to another school, around 7 to 8 KM away from my village. With no option available, we had to walk everyday almost 15 KM to and fro. To reach 7 O Clock in the school we had to start 5 O Clock in the morning.
Surprisingly we would not carry any torch to avoid the darkness while walking through the narrow ways of the forest and also we were not afraid of any harmful wild animals. The reason, we would discuss the instances of the previous day on the playground or in the school so loudly that all the animals would be afraid of hearing our voices.
Yes, while going to school, some of my friends would pretend to be bitten by a snake and return home just to avoid the punishment from the teacher for not completing their home work.

After returning back to home there were no tiredness, instead, we would throw the school bags, change the school uniform and run to play cricket, one of my favorite games.

After passing SSC, I was looking for further studies in the nearby college “Dr.Baba Saheb Ambedkar College”. I did not want to go for the toughest and also did not want to touch the bottom line and so I selected Commerce stream for my further studies. But I did not know the actual scope of the Commerce faculty which I had selected. My college life was exactly like the life of a bride in her in-laws house after her forceful arranged marriage. I had to compromise with everything and accept everything. My father use to say “Son, Accept the things which you cannot change”

When my elder brother finished his graduation, he was eager to go to Mumbai for further studies in Computer Science. Due to financial crisis he could not go for his further studies. In a couple of month’s time he left to Saudi Arabia as a Sales Executive. When I finished my graduation my brother asked me to go to Mumbai for Studies in Computer Science. Perhaps it was his dream which he wanted me to fulfill.

This was my first experience of studying in Mumbai. I was frightened when I saw the teacher and all students speaking only in English. I used to avoid people, so my poor English would not be noticed. But this did not work for long. Nervousness was seen on my face by my uncle, I explained to him everything. He encouraged me to speak English. I successfully completed the computer course.

My hunt for a job was rather quick, in 4-5 days I was employed as a teacher in computer applications. I enjoyed teaching for 6 years.

As I was in search of a better job, in the year 1998, I met Mr.M.I. Farid and he offered me a position of an “Accounts Assistant” for KEMCO; certainly it was not my active profession but being a commerce graduate I accepted the offer. My interest and experience in IT paid off, when the Management of KEMCO gave me the responsibility as “System Controller” of their IT.

Now you know why I joined the Toastmasters? Of course to improve my English language, my speaking ability and a chance to speak non-stop for 6 minutes. This opportunity I do not get either at my home or in my office!

Finally I would like to say that Struggle is the most important factor of life. Because life is a continuous battle, one’s success, failure, happiness or unhappiness depends upon one’s knowledge of this battle. Whatever be one’s occupation in life, whatever be one’s knowledge, if one lacks the knowledge of the battle of life, one lacks the most important knowledge of all!

Over to the Toastmaster of the day!