33rd session

The mercury is climbing and the members are debating whether to venture out into the open at noon. Buck up guys, especially those finding it difficult to come - your attendance is a must for having the optimum level of fun!

Today's session was dynamic and participative, as is usual with the Ruwi Club. SAA Ramlingam kicked off with his effective homily and soon our President Aji Bhaskar was relating an inspirational story of how the famous violinist Joshua Bell played practically unnoticed in a busy Washington subway for 45 minutes, ignored by most, except for a kid. If his talent can be missed, imagine how many wonderful things we may be casually passing by in our humdrum lives. Look around, take notice and be inspired, people.

TMOD Karthik had decided as this theme FORGIVE AND FORGET, highlighting the importance of this attitude in remaining peaceful. He introduced each role-player with an incident where he or she had been called upon to let bygones be bygones and how he/she had handled it. An interesting theme, TMOD and a good job done.

Timekeeper Rajat was introduced. Apart from relating the rules, he talked about a childhood incident that highlighted the importance of analog (dial-face) watches over digital watches. (Those interested to know more may contact him directly please).

Jokemaster TM Chaitanya related a number of jokes that we had not heard earlier and they were really hilarious. Good ones, TM Chaitanya, with ending made more unexpected by your deadpan deliveries.

Wordmaster TM John introduced the word VINDICATE. Apart from the round robin where everyone tried their hand, the role players also made an effort to incorporate the word in their speeches, though it was tough.

TM Ramalingam described the P2 evaluation criteria, which was followed by the P2 speech by TM Ananth. With a topic of REINCARNATION, this was expected to be interesting and TM Ananth did not disappoint, structuring his speech around questions, facts and experimental findings. We kept talking about the subject around the tea-table, so kudos TM Ananth at having delivered a memorable speech.

Table topics were conducted by MTM Swati, following the theme of Forgive & Forget and the five speakers had something definite to say on the subject, so all enjoyed the session.

Evaluation by TM Ramalingam appreciated the positive aspects of TM Ananth's speech, while suggesting improvements in stage usage.

General evaluation was conducted by TM Venkat. He, together with President later on, pointed out that time adherence, especially starting delay, needs to be attended to, though part of it was caused by role-players arriving late. Moreover, the Wordmaster needed to ensure that the word was hung on the walls at strategic locations, for role-players to see while speaking.

We adjourned for tea and vada (mehdu vada this time, instead of daal vada, all credit to SAA).

Awards for the day were:

Best Speaker:        No award since one speaker.

Best Table topic:   TM Venkat

Best Evaluator:      No award since one evaluator

See you all on 4.6.16.

32nd session

We started our session today with our new Sergeant-at-Arms welcoming us all to the gathering, with a suitable quote.

President Aji Bhaskar, with his usual smiling demeanor, recounted to us the inspirational story of Sylvester Stallone's breakthrough movie "Rocky", how he persisted through adverse circumstances and found success.

TMOD for the day TM Chaitanya Khimji had chosen as his theme HEART AND MIND. He introduced every role-player with a critical decision that the person concerned had taken, with both head and heart, that had turned his life in a better direction.

Time-keeper MTM Rita Khimji familiarised us with the timing rules.

TM Ramalingam as Wordmaster introduced the word CONFLUENCE. Even TMOD's theme represented a confluence between head and heart, so the word was very apt for today.

Jokemaster TM Nagesh recounted a single humorous story but it was a good one and was appreciated by all and sundry.

There were two P2 speeches scheduled and TM Venkatesh described the evaluation criteria for both the speeches. Being P2 speeches, they were supposed to be structured, with clear opening, body and conclusion, and clear transitions.

The first P2 speech was delivered by TM Mathen "THINKING OUT OF THE BOX". He described instances of lateral thinking in practical situations and went on the comment how modern education was not in line with nurturing this skill. He further mentioned three specific ways in which this skill can be developed. A good speech overall.

The second P2 speech was delivered by TM Karthik "HOW THAT SUCCESS HAS CHANGED US." It talked about how the historic cricket win of India over West Indies pushed India into the international scene and popularised the game in India, with its good and bad fallouts. It was a nice speech.

Table Topics were hosted by TM Raja. He did an excellent job in coming up with topics related to the theme of head and heart, and the speakers had something to talk about confidently. Good topics, Raja.

TM Venkat and TM Rajat gave evaluation feedback respectively to the above two speeches.

The Harkmaster MTM Panna, quizzed everyone on the details mentioned in their speeches and I think the audience scored 8/10 in her test. Not bad for the audience.

General evaluator TM Kamil gave an excellent overall feedback, followed by President's closing speech. The group then broke for tea and snacks.

Awards for the day were:

Best Table speaker:       TM Rhea

Best Evaluator:             TM Rajat

Best Speaker:                TM Mathen

See you all again on 28.5.16

Talent Show

She woke one day... and as she lay

Thinking, though half asleep --

Are we just Toast? Or can we boast

Of something hidden deep?

Lets find out guys - let’s strip those ties

And trash the tuxedo,

Let’s fix one night and all invite

To a casual Talent Show.

Of songs galore, of art and more,  

Of violin and of dance

Of cake and dhok and K’s karaoke

His piece-de-resistance.

That's what happened to Panna as she woke one day, and she decided to find out: Are we just Toast? She challenged the group to discover their hidden talents, however deeply hidden, and showcase them in a comfortable evening gathering among friends and fellow travellers. In other words, a Talent Show for Toastmasters.

And did Ruwi Toastmasters rock that evening! What a great turnout, including guests who also participated with gusto. What was really heart-warming was seeing people who had never felt like trying out their skills, proficiently or otherwise, grabbing the mike and giving it a shot. A big round for their spirit of adventure.

Panna was acting as emcee for the evening. Having held many talent shows like this in her nursery school, this was a piece of cake for her. She simply reduced the scolding and added a smile, and handled the whole evening with great skill.

The mood was set by our youngest member Rhea, who sang a Hindi number "Galiaan" from "Ek Villain". Nice sweet voice, Rhea and thanks for belting that out effortlessly.

Raghu, the forever cool guy, suddenly wanted to sing, throwing the emcee's script out of gear! But what a nice number Raghu in a really melodious voice, Mukesh's "Taal mile nadi ke jal mein". Never stop singing, ever.


Up came our next enthusiast Nagesh, surprising everybody with his rendition of the ghazal "Woh kagaz ki kashti". His close friend Kumar said he had never heard Nagesh sing, and it was such a pleasant surprise.


There was an art session from Rajat called "Dynamic Drawing". Members from the audience would draw a scribble on a white board and Rajat would have to complete the drawing in order to make it a sensible picture. He did fair justice in the five challenges and it was an entertaining round.

Kumar himself took the stage next, choosing the famous Tamil number "Ilaya nila". Very nice rendition again, not surprising since his wife made him practice before he left home and gave her stamp of approval.

The big surprise for us and bigger adventure for himself was Aji Bhaskar, who decided to sing the English number "Country Road" on karaoke. Kudos Aji, for the P1 effort, and we did get to know you a lot better. Please ignore all the evaluations enthusiastically given to you later on.

Shyam Bhatt popped in for a short while and regaled us with two Hindi half-songs, "Nile nile ambar mein" and "Jab koi baat bigad jaye". Very very nice voice Shyam and we do hope to hear more of it in future, and full songs, mind you. 

Subramanian Raja, what a beautiful rendition in your soft mellifluous voice of the Hindi number "Khilte te hain gul yahan". Your breath control was also truly admirable. Surprises all over the place tonight.

Now was the turn of our star singer Karthik, who has won competitions recently at karaoke evenings. An accomplished singer in every sense of the term. Beautiful rendition of the Tamil number "Idhu oru pon maalai poluthu". What a voice sir-jee. Take a bow.

Some of the talents had been brought ready-made from home, in the form of dhoklas by Rita and a cake by Swati. We took a snack break to test their talent. Both were yummy and were finished in no time. Samosas and tea arranged by Kumar satisfied everyone's gastronomical needs completely.

It happened to be Karthik's birthday and the presence of the cake was truly opportune. There was a ceremonious cake-cutting with Kumar attempting to smear some icing on Karthik's cheeks.

After the group settled down again, there was a change of taste provided by Chaitanya Khimji, who chose to act out a comic script from a Bachchan movie. It was a great effort, with a challenging script and your performance is truly to be applauded.

Then came a round of soothing music, delivered by our ever-smiling Mathen. He says he touched his violin after an eight year gap, but he played beautifully. A nice variation to singing and a skill to be appreciated. Please do not give an eight-year gap again. We will not let you.

Another surprise was coming up. Our guest Rajendra Verma chose to sing the famous Hindi number "Jab koi mujhe junglee kahe", complete with the Yaa-hoo that instantly brought Shammi Kapoor to life. In those five minutes I am sure his image changed in most of our eyes from a serious senior toastmaster to a jovial one. That was a lively one, sir.

Our guest Ramki also rendered a Tamil song "Sangeetha jathi mullai" in a beautiful sweet voice. A song with great vocal variation, which he handled skilfully. Whether it is speaking or singing, it is indeed a pleasure to listen to Ramki. 

Ramlingam next took up the challenge of presenting a song a Hindi "Jaane jaa". His deep voice was not audible beyond the first few rows, but we really admired his spirit in sharing his singing with us. Please keep going Ramalingam.

Venkat, the evergreen, decided not to uncover fresh talents and adhere to his proven skill in telling jokes, the first humour being that he was more formally dressed for a casual session than he usually is for the formal Toastmaster meetings. That said, his jokes had their usual punch and all of us on both sides of the mike had a hearty laugh.

On popular demand, Karthik rendered another fast-paced Tamil number "Pennalla pennalla oothapoo". The beat of the song got Kumar, Venkat and Ramalingam dancing on the dais. He followed this up with a Hindi rendition "Bahut pyar karte hain".

This was the curtain number, but people were totally unwilling to leave. So what was to be done but to load the lungi-dance on the music system and unleash the group of toastmasters onto the dance floor.  

Show talent, said Panna. So they all did.

31st session

30th session

First of all kudos to the Sergeant-at-Arms for being able to shift the venue at such a short notice, and to TM Kumar for agreeing to host it at his house yet again. As TM Nagesh said in his introduction, winning speeches have been given for the first time at this venue, and we hope this portends well for the two speakers slated to speak today.

TM Kumar stood in for the President as TM Aji was away in India. He applauded the adaptability of the club in varying conditions like venue and role changes, which he said was one of the main characteristics of a leader. After all, Toastmaster is where leaders are made.

TMOD Rajat had set as theme for the day DREAM DESTINATIONS. All role players were introduced while sharing what his or her dream holiday destination was and, combined with small factoids about the place, the gathering went on small trips all over the world and even out of it!

Timekeeper TM Raja and Grammarian TM Ananth, playing these roles for the first time, were very adept at what they did. TM Ananth had introduced the word APLOMB, as wordmaster of the day, and it was used 4 times.

Jokemaster TM Ramalingam kept us rolling in the aisles with his narration of a real life incident in his college examination hall. We think reality is no joke, but often it is.

P1 speech "Taking a Fresh Guard" was delivered by TM Chaitanya. Being a maiden speech, it made us familiar with TM Chaitanya as a person. Evaluation was carried out by TM Venkat.

P3 speech "Six centimetres wide" was delivered by MTM Panna. It achieved the speech objectives of General and Specific Purpose and was quite powerfully delivered. Evaluation was done by TM Ramki and both his intro and review were a pleasure to listen to.

Table topics were conducted by MTM Rita Khimji. The round was unusual in that MTM Rita produced newspaper cuttings as topics. Many of the guests participated but our veteran DTM Rajendra Varma carried his bat through.

The Harkmaster TM Karthik attacked the members with a barrage of questions but was surprised by the accurate responses. They had been wide awake after all.

Grammarian TM Ananth gave his report on the usage of English in the speeches. He was perhaps the mildest grammarian we have come across and was very gentle with the members.

General evaluation was expertly conducted by DTM Rajendra Varma. His points were specific and useful and all role-players benefited from the same.

In his concluding remarks, TM Kumar mentioned the Core Committee's end of term in June'16. He invited people to put forth their nominations to VP-Edu TM Raghuram during the course of the week, in case anybody wanted to take up a club officer's role. He repeated that the SAA role was vacant and anybody could take it up right now.

The day's awards were as follows:

Best speaker:       Panna

Best table topic:  Rajendra Varma

Best evaluator:    Ramki

See you at the next session on 14.5.16.