Golden Ears!

This my 8th speech in Crystal Talk Toastmaster Club. This is about using visual aids in the speech along with the general rules. The visual aid should be used in accordance with the speech, and just not for the heck of using. So, I choose a topic which had a lot to do with pictures.

This speech inspired by the people surrounding me who are hooked to their headphones or cell phone speakers all time to their ears. :)

Here goes my 8th speech. I used presentation slides as my visual aid. Speech material is a collectiom from various sources.

Only the speech text is here but for the visual effect, it is better to watch the video :)

Golden Ears

Good Afternoon Everybody!

This dates back to the initial dates in my career when I used to go by the BMTC bus changing the bus in corporation. It would be the regular bus and the regular people almost everyday.

And one such group of people where some high school students, nicely laded in their uniform, very beautiful smiling faces and heavily conversing with each other. One tends to go back to their school going days when we see such students.

All the bus passengers had become mute on-lookers of their conversation, trying to figure out what are they conversing about. Their conversations were aloud, everybody could hear it.

But strangely, nobody could understand it. Why? Simply because we were normal people with good hearing skills and they were special people with good conversation skills using only their hands and sounds.

Dear friends, they were the students of a deaf and dumb school.

Does this give us a jitter?

Well, this made me think about all the normal people like us who have golden ears. How cherished should we be about our hearing capability.

Well, do we really give importance to our ears? Are we cherishing about it? Are we taking enough care about it?

Friends, today my topic is all about ears.

This is for all normal people like us to know and to be aware of our own ears. Also, see how much we take care of it.

So, do we actually take care? Yeah, obviously, whenever we get pains in our ear we go to ENT specialist, right.

I have two parts today.

First part is a very short introduction about the golden and magical ears and their working.

[Slides]

The ear is made up of three basic structures: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.

The purpose of the  Outer Ear is to:

1) It delivers sound to the middle ear

2) Within the outer ear canal are wax-producing glands and hairs that protect the middle ear.

The purpose of the Middle Ear is to:

1) Transmit and amplify sounds from the eardrum to the oval window

2) Act as a dampener on loud sounds that may damage the inner ear (cochlea)

Here, we are seeing the working of the middle ear.

The purpose of the Inner Ear is to:

The inner ear contains the most important parts of the hearing mechanism - two chambers called the vestibular labyrinth and the cochlea.

Vestiblar labyrinth:

1)      Maintain a sense of balance by responding to gravity and changes in acceleration of the head (up/down, forward/back, and side to side)

2)      Communicating balance to the brain

The Cochlea:

The cochlea is the second part of the inner ear and is the actual organ of hearing. It is embedded in the skull in what is called the mastoid area, a spongy part of the skull just behind where the jaw hinges. The mastoid bone acts as an amplifier for some sounds, especially those in the lower frequency ranges.

Functions:

1) Sound wave interpreter and converter

2) Messaging to the Brain: In the brain the electrical impulses are translated into sounds which we recognize and understand.

Opposite the base of each "root" of a hair cell are the nerve endings of nerve bundles that carry the hair-cell generated impulses to the brain. This bundle of nerves is called the "8th nerve".

This means that in a healthy young person there are about 30,000 - 35,000 associated nerve fiber endings across each synapse. The 8th nerve carries the electrical/ chemical messages to the brain for processing and is the conduit for the messages from the brain back to the cochlea.

Well, Friends, are you seeing stars? Got a jitter now… Ecstatic and amazed how our ears toils for us… or bored of some stuff?

Now, moving on to the second part,

Now, that we know what ears do for us to hear properly, let’s see, what do we do with our ears?

[Headphones and latest gadgets figures]

We use so many gadgets, headphone, bluetooth headphones, mobile hands-free, any new gadgets that are in.

Has it happened to you that you didn’t realize a person who has come to your cube, had actually had to tap on your desk for you to notice.

Has it happened to you that while crossing the road, you forgot about the honking of the car?

Have you witnessed in a bus, conductor screamed for no reason at all.

Does the car behind you, has to honk and inform you that the signal is Green.

If this sounds familiar, then you are in the listening to the right speech.

Now, let’s see, what are the different noise levels that we normally hear?

These are specified limit in which you can hear this noise levels specified by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).
Most people are unaware how dangerous is to exposure of noise levels on a daily basis, but usually for far less time that it would take for hearing damage to occur.
The harmful effects can be cumulative, so long-term exposure to short periods of loud noise can produce hearing loss years later.

Hearing damage from headphones is probably more common, because many people exploit the acoustic isolation by listening at higher volumes.

Moreover, even at comparable volumes, due to the close coupling of the transducers to the ears, they are under high-risk.

SYMPTOMS OF HEARING DAMAGE
After exposure to loud music, the listener may experience "threshold shifting," when low-level sounds are no longer as audible as they were.
What happens in long term?
Two types of hearing damage:

•         Sensineural hearing loss:

–        When high energy sound waves, rippling through ear fluid, over stimulate and kill hair cells

–        Result: When hair cells for a band of frequencies are destroyed, those frequencies are no longer heard

•         Tinnitus hearing loss:

–        The damaged cells fire continuously even though there is no real sound

–        Described as a persistent, loud buzz in the head at the frequency of the hearing damage.

–         For some tinnitus sufferers, the buzz is very loud - 90dB or more and can compromise the quality of life, not to mention completely ruin all ability to enjoy music.

How to Safegurad?

Should we stop using Headphones and its variant?
If you can do this, that’s the best.
But what else can we do:

1.      Setting Safe Headphone Volume Levels

a.       Always adjust the volume level such that you are able to hear the outside noise as well. Not only ears, it will prevent you from accident’s as well.

b.      For those who wear headphones (eg walkmans), the volume is also too loud if a person standing near a listener can hear the music coming through the headphones.

c.       Stereos and other types of amplification devices should be kept to a moderate level. People should be able to talk and be heard over the music. If people need to shout to be heard above the music, then the volume is too loud.

2.      Wearing Ear protectors and ear plugs, if we have to listen long time

3.      Anyone who listens to loud music or is exposed to loud noise on a regular basis should test hearing periodically, because hearing loss can be cumulative, very gradual and virtually symptomless.

4.      Wearing headphones during exercise is also dangerous to hearing. Aerobic exercise diverts blood from the ears to the limbs, and leaves the inner ear more vulnerable to damage from loud sound. So, better avoid.

So, friends, with this, I want to conclude my speech saying that, let’s all be normal people, let’s not try to become special people.  Let’s cherish this golden gift given by God by being aware and giving importance to it.
Let’s protect ourselves, because nobody else can.
Only you should be caring about yourself. Take care.
Thank You.

The Drive

Two months back, I had participated in the Toast Master Area Level Humorous speech contest which was held on 2nd October 2010 in my office campus.

What I learnt, it is really tough to make people laugh :)

Though I did not win any prize :-( but at least I have the satisfaction I gave tough competition ;-) At least I hope so :)

Well, so you read my speech and let me know, if it really made you smile/laugh(?). Please give in your comments. If reading is boring and you are a fan of YouTube, you can as well watch my video :)

Caution: It is entirely my wild imagination and original thoughts. But please don't come to any conclusion about my driving skills :)

The drive

Spirituality, Personality and communication classes are the latest trend. Anybody you ask, they are in something or the other. When you join these, you are welcomed, as though you have decided something big. ‘Congratulations to you for choosing the path of transformation’. Suddenly you feel, is something wrong here.

‘Have I come to the wrong place?’

Friends, why do you have to get into so many things, when you can learn every day from you own experiences.

Here I am, today, I am going to demonstrate to you, and how your personality development takes place by just driving a car. By the end of it, I am sure you will realize how it improves your communication skills, negotiating skills and of course some time the driving skill too.

Driving to my office in the car is a joyful ride.

The drive......

Some times the drive is bumpy, with so many pot holes on the road that you struggle to see that the car is not hit by the road. Obviously, coz we have paid so much, and how much more we have to shell out for the repairs. You learn being careful, careful about our things.

There are these days, when I am getting late to office, and I have to attend a meeting. Just in time, I cross the signal when it is about to go red. Wow.. what a sense of joy, and just turn back give an agony look to all vehicles who couldn’t cross it. Wow.. I did it again, a speedy drive. Here, you learn the timing and time management skills.

Then again, there are some days are relaxing, when the drive is like a tortoise due to traffic jam due to rain or felling of a tree. Do you get upset,  you are totally wrong, it is a boon in disguise,  this is the right time to show your multi talent. Just switch off your engines, switch on the FM channels and relax. You can enjoy the time with various FM Channels available who greet you with ‘Hello Bengaluru’, you can SMS and win some gift vouchers too. And you can even show your loved ones how much you care, by dedicating a song to them.

So what do you learn by this, You improve your confidence and learn to care.

But some days, are learning daysss… the days when we actually break the signals, and get caught by the cops. Then we horne our negotiating skills.

Some times, the drive is good times pass/ stress buster. How, just imagine you had a fight at your house/office, when you are driving the car, usually, we can get atleast one person who was about to hit us. Just stop your car and take out your entire bad mood onto that person, and you will be relieved. But don’t ask, what happened to the guy in the receiving end. :)

Now, you learn how to pass on the buck.

Sometimes the drive is a fear/helplessness, when a bus which is in the left most side of the road standing in the bus stop, suddenly starts and moves over right most side. So, what do we learn here, we learn  to be Thankful to God. which, in turn it improves our spirituality.

Then are these days, when we to go behind a tractor, and you cant overtake it. Oh no... it had to come now, I did a mistake taking this road, and we start comparing India with all the other developed countries, and finally say, it happens only in India. And decide that next time, I will not vote. So, we what do we learn here, we are enlightened about us being a citizen of India, hw important we are.

Sometimes the drive is little risky, when in front of us there is a truck without the back light. We suddenly, start thinking what will be the next move of the truck. Now, we learn planning and actually game planning.

Every drive you can always exhibit respect and love for animals. When you meet a cow or bull or herd of goats on the road, and carefully drive without disturbing them.

There are these lucky days, when it is little drizzling and your having a smooth drive, when suddenly the vehicle in front of you, breaks or halts. Then when you put a break and realize that the car is not stopping and the car stops just in nick of the time, when you thought the car has already hit it. Now, you remember your husband who said, you had to give it to the service last month. Thus, you realize the family value.

So, see friends, there are so many things that we learn from driving a car and improve personality. Mind you, these are just few of them, there are many more.

The important thing is that, we don’t even have shed any money. So what do you get as a bonus… learning to save money, of course. :)

Friends, Henceforth, instead of going to any personality/spirituality/communication development classes, just be chill, wear your seat belt and drive your car to your favorite or not so favorite destination depending on your mood. :)

Thank you.

Asking the Right Questions

Here goes my sixth speech in Crystal Talk Toastmasters Club. Sixth speech is all about vocal variety.


Asking the Right Questions
Good Afternoon Friends,


Mamma… why is the Moon so small today? Where has the sun gone?
These little questions… when asked by a 3 year old can put anybody in a dilemma.
What to answer, will he understand, what I say, …..
Answers and Questions ponder our mind…
When life is easy, we tend to make an attempt in answering these questions, which is non-stop.
When we are busy with something, we give them a cold hand and say “Can you keep quiet for sometime”


Friends, there are many variety of questions.


Some questions are simple, and some are so complicated that we take time to understand it. Some questions are tricky.
When Manager asks when can you complete this assignment? We are in dilemma or a fix.


When we are in a meeting, there will be at least few people who would be audacious to ask questions; some silly and few genuine questions, and we start thinking why didn’t it occur to me.


How many times, it must have happened to us, that we don’t know what to ask? Or coming out from our PM discussion with lingering thoughts, I should have asked the question in a professional way and not become personal.. Oh Gosh… What is my manager thinking about me….


I can tell you that as interesting it sounds it is very difficult in practice, asking the right questions at the right time.


Well, it is also an art, and asking the right questions at the right time is often tough.


So, today my speech is on ‘Asking the Right Questions’. I am going to give few tips on asking the right questions this topic.


Before giving the tips, I want to retell a famous Akbar Birbal story.


One of the audacious court minister told Akbar, what makes you think Birbal is smart, even I am smart and intelligent. Akbar said; ok I shall test between the two of you, some day. One day, when they were strolling in disguise, they saw few people walking with luggage into the city. Akbar asked the court minister to check out the information with them and know the whereabouts. The minister went and came back and told that they have come to visit their relatives’ house. Now, Akbar asked Birbal to go and check out. When Birbal came back, he told, that one of the person in the family’s marriage is happening. So they have all come for it. Birbal continued and told about the whole family details. Akbar pointed to his court minister and told him, can you see, why I think Birbal is Smart.


Well, Birbal had lot of information to say. You can guess how? He was smart enough to ask the right questions to get the minute details.




So as you can see, questions have lot of power. When somebody asks some genuine questions, we have to answer them, sometimes it stimulates us to think. Yet, we have some people who tend to ask silly questions and find themselves in soup.


Now, Let me begin with few tips for today.


The first point: When asking questions, at the back of our mind, for every question, we expect some answer, that’s in our mind. So, we should program our questions in such a way that we get that answer.
For e.g.
Do you think I should eat 3 meals a day?
Do you think I could eat 3 meals a day?
Though these questions look similar, but they would elicit very different responses.


Another example, Do I look fat on this? When this question is asked, you have to be prepared for the answer that you have demanded-even it’s not the one you want to hear.


The wordings of the question are extremely important. Be careful with your words. Frame them properly.


Now, the second tip.
Before asking any questions, first you need to ask these four questions to yourself:
1) Exactly what do I want to gain with this question? i.e. Do I want help/information or want to discuss, or want to achieve an agreement or suggest an idea… etc
2) Who am I asking? Like do I know that person well/ or I do not know at all or someone in authority ..etc
3) What is the right time or occasion to ask? Timing is everything. When you bump into your manager, or meet him at a party, you should not start asking questions about work. Think, if this is the right time to ask this question.
4) What will be the impact of this question? Questions can be asked in many ways. So think and frame the question. Should I say this way? Or that way? If I phrase the question this way, what possible answers I shall get? Is there a more specific way to phrase the same question? Etc..
So, always give some thought and use these 4 steps before asking the questions.


Third & last,
Now that you know, what to ask/when to ask, let me highlight you the two different type of questions to use.
1) Closed vs open ended question: Generally most of the questions will fall into these two categories. Close ended questions get the piece of information that you want, but it precludes the conversation. On the other hand, open ended questions will sustain the conversation.
For example: Closed: Can I help you?
Open : How can I help you?
C: Didn’t you finish the assignment?
O: What problems have you finished and what is pending?


2) General vs Specific questions: If you want more specific answers you need to ask more specific questions. Sometimes, we need broad and general answers and at times we need narrow answers.
G: Do you like your work?
S: What do you like about your work?

These were the few tips that I intended to share with you.


All said, the person who asks thought provoking questions or genuine and right questions, will usually be the commander in a discussion.


So, I hope you will use these tips, be the commander in your next discussion. that you have by asking thoughtful questions.
Also, I would like to add that these are just the tip of the iceberg.
There is lot more into this topic, for you to research and master the art of questioning and be commanding.


Finally, always remember that, “All the answers we ever get are responses to questions”
There are two major ways to get information: by watching and reading and by asking questions and listening.


All said, right questions, are the gateway to better communication.


Thank You.

Individual Social Responsibility

Here, I am pasting the script of my fifth speech in Crystal Talk Toastmasters Club. Fifth speech is all about exhibiting the right body language. So, I chose a sensitive topic, which is very close to my heart. Here it goes... This text is the full-version, contains my views more than the speech video. So, please read through and do post your own view points on the subject.

Individual Social Responsibility

Good Afternoon Friends,

Today, I have chosen a ticklish topic, ISR meaning Individual Social Responsibility. Today’s topic is very close to me.

The speech is divided into two parts, in the first part, I would describe what is ISR and why should one go for it?

And in the second part, I would request each one of you take become responsible and take up ISR, and show some simple examples to illustrate it.

Everybody is aware of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Sometime back, I used to wonder, what is this social responsibility?

From a younger age, in the primary school, we are used to have moral science, which instilled in us, that we have to give back to the society. Help others.

I always wondered why we have to. Has the society given us something? Or why should we worry about the society? Especially, as an individual… why do we have to worry?

Because there is government, there is a public administration set up specifically to drive the society, or manage the society. We vote and elect a government to manage all this.

So, where do we fit in? We are punctual tax payers, and give enough money for these government and administration bodies to run and do their duty, so aren’t we doing enough, then?

These questions I feel, would have surely crossed in your minds, sometime or the other. If it has not crossed your minds, please ponder over this.

So, I started digging up this subject.

Scientifically we have evolved from animals. So, I wondered what is the major difference between animals and humans. What is the difference between us and other animals then?

If you look at animals, they don’t have any society, they live for themselves, they don’t care of each other. Two tigers don’t live in the same place/forest. So, the word society is human induced word.

Firstly, I would like to ask you, what is a Society, according to you? It’s you, me, our neighbors, and our neighborhood. This is only become a mini society.

Mathematically speaking, when we do unions of such society across places, then we belong to one Bigger Set/Society as humans as society of Human beings.

  

Therefore, as we are social animals, we cant live alone. We depend on each other for everything. From electricity, water, to food, cloth and shelter, we are all part of a big circle. We are dependent on some one, and that some one is dependent on somebody else.

This is the significant quality that drives us apart from animals, the enduring human quality/ human dependence.

And therefore, we need to synchronize this circle, which means to live in harmony; we have to give back to the society.

That is why, we say, we should care for each other. We share our joys and sorrows together.

If our neighbor is in distress, how long can we be in merry?

To put more light on this, let’s compare this circle, to a factory’s machines and line feed.

In a factory, there will be some machines which are termed bottlenecks, so the input and output ratio in a factory is majorly depended on these bottlenecks. No factory is successful until and unless these bottlenecks are taken care of.

Clear example is the recent recession, which affected globally. And the awaiting Greece fall out.

In a similar fashion, in a society if some section of people are not happy, then that will surely affect the other section of people. This negativity spreads. High level examples are Dacoits, terrorists, newly added Naxalites, etc. Low level examples are politics in administration, in each level and the lowest level being in one’s own family.

  

All these giving back to the society, helping others, etc. are also individual’s responsibility, as we are the member of this society/human race. And this individual gestures are now coined as “Individual Social Responsibility”.

Now, I hope everybody understand what is ISR and why should we be interested in it. Lets, move on to the second part of my speech.

First of all, I want to know, how many of you take up new year resolutions? How many of you follow it?

Now, more specifically, how many of you take a new  year resolution keeping society in mind, or specifically towards your family, friends, neighbors, etc. Nobody…

Well, this because we usually, never think about anybody else other than us, I need to be lose my weight, I will do something, etc. It’s always, I.

Now is the time, when we start thinking about we/us. I don’t say, dedicate your life to mankind… Just for the beginning… making somebody’s day / following simply the rules / smiling at our neighbors/ socializing, etc. are gestures that work towards ISR.

Interestingly, most of us know what the right things are, we have read it, we see it, but hardly do it.

So called good manners to a certain extent is followed by everybody. At least I hope so.

ISR activities?

There are many ways to do ISR activity, there is no exhaustive list. Sky is the limit. You can monetarily help, join a NGO, etc. There are innumerable ways. But the only thing required is the interest and the humbleness to do it.

Well, I don’t want preach/elaborate on these activities. It takes a lot of courage, commitment and a passion to do ISR in a very large scale. I want to focus on what we can do on  every day basis.

I want to stress on the fact that, as they say, any good act should begin from home.

On a day-to-day basis if we can at least create a positive surroundings or increase the positive quotient in one’s surrounding by helping others, socializing with everybody, caring for others, treating all the maids/gardeners/security guards, etc with respect, will also work wonders.

These are very small gestures, but means a lot.

Well, an important example, if we are parents/would be in future, bringing up our kids rightly is also a ISR in itself. The comparison/jealousy with other kids, etc, if avoided while young will be good when they grow up.

I recently, heard this ad in the FM. It was a discussion between two kids, one says, my father  bought an apartment, I have room for me, so the other one goes back to his father and asks him. His father as part of consoling tells him, that your papa will buy u a villa..So the kid goes back to his school next day n lets his friend no about it… Such ads promote the divide n rule policy what was bestowed on us by the British.

And this is no joke, this kind of upbringing will surely hamper our kids in future as well the society as a whole.

As I said at the beginning, it is all a big circle, whatever good you do, it comes back to you. So you have nothing to lose, but you only gain.

For eg. If you have a maid, she is also a human, so respect her as another human being. Both of you inter dependent, instead of creating scenes and humiliating them, if we actually talk them in a good manner, they will be surely happy, you will be much more happier.

Let me give some simple examples, just think about these scenarios.

You have been invited to a party by your close friend, you meet a new person who is the friend of him, you come out of the party and  your waiting near your car for somebody, you see the other person also in the car parking, waiting for somebody else.

You see that he has low priced model of the same company and you r having a high end car of a different model.

What do you usually do?  We ignore that fellow…. Give a look at him… Cannot ignore; go upto him with full ego and half heartily chat …Don’t know what to talk about? The other person surely will develop a negative vibe towards you, and you yourself are shwing that you r not interested.

Instead of creating such a negative scenario, if we actually went upto him and chatted with him in a casual way, positively ignoring the car models? You would have made another friend for you.

Well, all said and I can just add,

"The future is not completely beyond our control. It is the work of our own hands."

I strongly believe that, we are all like the units in the whole system. If each unit is energized and exhibit positive syndrome, then the whole system will have to change subsequently, a major revolution is for sure.

I hope, each one of us, would take a plunge to make the society a better place to live in.

Thank You.

A smile

This is my fourth speech in the Competent Communication series in Toastmaster. The key points in the fourth speech is to take the listeners to an imaginative world. This means that words of the speech should be descriptive and each word is important.
So, this was my attempt of the 4th speech titled "A Smile". How I delivered this speech, do log in to YouTube to  watch. Here goes my speech...


A Smile

Good afternoon.

Today, I am going to speak about one enchanting gesture of human being which will make the whole environment beautiful and full of bliss. That is the word Smile.

Yes, my friends today my topic is ‘A smile and its features’. This talk is inspired by my son, who sees smile in all things, the car, lorry, spoon, plates, etc

To begin with I am narrating an incident.

One day I was very tired, frustrated in my life. I went to bed cribbing about everything in life. In the midst of the night, I was suddenly woken up by a sound. There was nothing…..I looked at the clock, it was still 5 AM.

I lazily peeped through the window, it was dawn. I could hear gentle voices, soft and soothing to ears.

I wandered into the balcony. It was the birds chirping and making soft music, what a melody it was. Leafs of the plants were shining with the dew droplets. Soft breeze blowing on my face… I looked up the sky. The orange color had filled up the sky, and everything looked so fresh and energetic. The whole atmosphere was scenic and a beauty. Nature at its best…

Suddenly, I saw a figure….resembling an angel in the clouds descending from the skies. I rubbed my eyes and looked up again, what I see, it was indeed an angel. The angel stood in front of me, smiling, I smiled at her. The moment she smiled at me, I was very happy.

I was mesmerized by her beauty and charm. I was more peaceful and was in bliss.

She whispered into my ears, keep smiling, who ever you smile today at they will be blessed…

I was so pleased to hear that…

The day passed on beautifully, and I could see more cheerful faces each time I smiled.
First, it was my cribbing maid, as usual she had come late, instead of giving scornful look and a blast, I genuinely smiled at her and didn’t say a word, initially she was surprised, and then she was so cheerful and she did some extra work. I was so delighted to see that…

When I was waiting in the traffic signal, I saw the traffic police. In the midst of honking vehicles, under the crouching sun, he was standing frustrated with rule breakers, and was screaming at one of the drivers. I thought let me try the trick. I looked and smiled at him. Lo..what I see.. he smiled at me back, and then on to all the other vehicles and the aura there turned magical. I thanked the angel in my mind for all this was because of her.

The same thing continued, in the office, with the colleagues and the managers… When I returned back home, I wasn’t tired, but lot of energy was still left in me. I was much more relaxed and spent good time with my family. I smiled at myself. I went early to bed, to wake up early and to meet the angel.

Next morning, I got up at the same time and I even met the angel, I shared her my experience, and told her to extend her wish for more days. She laughed at me and told me there was nothing magical she had done.

It was only the smile…..that was magical. I was not able to digest that, suddenly, I heard a roaring sound…I wanted to convince the angel, but the noise grew even louder… the angel vanished and I was trying to call her and reach her.

Thud!! I got up from my bed, it was my alarm ringing.

I shut it….and got up… I realized that was a beautiful dream…Sun had already risen and it was the start of a busy day…..

But then that day and every day after that was a beautiful day with a smile.

Friends, Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

A smile speaks a thousand words. The shortest distance between two people is a smile.Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. A smile can melt even the coldest of hearts. A smile can send a heart a flutter where once there was only stillness. A smile can dissolve anger or initiate peace. It can also cause confusion or answer many questions.

A smile is beautiful no matter whose face it belongs to. A smile costs nothing but gives much.  A warm smile is the universal language of kindness and it is the one which brings closeness between people.

 Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. 

If you don't start out the day with a smile, it's not too late to start practicing for tomorrow.

So, friends, keep smiling, be cheerful and let everyday be a beautiful day.

Thank You.

Hope Against Hope

This is my 3rd speech in Crystal Talk Toastmaster Club, the original. Videos available in youtube. Do watch and read!

Going Back to my PUC II Year, the first lesson in English was titled "Every Cloud has a Silver Lining". It was a story of a dumb and deaf girl who gets a ray of hope from a stranger, a youth who comes to stay in their lodge. Nobody could know until the last day of his stay, that he was a deaf and dumb himself.

Well, inspired by this topic, my topic of today is "Hope against Hope".

How many times in our life, have we encountered a gypsy situation where in, we start analyzing “there is nothing that is possible now", "its all over", "What is going to happen now"

I hope many of us sometime or the other, would have surely thoughts on these lines in some or the other situation in our individual life.

Today I want to discuss or relate all these questions, towards something, which I term as Hope against Hope. or in simple terms, hope against all the odds in the world.

We have always heard about miracle & fortune stories on how ppl turn out from ashes to riches. Some incidents like, ppl who have survived the deadliest diseases, and some who have overcame a tragedy.
If there is something that is common in all these things, it is the hope.

If there is something that keeps everybody/anybody or all these people including me and all of you, in our own individual life, it is the hope.
It is the hope that one day, I shall fulfill my ambitions/aspirations/ or simply put one's own life goal.

The only thing to learn from all these is " no matter what situation you are in, no matter what is going to happen, never ever lose hope.


But how many of us do really follow this. At odd times, we tend to lose hope, and only think about the negativity.

Well, all said, I would like to narrate a simple incident out of my own life, which happened in the recent past which will illustrate the necessity of having a hope in all time, both good and bad.

I have come across some situations in my life, when I thought there was no hope and some alternative or out of the way, something happens.

This one, is a little simple n funny story, but is a good example.

I drive a car to office. On that day, I had to go to my uncle's house to pick my parents and son, which is 15Kms from my house. I went over there, spent some time and it was time to return back home.
It was 8'30 in the night, Alas, I took my wallet, and was about to leave his place, when I realized that my Car Key was missing. Everybody sprung on to their toes started searching every nook n corner of the house for the car keys.

My uncle's neighbour is a kind of detective. He took his torch and as a proper detective, through the car windows, peeking inside the car. Alas, the car key was not found at all. Again, he went back and searched the house. No signs of the car key.

Every body was upset. Now, what to do? What can be done? No hopes.... All started fearing, if the car keys are not anywhere, then where it might have gone.

Some suggested, I must have left the keys inside the car.

I drove back home in the neighbour’s two wheeler and got the spare key. Once again, the car was searched thoroughly. But every body’s dismay, we didn’t get the car key.
It was already pretty late, so that day, I drove the car, back home.

Before that the neighbor scared me saying that, don’t take the car out, the thieves might be following you, and when you park somewhere, they might take the car away.

That story, actually added to my woes. It was a like a nightmare.

So, it was something like, I should change the whole of locking system of the car, not only money, energy and but as the days passed on, on the back of the mind, there was a fear, if somebody stole my car….

All hopes were lost…….
After few days,with great courage, I went to the car dealer, explained to him what happened and he gave me list of documents that need to be submitted, and the procedure to be followed and the waiting time of 15 days for the locking system to be changed.
I waited, w/o taking my car anywhere, cursing myself, constant nightmare and listening to people on how to be more careful, how it can be avoided.
15 days passed, spent around 10K and changed the whole locking system of my car.
That day, I was neither happy nor sad. But a satisfaction that atleast my car is safe and I can drive it. Biggest lesson, Have to be very careful.

This is what happens when you lose the hope, when there are no hopes…

Well, pretty sad ending it, right……
Actually, this is not the ending.
Coz I didn’t lose hope. And there was one person whose didn’t lose hope, it was my father. We analysed the situation and found that we havnt searched one place, and that is basement under the lift. We pestered my Uncle and told him to stop the lift, and go the basement of the lift and check.

After few days, I got a call from my cousin saying that “Indeed they got the car keys”.
All tension, all nightmares were put to rest. There was a great sense of relief. That day, I was very happy, I gave a treat to my cousin.

Well, this is what happens when you have hope. A hope of finding the keys…
If you look into it, the only thing that kept the search on was the hope.

To actually accomplish something, you need to lots of hardwork, a passion in doing it , a desire , etc. But the driving force is the one and only Hope.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

As the saying goes;

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

If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be.”

"The feeling of hopefulness sometimes comes from someone helping us. Think back to a time when you had lost hope. Many times we regained our optimism because someone gave us a helping hand."

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."

"Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it.
It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes.
Keep hope alive."

Busy Bee

I know it has been a long time since I blogged. I had planned to write a blog on Jan 1st. When that did not happen, writing to the Blog has been delayed precedently. I have not written a single blog for months together.

Life is a roller coaster ride. So, my life had suddenly become so important and busy, that I hadnt any time for myself in these months.

Well, it all started with setting up our new home, House Warming Ceremony, Deciding interiors and moving into the house. Looks pretty simple, the draining tasks involved in all these tremondous. Dealing with Builders, carpenters is quite a task.

Happily, I can say, that we were the first ones to move in the whole of Genesis apartments.

Finally, all is set in our new home. So feeling good.

This May, I gave hatrick speeches in Crystal Talk Toastmaster club. I shall upload all my toastmasters speech over here. So watch out!!!

Bye!!