Speech : Fearsome, Enthralled, Memorable

Fear, happiness, anxiety, panic, excitement you can feel all the human emotions in one journey? I have experienced it. Do you want to explore this adventurous journey?

Our journey to Amarnath Cave started from Baltal camp on 1st July 14. By 4.30 am we started riding our individual horses with bated breath. Can you guess last horse ride I had? That was on my wedding day. For 30 minutes, I held horse reins so that I shouldn’t fall. In Journey, Deep valleys were showing up I got really frightened. I thought that if something happens, then nobody would be able to find even a fingernail of mine.

For the first 3 km, I was not able to even balance myself on the horse ride. The Road was 8-10 feet wide and it was created by crafting of mountains. The road was fully occupied by horse droppings and mud due to rain on the previous day. The whole 14 km stretch of road and mountain were made of brittle Clint. The railing along the roadside stretched up-to first 4km. After that, we could see the steep fall along the roadside. We were slowly moving up to great heights, and then moving down to steep falls. Devotees on foot journey were travelling by the mountainside. Middle of the road was occupied by palanquins for senior citizens. Horse riders were on the steep side of the road, and they were away by 1-2 foot from the road end. I really felt butterflies in the stomach and had Goosebumps.

A deep valley, a small road, trust, fear, curiosity, nature, glacier, and frame of mind…. all these took me to an altogether different world. I could see the water flowing out from a glacier. It was such a soothing and charming view. Army Jawans were standing at every 500 meters… they stood like rocks... they were guarding the whole area day/night like panther silently watching jungle…. responsibility was shown in their gesture … they were doing their task with no fear… I believe in slogan “Sleep peacefully at your homes, Indian army is guarding the frontiers”

I could see army jawan carrying 2 dead bodies on stretchers. I thought that if my horse slips on the road, then I might be able to hold railing to survive. But what will happen to my family? All these thoughts were bothering me. We had to make almost a 6.5 hours’ journey to reach a point near Amarnath cave.

Amarnath cave is at 12756 feet height above sea-level and completely made of rock. The snow was slippery and many people slipped due to that. Due to less oxygen in the air, several senior citizens and ladies suffered. In the hustle queue, we were moving with the crowd. Army jawans manage the queue and helped elder people to reach the cave.


We had darshan of Amarnath Shivlingam in 2.5 hours. The Shivlingam was made of snow. It had a height of around 10 -12 feet. I somehow forgot everything else while taking darshan. I was enthralled! We started our return journey on horses. The weather was rapidly changing. The valley was blanketed with the dark cloud. It was such a fearsome cloud with darkness spread all over it. I started to appreciate horse as an animal. A horse is just like an obedient child. We can bank on the horse. Whether it is the steep valley or a great height of the mountain, the horse never broke the disciplined queue. The return journey was quite good. We had rain… same mud-covered road… same mountain… same glacier… same nature… and the same horse. But I enjoyed the return journey. Our fearsome and most thrilling trek came to end after 4.5 hours’ journey.

It is said, “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful and adventurous destinations.” Friends, go on vacation or trek with family or friends at least once in a lifetime to enjoy life and explore these emotions yourself.

Thanks!!!

Election Calling!!!

Whole Karnataka stands in the queue for voting today and almost all media houses talked about it. A few days ago, I informed my friend that I am running for election on 12th May. My friend asked about my political affiliation? I said 'Toastmaster'. He got confused and asked again "BJP" or "Congress"? I reaffirmed my answer "Toastmaster" and informed him about our Toastmaster club election. He said thank god, it’s not like a political election.

My friend again asked me about the election procedure in Toastmaster. I explained him in detail. There are 7 open seats for an election. 1. President 2. Vice President – Education. 3. Vice President – Membership 4. Vice President – Public Relation 5. Treasurer 6. Secretary 7. Sargent at Arm. But there will not be any ruling or the opposition party. Here we should defend our candidature using small speech. Where we need to confirm your candidature and inform our audience about how we will perform better. An audience will decide candidate fate by voting.

I was running for 'Vice President - Public Relation' role. I was on the edge of my seat about the election because it was my first election. I thought I prepared well and I went to TM Adhiraj office. I practice my nomination text.  He said my endorsement text was not up to the mark. Few of my colleague helped me to rewrite it. After the 3rd round of re-writing, I thought that text was fine-tuned. 

On the election day, I was very excited. DTM Leo took approx. 7 minutes to explain the importance of club election and leadership aspect. The emphasis to build strong block at the base in the value chain. DTM Uday Sir, TM Ashrafali, TM Shakir were in Nomination Committee. DTM Uday sir smoothly conducted an election. Uday sir informed us Toastmaster election conducted based on Robert’s rule or Law which is nothing but a TM constitution. Its applicable to all election procedure in Toastmaster. He explained each role objective and responsibilities very well. First role 'President' got elected unanimously. For 'Vice President - Education', two candidates were contesting an election. There were 3 candidates for 'Vice President - Membership'. There were 2 rounds of voting performed for it. We see that candidate list growing on an incremental basis for each role. I like candidate introduction round. Each one was very well prepared and elaborate his/her plan for effective execution of duties.

Member super excitement was at a peak at the time of 'Vice President - Public Relation' role election. There were 4 candidates. I tried my best to put my candidature and tried to convince the audience how I can add value to the role. After 3 rounds of voting, 'TM Taaha' got elected. For 'Treasurer' role there were 3 candidates. There were 2 rounds of voting. For 'Secretary' and ‘Sargent at Arms' role candidate got elected unanimously. What is the big deal about this election? yes, there were few learnings too. 1. Start Leadership with a small step and build a strong base in the value chain. 2. You should plan your candidature very well in advance.  3. We should not ignore the power of networking.

Abbreviation
TM – Toastmaster
TMCPSE – Toastmasters Club of Pune South East
VP PR – Vice President Public Relation Team
ExCom – Executive Committee
CC – Competent Communicator
DTM – Distinguish Toastmaster

Speech : Why you killed Atharva

One fine morning I came to office. I pressed power on button and just thought after the day’s work. Amod, my friend came to my desk. He was angry and asked me “Why you killed Atharva?”

I replied, “What the hell are you talking about?”

My friend was not in a mood to listen to me.

"How dare you to kill Atharva?"

"Amod, I am a law-abiding person." Why could I do that?

"You don't have privilege or permission to murder Atharva."

“I will be in prison if I killed anybody. How can anybody hide a murder?”

"No, I know! That is your favourite hobby"

"Killing people is my favourite hobby?”

"By the way who is Atharva?

“Atharva is the main character in your "Half Win" story.”

"Oh, that story. That's nothing but a character. Not an actual person."

"I tried to convince Amod that characters are written in such way that they look realistic and nothing else."

"I am very disappointed in your writing” he said and left.

I love writing & reading stories. I have noticed that sometimes we sympathize with a character because we see our self in that character. Sometimes we want full entertainment to relax from stress. Few people are crazy about Superman, Spiderman, etc. movies. Because they feel someone will come and rescue us from our problem. 

Did anyone of you see Google App Ad where they insist on check film rating before watching? The same way we should know movie genre before watching the movie.

Please raise your hand if you believe in “Happy ending” movies?

A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains. In few stories, hero struggles to win over the villain. Somehow, he/she beat the villain. Villain learns his life lesson. Hero, heroine happily married and settled down. This is the happy ending, or "upending".

Did you watch Bahubali 1 movie? Kattapa killed Bahubali at end of Bahubali 1. Killing the character Bahubali is wrong but it was necessary to end that character to make progress in the story. Is killing of character not justified? In Bahubali 2, main lead takes revenge from Bhallaldeva. It's Happy Ending.

Tragedies on the other hand, while popular in other eras, is far less today. Though they may be referred to as "down endings". Tragedies are stories that promote the idea that we do not have control over our destinies, as evidenced by the tragic hero struggling against circumstances repeatedly but failing to overcome them. The goal of the tragedy is not to bum people out with a down ending, but to make the more sophisticated point that we should gain strength from the knowledge that we are all in the same boat.

Guzaarish, Agneepath, Anand are a perfect example of Tragedies. In Agneepath, main lead struggles a lot against circumstances. Main character/hero die at end of the movie.

The goal of the melodrama is escapist, to help you forget for a little while. So is very popular in our era. I am intrigued by the market for movie endings. Movie-goers want two things in an ending: They want it to be happy and they want it to be unpredictable.

‘Swades’, ‘3 Idiots’, & ‘Dear Zindagi’ are an example of melodrama films. The audience loves these types of films.

I have talked about three genres only i.e. happy-ending, down-ending or tragedy, and melodrama. There are more than 25 different type of movie genres. Toastmasters, we should not limit ourselves to only one genre. We should watch films, read books of different genres. But, to avoid disappointment, we should know the right genre of the book or movie even before starting to read or watch.

So, which type of movie do you prefer to watch or which type of books do you prefer to read? More importantly, are you aware of the genres of movies and books?

Thanks!!!