I gave my first toastmaster speech today, phew. It was one heck of a week, with butterflies in the tummy. And I dint expect so many people turning up for the speech. There were close to 50 people in the audience and I was like a bunny. But I took solace in the fact that there were people who were not able to speak even for half a minute. I was better than them any day. I waited for my turn with batted breath. My only worry was whether I will forget and add some points which will blow the time. I actually prepared my speech for seven minutes. But when I went into the meeting, I found that for an icebreaker speech, it is 6 minutes. I was mentally adjusting myself for the parts which I should be cutting off. My turn came and the TMOD (Toastmaster of the Day) introduced me as a baby, (since I was giving my first speech), which sounded kind of funny because I had that nickname during my Engineering days. I thanked everyone, and started the speech. I asked couple of questions to the audience to keep them engaged and added some funny quotes as well. The speech went well, and at the end of it, people gave me a standing ovation, Can you believe it. I still couldn’t. The evaluator gave me a couple of points where I could have improved and the meeting was done. I am looking forward to the opportunity to be a TMOD in the next meeting. Updates will follow :). Here is the Ice breaker speech.
Hi Everyone Thanks for providing me this opportunity. Not just because I have got this lovely audience to listen to my life story but also because of the opportunity to look back on my 30 years of life. My name is Santhosh, people call me Santa. Before, I get into my Icebreaker speech, just a quick question. How many of us have got a beating from our teachers. (people will show hands). How many of us have got a beating from our teachers for not eating vegetables at home. Yea, that’s funny. That’s one of the many things you go through if you are the youngest in your family and if you have a sister who would be kind enough to tell your class teacher that their brother is not eating any vegetables at home. The teacher in turn will be very kind enough to take that as a license and beat that hapless kid. No don’t get me wrong. I had a wonderful childhood, barring some instances like these (which actually were many). My father was a sr lab technician at the government hospital before he retired in 2007 and my mother is a homemaker. I was the only male child in my family with two sisters. Naturally I was pampered by my sisters and parents.
I grew up in a small village called Kottucherry. For those of you who don’t know where it is, it’s a small dot in the Indian Map and its part of Pondicherry where everyone in the town knew everyone and all of them knew my father. So people took pleasure in watching me over and inform my parents promptly. Like for example, I once rode a TVS 50 to the nearest town with my friend. When I came back home, my father was standing outside the house and enquired me where I went. When I replied, he said, that’s fine but you shouldn’t be riding the bike too fast. Fast? Dad what are you talking about? I was going at 40 and moreover even if I tried it wouldn’t go faster than 40. He said, no no don’t lie to me, Swamy Mama who was there in the town saw you going too fast. Just then I saw Swamy mama emerging from the sidelines with a smile. I was Like . hmm okay. So whatever I did either in school, or outside went to my father’s ears even before I completed doing them.
I studied in a Tamil medium school till my 10th since my family couldn’t afford the fees for the English Medium schools those days. We had only two or three English medium schools in my locality. I was very good in studies always topping the class. I was a school topper in my 8th exams (yes 8th was a public exam for us in Pondicherry). I took a step further in my 10th , topping in the district level. Obviously my family was very proud. Then came the biggest challenge. I had to Join the English medium school for the 11th and the 12th to give myself a chance in the engineering exams. But the switch from Tamil to English was not easy. I even flunked couple of exams in 11th. But my father didn’t say a word. He knew that I will come out of this. Which I did, and was ranked third in my 12th exams. I still consider that as one of my greatest achievements since I not only beat my friends who came from an English medium background but also the myth the people carried that only students from English medium will fare well in 12th. I did my engineering and MBA.
Okay, enough of my education. Let me talk about something which is close to my heart apart from studies. Cricket. I was 7 when my father introduced me to the world of cricket. It was 1986 when the sharjah cup was going on and my father took me to a family friends house. The TV had not made its way into my village big time and all we had was a portable TV with 30 cricket enthusiasts trying to get a view. In those days, the programs in DD1 were not so good and when they decided to start DD2, people jokingly said that they started DD2 because they know that a blade should have two sides to it.
We eventually bought a TV and I became so addictive to the game that it became a part of me. I played a lot and eventually played cricket at the district level. But after a point in time I couldn’t continue since studies took priority. I am a die hard fan of Rahul Dravid. I love him because he was not gifted like Sachin or a Sourav but he made best of use of his talent and continued to work on it. Every time I see him on the field, I can connect with that person in whatever he does.
I joined Deloitte in 2005 which by the way is my fourth company and till now didn’t find a need to be a new hire in some other company. I got married in 2006 and I have a lovely little kid named Sujith Krishna who is 2 and half years old.
I just want to finish by telling you a couple of instances which left a lasting impression in my life. It was 1998 and I met with a freak accident. I should have died then, but was rescued by couple of friends. In 2002, I was again rescued from deathbed by a couple of friends. Since then, I always asked myself, why I am still alive, why god let me live, but I got the answer 6 years later. One of my sisters died in 2008 leaving behind her three year old kid. Suddenly I realized, I am living because there is a bigger design. I should take care of this kid. I am taking care of the kid now. All of us should understand that we have a reason to live, we just need to understand that to give something good to others. Thanks for the opportunity.
