Ruwi Toastmasters Club: 95th session

Whenever there are guests in the audience, it perks up our spirits. Today we had 5 guests who graced the occasion (not counting Ms Kiran who is about to become a Toastmaster). Good show!

The session started on time and SAA Raja went through the routine with seasoned perfection.

Our President MTM Panna started the session - no, not with a story (sorry Aji) but with a poem from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul that described how we keep our faces painted in order to hide our true feelings and are always looking for the freedom to be ourselves. A nice variation MTM, thank you.

TMOD Rajat Ray had adopted as his theme "Knock Knock", as per the annotation on the agenda, which turned out to be Opportunity in reality. He took the audience through the path of Option-Opportunity-Efforts-Success as the roles rolled along. By the end of the session, those four words were branded into the audience memories and the role players had shared what big opportunities they had grabbed and what they had missed out on. A high-funda session, TMOD!

Timer MTM Rita, back after a break, took up the flags with gusto and explained the timing rules with a slickness polished by practice.

Wordmaster MTM Vaishali introduced the word JUBILANT to the group and the members and guests tossed the round robin along the rows jubilantly, making short work of the challenge.

Jokemaster MTM Roman shared a few really funny ones with us that elicited spontaneous laughter.

There was a P3 and a P4 speech scheduled today. Speech criteria for P3 speech, which asks the speaker to Get to the Point, were explained by TM Chaitanya in his usual professorial style.

MTM Usha delivered her P3 speech "Waste not Want not" that protested against the malady of food wastage, not only highlighting the wholesale wastage carried out at parties and receptions but also exhorting us as householders to control our cooking and to do imaginative re-engineering with the leftovers. A good speech MTM.

Speech criteria for the P4 speech, which teaches the speaker How to Say It, were delivered by MTM Kaviya, herself a good user of English.

TM Raja delivered his P4 speech "Freedom at Last", based on his experience of obtaining driving licence in Oman, with humorous descriptions peppering the stories. In conclusion we were nonplussed to learn that his freedom was not just to drive, but to drive away (from boss and wife)! A final twist TM - nice.

Table topics round was conducted by TM Ramalingam, whose topics were really varied - from a quote that was part of TMOD's speech, to a knock-knock joke, to a seventeen-word sentence. But as usual, his husband-wife humour kept the mood jolly.

Both the evaluators gave their feedback to the respective speakers, applauding their achievements and pointing out areas of improvement.

Grammarian TM Viswanath was delighted that there were precious few errors to point out (so were we) but in order to justify his role, described nine-ten points.

General Evaluator TM Venkat was very serious this time and started with a couple of suggestions for improvement (which are duly noted) before his generous nature took over and he praised all role-players unstintingly. You left us with a good feeling GE.

President MTM Panna announced the awards for the day and then adjourned the session for snacks and tea.