Ruwi Toastmasters Club: 79th session

Can we have too much of a good thing?

Two wives or husbands?

Two mothers?

Two best friends?

After attending this session, the audience would have gone back convinced that two TMODs, at any rate, really elevate the quality of a session. For this session had two TMODs, playing a lovely duet.

SAA kicked off the session 2 minutes before time and handed over the stage to the acting President MTM Panna.

MTM Panna this time told the story of her life, in particular her mother's life - how she had migrated from Burma to India during the war and brought up her family in an atmosphere of uncertainty and financial constraints, while lending warmth and guidance to the children throughout. An inspiring story about a very strong woman, from whom Panna has probably inherited her energy and enthusiasm.

TMODs for today were MTMs Rita and Kaviya, with the theme of "Mother". The subject touched the heart of each and everyone in the audience. The TMODs led us through the various stages of a mother's life and the different roles that she plays. It was an effortless duet between the two, supported by slides that had humorous aphorisms about mothers. They also introduced the role-players by asking them questions about their views on different aspects of motherhood. A very well-designed session, flawlessly conducted. Kudos TMODs.

Timekeeper's role was played by MTM Swati, who was a seasoned hand by now, waving around the flags effortlessly.

MTM Alma introduced the word MATERNAL, in keeping with the theme, and the round robin flew around the hall full of maternal uncles and maternal love.

There was a P2 and a P5 speech scheduled for today. TM Venkat delivered the P2 speech criteria while the P5 criteria were described by TM Ramalingam. They both did a good job of laying out the expectations from these project speeches.

MTM Usha delivered the P2 speech "Unsung Hero". In a session where the theme was flooding everyone with motherliness, MTM Usha represented the father to us in all his low-key glory. Though unplanned, it was a nice counterpoint to the session and a really well-delivered speech to boot.

TM Chaitanya delivered his P5 speech "Dates". He described the first dates that he had with his future wife, with high humorous overtones that had the audience in splits. A very entertaining speech, TM, although your commitment to the speech made you overshoot the time limit.

Table topics were conducted by TM Kamil, who adhered to the theme of the day in his choice of topics. The topics were varied and interesting and the speakers could speak from their own experience.

TMs Venkat abd Ramalingam delivered their efficient evaluations of the two speeches.

TM Kumar undertook a special session where he spoke about the change in core committee members scheduled from July'17. Nominations already received were declared and he invited everybody to nominate themselves in case anyone wanted to contest for the posts, failing which the nominated members would be declared as part of the new core committee. As no one contested, the following new core committee was declared:

President: MTM Panna
VP-Education: TM Mathen
VP-Membership: TM Chaitanya
VP-PR: TM Rajat
Secretary: TM Nagesh
Treasurer: TM Ramalingam
Sargeant-at-arms: TM Raja

Congratulations to all of them and may they lead the club to greater heights next year.

Ah counter and Grammarian role was played by TM Raja, who was feeling thoroughly motherly and indulged in a few scattered loving reprimands.

General Evaluator role was played by TM Rajat, who was also pretty high on the milk of human kindness and wrapped up before time with a strong appreciation for the TMODs and some mild observations on the proceedings.

President Panna, before wrapping up, congratulated TM Kumar on taking over the mantle of Division-D Director for 2017-18. He was crowned and presented with a congratulatory greeting card signed by all present members.