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.