Yesterday I presented my first ever "toastmasters speech".. which was by rules, the introductory speech and I spoke about myself only..
I am very happy to become the very first speaker of our club - Crystal-Talk. I am even happier of the fact that people like my speech very much and i got huge applause when I finished it.. it was a great feeling..
Here is the script of my first speech.. I will always regret that I missed to record my first speech. Anyways..
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Good evening fellow toastmasters. I am back.. I am really very sorry that I will not be able to break any ice today because the block of ice I brought with me has melted..
Thanks to the AC in our office..
awe.. it was a bad joke..
Friends, I am Abhishek Jain… I am a simple boy inspired by a simple yet very well known fact that - The only thing that doesn’t change in this world is the tendency to change.
The 1st change happened to me some 29 years ago when I was comfortably enjoying my life in the heaven and suddenly one day God told me that I have been relocated to the Earth. I welcomed that change and soon arrived in a lower middle class family of 1980’s of India where my grandmother was a school employee, my father was a clerk in a bank and my mother was a house wife. We all were living in a similarly lower middle class locality where every 2nd person was aspiring to be an auto driver or a bus conductor.
When it comes to vision and outlook, my family was no exception. One of the school teachers of my father pushed him to take up commerce in high school and study at least up to MCom because he knew that my father was good in studies but not good in choosing what to study. In some part of India, unknown to my family, NRN and Nandan Nilekani were founding Infosys. At that time my father was escaping his promotion exams just to avoid getting transferred from Ajmer. Thankfully that was the only time when he misunderstood the importance of the balance of professional and personal priorities.
His acceptance of the fact that changes are necessary for one’s growth was the deciding factor of my life. Then he got promoted, moved out of that locality, saw places, made new friends and finally we arrived at Jaipur where I saw, spent and lived my formative years. Almost 80 % of my current personality traits were developed in Kendriya Vidyalaya of Jaipur where I spent 8 years. Along with the highly qualified teachers and awesome infrastructure, my school gave me something which became an integral part of my school and college life and that was the Stage.
I started with my 1st stage appearance at the age of 10. I forgot to say ‘thanks’ when my speech finished and judges thought that I did not complete my speech. However they didn’t realize that this boy has found his passion. After that there was no extra curricular activity left in my school in which I didn’t participate. The list of my prizes and awards is not very long however the list of my participations varies from speeches and debates to drawing and painting, music to sports and not to forget the theatre. I tried my hand in everything which comes on way. I had formal training in Guitar and I can play 4 different musical instruments. I played sports also and that too at inter collegiate levels. I didn’t have the formal coaching in any sport but I can safely tell that I have completed beginner’s level in almost every sport that was accessible. Let’s not talk about ice hockey and golf please.
In my engineering days, I expanded my portfolio of non-studies related activities even more and I found that managing events are much more difficult than simply participating in them. Then started the era of marking presence in almost every possible back stage activity. Be it arranging accommodation for participants of university level sports tournaments, deciding the field plan for the college fest or choreographing the fashion show. From working on grass root level as a volunteer to leading the school house and college community as president, I have experienced every horizontal and vertical of big processes.
My interest in various fields may have restricted myself from being an expert in any one particular hobby. But it was beneficial in many ways. It was not actually like leaving one thing in between and jumping to another. It was always about learning across functional areas and making me more available to different yet related fields. The knowledge of many things makes me capable of estimating the complexity of managing all of them together. In simpler words Tendulkar may be the best batsman of the world but when it comes to perform as a captain Ganguly was proved far better than him.
Why ?? Any one ??? It’s a one word answer.. Leadership qualities..
I realized how important one’s leadership qualities are for success.. and that too in the corporate world when I started my career. I observed the way an organization works and how different verticals work together for the common goal of profit and growth. I noticed that a leader is someone who can make these verticals work together. Even an individual can not achieve his personal goals by concentrating in one particular direction. He must act as a leader in managing all of his activities in order to finish his task.
This fact inspires me to keep fuelling my desires to do and learn newer things, take up newer roles and opportunities as they come. I never limit myself only to the work assigned to me. I observe the surroundings and notice the opportunities where I can learn and contribute. I believe this characteristic will leverage my career to the level I want it to reach.
The boy of that lower middle class family, standing today in front of you fine people, comfortably discloses that he wants to go through the various aspects of project management on his way to the senior leadership roles where he can propel his organization to its next level of success. Be it directly related to profession or personal character, the key to success is constant evolution.
Ice Breaker at Toastmasters
Revival of a Frustrated Winner..
On the same lines of my last post, Confession of an Aggressive Loser, which was composed under the grey, pessimistic shadows of an ailing tree... here comes today.. myself again.. writing something but don't know exactly what to write...
Though I am feeling like a winner at the end of this week, after winning a small performance award at office and much bigger than that, a win at my residential area.. It was a fight over the garbage dumping menace. The corner of the street were my house is, in Koramangala 8th Block, was becoming a garbage dumping ground. see pictures. 
My house is on one of the 3 street which are surrounding a park. The fourth side of the park, is connecting to small basti kind of colony whose residents are the prime accuse of dumping garbage. Directly those poor people cannot be blamed because BMP Garbage Collectors are not doing there job properly.. they are coming to the big houses near the park but not going to this small basti, regularly..
I have shifted in this house in Feb 09 and it's been 4 months now.. every day in the morning when I used to start for my office, I used to think of starting a movement the coming Saturday. And every Saturday I used to think, it's too difficult, no one will understand me, I don't know the local language, I will look like a fool if I go to every house of the locality.. and similar hazaar thoughts used to come in my mind.
Eventually, my mother came to see us and she started complaining about the unbearable smell which comes straight in the house. Finally one Saturday, 4 o clock I decided to start.. I was not sure what to do but I just rushed out of my house. I started from the house which is the closest to the dirty place.
That day I covered around 20 houses, talked to each of them, explained how bad it is going, asked them if they throw it there, pleaded them to not to do it.. In this course of action, I came to know that it is those basti people who are the major contributors here.. In this activity I made friend with a local boy also. Next Monday myself and that boy, Shekhar, went inside that basti, talked to people.. we managed to get one BMP garbage collector man also with us. That 1 hour exercise was an eye opener. There are only 3 streets in that basti, and about 10-15 plots on each streets.. that comes out to 70-90 plots.. but surprisingly, every plot had 3 story houses and each floor was occupied by 2-3 families. By our estimation there are at least 250 families in that small basti. Reaching out to every house hold was impossible for us. (could be possible for Mahatma Gandhi, but was not for us)..
Then started the mission of educating people about this. We spent many days, standing at that corner, in the morning for 1 hour, asking people to not to do this..
But nothing we could do as in mostly all houses cleaning etc happens at around 7-8 in the morning and the garbage collector comes at 11 o clock and as I told, they don't go the basti at all. We fought with people, requested them, pleaded them too.. finally, we made big notices, took the printouts, laminated them ourselves using plastic sheets and tapes.. and put them on the tree at the garbage site...
But all of our efforts were in vein as people were not interested in our efforts at all.
The main reason for this was actually a practical problem we face in every society of this world. If it is not affecting me why should I bother? The same happened with us. That garbage was a problem for 3 houses which are nearest of it. Why others should bother... By god's grace we did not loose hopes. Mailed BMP officials regularly, continued putting up new notices in various languages, continued pushing garbage collector women to go in that basti... Finally we got one support. The house owner of the house, which is just opposite to the site and which is the most affected because of this problem, came to the rescue.
He got the place clean by calling some majdoors and parked his car at that place. This reveals yet another feature of human nature. If the place was dirty, people assumed that other are making it dirty so why should not us. Secondly, when the place get cleaned up, 80% of the people stopped spoiling it. I don't know if they have started keeping at home OR started throwing it in front of other's houses. But one thing is for sure, people hesitate in messing up a clean place.
Still, 3-4 plastic bag carrying garbage arrives at this place by the time I come home in the evening, which we are trying to find out who is doing this. At least now it would be easy to go harsh on them since the place looks cleaner. 
It's feels so good if you do some good.. now I am logging off, happily and going straight to facebook to grab a username... it's starting in another 7 minutes..
I got the username abhishek.jain.. now u can meet me at http://facebook.com/abhishek.jain
Confession of an Aggressive Looser
If Everything is Coming Your Way, You Must be in the Wrong Lane.
I have heard this long back and have been laughing on such loosers who can't do anything right in their lives untill I met a new me. Myself, an aggressive, self- proclaimed-famous-and-lovable personality.
Gone were the days when friends used to say it on face that you are foolishly aggresive. Or you are stupid, non-decisive, totally not-an-efficient-leader.. don't preach us, we don't want to listen to you.. keep you old fashioned ideas with you only. This is a stage of my life when no one is actually a friend. Everyone is a collegue to everyone else. We don't bother to give feedback to each other and probably this is the only reason why I took so long to realise that I am not the one any more, I used to me once.
I was a people's friend, once upon a time. People used to like me, they used to feel good in my company. There is something which has changed in the last 5-6 years. Actually the props of the life has changed. The basic theme has changed. You are with many but still you are alone. You have to identify your strengths and weeknesses by yourself only. No one will ever come to tell you that you are good in this, do this and don't do that. I have become an aggressive fool who is desperate for the similar fame and fan-following but who is no more capable of earning the same respect.
I was loud, energetic, bold and aggressive before also but with the time I have mixed up the unintelligent behaviour of not analyzing situations and taking things for granted. I stopped thinking that if people are not criticising you doesn't mean that they praise you. Only when they praise you, they praise you. It is most likely that people around me finds me irritating and do not like my company but just some courtesy stops them to tell me this. So being a looser I am loosing the status of respected and well-known-person in my social circle.
On the other hand, the aggression in me is contantly provoking me to win the same respect and honour by yelling at people I don't like. By slapping a not-so-polite feedback on someone in front of several others. By assuming and expressing that my way is correct and someone who is not doing it my way is such a shameless, wastefull, looser of one of it's kind.
It's high time I should recollect my thoughts and change myself to suit my surroundings better.
We need Anjali Waghmare
well said..
No doubt Kasab should be hanged. There is no question about it. But the questions are:
1. What is the procedure followed in India for punishment of criminals??
2. Are we really a civil society, एक सभ्य समाज, who knows the difference between a Killer Dog and his Trainer ??
Answer 1.
I am damn sure that Anjali Waghmare is not going to plea for mercy for Kasab. I am not sure that if she will cross examine any of the evidence against Kasab. But I am damn-damn sure, that because of her, the trial will start on time and it will be in the history of India that in such a difficult times also, we maintained our law and order. If we really feel that there is nothing to discuss in Kasab's case then there will be no difference between us and them. They feel that India should be punished so they took law in their hands. We think that they should be punished but we follow the procedure. They did not allow CST passengers to speak that it was Bush and not they who blew up Iraq but we will allow them to speak. This kind of respect for the court and judiciary system is one of the reasons why today India is far ahead of Pakistan which is witnessing mockery of law since 1970.
Answer 2.
What is the definition of a civil society??? Can we say SWAT valley is a civil society where a girl was flogged just because she didn’t follow what Taliban asked to do?? What if Moninder Singh Pandher was given to the society for the judgment and punishment when they found that dozens of minor girls were raped and killed in his Noida House?? The shattered and shaken society would have cut him in to pieces or burnt him alive. But that would be a mistake because investigation revealed that though he was a loose character-ed guy, he didn’t kill anyone. Take another hypothetical example. There is a man in the neighboring colony who is training German Shepherd dogs and sending them to our colony for biting people. We capture one dog and without knowing the details about the trainer we killed him. The next day few more dogs will come in. And this will go on and on. I took Pandher’s example to prove that how important are the court and the system. When the trial will run the whole world would come to know about the methods, the preparations they did, the motives and the strategies. I took dog’s example to prove that we have an advantage here that Kasab is not a dog, he can speak. And when he will speak in the court the whole world would listen. He was a mere pawn of Taliban but now he is a weapon in our war against terrorism. Here an advocate comes handy because the high level talks and negotiations between the countries take lots of legalities and procedures. The information from Kasab will be useful if there will be an advocate. The recording and documentation of the trial will become a landmark in our fight against the evil motives of Pakistan.
Our goal is to dismantle the terror infrastructure in Af-Pak region for which we can go either ways. 1. The-Bush-way which says bomb the city in which a criminal is hiding as he did in Iraq and left thousands of orphans to become terrorists.
2. The lawful way of forcing the neighboring nation to act hard on terror and help it in establishing peace and democracy so that it can come in the mainstream.
I will go with option 2.
I strongly believe that the step taken by Anjali Waghmare is correct. And if we think that our constituency and judicial system should be changed for such exceptional case, we all are free to do that. Shiv Sena can go to the Court and file a PIL against the system of providing advocate to a terrorist. Daring a woman like this is no softer crime than flogging a girl.
Why are we so Sentimental ????
Why are we so Sentimental ????
Statue of Charlie Chaplin would hurt the sentiments of Hindus. This was small news when I opened up the newspaper yesterday and this was the front page headline today. I wonder what kind of mentality these guys are sporting. Is a common middle class Indian so sentimental that his sentiments would hurt by even looking at or passing by a statue???
I seriously recommend an advisor to anyone who is willing to make such public comment. A really intelligent and literate public-statement-advisor who can cover up, few if not all, proofs of paanchvi-fail mentality of such stupid people.
If today Chaplin’s statue hurts Hindu’s sentiments, tomorrow Amitabh Bachchan’s statue would hurt Muslim’s sentiment. Shahrukh Khan’s wax statue would have been hurting Madam Tussaud’s sentiments there. I am sure folks of such fundamentalists groups did not read the newspaper on 23rd Feb 09 because Mozart of Madras was everywhere in the paper that day. They must have issued a notice to their newspaper vendor for dropping the paper in their house premises with an un-Hindu person, receiving un-Hindu awards in an un-Hindu land of America. They must have washed their homes with the Holy Ganga Jal and held Sunder-Kaanda ka Paath for 7 days after this truly un-Hindu activity.
Long live APJ Abdul Kalam, SRK, Aamir Khan, Zaakir Hussein, Ghulaam Ali Khan, Gulzaar, AR Rehman and all those non-Hindus who are worshipped in India, obviously by their own set of intelligent followers. Still, whoever has come in this world has to go one day. I really wonder sometime, after his death, will APJ Abdul Kalam ever be able to get the respect and recognition similar to Gandhi or Ambedkar in the present India ????
Almost every Indian city today have Mahatma Gandhi Road, Gandhi bazaar, Ambedkar Circle etc. I really wonder if Anil Kumble were Aamir Kamaal, would there be a Aamir Kamaal Circle on MG Road, Bangalore???
Will there ever be any APJ Abdul Kalam Road ??? What if there were a temple already existing on that road and govt plans to rename the road as APJ Abdul Kalam road ?? Sentiments will hurt… Where were these sentiments when he was making a missile which he also knew could be used against the people he is sharing religion. Why no Hindu group stood at that time that we don’t want a non-Hindu doing a Hindu nation this kind of favor ??? Why are we do sentimental ???
What if few citizens of Udupi had plans to erect a statue of Mother Teresa in the same place Chaplin’s statue is proposed. In this context there are similarities between Chaplin and Mother Teresa. Both didn’t do any favor to Karnataka. Both are non-Hindu. Well I think, here my ignorant heart is assuming that Hindu Groups would not protest against Mother Teresa’s statue. I guess I am wrong. They will protest that too. Why are we so sentimental ????
This is Sunday morning here in Bangalore. Crisp sunlight is peeping through the window, nice fresh air is running like a kid from kitchen to dining hall to the balcony outside. What a quite and serene morning it is. There is a small church right behind my house in Koramangala, 8th Block. Sweet, melodious voices of kids singing is coming straight into my house. They are singing ‘Yes Jesus loves me’. I am logging off. My sentiments are hurt.
If we really think that our sentiments hurts in every 2nd step and in every 2nd breath we take, it’s time for us to be less of a sentimental fool. Why are we so sentimental ????
Reply to Mangalore Goons
We should also reply back to those the Goons of Mangalore.
Simple protest will not work. Taking hording and banners in hands and going out on streets will not help.
We should do something which they don’t want us to do.
Let’s celebrate this coming 14th Feb as Don’t Preach Day.
Let’s all go to the pubs, discos, bars, coffee shops, restaurants, parks, gardens on that day. Both type of parents, the one who feels that their sons and daughters can go to these places and the one who do not want their sons and daughters to go to these places, can join in for that particular day. Owners of such places should welcome people. They can have some offers also on that day. They may offer half price for people coming in with their parents.
We should come up and do whatever they want us not to do. 60 years back Gandhi ji did the same and they called it Satyagraha. If there would be thousands of people decided to celebrate their freedom, Mutthi Bhar goons won’t be able to dare touching anyone of them.
Specially parents should come over, join and tell these idiots that it is them(the parents) who will decide how their kids should live their lives in this country and not some sadak-chhaap gundas.
It is not the question, if it’s ok for women to drink or not, at all.
The question is who will decide this. If Ashok Gehlot did not have the ‘Pub Hatao’ agenda pre-elections, how can he come now and tell that he is against boys and gals going to pubs and shopping malls ???
It is upto the people of this country who are 18 years and above, to decide how they want to live their lives. If the goons of Mangalore are above 18 and they feel there should not be any pubs in India, there are methods to do that. Go to Supreme court and file a PIL and fight a case. OR if they personally feel that they should not go to pubs, don’t go and spread the awareness about the ill effects of it.
Just like 15 Aug is our independence day, 14th Feb should be our “True Independence Day”.
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Muthalik’s Statement: Love should be celebrated everyday. There is no need of 1 particular day for love.
I just want to know if we should stop celebrating Diwali, Ram Navami, Janmashtami, Durga Puja and Maha Shivratri too ??? Faith should be in our lives. We should pray every day, we should go to the temple every day. What is the need of these festivals then?? Faith in the God should also be showed everyday.
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What is Indian and what is not.
Tube Top and short skirt are part of ancient Indian culture. You can see the designer statues on the gate of our old temples. You will find the womanly figures standing in welcoming gesture, wearing knee length skirt-looking-dhoti and tube top type choli and offering some lotus flowers from their hands.
Pant and shirts were never part of Indian culture. So according to Muthalik, the 5 lacs software professionals of Bangalore should start going to offices wearing dhoti-kurta(for men) and Saaree(for women). But remember, next time you guys arrive at some pub to beat people, please wear dhoti-kurta and not-so-Indian Pants and Shirts.
You go to any picnic spot in outskirts of a city, you will find many people (boys and men) parking their cars a little distant from the road, in the bushes and having a drink there. Recently I have been to Makedatu, near Bangalore. After crossing the river you will find few places where you can sit under the tree and have lunch. You will find lots of empty beer cans and whisky bottles. I had the same experience of another picnic spot of Bangalore, Nandi Hills. In another experience in Nagarhole, I saw people taking a bath under a waterfall and throwing plastic bottles and shampoo pouches in the water. Now this kind of spoiling of natural resources is something which is non Indian.
Writing religious songs, called Bhajans, on the tune of Hindi Movie songs like Hamma Hamma, chhaiya chhaiya etc is something which is non-Indian.
Selling Raksha Kawach on Teleshopping by claiming that your dismal business earnings, bad grades in schools and troubled marriage will be corrected with this Kawach’s use, is something which is Non-Indian.
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When time changes for men it is acceptable for everyone. They call is need or majboori also. Young boys study in other cities, after that they start jobs etc. Stay away from family, renting out places with friends etc.. every such thing leads to something different from what they used to do in their old days back in their home town. And this is not new. This is not something which has started after IT became a hot cake. I can’t claim for other communities but for Gujratis, Marwaris, Punjabis and Malyalis this is happening from ages when they went out for business and jobs. And now this is happening for women especially from the last 10-15 years these men have a problem.
Fighting Terror Without Fighting
What should be done to fight terrorism ?? Any answers ?? I know the few of the most common answers.
1. National Terror Law – Culprits must be punished, law and order must be enforced properly, Speed trials for such cases etc. Agreed, but will we be able to punish the real culprits?
2. Up the security measures – fine, upgrade the security in Hotels, Airport, Hospitals, Temples, Railway Stations, shopping malls, High Seas, Coastal Waters and Coastal Land. Agreed here too, but the list is endless and the whole country cannot be converted to a bunker. If terrorists find it difficult to enter hotel they will target school. If school is not accessible they will enter court, or Bus Terminal. Even if all these places are well secured they might land up in amusement park, cinema hall. If you say all such places are taking care of their security by their own, the killers can simply walk in govt office buildings like Nagar Nigam, passport office, PWD. There are thousands of places which cannot be X-ray’ed and baggage-check’ed like Café Coffee Day in Indira Nagar, Barista at MG Road or even road like Brigade Road and Commercial Street. No one can stop a terrorist if he wants to repeat a CST, Mumbai on Commercial Street, Bangalore.
3. Arm the forces with the latest guns and ammunition. Totally agreed, but will it stop terrorists from such attacks. We cannot stop someone who is all ready to die for his misbelieves by threatening him to kill him. Such revamp of NSG and police will only bring down the impact of such attacks. Had the police equipped with the modern arms and ammunition, the terrorists would have killed only 30-50 people and not 200 people. But this wouldn’t ease the pain of families of those 30 dead people.
Now there are 2 action items India must follow.
1. Enable IB to such an extent where such threat cannot even pass through the borders. To do this it is necessary to make 6 wings which independently take care of 6 indian gateways, Kashmir, Rajasthan-Gujarat, West Coast, East Coast, Far-East including Bangladesh border and North-East Border from Laddhakh to Arunachal Pradesh.
These wings must work closely with the BSF and local police.
2. To fight the terror, we must ensure we uproot this problem from its origin.
Every movement and resistance starts with a cause. We must resolve the root cause of the problem and then only we will be able to eliminate this problem.
India must learn from the US, specially Bush, that we must not nurture the terrorists of the future. No one can deny from the fact that not only terrorists are wrong but the rulers of this world are also equally questionable for the current world problems.
We must remove the circumstances in which young boys and girls, sometimes as young as 10-12 years, are drifting towards the sinister ideologies of the avengers.
We must understand the psychology of a 21 year old boy who was arrested in Mumbai terror attack. We have to understand the philosophy behind his heinous crime. Why the young guys like him are not enjoying Sunday afternoon with their mothers but spraying bullets. May be they don’t have them at all. Their teachers must be brought to the court and not they. We will never be able to justify them their sentences. They will never be able to understand the losses of a 60 year old woman whose grandchildren they killed. If they are from Afghanistan, they must be 16 when US attacked it in 2004, if they had lost their parents then would you believe they have an idea how a happy middle class Indian family looks like?? How a middle class aadmi is busy earning his daily bread and worried if his train ticket will be confirmed or not?? If the most powerful man on earth is not courageous enough to accept his fault of attacking Iraq in suspicion of WMD and resign, how can we blame a terrorist of being cruel, ill minded, aim less, ruthless and actually a coward.
We have to bring them to the main stream. We have to make this world better for the children of today and potential terrorists of tomorrow.
India must design a Social Uplifting Plan for next 10 years for Muslims and minorities of other religions and castes. India must come up as a most friendly country for all religions, nationalities and castes. The culprits of communal violence must be treated very hard. There must be strict law for punishing leaders who corrupt junta’s mind against any particular religion or caste.
Social Uplifting Plan must consist of 1.) Empowering minority youth, 2.) Creating jobs, 3.) supporting entrepreneurship by providing loans and education, 4.) regularizing residential areas, 5.) creating contact centers in small towns and villages where information on schools and colleges progress will be made available and 6.) makind sure that Education For All type programs reach all sections of society and specially muslims and other minority groups.
