VOTE or shut up!!!

This 23rd day of April 2009 will always be remembered. Today for the very first time I voted!!!

It was not much of a task. I stood in the queue for 5 minutes in which time I chatted with a couple of my friends who also were first timers and then after finding my name in the electoral rolls (which took half a minute) I proceeded towards the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine).

A push of the button and you are done. I don’t know why but as I pressed that button I did feel a tinge of pride in me, I did feel that yes with this trivial seeming gesture I was making a small difference.

Indian Politics has always intrigued me. I have never been a student of Politics but following a couple of general elections and a few state elections on News channels have really made me a political buff.

Indian Politics is one big drama, with many plots, sub plots and everything is on show when elections are announced. The Election Commission an independent body conducts the elections and let me tell you that is no mean feat.

My vote; more than a vote to this party or that party is a vote of appreciation to the Election Commission and to all the other agencies who have for years staged a free and fair election. I chatted with a policeman who was manning my booth and I got to know that just yesterday he has returned from election duty from Gadchiroli, was posted in Nashik today and will be moving to Mumbai tomorrow. Tough is the only word that comes to my mind.

My vote is a vote to the change which I have seen around me in the last 5-10 years which has instilled some hope in me that the leaders are not all that hopeless. If Lalu Prasad Yadav accused and convicted of corruption and scam can make a success story out of the Indian Railways then why should I not harbour hope?

The recently concluded CYG games changed the face of Pune, no doubt there would have been kickbacks taken and given but nonetheless work was done. It is this that again gives me hope.

The power of the Indian voter came to the fore beyond doubt when in the last general elections the NDA govt was overthrown. The voter asked serious questions of the NDA, the “India Shining” campaign did not blind the voter and this is what tells me that the voting is not a mere ritual.

There are cynics everywhere and there will be always. India can change only if the hopefuls outnumber them and VOTE!!!!

To all the cynics out there I just have one line of advice, “VOTE or shut up!!!”

The ICE BREAKER- TM project 1

The journey of a Toastmaster begins with Project 1 where he is to deliver his first speech in front of his fellow toastmasters. Below is my speech. I drafted it today and would present it mostly by the end of April. The allotted time for the speech is 4-6 minutes:

Standing at Pune station waiting for my local just a few days back my eyes rested on a weighing machine. I am not a health freak (well you can make that out looking at me I think) but then once in a while curiosity about my well being gets the better of me and so I decide to get my weight checked. The thing about these weighing machines which amazes me is that on the card that comes out there is your fortune written on the reverse. So you look at your weight start worrying and then you turn the card and there it is printed, “Today a beautiful girl will ask you for a lift”. And you start looking out for that elusive beautiful girl. So hoping for the best, I push the rupee coin in the machine and out comes the card. I am not going tell you how much I weighed but this is what was written on the back of the card. “Get ready, very soon you will need to introduce yourself”.

And today that prediction has come true. Good evening fellow toastmasters and guests I am Toastmaster Advait standing in front of you to talk about myself.

A farmer’s son set out from his home because he wanted to study further. He made the cut for the Indian Navy only to be rejected at the last hurdle because his eye sight was not up to the mark. He had watched a partial solar eclipse using a tainted glass during his childhood, unaware that this mistake would cost him his carrier. He finally retired last year as the Head of the English Dept of the most reputed college in Nashik. That is my father.

She deftly managed her kids and work and presently serves as the Head Mistress of a Govt aided school in Nashik and it is a pleasant coincidence that even she teaches English. She smiles knowingly when somebody comes to her and complains about work-life balance. That is my mother.

Both my parents teach English and this fact has been a source of many funny moments in my life. My friends and people around me have always felt that I have a command over the language; reason being both my parents teach English. To tell you frankly I am no Shakespeare nor am I Churchill, in fact I don’t remember my parents breaking their heads over my English studies. And somebody please tell my friends that knowledge is not transferred genetically :). Then there was this person who once approached me and asked, “Are you Professor Borate’s son?” I said “Yes”. He very innocently enquired, “Don’t get me wrong son, but tell me do everybody in your house talk in English?” I couldn't control my laughter.

Parents who are teachers are a bit tough to handle especially for an adolescent and more so for a teenager. Teachers are known to everybody in a radius of 25 kms from their residence and more often than not their workplaces also fall within that limit. Teachers make it a point to admit their kids in the same institutions in which they are teaching. Though my school, St Xavier’s High School was not were my mother taught but then a few of my teachers in school had been my father’s students. Everybody knew me and if they did not then hearing my last name they always wanted to know me. Imagine this, you bunk a lecture in college and instead of the lecturer asking you, your father would ask you the reason for the same. A tight situation you would say.

Then there was an identity crisis. They did not know me or did not want to know me as Advait, they wanted to know me as Prof Borate’s son or Madam Borate’s son. All this seems funny now but I remember I used to storm in the house and narrate this to my parents.

After my 12th I got admitted to the Govt College of Engg Pune. New city meant nobody knew me and nobody wanted to know me. I was eager to explore my new found freedom and the 4 years in college I enjoyed like anything. I studied whatever was required to take me through the exams comfortably. That was where I learnt the significance of effort saving.

From my first salary I bought myself a black 2GB Ipod Nano. Thanks to the Nano I can indulge in my hobby of listening to music. My job gave me the courage to fulfill two more of my wishes. I got an eye brow pierced and a permanent tattoo on my right forearm. I couldn't get this done during my engg. Imagine the impression you would make in front of an external examiner during your orals with this stuff. I love reading and bored of American paperbacks am recently exploring the works of Indian authors.

Together with my Ipod there is one more thing which is precious to me and that is my Bullet. I am a rider at heart always looking for anything that would make me hop on my Bull. I have roamed quite a few places around Pune, and Hyderabad. Its amazing when you just leave everything and go out riding in the horizon with no worries on your mind. It’s my dream to someday ride upto Leh-Ladakh.

I am a person who is more into the present than the future or the past. I worry of what is happening right now than what will happen next because it is our present that shapes our future.

Don’t let that make you think that I don’t believe in fortune cards especially the one which come out of weighing machines.

I am still looking for that elusive beautiful girl who is going to ask me for a lift!!!

Back to you Mr. Toastmaster

I joined Toastmasters!!!!

On 9th April I joined Toastmasters International. It is involved in public speaking and nurturing leadership skills through a worlwide network of meeting locations. Infosys Pune boasts of a very active Toastmasters club. They meet twice evey month. There is a framework (10 projects) laid down tracing which you achieve certifications like CC (Competent Communicator), CL (Competent Leader), DTM etc. All these certifications are recognised at the corporate level. Each project mentioned above teaches specific traits in public speaking.

Infosys Pune toastmasters also anchor the various functions which happen at the Pune DC. Be it presenting or any activity which involves any form of public speaking.

I will be speaking publicly again after a gap of 4 years. I last stood on stage at MIT where I returned with the 3rdprize :) :)

Hoping that the experience will be rewarding. By the way I am going to post my speeches here :) One more reason for me to increase my blogs :) :)

Here is the dope on ToastMasters:

http://www.toastmasters.org/Members/MembersFunctionalCategories/AboutTI.aspx

The Great Purge

They said we have never done it before and will never even consider it in the future.

They said we have seen such situations before and come out of it unscathed and undoubtedly stronger.

They said even if we do not get any new business for a year we have reserves enough to pay all our employees salary for a year.

They said and I believed, I never asked for any written proof. I thought values were to be upheld and not be put down only on paper.

Extra-ordinary situations require extra-ordinary measures and so finally at the Great Indian Software Firm the Great Purge begins.


Let this be my shortest post ever. Aren’t the market pundits telling us to save.

Let me save my words for times merrier. :( :( :(