74th session

Something was different this session.

There were 3 guests - true.

TMOD had an innovative approach - true.

And... our President Aji was in town and attended this pre-platinum session. We were once again treated to the same widespread hands, the same inspirational story, the same exhortation to improve ourselves - in short, the classic presidential speech.

But first things first.

SAA TM Ramalingam started off the session bang on time.

President Aji, who had come to the session straight from the airport, had a big smile on his face at addressing his favourite club once again. He told the story of a guru who gave his disciples three dolls with holes in their heads and a piece of wire. With the first doll, the wire went in one ear and out the other, meaning such people could not retain any knowledge. With the second doll, the wire did not go into any ear at all, meaning such people do not hear anything at all. With the third doll, the wire went into the ear and out of the mouth, meaning such people retain what they learn and apply them. Like we Toastmasters, said Aji.

TMOD of the day was MTM Kaviya, who, though she had picked up the role just a few days ago, chose the topic Inspirational books and came up with concept of collective knowledge. She had asked every role player to bring his or her favourite inspirational book. Her introduction of the role player was in the form of a story that had intriguing names like "Swami starts to run" or "Two breads and a cheese". At the end of the role play, the person handed over his favourite book for displaying on a table, which, at the end of the session, became a lending library for inspirational books for the club. A truly innovative idea TMOD, that not only formed an interesting theme but also gave birth to a library.

Timekeeper TM Kamil introduced the time criteria with his usual elan.

Wordmaster TM Nagesh had chosen as his word TRIVIAL, which was well-understood by all and the round robin found no one floundering.There is a visible improvement in round robins in that no one makes a trivial sentence any more; they are all meaningful.

Jokemaster TM Mathen entertained us with a number of lovely googlies that slipped between the bat and pad and hit us on the ribs, tickling them thoroughly.

There were two P-1 speeches scheduled today and TM Ramalingam laid out the criteria for the Ice-breaker quite succinctly.

The first speech "Go with the flow" was delivered by MTM Vaishali and she described the many junctures in her life where her path had been derailed by fate yet she had chosen to go with the flow and take life as it comes. A very candid and natural presentation, MTM Vaishali. We learnt so much more about you.

The second speech "Who am I" was delivered by MTM Usha. She had started with the philosophic question and gone on to describe the various roles she had played in life that could answer this question. A very mature Icebreaker speech, MTM Usha and we look forward to great speeches from you.

Table topics were conducted by MTM Alma, who, in keeping with the theme of inspirational books, obtained inspirational quotes from books and pasted them on bookmarks for presenting them in her role. Where else other than RTC will you find so much innovation in so many roles? Kudos MTM Alma. 

TM Ramalingam and TM Rajat presented their evaluation of the two speeches. Their feedback was mostly inspirational, with a few suggestions that might help them in their immediately next speech.

Grammarian role was played by TM Vishwa, who pointed out a few grammatical mistakes and possible better usage of English.

TM Saleem played the role of General Evaluator and pointed out a few improvements possible in the session: (a) SAA to nominate the session photographer(s) beforehand, (b) TMOD/SAA should ensure smooth mike exchange, (c) in table topics, guests should be called before role players, (d) more role players should use the word of the day. We shall keep them in mind GE.

TMOD announced the RTC library open and TM Vishwa volunteered to keep track of the books.

President Aji announced the awards and announced the session closed.

The day's awards were:

• Best table topic:    MTM Kaviya
• Best evaluator:      TM Rajat
• Best speaker:        MTM Usha

Next Saturday is the Division D contest at Bank Muscat head office. There will be no normal session.

So please come and cheer club members who are competing:

• TM Rajat in International and Evaluation
• MTM Panna for International
• MTM Kaviya for Table topics.