HOW DID I SPEAK? AND WHAT DID I SPEAK?

Strange. One wretched day when I was in class IX, I was selected by the School Princi (Principal) to speak on some topic before the whole school. I was horrified and terrified!

It was some Elocution day, which this school had every fortnight.   Believe me I messed up big big time. I had some wretched script self written in front of me which I vomited out and ran away from the stage in five minutes flat.

The next speaker, my class mate Nitin Kibe was all eloquence, modulating his voice effectively, using his hands to make a point, arguing out beautifully. He appeared to have the foreground, the background, the meat of the subject so well worked out. He was the Star of Public Speaking. Little did I realize, Nitin would help me in life some 10 years on. No wonder in later life he got a great degree IIM-A and has now retired from the World Bank in Washington DC. Way back then I had no clue that IIM-A even existed and I ended up as cannon fodder in the great Indian Navy! That I am alive is thanks to the incompetence of the Pakistan Navy in 1971 War.

Later on this Princi, for no rhyme or reason put me into some debating thing on stage. Here too, I could make adequate openers but when the opposition blew my stuff to shreds, I was speechless, just mumbling away . To put it simbly, I realized that Public Speaking was not my cup of tea pretty early in life. But was I wrong! And my writings on Mouthshut go back to the events year 1976!!

THE NEXT FIVE YEARS were pretty smooth. No one ever asked me to speak before a crowd. I lived happily. No shitting bricks on stage and getting exposed as a moron.

BUT LIFE TURNS AND TURNS FAST

Then one day, I became famous in the Indian Navy, at a very young age, because I organized an Underwater Scuba Diving expedition where I was the first in India to do Underwater Photography. My Commanding Officer was very impressed. He did something behind my back.

Next thing I knew, I got an invite to speak at a big big seminar on Ocean Research and Development in India, where big big scientists, all PhD’s like Afrank and Akisha, were also lecturing, from National Institute of Oceanography and god knows where! I was the smallest fish among these big people. The seminar was in a big air-conditioned auditorium Bhaba auditorium in Mumbai.

Smart brochures, invitation cards, the programme for day 1,2, 3! My lecture was slated for Day 3. That day 3 was the GREATEST PATH BREAKING DAY IN MY LIFE! I was give 30 minutes to lecture on “Underwater Photography in the Coral Reefs of Lakshadweep”. Funny, haaaa?

THE BIG DAY 3!

The only gadget available those days were slide projectors. I had 120 slides of the coral reefs and marine life in and around 7 islands of the Lakshadweep.

I remembered Nitin Kibe. How he held the audience spell bound. But my subject was way too out. But I had some lecture notes ready slide wise and took some queues from Nitins. During the seminar, I watched some great Marine Scientists lecturing. After 25 minutes, one bell would ring. After 30 minutes 2 bells would ring. That was a signal to the speaker “Stop speaking”.

My turn came exactly at 11:00 AM. I was the only one in Navy Uniform to speak.

I WENT BALLISTICS: THE BIG PRESENTATION

I was not nervous at all, all eager to spill out the beans. I held the audience spellbound with my adventures under the sea. I told them about my shark encounters and spoke elegantly about coral reefs, the marine life, fishes, environmental issues, scuba diving, superbly assisted by my underwater water photo slides. The slide projector operator was fantastic. I modulated my voice, spoke passionately about stingrays, Staghorn corals and god knows what.

Surprisingly, the 25 minutes warning bell never rang.

I ended my speech with “ Sharks are horrendous dangerous creatures. I know what is fear now. Should we quit on them? No, Sharks are all the more reason for us to go and investigate their behavior. They can kill for sure, so what? “

During the Q&A session some one asked about getting killed by sharks.

I said:

“What better way to die in the pursuit of a passion!”

When I ended with this sentence, the entire audience was clapping on their feet.

I knew then once and for all that I had killed the demon of Public Speaking forever.

PS: I spoke for 1 hr 30 minutes, way beyond the 30 minutes allotted to me. The bell never rang. Out in the foyer big big people congratulated me.

I quit my hobby, but continued to speak publicly, without fear on diverse subjects. Tips? The revu has them between the lines a plenty. Figure that out.