My experiments with life

This is the Ice Breaking Speech I had given at WMC Toastmasters Club* Bahrain on 20-11-2009

The best day to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

The second best day is today……………..

Toastmaster of the day, fellow toastmasters and my dear friends,

Warm good evening to you all…..

Yes, today is the second best day in my life….my career…

Do you know why???

I was very fortunate to attend the very first meeting of WMC TMC as a guest and it took long 6-7 years for me to join this club.

Iam finally here..Today…to give you a sip of the water…The water from the ice which has taken 6 years to melt!!!??

Friends, I am Rajaram,

 Born and brought up in a small village in Kerala, under a joint family type atmosphere. My grandma was the master and the mistress of the house …a strict disciplinarian.

Like any middle class child, my parents bought me up…by feeding Banana s and Cerilac…which turned me into the bonny baby…or shall I say…the eligible handsome bachelor that I am today!

At the age of 4, my parents arranged a teacher to teach me Malayalam alphabets and numbers with the intention that I can do good when I join the school at age 5.

Every day he used to come to my house……….to teach me …   After an hour or so, my mother used to bring him coffee. Immediately after having that, he would stop the class.

That was when An idea raised in my little mind.  If we give the coffee, in the beginning itself?? … He will

go.     Then no need to study.

So I started shouting in the beginning of the class itself…1+1=2…….. Ammaaa     Kappi….

Probably this is the first experiment in my life.

As ours was a  joint family, everybody  was always busy discussing this and that, and we kids  were not supposed to make noise.

If we made noise…then gone……..they would arrange a new tuition teacher with an instruction to load us with homework.

Friends, now you know……..Terrorists are not born…they are made..

The kid who made the least noise was considered as “Maryada Raman” and would escape…scot free!

So we all pretended to be “Maryada Purushotham Rams”…to get rid of these tuition teachers.

That can be one of the reasons that we all were introverts until we reached  college.

What do you want to become??

Probably that’s the question kids are often asked by elders.

My passions were many and varied. It ranged from Policeman to Mahout to textile sales man to tractor driver

In my teenage I wanted to become a cricketer like K Srikkanth.

Unknowing my limitations I wanted to be a singer also………

Fellow toastmasters, Do you know one thing???the president (Referring Ganapathy, my BIL who is also president of the club) of my home is Bahrain an autocrat.

Whenever I started humming a song

“Chookkar Mere Man Ko

Kiya too ne kya Irada”     

Raja   Can You Please stop it   ….. my kids are sleeping!!!!@$&*...…. that also nipped on bud

Not A BIL and BIL Business

 After my Bcom I Joined for ICWAI. That was when I started applying cost control techniques at my home too. I gave long lectures to my mother regarding how to optimally utilize available resources. I spoke to my father, how to reduce labor cost, on his agricultural activities.

They were finally fed up of my management. 

In the year 2002, my mother made a  1000.00 rupee call to my sister in Bahrain to  take the problem making child out. That’s how I put my first step in Bahrain……and thank god I don’t have a     sister in Andaman Nikobar Islands too

Today I am working with LIC International, as the officer in charge of Unit Linked Products.

I have started my MBA, Toast mastering and my driving lessons this year.

Friends, as our founder president always quote.. “A journey of 1000 miles starts from a single step.”

Yes friends I have started.

If I am something today, I believe that’s only because of that 1000.00 rupee phone call and the generous support from my brother in law………Support for everything I do except………………..Any guesses…………………. for my songs!!!!!!!!!!

I believe whatever happens in life is always for good… what matters is …. Your attitude and commitment to succeed.

So…here I am…continuing my experiments with life…crushing all that ice…spilling water…before you…to Empower my Dreams!!!

***WMC Toastmasters Club [WMC-TMC], chartered in 2003, as part of the Toastmasters International movement is the second largest Toastmaster Club in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Actively engaged in developing communication and leadership skills through the approved Toastmasters International curriculum, WMC –TMC   is recognized as a powerhouse of talents in both domains. It is today acknowledged as the most innovative of all the Toastmasters clubs in Bahrain.