The "Ice Breaker"
Date: 27th September.
Occasion: 131st ITMC (Infosys Toastmaster’s Club) Meet.
Venue: Infosys E&R Building, Audi 2.
It really gives me great pride and pleasure to make a special mention about this particular meet of ITMC. Pride because I was adjudged the “Best Prepared Speaker” and “Best Table Topic Speaker” and it’s rare to achieve the “golden double” and pleasure because after a long hiatus I had discovered the orator within me. It was my first project “Ice Breaker”, as they call it in the toastmaster’s language and I was quite satisfied as well as thrilled with the way I spoke in front of 40-50 people. Table topic session is an impromptu speaking session where 7-8 table topics are spoken out in front of the audience and the interested junta can come to the lectern to speak voluntarily. The table topic session for me was-“Sometimes even the left is right and right is left”.
After a long wait of 11 years I had participated in any of the speaking events. The first time I had done was in Class 8th, when a debate written by one of my school teacher was given to me and I memorized the entire stuff and spoke. But toastmaster’s events provide you a platform not only to improve your speaking skills but also the writing skills. I received a fair bit of appreciation for the script that I had written. And here the credit goes to Google for its portal blogger.com which helped me in identifying the writer within me. Here is the entire “Ice Breaker” speech that I delivered on the 131st ITMC meet.
Project 1: Ice Breaker
Occasion: 131st ITMC (Infosys Toastmaster’s Club) Meet.
Venue: Infosys E&R Building, Audi 2.
It really gives me great pride and pleasure to make a special mention about this particular meet of ITMC. Pride because I was adjudged the “Best Prepared Speaker” and “Best Table Topic Speaker” and it’s rare to achieve the “golden double” and pleasure because after a long hiatus I had discovered the orator within me. It was my first project “Ice Breaker”, as they call it in the toastmaster’s language and I was quite satisfied as well as thrilled with the way I spoke in front of 40-50 people. Table topic session is an impromptu speaking session where 7-8 table topics are spoken out in front of the audience and the interested junta can come to the lectern to speak voluntarily. The table topic session for me was-“Sometimes even the left is right and right is left”.
After a long wait of 11 years I had participated in any of the speaking events. The first time I had done was in Class 8th, when a debate written by one of my school teacher was given to me and I memorized the entire stuff and spoke. But toastmaster’s events provide you a platform not only to improve your speaking skills but also the writing skills. I received a fair bit of appreciation for the script that I had written. And here the credit goes to Google for its portal blogger.com which helped me in identifying the writer within me. Here is the entire “Ice Breaker” speech that I delivered on the 131st ITMC meet.
Project 1: Ice Breaker
When I Asked God for Strength
He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face
When I Asked God for Brain & Brawn
He Gave Me Puzzles in Life to Solve
When I Asked God for Happiness
He Showed Me Some Unhappy People
When I Asked God for Wealth
He Showed Me How to Work Hard
When I Asked God for Favors
He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard
When I Asked God for Peace
He Showed Me How to Help Others
God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted
He Gave Me Everything I Needed
-Vivekananda
Mr. Toastmaster, Fellow toastmasters and guests
A very good evening to one and all……………
-Vivekananda
Mr. Toastmaster, Fellow toastmasters and guests
A very good evening to one and all……………
Life: Family
I am Rajeev from TNSD IBU………….
Born in the heritage city of Calcutta, brought up in a small town in the foothills of Himalayas in Nepal, did my high schooling in the oasis called Pilani , completed my engineering in MSRIT, Bangalore, underwent the Infosys training in Bangalore, initially posted in Chennai and now back to Bangalore, my own Bangalore.
Since I had the privilege to stay and know about so many places, learn about the people, culture I call myself a global citizen. I spent my childhood in a place called Ilam which is a border district in Nepal, about 3 hours from Darjeeling, a popular tourist place in Nepal with humongous tea gardens. If I continue to tell about that lovely place and the beauty of Himalayas, probably the entire session will go off in that. As has been rightly said in the Puranas-" In a hundred ages of the gods, I could not tell thee of the glories of the Himalayas".... The Himalayas are spectacle of awesome dimensions... ranges upon ranges, tiers of rocks, sharp sky piercing peaks and canyons, deep beyond measure....... I was quite fortunate to have spent time in such a place.
Schooling
I underwent my primary schooling in Nepal up to class 7.Our class was smallest in terms of strength in the entire school, just 13-14 students, even the best B-schools in the world would be envious of the faculty to student ratio. I was always in the good books of the teachers during my entire schooling. And as is the custom in almost all schools in India and Nepal, if you are a good student your ambition has to be to become either an engineer or a doctor. All my family members, friends and relatives wanted me to become a doctor. I myself wanted to become a doctor and serve everyone who had expectations from me which was ultimately not going to be. Ironically I am here in Infosys as a software Engineer.
I appeared for few medical entrance exams after class 12th but couldn’t clear. This was probably the severe blow of failure that I had in my life. Since I didn’t want to waste a year for entrance exam preparation and reappear, I planned to do engineering and joined MSRIT in Bangalore.
I am Rajeev from TNSD IBU………….
Born in the heritage city of Calcutta, brought up in a small town in the foothills of Himalayas in Nepal, did my high schooling in the oasis called Pilani , completed my engineering in MSRIT, Bangalore, underwent the Infosys training in Bangalore, initially posted in Chennai and now back to Bangalore, my own Bangalore.
Since I had the privilege to stay and know about so many places, learn about the people, culture I call myself a global citizen. I spent my childhood in a place called Ilam which is a border district in Nepal, about 3 hours from Darjeeling, a popular tourist place in Nepal with humongous tea gardens. If I continue to tell about that lovely place and the beauty of Himalayas, probably the entire session will go off in that. As has been rightly said in the Puranas-" In a hundred ages of the gods, I could not tell thee of the glories of the Himalayas".... The Himalayas are spectacle of awesome dimensions... ranges upon ranges, tiers of rocks, sharp sky piercing peaks and canyons, deep beyond measure....... I was quite fortunate to have spent time in such a place.
Schooling
I underwent my primary schooling in Nepal up to class 7.Our class was smallest in terms of strength in the entire school, just 13-14 students, even the best B-schools in the world would be envious of the faculty to student ratio. I was always in the good books of the teachers during my entire schooling. And as is the custom in almost all schools in India and Nepal, if you are a good student your ambition has to be to become either an engineer or a doctor. All my family members, friends and relatives wanted me to become a doctor. I myself wanted to become a doctor and serve everyone who had expectations from me which was ultimately not going to be. Ironically I am here in Infosys as a software Engineer.
I appeared for few medical entrance exams after class 12th but couldn’t clear. This was probably the severe blow of failure that I had in my life. Since I didn’t want to waste a year for entrance exam preparation and reappear, I planned to do engineering and joined MSRIT in Bangalore.
When I Asked God to make me a doctor
He made me an engineer
College
I joined MSRIT in December 16, 2000 two months after the session had started. Attended the classes and completed all my lab assignments on a war footing. I expected a lot out of my college life and again I feel God gave me what I needed and not what I wanted. I couldn’t quite study with the same flair that I used to do in school. That made me just an above average student in college and not among the toppers which I was used to in school. Participation in co-curricular activities became dead as a dodo.
The only improvement that was visible to me was in terms of talking to girls. Since I was from a boy’s school I was really nervous talking to girls in the first semester. The very mention of interacting with girls used to send shivers down my spine. But things improved as I moved to higher semesters, slowly and steadily the nervousness disappeared. Learnt a lot about the party culture of Bangalore from the localites, also learnt about the Toastmaster’s in engineering from one of my friend who was a Toastmaster and a very accomplished speaker in college.
By the end of 3rd year, there was a little seriousness about placements and career and stuffs like that which were completely alien till now. One fine day Infosys came to our college for placements and I was selected along with 76 other college mates.
Hobbies + Role Model
Whatever I have achieved and whichever position I am in today is because of the foresight and the vision of one man, my dad. Being a modest and a humble shopkeeper he had the vision beyond the hilltops and the Himalayas of Nepal. He is instrumental in shaping up my personality in a big way, be it the guidance that he gave me during my primary schooling or developing hobbies in me. Hobbies have always been a part and parcel of my life since childhood. It ranges from Philately to numismatics to singing, writing blogs and being a part of toastmaster’s movement.
Mission
Apart from the Hobbies, I also have a small mission in my life that transcends beyond the confines of an Infosys Campus. I want to give back to society what society has given to me. At certain point of my life I want to open an NGO which would help people reeling under poverty get out of it which I feel is the greatest evil for the mankind. I want to build an NGO which is as big as an RSS but without any political affiliations. It motto just be just nation building. Hopefully in this Endeavour I can say
When I Asked God for accomplishing my mission
He Gave Me Favorable Situations to complete it
posted by Rajeev @ 5:34 PM
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