67th session

We were back to our normal sessions. It was a special session in a way, in a sad sort of way, in a way which we hope will not happen to us too often. But, what the hell, life is like that.

The SAA TM Vishwanath kicked off right on time with an energetic hand-over to the acting President.

Acting President TM Panna also waded into her role with ... a story of course ... about a poor kid who loved horses and dreamed horses and when asked to write about his dreams in school, wrote about owning a ranch, down to the smallest detail. When the teacher asked him to change his essay to something more useful, he, after a lot of deep thought, refused to compromise on his dreams. Don't stop believing in your dreams, exhorted TM Panna.

TMOD Ramalingam had chosen as his theme COMPLAINTS. Now, we had no beef with his choice. In fact, in his hands it became a subject of jest and revelry as he exposed the typical complaints of all the role-players as he introduced them.

Timekeeper TM Kaviya explained the timing rules with copybook accuracy.

Wordmaster TM Alma introduced the word EXEMPLARY to us, which was used in the round robin in a perfect and exemplary manner by all.

Jokemaster TM Kamil entertained us with a number of rib-tickling jokes.

There was a P-4 speech scheduled today, whose criteria were explained by TM Rajat. P-4 speech focusses on "How to say it", by using simpler words and sentences yet richer language, appealing to the sensory and using figures of speech.

P-4 speech was delivered by TM Chaitanya, titled "Deja vu" about the thrill of the second World Cup win by India in 2011 after the first win in 1983. TM Chaitanya did justice to the project with his mastery over the language and we were all happy to have relived the thrilling moments of the victory.

There was a Special Speech scheduled today, whose criteria were described my DTM Rajendra Varma. 

The Special Speech was a Speech of Appreciation delivered by TM Aji Baskar. The object of appreciation was TM Kumar and the audience nodded in agreement as TM Aji described the exemplary characteristics of TM Kumar and how he had helped in the progress of TM Aji at a personal level. With both people intimately known and well-admired by all of us, the speech touched everyone's heart.

Table topics were conducted by TM Rita. They were off-beat in the sense that she handed out situations to people to speak on and they had to use their imagination and come up with bizarre scenarios. It was good fun, so thank you TM Rita for the variation.

P-4 evaluation was given by TM Rajat and the Special speech evaluation by DTM Rajendra Varma.

Grammarian TM Raja gave feedback to most role players on good and bad usage of English.

General Evaluator TM Nagesh reviewed all roles and pointed out the lack of printed matter today - both the agenda and the word of the day had not been publicly available. Otherwise he was satisfied with the proceedings.

Concluding remarks were given by outgoing President Aji - yes, outgoing - because TM Aji suddenly announced, practically out of the blue, that he was relocating to Dubai for setting up his business and would be here only till 22nd Feb. That was a shock for all of us. We had come to know and love him as an enthusiastic and selfless leader, who had worked tirelessly for setting up Ruwi Toastmasters Club. We will miss you Aji.

The session closed with a tinge of sadness today.

The day's awards were:

• Best Table topic:       TM Rajat
• Best Evaluator:          TM Rajat
• Best Speaker:           TM Aji

Next session is contest day - Evaluation and Humorous. Don't miss it.