My oratory journey

 My class teacher in grade 5 selected me to participate in an inter class elocution competition. All that was explained to me was that I had to give a ‘bhashan’ – a speech on the given topic.  With the excitement to learn something new and the pride of being among the selected few, I told my mother all about it. She too had little knowledge about what to do and how to go about it. Internet was not heard of in those days. She spoke to a fellow parent of my school who she knew could guide me. She obliged and wrote the complete speech and wished me luck. So, I assumed I had to mug it up and blurt it out on the D-day. And so, I did. Surprisingly, I even won a prize. This is how public speaking was introduced to me. I went on to participate in many such competitions and win a few. Over a period, I realized that there was something lacking in the way I spoke but was too naive to identify it.

When I was working at Infosys, I heard about the Toastmasters’ Club where the members honed their public speaking skills. After many years of contemplating whether to join or not to join, I finally decided to take the plunge. I felt apprehensive and dwarfed in the presence of great orators during the first meeting. Finally, I found my role models and looked forward to learning from them. The mentor assigned to me - Mansi Arora was a confident, capable and a creative girl who knew how to captivate the audience. She took great interest in my development as a public speaker and taught me the nitty gritty of the art. She boosted my confidence and looked upon with pride when I presented my Icebreaker – the introductory speech. She hugged me when I was announced the ‘Best Prepared Speaker of the Day’.

There was no looking back then. I kept on improvising every time I took the stage. While working in a school too, I was usually the first choice to compere the Independence Day Celebrations, to present the Vote of Thanks, to make presentations and to guide the participants of debate and elocution competitions.

I may not be the best orator today, but the confidence and eloquence instilled into me keeps me going. My heartfelt thanks to my class teacher who showed faith in me, my mom who encouraged me and the lady who wrote my first speech. Mansi, I am indebted to you forever. I don’t think any other mentor could have done this to me.