106th session

This was the last session of 2017.

So were we sad, that an event-filled year was getting over? Or were we happy, that a brand new year was spread out in front of us, beckoning? Actually we were happy on both counts, because 2017 had been a pretty good year for us, with many events, competition wins and growth in membership.

Do go through the 2nd newsletter for a quick glimpse into the recent events that took place.

SAA TM Viswanath kicked off the session energetically as usual. 

Acting President TM Mathen related the story of a cobbler who prepared shoes for everyone in the village but did not take care of his own feet, ultimately falling ill on that count and having to withdraw from his profession. Similarly, those of us involved with serving others should also take care of ourselves because if the tool is not fit, it cannot do work. A nice message TM Mathen, and a very useful one.

Today was a special session with the famous TMOD duo of TM Babu Srinivasan and MTM Kaviya back in action after one year. Last new year, they had taken us on a space flight. This time, the theme was called "Fun Toast" and it was a TV show, with quizzes and hot-seats for the role-players, Kaun Banega Crorepati style, that kept us engaged and entertained throughout the session. The cameos acted out by the TMODs were also superb. Hats off both for having taken the trouble to script the session so meticulously and executing it with such brilliance. Kudos.

Timer role was played by MTM Vaishali with her usual aplomb.

Wordmaster TM Sabu introduced the word AFFINITY for the day. It was an easy word to understand and to apply in the speeches. The round-robin went off smoothly.

There was a P1 speech scheduled today, whose evaluation criteria were explained by evaluator TM Venkat.

P1 speech titled "Life is a Camera" was delivered by TM Somakumar. A P1 speech is always interesting as it not only gives a glimpse into the speaker's life, but it also throws up the speaker's capability and potential. TM Somakumar, we have great expectations from you, in speech as well as in singing, going by the couple of lines you sang.

There was an ACB speech also scheduled today, whose evaluation criteria were explained by evaluator DTM Rajendra Verma. Today's speech was one for special occasions and was about "Raising a  Toast" to commemorate an occasion or a person in a landmark position in his or her life. This would be interesting.

The ACB speech was delivered by MTM Panna. The toast was addressed to MTM Kaviya, who was about to move to Dubai as her husband was changing jobs. As MTM Kaviya had been an active and accomplished member of our club, it was a sad occasion for all of us and the speaker's toast reflected the audience's sentiments. It was an emotional moment. We all wish you the best in life MTM Kaviya.

Table topics was conducted by MTM Radha. In keeping with the theme of a TV show, she had chosen topics on Media. All her topics were short, understandable and speakable from both sides of the argument - in short, good topics. Good work MTM.

TM Venkat gave his feedback on the P1 speech given by TM Somakumar. The evaluator praised the details shared, his ease on stage and the humorous content.

DTM Verma evaluated the Toast given by MTM Panna. While praising her sense of occasion, the eulogies and personal connect shared in the toast, he suggested that perhaps raising the glasses would have been more appropriate at the end rather than in the beginning.

The General Evaluator TM Rajat gave his feedback. While back-patting all role -players he suggested that the SAA not handle the laptop as well as this was too much load for him. 

TM Mathen once again took the stage for the concluding remarks, announced the awards and adjourned the session.

The day's awards were:

• Best Table topic:     TM Saleem
• Best Evaluator:       DTM Verma
• Best Speaker:          TM Somakumar
• Best Supporting:     TM Viswanath (SAA)

See you all again on 6th Jan 2018. Happy New Year to all.

102nd session

Here we go again. A session without a project speech from our members.

But is that the only thing to keep a session going? No! Read on to find out what RTC did to fill the gap in the menu with exotic dishes.

The session started bang on time at 3.15 pm, thanks to our ever-vigilant SAA TM Raja.

Today the President's role was being played by TM Mathen as President had other roles to play. TM Mathen told the story of how an ancient giant of an oak tree that had weathered many storms and lightening was finally brought down by small beetles that ate away its inner core. Similarly, we often deal with external challenges very well, but are eaten away by our internal emotions and prejudices that weaken us. Unlike the oak tree, we have the power to be aware of this and prevent this from happening. Thank you acting Prez, for that inspiring story.

TMOD role was taken up by MTM Panna, who had chosen as her theme "Offsprings". One could not think of a title with more universal appeal (except, perhaps, "exchange rate"). She took us into the families of all the role-players, their children when they were small to what they were now and what the role-players' thoughts, apprehensions, dreams, interactions had been with them as they grew up. A sweet theme to play through and the audience enjoyed the light sentimentality.

Timer role was played by MTM Radha with great clarity and accuracy.

Wordmaster of the day was TM Bhaskaran who introduced the word AWESOME to the audience, that being his daughter's favourite expression of admiration. There was no difficulty in the round robin since, by training, Toastmasters find most things in life awesome.

Jokemaster was played by TM Ramalingam, who is probably thinking of taking up stand-up comedy as an evening profession. His very presence on stage invokes laughter from an expectant audience.

This was followed by the first exotic dish on the menu, a special occasion speech from the Advanced Communicator manual by TM Babu Srinivasan. It was a Roast, which meant TM Babu would be praising and criticising a well-known figure at the same time. TM Babu chose as the roastee TM Kumar, who Babu knew both as a colleague and as a fellow-TM and whom the audience also knew well. TM Babu conducted the roast very skilfully, by highlighting traits of TM GK that he admired, like work-commitment, courtesy, sense of timeliness, team-spirit etc, while giving humorous examples that had a twist in them, making all his comments seeming tongue-in-cheek. However, it never verged on insulting and the underlying admiration and affection came through. That is what makes a successful Roast. It was a learning experience for all of us.

Table topics were conducted by MTM Kaviya, who presented topics related to children and offsprings. The 5 speakers did fair justice to the topics and produced awesome mini-speeches.

General Evaluator was played by MTM Vaishali, who gave a mild recap of the evening's events.

The second exotic dish of the evening was a Quiz Session conducted by TM Chaitanya, himself an accomplished quizzer. A set of 20 questions were displayed on screen to which answers had to be written down on an answer sheet. TM Chaitanya had deliberately kept the level of questions medium to simple, in order to keep the participants' spirits up, but there was plenty of variety and a nice mix of sitters and medium-rare. All the audience enjoyed the quiz thoroughly and it seemed more like a picnic than a competition! Thank you TM Chaitanya for the great effort.
(By the way, the highest scorers were later announced to be MTM Rita and MTM Kaviya among members and Mrs Harini among non-members. Kudos!)

The session was concluded by TM Mathen who first wrapped up the business for the next session, then announced the awards and declared the session closed.

The day's awards were:

• Best speaker:           TM Babu Srinivasan (default)
• Best Table topic:      TM Raghu
• Best Supporting:      TM Ramalingam - Jokemaster

See you all on 9th Dec 2017 (there will be no session next Saturday 2nd Dec).

101st session

After a party, there is always a hangover.

After the grand celebrations of the 100th session last week, we expected a little slump in the market, a slight bearish tendency. True, there were no project speeches today, but in all other respects, we had a lively session, including an education session. What else can a club want?

The session started on time - well 1 minute late maybe. SAA, in an innovative spurt, asked an audience member to list the three taboo subjects, which she promptly did, thank the Lord.

The President, in a rare deviation from her script, did NOT relate an inspiring story, but chose instead to dwell once again on the glorious 100th session we had last week. Her speech ended with a few candid shots that were "behind the scenes" so to speak, with speech bubbles guessing at the conversation the snap-subjects must have been having. All good fun and a jolly start to the session.

TMOD Kamil had chosen as his theme "Pride", which he used to trace the history of Oman and its illustrious ruler through the years. Today being the 47th National Day of Oman, it was indeed an appropriate subject.

Timer TM Mathen introduced the timing criteria to a T.

Wordmaster MTM Kaviya introduced the word OBLIVION to the audience. She started her role by relating two stories that brought out the meaning of the word, an innovation all right. The round robin was easily dispensed with as the meaning of the word was pretty clear.

Jokemaster MTM Usha gave us a series of nice clean fresh jokes, mostly 2-liners. They were very refreshing.

Since there were no project speeches, VP-E had arranged the screening of last year's winning humorous speech, which was good fun.

Table topics were taken up by MTM Radha, who offered topics related to the theme of Pride. They were very user-friendly and people spoke with pride and without slipping into oblivion.

A special Education Session on Role-playing was conducted by TM Kumar, which was a brush-up on all the roles played in a club session, whether major or minor. There were a number of new members in the club and this acted as a good launching pad for them. It was also a revision for the older members who needed some light to shine in the darker corners of their knowledge.

Harkmaster role was played by TM Rajat with a difference. For one, there were chocolates as prizes. Secondly, the questions were projected on the wall as per the category or role-player chosen by the member of the audience. It was interesting indeed.

Grammarian role was played by TM Nagesh, who hovered between that and the GE role, finally touching ground as a Grammarian. 

General Evaluator MTM Rita pointed out a number of pertinent issues, one of which was the personal/impersonal nature of the Grammarian's comments. It was finally decided that negative feedback would be given non-specific to the person whereas good usage of English should be applauded by name.

Business session saw TM Mathen exhorting members to rise to the occasion of the 102nd session. Finally he walked away with commitments from a TMOD and 2 speakers, a tired but happy man.

The President closed the session after announcing the 2 awards for the day:

• Best Table topic:       TM Chaitanya
• Best Supporting role:  TM Rajat (for Harkmaster)

The session ended with tea and samosas, the menu further embellished with small cakes prepared by MTM Usha as it was her son's birthday today.

See you all on the 25th of Nov.

100th session celebrations

Wow!

We could not have been prouder than Sachin Tendulkar when he completed his first century.

100 sessions in 112 weeks. That's an impressive run for a club by any standards. When I was talking to DTM Pelian Wang and DTM Rajendra Verma after the session they expressed astonishment at the fact that 3 club members completed CLs before CCs. Usually it happens the other way around, because the members are usually more keen on self-development. You know why it was different for Ruwi Club? Because members give their everything to this club - their time, their effort and their commitment. Week after week. That is why the 100th session was special to us. 

We had a challenge - how to make the session special without deviating much from the standard TMI recommended session structure. As is usual in our special sessions, the imagination of TM Chaitanya kicked in. Having emceed the 50th session as a detective and the 75th session as an IPL captain, he now donned the robes (or rather, the dark glasses) of a film director.

It was to be an awards night - the much-awaited "Toastwood Awards", for which the media awaits throughout the year with fresh film fed into their cameras. The role-players would be part of a film production crew, their usual toastmaster roles masquerading under their filmy roles. The agenda, kept a dead secret by TMOD Chaitanya, reflected this double-role played by all throughout the session. An imaginative variation indeed from standard fare.

The session started at 5.00 pm with some interaction. It was at the banquet room of Mumtaz Mahal, a most un-Toastmasterly venue for a session, made possible by the unrelenting efforts of VP-Membership TM Chaitanya. The guests were greeted by a real-life red carpet and were halted in the lobby for a photo session with Amitabh Bacchan, Rajnikant, Prabhas, Deepika and Tamanna (all cut-outs, of course), the photographer's flashes lighting up the photo-corner like a film set. The dress code of ethnic wear or casual formals (no jacket, suit, tie, T-shirt or jeans) helped to really lend a party atmosphere to the whole assemblage.

The guest list looked like a who's-who of the Oman Toastmastering World. All Division Directors in Oman, all Area Directors under Division D, all Presidents under Area 08, and stalwarts like DTM Srikumar Pai and George Thomas had been invited and added their blessing to this young club that was busy adding rocket fuel to its engines. The club members were also enthused by the fact that their families were present to witness the scintillating ceremony.

The session was kicked off bang on time at 5.30 pm by Asst Director (SAA) TM Raja. He graciously welcomed all members, their families and dignitaries before reeling out the usual warnings and oaths, at which he is an expert by now.

The Executive Producer (President) MTM Panna Rashmi Ray declared the session open with a congratulation to all members. Keeping up with tradition, she related a story about Amitabh Bacchan where he was taught the value of a stone by his father. The stone fetched different values when offered to different types of people and the message she imparted was that know your own value, your own self-worth and keep increasing it by polishing. A great message for a celebratory session, Prez.

The Director TMOD Chaitanya was introduced, wearing dark glasses aka MGR. He introduced the Toastwoods Awards Nite as the theme and looked forward to a star-studded evening (hence the shades).

Set Manager (Timer) MTM Roman explained the timing criteria beautifully.

There was a Screenplay (Round robin) session by TM Nagesh, in which, in an expected twist, he played a film clip from the iconic Hindi film "Sholay", where the drunken hero Dharmendra was about to jump off a water tower unless his lady-love agreed to marry him. The screenplay-writer, who was looking for alternative endings to the scene, requested help from the audience members (mainly the guests), who pitched in with their own experiences in the matter.

The Comedian (Jokemaster) TM Ramalingam took the stage with his usual panache. Apart from the fact that his mere presence provokes laughter, he regaled us with a few toastmaster situational jokes that for once stayed away from husband-wife skulldruggery.

Media Critic (Evaluator) for the upcoming P-9 speech, DTM Rajendra Verma, described the criteria for this project, which is supposed to Persuade with Power.

Actor TM Rajat Ray delivered his P-9 speech titled "Different Strokes". Trying to convince the audience to take up painting as a tool for dealing with stress, he took them through his own experience in the matter and offered the audience various modes and tools for playing with colours. A difficult subject to persuade people on, though all enjoyed the speech.

Media Critic (Evaluator) DTM Ramki described the criteria for the upcoming Keynote Speech, which is an inspirational speech that lays down a timeline of past, present and future.

Actor TM G Kumar delivered the 15 min long Keynote Address on success and what makes for continued success - the 3 D's of diligence, determination and discipline. Peppered with humour and his own life story as an example, it was indeed an inspirational speech that the audience quietly absorbed.

The Casting Director (Table topic master) TM Mathen was auditioning for prospective future stars from amongst guest artists and he gave 4 of them topics to speak on in order to judge their capabilities. All passed with flying colours, so he must have been at a dead loss. Good topics, though.

DTM Srikumar Pai, one of the founders of Toasmastering in Oman and author of Gavel Clubs, is about to bid farewell to Oman and shared a few of his nostalgic thoughts with us. We wish his all the best in his retired life.

Critical Appraisal (Evaluation) for the P-9 speech was given by DTM Rajendra Verma and that for the Keynote Address was given by DTM Ramki. Both lauded the efforts of the speakers for their delivery skills and their efforts for meeting their project criteria and gave valid suggestions for improvement.

Actor TM Aji Bhaskar, who was supposed to fly down from Dubai to give a "roasting" speech at the session, had to drop out due to family reasons and sent a video clip of himself addressing the gathering, which was very well-received. Missed you, Aji.

Editor (Grammarian) MTM Kaviya gave a comprehensive feedback on English usage, concentrating in particular on good usage of English exhibited during the session, which was much appreciated by the audience.

International Film Critic (General Evaluator) TM Kamil gave a feedback on the entire session in his usual direct yet polite style that brooked no nonsense from anybody.

There was a Flashback presentation by VP-PR TM Rajat Ray that showcased in 5 mins the performance of the club in the last 2 years - the special sessions done, initiatives taken and laurels won. Membership has also grown, which is always a sign that the club members are doing things right.

The highlight of the session was the Award Ceremony, which covered 3 areas:

• Pinning of members who had completed CC (MTM Panna) and CLs (TMs Rajat and Chaitanya)
• Awarding "Centurion" certificates to 7 founder members who have carried on to this 100th session.
• The normal session awards which were disposed as follows:
• Best Speaker:    TM Rajat (finally jointly shared by TM Rajat and TM Kumar)
• Best Evaliator:   DTM Ramki
• Best topic speaker:   MTM Radha
• Best Supporting Role:  MTM Kaviya (Grammarian)

Executive Producer wrapped up the session after a cake had been cut and group photos taken, A sumptuous Mumtaz Mahal buffet was laid out which the audience did full justice to.

A memorable evening indeed, something which will be etched in the audiences minds for days to come. 

Keep the flag flying high RTC!

98th session

Let us start today with the group photo. There are two startling features, aren't there?

Firstly, the numbers. 25 people attended today, including guests (3 people left early, so not in pic). Secondly, the balance - more ladies than men, so much so that men were sitting today!! Trust RTC to be unusual, right?

The session started on time, thanks to SAA TM Raja.

This time Past President Aji Bhaskar was available and in deference to him, President Panna related story of the discovery of the Golconda mines, the Acres of Diamonds - how a farmer who waited patiently was rewarded with a stone and the one who travelled hither and thither went empty-handed. Similarly in our life, opportunities are often near at hand while we search high and wide for the same, fruitlessly.

President also announced that from this session the club has introduced a new award - Best Supporting Role, to be given to SAA/ Timer/ Wordmaster/ Topicmaster/ Harkmaster/ Grammarian - whoever has shown more innovation in their role. This should charge up the atmosphere no end.

President invited the first-time guests onto the stage and presented them Guest Welcome Kits, viz Ms Veera Bhacka and Ms Merlin Lambert. Hope they repeat their visits.

TMOD Usha Vijay had chosen as her theme The Power of 10, where, with each role introduction she talked about one powerful value, eg, I, we, smile, success, knowledge etc, going from a one-letter word to a ten-letter word. A nice theme MTM and smoothly executed.

Timer role was played by MTM Kiran, a new member, and played faultlessly, supported by the GE.

Wordmaster TM Ramalingam had chosen two words this time as words-of-the-day - BUMFUZZLE and SOPHISTRY. Yes, you read them right the first time. The round robin became a round round robin robin with two words being used in sentences, with the usual confusion. This was a heavy challenge for us, TM, though we braved the tides with valour.

Jokemaster TM Viswanath in fact started presenting us puzzles with funny answers in lieu of conventional jokes, which was a nice variation and quite enjoyable.

There were two project speeches scheduled today. Evaluation criteria for the P-1 speech, which is an Ice Breaker, were described by TM Rajat.

The P-1 speech, titled "Face the Mirror - Me & Myself", was delivered by MTM Radha, a new member, but her comfort on stage was evident from the word go. She seems a seasoned speaker who will enjoy and benefit from the regimen of Toastmasters guided speech development.

Criteria for the P-6 speech, expected to show Vocal Variety, were expounded by TM G Kumar.

The P-6 speech, titled "What's in a name?", was delivered by MTM Kaviya, and talked about the various ways her name had been spelt throughout her life and what indignities that had put her through. A nice humorous speech, MTM, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Table topics were conducted by another new member, TM Somakumar, who presented topics that were popular sayings and adages. All those called upon to speak did fair justice and the voting would have been tight indeed.

Talking of voting, the club had a kaizen moment by acquiring a couple of containers for collecting the voting slips, which used to be collected by hand till now. 

TM Rajat conducted the evaluation of the P-1 speech. While commending her poise and content, she was advised to practice time management.

TM Kumar evaluated the P-6 speech. While applauding her rendering of vocal variety through dialogues and humorous enactments, he advised the speaker to build more drama in the opening sequence.

Grammarian MTM Rita, though unhappy with the Ah-count, did not point out many grammatical issues although her papers were full of notes. Probably she went a little easy on us this time.

General Evaluator TM Chaitanya, in his usual meticulous manner, went through each role and gave some valuable suggestions. including the one that TMOD's introduction of role player should be in such a manner that the name comes at the end.

Business session was conducted by MTM Kaviya as stand-in for VP-E. TMOD for the next session was fixed tentatively as MTM Shobha and MTM Panna would be giving her P-10 speech.

MTM Panna and TM Aji Bhaskar jointly and individually gave concluding speeches and declared the session closed.

For the first time, rolling trophies were introduced and awarded to the winners (the trophies were again taken back at the end of the session). More feel-good factors, people.

The day's awards were:

• Best Supporting Role: TM Somakumar (Table Topic master)
• Best Table topic:         DTM Rajendra Verma
• Best Evaluator:           TM Rajat
• Best Speaker:              MTM Radha

See you all on the 99th session on 4th Nov 2017.

97th session

This session was special again, like every session is in RTC.

Firstly, there were no regular project speeches but we arranged two demo speeches with internal faculty for the benefit of new members and enthusiastic guests.

Secondly, for the first time RTC played host to two Omani gentlemen, increasing the diversity of the audience in a thoroughly welcome manner.

Thirdly, RTC timers graduated from using colour-flags to using the light-box for indicating time.

SAA TM Raja flagged off on time as usual. We had 4 guests, including Raghuram, our erstwhile club member.

President MTM Panna spoke about success, with a poem thrown in like earlier, from her current favourite guide-book Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. She also presented the 2 first-time guests with Guest Welcome Kits.

TMOD Saleem had picked as his theme "Health" and his presentation was an adaptation from his P-3 speech. In fact, the subject matter came across much better as a TMOD theme than it had as a project speech.

Timer TM Viswanath explained the criteria like a veteran. One could see that he was pretty bucked at the new addition of a light-box and was looking forward to putting the flags aside. Enjoy, TM.

Wordmaster TM Chaitanya introduced TEPID as the word of the day. It was a very friendly word to apply in any role and most of the role-players could insert it in their speeches. Good show chaps.

Jokemaster TM Venkat-the-veteran this time regaled us with a story of monkeys being bought and sold in a village that was found finally to be a representation of the stock market. The final parallel, when revealed, was really funny.

The first demo speech was a P-1, The Ice Breaker, and TM Rajat described the evaluation criteria for the same.

The P-1 demo speech was delivered by TM Nagesh titled "Rolling Stone", in which he described his life that had been full of changes. It was a good P-1 speech and, as the GE commented later, TM Nagesh had perfectly simulated the nervous characteristics of an authentic P-1 deliverer! Now what did that mean...

MTM Panna described the evaluation criteria of the upcoming P-2 speech, which wanted the speaker to Organise His Speech.

P-2 demo speech was delivered by MTM Kaviya, titled "Resolute Resolution", about the travails of making and keeping resolutions. As earlier, it was a straight and powerful speech and a very good demo of the project.

Table topics were taken up by TM Mathen, who had kept ready various topics based on health. TM Mathen's topics are never un-speakable and all members and guests who had a shot at it returned triumphant. Again, as GE mentioned later, some table topic speakers had overshot their brief. Mrs Radha had practically given a P-1 speech of 4 mins and TM Ramalingam had once again morphed into his Jokemaster role. Versatility, thy name is RTC!

TM Rajat and MTM Panna delivered the evaluation of TM Nagesh and MTM Kaviya's speeches respectively. Two accomplished speakers had given these demo speeches for the benefit of new members and guests, but it was interesting to hear the evaluators give them feedback as if they were speakers at P-1 and P-2 levels. Quite amusing, in fact!

MTM Usha was the Grammarian and gave feedback on the Ah-count and the usage of English, both of which turned out to be very mild rebukes to the group. Either RTC had touched new heights in linguistic proficiency, or MTM Usha's impending visit of her daughter had mellowed her down. Either way, we were happy.

TM Raja, having donned the robes of the GE, gave a glowing tribute to the smooth running of the session, in particular to the stellar performance of the SAA, viz TM Raja. He once again repeated that we should remember to address the speakers with the prefix TM and MTM.

TM Mathen conducted the Business Session for fixing up next week's major roles, viz project speeches and TMOD. Members seem to be developing leadership qualities inasmuch as they are becoming good negotiators. TM Mathen could wangle some "maybes" and "will tell you after 2 days". Come on TMs, let's not give him a hard time.

President MTM Panna praised the overall non-tepid session, announced the awards and adjourned for tea and snacks.

The day's awards were:

• Best Table topic:       Mr Ahmed
• Best Evaluator:         MTM Panna
• Best Speaker:            MTM Kaviya

See you all on the 28th Oct. Let's start thinking of the 100th session.