My decision to join the toastmaster’s program was based on and influenced by the first-hand account and experiences of a friend. My main agenda was to retire my fear of being on stage and try to invest into my (at best) modest diction, vocabulary and confidence, and collect upon them later.
If the summary of my experiences of the past few months were to be to weighed against that of my expectations, I would say the scale is balanced, and that I have found or learnt everything that I had hoped or wished for.I have gained and yet have lost nothing.
Akin to a sculptor, chiselling and chipping away at unnecessary rock and stone, revealing the beautiful curves and contours of the hidden statue inside, the sessions and classes of the toastmaster have bought out the confidence in me. It has peeled back the layers of fright and dread covering and shadowing my ability to be loud and clear in front of the crowd. To speak with clarity, and not mumble. To be loud, yet not brash. And to present with charisma, and not falter.
Toastmasters has shown me that one need not possess a creative streak or the skill it takes to be an orator nor be born with an aptitude for the language. These are skills that one can hone. That you can learn through practice and repetition. And I can say with pride I have done so. Never have I ever commanded such control and grip over vocabulary and deeper understanding of the rules and intricacies of grammar.
In Toastmasters, I have found a fraternity sans discrimination. It is a safe space where I see that I can stumble fall and fail, and yet be received back with open arms and encouragement. I have found a college of scholars with an unparalleled cumulative encyclopaedia and an arena with a caucus so fierce to put the halls of Rome to shame. And I am proud to find myself a party and privy to their discussions and debates and to learn and teach more than I ever could.
I want to continue being a toastmaster for a lifetime, being a Hindu by faith, I believe in life after life, making the accumulation of knowledge a continuous process, and a skill learnt will never be forgotten or lost even if the life in one body form comes to an end. It is a blessing that I got introduced to toastmasters the least in the ’40s of my life. I discover a new me every Friday morning, surprising my yesterday’s self which stares at me in unbelievable amusement, that my knees don’t wobble anymore when I hold a mike to address a gathering.
This is going to be a remarkable journey, a journey of transformation, of evolution, of discovering and rediscovering the multiple shades of a beautiful, confident person lurking inside me.
I am a proud yet humble Toastmaster.
Sangeeta Reddy (0657-2139)
AVATAR toastmasters club (7521449)
Area 3, Division J.
District 41.
