117th session

The mercury is climbing and today at 3 pm it was 40 degC. But that did not deter the cool cats of RTC from having a successful session at their new venue at Qurm.

The session kicked off at 3.20 pm, led by the SAA TM Saleem. There were two very young guests who added some cuteness to the proceedings.

Acting President TM Rajat entertained the audience with a funny story about his drunken friend who put band-aids on the mirror instead of on his face, which led to the thought that we are always keen to try and change the outside world instead of our own mind. A point to ponder indeed.

TMOD Sabu had chosen as his theme "Retirement Plans", a subject at the forefront of the minds of all people upward of 40. He shared with us broad retirement plan options that are available and individual role players shared what they had in mind post-retirement. An informative theme, delivered in the serene manner typical to TM Sabu,

Timer role was played by MTM Khathija, who was a master of the game by now.

Wordmaster was played by TM Somakumar who introduced the word INNATE to the audience. It was a word that was well used by the audience during the round robin and innovation was visible.

Jokemaster MTM Swati reeled off some one-liners and some longer jokes. Her delivery was so full of laughter that the audience enjoyed the jokes even more.

There was only one speech planned today, an ACB speech on storytelling, a story that has a moral. TM Natan as evaluator described the speech criteria.

MTM Panna delivered her ACB speech "Where there is a will", that spoke about her love for animals and how in various stages in her life she had had to make special efforts to ensure the animals and pets in her life were well cared for. An inspiring speech, MTM.

Table topics were conducted by TM Bhaskar, who stunned the speakers with his range of topics that varied from retirement to concept of beauty to a film and so on. However, all speakers rose to the challenge and justified their 2 minutes of fame.

Evaluation on the ACB speech was given by TM Natan.

TM Sethuraman gave the Grammarian's report, a more perfect example of which would be hard to find. He appreciated both good usages of English (usually missed by this role-player) as well as doubtful usages and gave his recommendations. A good job indeed TM.

General Evaluator TM Ramalingam gave a comprehensive report. He recommended that role-players use the word of the day more since they get to know it beforehand and have time to incorporate it into their script. A valid point GE.

Acting President held the business session. Since the Division Contest is scheduled next Friday (6th Apr), our Saturday (7th Apr) session was cancelled. However, members were requested to turn up for the Division Contest in large numbers as RTC members were contestants, the venue at ABA was very good and the contests were followed by dinner. What more could a reasonable person want?

The session was declared closed with a group photo and snacks/tea.

The day's awards were:

• Best speaker:            MTM Panna (default)
• Best evaluator:         TM Natan (default)
• Best table speaker:   TM Rajat
• Best role player:       TM Sethuraman (Grammarian)

See you all on 14.4.18 at the next session. But before that, hope to see many of your faces at the Division Contest on 6.4.18.

114th session - new venue

For the last one month, RTC core committee had been looking for another venue like a newly married couple househunting in order to get away from parents' house. Finally, we zeroed in on a classroom in Ramsford Institute, located on the second floor of Sultan Centre. In fact, the view from the passage is straight into the heart of the Sultan Centre shopping area and members can quickly make up a shopping list while standing high up and complete their shopping at the end of the session. A perk is a perk.

We had a goodly gathering as all members were perked up at this change of scene, although we would forever miss our first venue, which was a virtual palace.The classroom setup meant we were sitting at tables like students, but then, who are better students than Toastmasters? The room was well-lit by natural light and since it was small, no sound system would be needed here.

The session was kicked off on time by SAA TM Raja.

Acting President TM Mathen related a story that reflected the value of life, wherein a boy, on the advice of his father, was trying to sell a stone to various people by showing two fingers and he was amazed at the various offers that he got - from Rs 20 to Rs 2 lakh - depending on who he was speaking to. Others might value us depending on their perspective but we should always know our self-worth.

TMOD TM Rajat had taken on the theme "Rhyme and Reason" and in the next two hours, tried to familiarise the audience with various forms of English poetry. He had consciously kept the engagement light and luckily the audience was still conscious by the time the session got over. Together they travelled over Acrostic, Limerick, Ode, Epic, Haiku, Sonnet, Narrative, Free Verse and Ballad, looking at examples and popular poets. Overall, an education session of a different colour.

Timer TM Kiran described the timing criteria to the group.

Wordmaster TM Rita had a different approach today as she held a mini-workshop on how to differentiate between homophones, homographs and homonyms, spurred by the theme of Rhyme. A good effort TM Rita at doing something differently.

Jokemaster TM Bhaskar related many incidents from his life that had put him into humorous situations and we all laughed with him.

There was an ACB project speech scheduled today, on accepting an award. TM Dinesh, as Evaluator, described the evaluation criteria for the speech, which was that the award should be accepted with grace and gratitude.

TM Panna delivered her project speech "Climbing the ladder", which was an acceptance speech for the WINNER award that she had received in the International Speech competition in RTC. She delivered the speech with gratitude and sincerity, being particular about thanking everyone by name who had helped her on the way.

Table topic master was played by TM Somakumar. His topics were either questions or requiring the speaker to take a stand on a broad issue. All the speakers were able to speak lucidly and with confidence, which is a sign of good choice of topics.

TM Dinesh gave a feedback on TM Panna's speech, lauding her delivery and content, with very little to improve upon. Good show TM Panna.

Harkmaster TM Venkat quizzed the audience assiduously for 5 minutes before conceding that all had indeed been wide awake, despite the rather heavy theme running in the background.

Grammarian TM Saleem, being for once, as he said, at the giving end of a grammatical critique, found the speakers very well-behaved, not having been involved in much rule-bending. You are a nice man TM Saleem.

The General Evaluator TM Swati found the session well-conducted and congratulated all once again on having found a permanent address.

The acting President TM Mathen took the stage once again and reminded the audience about the club Humorous contest next Saturday and urged all to prepare well. He then announced the awards and declared the session closed.

The day's awards were:

• Best Table topic:        TM Venkat
• Best speaker:              TM Panna (default)
• Best evaluator:           TM Dinesh (default)
• Best role player:         TM Bhaskar

See all again next week at the contest venue, which is yet to be announced by VP-E.