Page 12 - Eloquence 2017

The CC manual (earlier the CTM manual) is a Toastmaster A.S. Jose pushed me to take up
wonderful guide. Before attempting any speech the role of founder president of WMC Toast-
I read the project details at least five times. I masters club in 2003 and there began my lead-
think of various topics and analyse each of ership track in Toastmasters. Slowly I bid good-
them .Will it meet the objectives ? And interest- bye to my mother club and took up the task of
ingly I am able to close in on two to three top- building WMC which is now my home club. I
ics. After choosing what I feel is apt, I keep the hibernated from project speeches but took on
rest for a later date. Discussing with the mentor the mantle of Area Governor and marched
is of prime importance and I have done it. Un- ahead.YLPs, Speech crafts and my HPL pro-
fortunately I feel that the Mentor-Mentee inter- ject gave me a lot of confidence and honed my
action is on the downward trend today. leadership skills. I continued the ACB journey -
again in the slow lane till 2015 when our club
On the 9th of June 2017 (which incidentally
happened to be my birthday (don't ask me my president MTM Roshni Pinto woke me up with a
age because age is just a number ),I at- jolt. She insisted that I should put on my boots
tained my DTM. In the presence of a fifty plus and reach the DTM mark.
gathering I delivered my final speech. I was par- I started focusing on my projects. However I
ticular that my mentor DTM Clement Vinayak never never rushed to complete manuals. Tak-
should evaluate me and he gracefully agreed. ing my own sweet time I did each project with
utmost sincerity and to the best of my ability.
This journey has been long .With gratitude I re-
call the motivation of my wife Mary and children During this journey I was fortunate to be de-
Deepak and Gautham who have been support- clared as the FIRST PLACE WINNER AT THE
ive and a source of encouragement for me. I INTERNATIONAL TAPED SPEECH CONTEST
also bow down before each and every WMC CONDUCTED BY TMI IN 2004.When I went on
member ,my well wishers from Manama Toast- to the stage at Reno Nevada in front of a two
masters club and many others who have played thousand strong crowd to receive my plaque
a significant role in moulding me into what I am from the TMI President I thanked the Almighty
today. for taking me there. (Sorry ..my trumpet
again ) .My friend Gopi drove down from San
My salute to the founder of our movement Dr.
Ralph C Smedley whose words "We learn best Francisco to Reno, Nevada to applaud me as I
in moments of enjoyment " echo in my ears received the award .
Dear Toastmasters,this is my journey . I have
understood that each meeting is a learning ex-
perience,each assignment is one step forward.
My journey continues....
I have followed the practice of reading the man-
ual for any project speech several times right
from Project 1 of the basic manual to my final
DTM speech.
For most of my CTM (CC) projects ,I have writ-
ten down the speeches ,and rehearsed them
thoroughly before presenting it at the club. I can
proudly say that for the first seven projects I
was the best speaker at the club and that too at
the Manama Toastmasters club - my mother
club which continues to have great speakers.
(Sorry ...my trumpet again). In my journey I also
mastered my impromptu speaking skills having
reached upto the District level in Table Topics
contests.

Do not try to be the best. Just do your best..

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