Moments of Bliss 15 ::: Re-assurance at the ability to laugh at myself

Prelude :: As the title of this posting gives a faint idea on the content, this could very well fit into Transcendance series too...But realising that I have had such experiences of laughing at myself in the past, I added the word "re-assurance" in the title & convinced myself that it is much more apt to include this experience in Moments of Bliss series...See, how sincere we can be even in trivial things, right ???
Dear Gowri
This is again about my new Public Speaking course...I clarified right on the day when I paid my fees if its ok to miss a class as I had a scheduled trip outside Madras for 1 full week - I was assured that there will be compensating class and it should not be a problem.
I was back from Munnar this friday morning and was slightly depressed with the thoughts about the pendancies at Office and the missed class hanging around my head....feeling like going to office on one of these days (sat or sunday) to clear off the mails at least so that I can get started with the new week lot more better.... I had a word with my colleague who clarified that there was no plan for any one to work on sat / sunday (it is crisis time for one of my teams and they worked in week ends for the past two weeks) as our Manager suggested them to take a break.... This spoilt my plans and yesterday morning, I was sitting helplessly in the hall of our home talking to Anoo in a bit depressed tone about the whole farce in our middle class lives.... I was asking her quite seriously if we can move to Isha right away putting our daughter in the wonderful home school they have within the Ashram premises...and she can become a teacher in the same home school.... I am any way longing to become a teacher at their yoga classes and all the silly details can always be worked out revolving around this....!! During this visit, Anoo too was overwhelmed with the life at Isha and that gave me some courage to get this crap going for close to 1 hour....and I was seriously trying to cajole her to leave her needless hesitation and reluctance to do things that we want to do !! As expected, she was brushing me off labelling me as impractical....(am I ?) and was giving reasons why it can' tbe done... ?? Encouraged by her responses, I was actually going into a healthy arguement for the solace that it gave me on a idle morning....with me having no interest to do any thing productive for the next 2 days...In fact, I was sensing that a new depression spell was in the offing !!
Just then a courier reached home by around 11 Am and handed over the intimation letter from the institute which told that there is a compensation class at 6 PM in the evening.....It started nicely as "Mr......, We missed you last sunday".....and gave a summary of what was covered in the previous session requesting me to join today at least to know more and get updated and online...
It was quite a pleasant surprise as I thought this intimation letter would have been sent to my office address (perhaps as an email) and I was wanting to skip this session as I was in no mood to get in touch with them myself to know the timings of the compensation class.....
This letter was sufficient to spring me into action (see how brittle I am !!) and I got reminded of the home work that I was supposed to do before going to the class. In fact, I was supposed to do a small talk for 2 and half minutes on a problem (any thing of my choice) , analysis of it and appeal to the audience on what we want them to do......We were told that we will have such practise session strewed all over the 8 - 10 weeks of the class and this was the maiden opportunity as it was announced on the first class which I attended....
I was also supposed to read few of the things in the study material and I got started locking myself in our computer room....and started wondering on the"problem" for the talking session... I stumbled upon the subject of environmental degradation about which I had good exposure during the "Green Hands" days...and talking about the solution of planting trees.....to solve it at a cheap and direct manner...! I had talked in around 10 schools during the project days and considering that time available was just 4 - 5 hours, I started jotting down the points in the required structure....
I went on rehearsing the sentences...literally trying to by-heart the whole of the talk, clocking the time that I take when I read the whole thing out, rephrasing and modifying few areas with question marks and exclamations...for audience appeal....I should say that I had a power packed speech in front of me....& got reminded that a speech well prepared is 90 % well delivered....
In fact, Let me also remind that I had kept improvising myself on this speech when I spoke in various schools....and was able to deliver the content very effectively both in English and Tamil...during the project days....and was quite confident that I will do a great impact in the evening session...There was no doubt it and I kept visualising myself doing a wonderful speech again and again until 4.30 PM....literally not doing any thing else at home...!!
The inevitable time came at the class, yesterday evening, when the MD's wife asked the 4 of us (the absentees) to make our speech coming in front of the team...I walked quite confidently as my peers did not come prepared for this talking session in this compensation class...!! (poor souls, how unthoughtful !!)
As I started with my opener statement, the energy level was quite low and I needed a correction right at that stage by the faculty...and I virtually stumbled 3 or 4 times during the delivery of the well prepared speech....and shamelessly looked at my notes to get the speech going...While the MD's wife sitting amongst the three other members, nodding her head vigourously to encourage me, I kept stumbling and searching for words.....which was extremely ackward in front of the three other members who were "lesser mortals" as per my standards based on the limited observation...
At the end of the talk, I had a heartly laugh and told the MD's wife that I really "goofed up" and "perhaps it is because of the fact that I over-prepared"...As a true professional, she had some comforting words for me and made me feel easy as I reached my chair.... I could see that the other three who did not come prepared was able to speak some thing coherently (inspite of poor language) about some social problem....in extempored manner...UNLIKE me and my preparation....and they did not carry their grammer too much while they expressed.... I heartily clapped my hands at the message they conveyed though the delivery was not made properly....with lot more modesty and honesty...
When I came out of the class, I felt myself really lighter with this failure...and was seriously analysing the reasons for the goof ups..... Think one important reason (in addition to the main reason that I get carried away too much with my imaginations about my self quite often), for my goof up is that I tried to memorize the sentences inspite of having the ability to deliver them extempored !! the natural flair was completely lost in this process of mugging up...and my confidence was taken away trying to do some thing (mugging up) which I forgot when I did last time....(perhaps during my school days ???)...Another reason for the debacle could be because, I lost touch with the subject matter which I was quite familiar with....2 years back.... The emotional value is completely lost inside me today on this subject matter and no wonder, I did not sound quite expressive on punctuations which I carefully added while writing script ?? Didn't they say that knowledge is the fundamental for good delivery...and communication skill is just supposed to build on the knowledge....I realise it lot more better now....!!
Hope I will do much better next time....>!!
I am giving below the famous 2 and half minute speech that I prepared yesterday.....which I goofed up ultimately....This needs to be in the webworld for ever......!!
Krishnaarpanam
suchoo
Our Duty towards Planet Earth

There was a study undertaken by United Nations Organization on Environmental degradation; This Study was undertaken 10 – 15 years back.
One of the observations made was that 60 % of the Land Area in India could become desertified in next 25 years. The word “desertification” means that so much land will become unfit for cultivation and will become barren & useless !! Particularly in Tamil nadu we have just 17 % Forest Cover which is quite alarming compared to national average of 23.5 %. Environmentalists say the ideal Forest Cover for a nation should be at least 33 %.

The main reasons for this poor forest cover in our state – as all of us know - is reckless deforestation & rapid urbanization.

Already we have started seeing the impact of this – isn’t it ?
Water scarcity, So much heat during summer & Too many threatening stories on “Global Warming” to name a few;
With an aim to increase our economic prosperity we have meddled too much with ecological balance & we have started paying price for the same.

We need to take remedial actions - on war footing - in various spheres but the cheapest and simplest one is to plant trees – which is some thing that we can start right away…. We cannot do much about the pollution & urbanization AND it may not be wise to slow down our Industrial Growth in any manner.

We are close to 6 crore people at Tamil Nadu, if all of us resolve to plant one tree sapling this year & another one during next year – and take care of them for 2 – 3 years, the Forest Cover of our state will improve from the current 17 % to 30 % in next 10 – 15 years.
Is this too difficult for us to do?

In terms of making an impact on demographic conditions of Planet Earth, an initiative taken in one state of a country may appear to be too inadequate;
But by doing this in all earnestness, we may motivate the rest of the states in India to replicate our initiative which may ultimately inspire the whole world !!

At this point of time , it is not only a responsibility but also is an opportunity & an unique previlege for us to do some thing about this.
Because, if we fail to do it now, perhaps the opportunity will be irretrievably lost !! Why don’t we leave a better world for our children & the future generations ?

I read a quote recently in a book ….it goes like this
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now !!"
Shall we get started ?? (a winning smile at the audience was planned !! Hmm.....I did just this part well....)