The learning curve

# written a long time back in 2010, narrating my wonderful time at SKIT Toastmasters Club

Toastmasters International,USA is a prestigious organization which fosters among its clubs, in the varied parts of the world the art of effective communication skills and leadership qualities. SKIT has one such proud club in its campus which is not just the only club among technical institutes in northern India but also one of the prime contributors to success of District-82 comprising India and Srilanka.

16^th October, 2008 was my first day in the SKIT Toastmasters club, It was a demonstrative meeting in which only Icebreakers and Table Topics were spoken, I was keeping my fingers crossed that I shouldn’t be picked up by the Table Topics Master to speak on any topic, because I was so hesitant and nervous that I was sure that If I had to speak my heart would plunge out of my body, Luckily I wasn’t called that day.

But, I wasn’t lucky in the subsequent meetings as I got to speak many table topics shivering, stuttering and stammering,  I somehow delivered those, some even left in between, often not completing the time limit, but that sole point was the beginning of improvement, the onset of an education which would last with me for an entire lifetime. So, from that time I graduated from being a very bad speaker to a bad speaker.

I gave my first speech on 3^rd, February, 2009 and 40 speeches later I find myself immensely confident to speak comfortably at any given point or situation. This improvement in my confidence that I lacked at a time is all courtesy Toastmasters club, without its wonderful programme I would never be able to find out that I can actually speak in public.

Toastmasters club is not just about giving speeches, it was much more, I got the opportunity to visit Gurgaon for the Area Level Contests twice during the last year. First on 22^nd February, 2009 when I went for “Area Level Table Topics Contest”, I wasn’t much successful that day but the experience was awesome as I got a chance to meet many great speakers and we also attended the officers training programme. The next opportunity I got was on 18^th September, 2009 when I went for the “Area Level Evaluation Speech Contest” and was lucky enough to get the second prize and as a result I went to Delhi for the division level contest later that year.

Toastmasters Club is all about helping others to grow and perform better. There is not a panel of expert judges during the meeting but the evaluation are mutual and through a system of cooperation. It is not just about improving your communication skills but also about honing your leadership skills. I have played many different roles like Time counter, Ah counter, General evaluator, Grammarian, Toastmasters of the day which have all helped me to improve. Preparing the newsletter, going for the sponsorship campaign, conducting a contest were few of the activities which have enriched me to my very core.

I would sincerely like to thank the most important pillar in our club Tm. Pramila Bafna and our club’s president Tm. Vineet Jain for encouraging and guiding us in whatever manner they could because in their absence the club wouldn’t have grown so much as it has in the past two years.

I would also like to encourage students to join Toastmasters club because it’s such a good platform for self development that you would cherish your decision for the entire life.

I have achieved six certifications in toastmasters club, when I once thought that doing just one is impossible, It is all due to the kind of support I got and the wonderful environment in the SKIT toastmasters club. Without everyone’s help I would never have been able to achieve my goals.

The improvement can never stop, the development can never cease to occur, So, I would like to continue my stint in Toastmasters club wherever I go to become even better and more confident, because this is just” A small step”. “The giant leap” is impending.

TM. Happy Garg ACG, ALB

Wonders of the Brain

This presentation is my work on the magnificence of human brain or more specifically how left brain and right brain co-ordinate our functions and play a larger role in defining our personality,find out which careers would be suited for you depending on weather you are a left or a right brain person.

It was compiled from various sources in February 2009 as a part of the module, Getting comfortable with visual aids, as a requirement for the Competent Communicator award  from the prestigious Toastmasters International, USA.

Go Through this presentation and indulge in all the games/activities listed in this presentation.
Certain animations in this presentation might not work on the web so download it from slideshare and play it on power point.

Hope you enjoyed it, kindly post your valuable queries/comments. :)

My Favourite Story: Trees that wood

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter" ... and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree so I'll take this one", and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time. Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "Peace" and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

-Anonymous

911 Mysteries-Truth or Reality

Truth is often stranger than fiction, what our eyes see and what is shown to us is far beyond the reality.

The September 11, 2001 attacks on twin towers are regarded as the biggest ever terrorist attack on any nation and they hold the status of Japan bombing the Pearl harbour or America dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But are the things really that simple or is there a hidden mystery which if proved true might blot the face of United States for times to come.

A variety of conspiracy theories question the mainstream account of the September 11 attacks in the US. These theories assert that the official report on the events is not sufficiently forthright, truthful. Critics allege that government of the United States might have done attacks themselves. The common suspected motives were the use of attacks as a pretext to justify overseas wars and facilitate increased military spending.

Many of the theories have been voiced by the members of the 9/11 truth movement.

They claim that collapse of World Trade Centre was as a result of controlled demolition and not due to plane striking.

1. The world trade centre was entirely made of steel and they were the strongest steel structures in the world. It was made to resist the impact of Boeing 747 plane with full fuel capacity. But, the plane that actually struck the tower was Boeing 767 with very little fuel which was consumed with the initial fireballs and following few minutes of fire. So it rules out the official story which states that fire caused by the collapse of 47 column steel core, 236 exterior columns and 1000’s of trusses at the same time

2. We can see smoke coming out of the building, smoke indicates that fires were not burning successfully and that rules out the possibility of fire causing the collapse. Fires have burned the steel buildings for as long as 20 hours and yet the cores of the buildings have remained standing. The world trade centre was hit by fire in 1975 which was much larger than this fires but still the tower remained standing.

3. Melting point of steel is 1500 C or higher but fire of WTC was not hotter than 650 C; steel stoves don’t melt even if they are used for months. Even if the outer columns fall on one another even then the outer columns should have remained standing.

4. Metal and concrete is hurled away from the building sideways; a 270 ton piece of steel was hurled 120 meters into the neighbouring building, which indicates explosion not implosion.

5. The towers fell than 10 seconds which is less than free fall speed but it is possible only if the top storeys did not face any obstruction from lower storeys. A building so tall should have fallen in at least 136 if it were in a natural way.

6. If we see the video then we hear the sound of explosion first and then the structure starts to fall but it should have been the other way.

7. World trade centre complex had 7 buildings, Two were the twin towers and 5 other smaller buildings but only 1, 2, 7 collapse not 3,4,5,6 despite the fact that they had equally strong fires.

8. All the concrete and the building material (100000 tons) were pulverized into a very fine dust. Phenomena that require an enormous amount of energy that could not be produced by gravitational alone, it was only possible through a series for internal explosions.

9. Many videos show people who have reported blasts in the buildings, the morning videos of 9/11 show the interior covered with dust which indicates that some sort of construction work was going which clearly indicate explosives being planted.

10. Now you may be curious to know why they got the towers destroyed themselves. WTC was given on a private lease in 2001 for the first time. A man named Larry Silverstein was its owner; he had invested 15 million dollars in that. The WTC was covered with asbestos to make it fire proof and asbestos was banned by U.S.A in 1980’s So it was required of him to get it removed, which would have coasted him over a billion dollars, so he choose to go this way as WTC’s were big money losers and through this way he got 7 billion dollars through insurance company 300 times of what he had invested.

This theory states that lease owner of WTC himself had caused the collapse.

There are other theories which state the President Bush was responsible for the same as he wanted to say Iraq and Afghanistan for their oil reserves and it will give them a reason to do so.

Whatever the reason might be the truth will never come out as the American Institutes are testing it and they would never want to blot their own country’s image and also their might be high government pressure. But even that cannot rule out sadness that over a thousand people who died that day left for their families.

References:

http://vimeo.com/57008713

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7LwySqtr4

InspireYourself

Thomas Edison once said “Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. But, still that 1% of inspiration is sole requirement for converting that 99% to success.

Have you ever wondered that a pencil, a small pencil which you thought was just writing instrument can teach so many things?

1. It tells us that everything you do leaves a mark, weather you do good or bad it will surely leave a positive or a negative impression on others.

2. It tells us that important thing is how we are from inside not outside which means that our quality and virtues leave a lasting impression on others and not our outside beauty.

3. Moreover it tells us that in life we will go painful sharpening which will make us better. The difficult times are always there to make us stronger.

4. It tells us that we can always correct our mistakes, so never be afraid to take risk, we should take challenges, accept difficulties because even if we fall there’s always a next time.

5. Last and the best it says “Allow yourself to be guided and held by the hand which holds you”, so if we allow ourselves to be guided and held by God’s hand we can surely achieve success in life.

Have you heard the story of the ugly elephant, well if not I tell you. In a forest there was a very ugly baby elephant called “Jumbo”. No other animal in the jungle used to play with him and he was always downtrodden and embarrassed by other animals.

The duck used to say to him “Look at you elephant you are so ugly and black, with a long pipe like trunk hanging, I am so white and beautiful.

The monkey used to tease him by saying “Look at me I can jump from one tree to another can you do so?

Poor little elephant would have nothing to say in these matters.

On a hot summer afternoon when all the animals were sleeping the whole jungle was caught in a mighty fire. All animals began to panic, but our brave little elephant shouted on top of his voice and called all other elephants and they all filled their trunks with water and within minutes the whole fire was extinguished.

Jumbo became a hero and every other animal felt ashamed that they used to tease him and now he has saved their life.

Thorough this story I just want you people to understand that we should never underestimate others. We all have this habit of passing comments on people on fat people, on thin people, on short, on dark and physically deformed and so on.

Even if we not pass comments many of us just think something ill about them. We should understand that God has created each of us equal and we should learn to respect each other and do not laugh or tease others.

Blacks were always ill treated in America!! Now can you think how much foolish it is to just discriminate on basis of colour of a person Are we civilized or not.......But now even they have set an example by choosing a black president Obama.

Be at your best,

And leave the rest,

Joys and sorrows come and go,

And surely you have to pass thorough,

Life is a struggle but,

Crossing all barriers,

You make your way,

Think you can do it,

Don’t be idle and sit,

Because,

In the end the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

There was once a man who had four wives.

He loved his fourth wife the most, fed her with delicacies and gave her the most beautiful clothes.

He loved his third wife too as she was very beautiful, He always feared that she might run away with someone.

Whenever he had problems he went for help to his second wife and she took good care of him and sorted out his problems.

But he always neglected his first wife although she loved him.

When one fateful day arrived he was diagnosed with cancer and doctor fold that he would die soon.

He got very sad as he thought he would be alone now. So he asked his fourth wife if she would die with him, she clearly replied no. His third wife had already run away with someone else on hearing about his cancer. He then went to his second wife, she said that she always helped him but now she cannot die with him. Disappointed, he went to his wife first wife but to his surprise she readily agreed to die with him. The man was deeply moved and thought only one thing that if would have been much better if he had taken good care of her. Now like the man we all have four wives.

Our fourth wife is our body whom we love the most feed it with good dishes, decorate with beautiful clothes but when we die it doesn’t goes with us.

Our third wife is the possession, property that we have which always to go to someone else when we die and we do not take it with us.

Our second wife is our friends and family. However they might solve our problems during our lives they will not go with us.

Our first wife is our soul whom we neglect throughout our lives never caring about it but our soul always goes with us when we die. So we should do some soul seeking in our lives and care for it and not just run after materialistic pleasures. This is the only way to become better persons and thus we would have no unsettled issues when we die.

When you were born you cried and everyone rejoiced, live your life in such a way that when you die you rejoice and the whole world cries.

Because life is not measured by the number of breaths that we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away.