Public Speaking

I have always been terrified of Public Speaking. Being an introvert, going up on the stage and keeping the audience engaged is something that I have never been fond of, or even remotely inclined. So when I was in 8th grade, my English teacher forced me to participate in a debate where each side of the opposition has to go on stage and speak either for or against a topic. I remember the topic was TV, and I made notes (which I was good at), and when it was my turn, I went to the stage, took my notes and read through the entire thing without making even a single eye contact to anyone! That was my first experience!

When I got into college, there was a huge new auditorium with a nice big podium and I was wondering how it would be to stand here and give an inspiring speech, while confidently & comfortably knowing I would never have to do it! But I did end up on that podium in my final year to participate in another debate with a handful of audience, and, thank God the acoustics sucked(!) since many folks could not even hear what we were talking on the mic.

And then I used to see many actors/actresses going on the stage in front of hundreds of people and talking so effortlessly, fluently and even making jokes, and wondered how did they do it. Like in Oscars or Filmfare Awards or even talk shows like Ted Talk or Stand-up comedy. 

When I got into the corporate life, I used to see Account Managers, clients from US who were doing the same thing albeit it was more work-related. Although there were many opportunities for me to get into ToastMasters club, somehow I found excuses not to enrol! Few more years later, I distinctly remember one of my peers sharing a picture of herself giving a technical speech in a conference in US, and this moved me the most. It made me proud of her and even inspired me. I knew her very well that she was, like me, an introvert, public-shy, knew as much as I did technically - and yet, there she was, dressed immaculately and capturing the attention of the audience. 

While I tried to keep it at bay as much as possible, the opportunity came knocking on my door in May this year when I was asked to present at Informatica World 2023 conference at The Venetian, Las Vegas, on How Informatica helped Datawarehouse Modernization, a project which I had worked on for the last couple of years. I was confident about the topic, so the content was not a problem. Still, we underwent number of rehearsals, prepared for possible questions from the audience and finally I was ready!

Thanks to the umpteen practice sessions, I was surprised not to detect any butterflies in the stomach as I went up on the stage. I was glad that seemed as easy as conversing with someone else. All those mentorship during the last two decades helped - talk slowly, keep it light and not too technical, add humor, make it like a story - and I did the best I could. I guess I did not embarass myself (which I later understood is the single most factor for fear of Public Speaking), because at the end of it, there was an ovation.

So, finally I did it - Public Speaking! Check! ✅

I promptly came back home and messaged my 8th grade English Teacher and thanked her for helping me get onto the first stage (literally) of my life! 

And now, I can proudly share my picture too!

I Love You..... Thank You!

My Mother-in-law studied Kannada Medium, and hence not very well-versed in the English language. Her first granddaughter, that is my daughter, grew up the first six years of her life in the United States, and hence the English language came naturally for her. Often times, my wife and I played the part of translators so that they two could understand one another. But at other times they managed themselves. It was quite a sight to watch these two far end of the spectrum of generations communicating with one another, and sometimes hilarious. 

In the local language Kannada, the letter "L" has two variations - one where the tongue just touches palate (usually depicted with lower-case "l") and another where the tongue rolls inwards and uncoils (usually depicted with upper-case "L"). In Kannada, the word "HeLu" means "to tell", where as "Helu" means "to poop"! So there is a ton of difference when the pronunciation changes even a bit! And, since English has no mastery on tongue-rolling antics, my daughter at that time always asked her granny to "Helu" while she meant her to tell and this used to set us all into splits, much to her chagrin as she used to wonder what wrong she said!

Likewise, whenever Tontu used to say "I Love You" to her granny, my MIL - without much knowledge of how things work usually - always used to reply back "Thank You", and this caused lot of laughter. And then, my daughter used to explain that instead of 'Thank You', she should say "I Love you too".

Cut to the present. My wife and I came across number of articles and videos where Sadhguru talks about love. One such article is about True Love. He mentions clearly here that "Love is not something that you do; love is the way you are". If you are in such a state that you can be loved unconditionally, or you have become so lovable, and because of that someone says "I Love You", then obviously the response should indeed be "Thank You"! 

Perhaps my MIL might not be an English literate but knew this all along, inherently. 

The last laugh was on us, the educated.

Welcome to Teenage!

Tontu turned Thirteen today!

Its amazing how a child grows up, in fact, sometimes almost magical. It is even more amazing to watch this phenomenon of Life. It feels like just a few days ago that I was giving her bath, with a nice religious accompanying Shloka (which almost gave me the feeling of bathing an idol) and somewhere, sometime that process logically ended and she is managing all that herself. I just have to wake her up once, and in a few minutes I can hear her in the bathroom, humming to herself! How did that happen?!

She used to sleep with us for a long time, hugging her mamma....and now she cuddles up with her toy on her own bed in her own bedroom. How did that happen?!

There was a time (long, long ago) when she used to run out of the kitchen, scared of the pressure cooker when it was about to whistle, and now she is able to light matchsticks all by herself. How did that happen?!

We never used to go anywhere without her for a really long time. Where we went, she went with us. And then we started going to the market without her, and she was fine being with her friends. And, for the first time, recently, we went out of city for a weekend without her, and she was ok to stay with her grandparents. How did that happen?!

Its not that the connection has reduced or the love has weakened, and yet, it is fascinating to see the small child grow into a young gal now, where she can manage things by herself, is responsible, able to handle the pressure in the school, work on projects individually, be creative - and do things in general without supervision or prodding or even support from her parents. 

In the process, she has expanded her wings and is able to judge to what she likes, what she does not:  Badminton class - no; Singing class - yes; Dancing class - yes; Chess class - no; And thanks to us being a nice community with its ample share of friends, lots of activities such as learning how to cycle, how to skate, how to wave board were taught by her peers themselves without us having to run alongside!

Coming to the part about singing and dancing - it amazes me what wonders she has achieved! I mean I still remember the early days when I used to teach her Sa-Ri-Ga-Ma and now, she has successfully cleared her Junior exam with great honor, and has performed on the stage on many occasions. I remembered this pic as she was sitting in the exam hall writing the exam!

Regarding Bharatanatyam - thanks to her Gurus, she has had nice opportunities in performing on stage with large number of audiences, and this not only has removed the stage fear but has given her the confidence of about expressing herself openly and in any situation.

We were extremely pleased when her book The Mystery of Strange Hill got published on Amazon when she was just 10 years of age. We were overly proud when she was the only person from her school to attend the National Spelling Bee competition in Kolkatta when she was just in her First standard. 

Add to this, the number of awards from her inter-class co-curricular activities - we are running out of space to keep the trophies! Some of the competitions which she excelled and stood first were areas which she challenged herself - such as doing a book review, advertising a product, etc.

She even made a small movie using just the mobile phone during Covid days. She has mastered making deco pics using apps on the smart phone. She has composed a huge collection of poems. And thus, her accomplishments go on and on. Proud of you, Tontu!

And now, looking forward to the next phase of life. Presenting this blog-post as one more Birthday gift...!!

Have a wonderful Birthday and a memorable Teenage Life!

PS: Quick Links for previous Birthday Posts: 

First
Third
Fourth
Tenth