29th session

The 29th session of Ruwi club, the first one after the Division D contest, was in a upbeat mood. As Kumar said in his Sergeant-at-Arms speech, the continuous efforts of everybody at self-development had borne fruit in this club in the form of Panna winning an award for her speech in Div-D contest.

President Aji Bhasker continued his series on effective habits by listing three more - "Think win-win", "Seek first to understand and then be understood" and "Synergise". He ended with an admonishment to continue the habits consciously: "Sharpen the saw" as it were.

TMOD Kamil had chosen Inspiration as his theme and introduced each speaker with a brief on what role Inspiration had played in his life, either as an inspirer or inspiree. He did a very efficient job overall, keeping the flow of narrative alive.

Jokemaster Venkat made everyone laugh at his jokes; his own smile was perhaps the broadest and most infectious.

Grammarian-cum-Wordmaster Rajat introduced the word "Inveterate" into the session and exhorted everyone to try and use it. It was challenging but it did get squeezed in 4-5 times by the inveterate role-players.

TM Gagan delivered his P3 speech "Your Choice" on the general purpose of work-leisure balancing. His easy manner of delivery is always a pleasure to hear. Aji Bhaskar was the evaluator and he urged him to focus on specific points as well.

We had a guest speaker MTM Jyoti Ruparel from SAB club, who delivered an international speech "The Ambassador". It was truly a first class speech and all evaluator Kumar could suggest was to introduce some pauses in appropriate places.

Table topics were played out by TM Karthik. For once he stuck to If-then scenarios which gave speakers a chance to express their fancies and fantasies, without having to worry about what the topic actually meant. Good job there, Karthik.

Grammarian Rajat gave a feedback on the usage of English by the speakers, which was a bit of a tense affair for him. But the points were well taken by all participants and they parted friends.

General evaluator MTM Panna, in the midst of smiling banter, drove home a few well-justified points to the role-players. We shall keep them in mind, madam, next time.

Best speaker was not awarded as TM Gagan had no competitor today. Evaluators Kumar and Aji are, of course, beyond Club session awards. Best Table Topic speaker award went to MTM Jyoti Ruparel.

Business session saw a few roles being fixed for the 30th session:

TMOD - TM Rajat

P3 speech - MTM Panna (evaluator ?)

P1 speech - TM Chaitanya Khimji (Evaluator TM Gagan)

Table topics - MTM Rita Khimji

Balance roles are to be decided.

The Tea and Snacks were excellent (thank you SAA), as was the conversation around the snacks table. Till next week then - and let's cajole some more of the missing members to the gathering.

CARTOON OF THE WEEK:    When Table Topics are announced....

Division D contest

What an evening that was! Six out of 12 prizes swept away by Area 60! Areas 4, 22 and 65 were left wondering what hit them. The newest Area created its own Field.

Vignesh (1st) & Saiju (3rd) in Humorous; Saif (2nd) & Babu Srinivasan (3rd) in Table Topics; Saiju (1st) & Panna (2nd) in International Speech. Enough to leave the audience speechless.

And what to say about the solo representative of the newborn Ruwi Club in the contest. She vindicated our hopes by pouring her whole heart into her International Speech performance and walking away with the 2nd prize, depriving much more experienced speakers from that coveted slot. Attagirl Panna, and may you go from strength to strength!

30th April will be business as usual at the Ruwi Club. The initial interaction session will resound with sounds of backs of happy members being slapped by other happier members. Sargeant-at-Arms will probably go hoarse trying to call the meeting to order. Oh, what the heck! Such joy does not manifest every day.

28th session

The 28th session was held with usual enthusiasm. Area Director Kumar could be present this time, and our Club President was also back from his travels and took over his duties with aplomb. 

In his opening speech, President Aji exhorted us to follow the habits of "Be Proactive", "Keep the End in Mind" and "Do first things First". These gems from Steven Covey, if followed diligently, form the basis of clear goal-setting and smooth implementation of not only work-related projects, but life itself.

TMOD Panna ran a theme of "Fear" throughout her introductions, with specific references to the role players. That personal touch made her comments indeed interesting. Among fears talked about, perhaps Nomophobia, or fear of lack of mobile network, was the most interesting and most identified with.

Jokemaster Nagesh, though not well, managed to avoid sick jokes. In fact, so mathematical were his puzzles that most of us were tangled in tangents and chords. But a good session, nonetheless.

There were two P2 speeches - "Beyond Belgium" by TM Rajat and "If that success had not happened" by TM Karthik. They did fair justice to the speeches, though TM Karthik wishes to repeat the speech for his own satisfaction.

Table Topics were conducted by TM Raghu, and the topics were indeed interesting. Even seasoned TMs like Kumar and Aji had to think a bit to garner coherent speeches on the subjects. But all did justice to the lucky dips. Good job, Raghu.

Evaluators for P2 speeches were TM Ramalingam and TM Venkatesh respectively, and they carried out their tasks with honesty and precision. Both the P2 speakers could immediately catch on to what they were highlighting.

TM John ran a thorough General Evaluation, right from the time-keeper to the TMOD's roles. Good job there.

The day's awards were as follows:

• Best Table Topic:  TM Nagesh
• Best Evaluation:    TM Venkat
• Best Speaker:         TM Rajat

TM Raghu, as part of general business discussions, expressed his frustration that the role plays were getting fixed extremely late, if at all. The next session was scheduled on 30.4.16 (since the Division contest is there on 23.4.16) and the following roles were fixed in the blink of an eye:

• P3 speech - TM Gagan (evaluator TM Raghu)
• P4 speech - TM Ramalingam (evaluator TM Aji)
• Table topics - TM Karthik
• Jokemaster - TM Venkat
• Grammarian and Wordmaster - TM Rajat
• General evaluation - MTM Panna
• TMOD - TM Kamil

There were a few important points made during our informal chat session over tea:

1. Attendance is poor. We should take responsibility for one or two members not attending and convince them to come. We should also gun for new members.
2. The protocol for stage handover is slightly weak. Especially when the speaker is finishing his speech, he is not handing back to the TMOD.
3. Applause needs to be more co-ordinated. These are minor discipline issues, but if followed, lend some neatness and honour to the proceedings.

ALL THE BEST FOR THE DIVISION CONTEST ON 23rd.

Area 60 contest

This was the maiden contest for Area 60 and Area Director G Kumar was clearly on cloud nine. There was some little concern about additional clouds that had gathered throughout the day, clouds which released their loads morning onwards. Since some club members were travelling all the way from Sur, the apprehension was justified.

Area 60 contest housed 4 clubs - the newest Ruwi Club, the revived Airport Club, the distant Sur Club and big brother SBG Club. Ruwi Club was the youngest club out of four in this contest and truly turned out to be the classic David, bravely taking on experienced clubs like SBG Toastmasters. MTM Panna won second prizes in Evaluation contest and International Speech contest (with her speech "Mona Lisa") and will go on to represent Ruwi Club in the Division D contest to be held on 23rd April 2016. Congratulations, and all our best wishes and support to her.

TM Raghu also won the 3rd place in the International contest with his speech "Fatal Attraction". Our congratulations to him as well.

Overall results were as follows:

EVALUATION CONTEST:

1. Babu Srinivasan
2. Panna Ray
3. Saif

HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST:

1. Saiju Victor
2. Vignesh
3. Salim Al Mawali

TABLE TOPICS CONTEST:

1. Saif
2. Babu Srinivasan
3. Mathew Kurien

INTERNATIONAL SPEECH CONTEST:

1. Saiju Victor
2. Panna Ray
3. Raghuraman

Kudos also to TM Nagesh his excellent effort in the Humorous Speech Contest. TM Raghu had participated in Evaluation and Table Topics contests as well, but narrowly missed carrying home the bacon. TM Gagan's forays into Humorous and Table Topics were also praiseworthy. We must not forget that we were competing with the best in the business, and we should all learn from our experiences and move forward.