Tales of Wit and Wisdom
A warm welcome and good afternoon fellow Toast masters and Guests
Welcome to our vTalk meeting number 451
We are at Feb 28 of this year 2025
Lets take a moment to reflect back on the important events of February
· First day started with COTP – training
· Valetine day
· vTalk club Open house
· Maha Shivaratri
· Maha Kumbh mela
February has been a month of continuous learning, indulging in diverse experiences and the list goes on .
Whatever we do now is just a recall. but what if we go one step further and reflect.
What went good , what went wrong, how can we make that right ?
Embracing a reflective mindset enables us to learn extensively, identify potential pitfalls, bridge gaps, and attain wisdom gradually.
There is no one epiphany or super dramatic moment that draws wisdom to us in one shot.
Wisdom actually comes from following different pursuits and thoughtfully considering our learnings
However, can we truly immerse ourselves in all possible pursuits / experiences?
Art is long, and life is short. Therefore, we must find ways to fast forward, accelerate our learning. One effective method is by connecting with stories. The wisdom lies in learning from others’ mistakes, understanding their stories, and drawing valuable lessons from their experiences and lives.
That’s how today we are going to gain some wisdom from the great tales of wit .
Before expanding on today’s theme, let me brief the structure of every Toast master meeting
Every Toastmasters meeting has three different parts.
Prepared Speeches – where speakers prepare beforehand and deliver their speech.
Table Topics (TTM) – where the Table Topics Master enlightens our thoughts and minds with impromptu questions.
Evaluation – everything gets honed when thoughtfully evaluated and learned. The evaluation phase assesses the speech and the entire flow of the meeting.
For that evaluation, we have a special guest joining us today from
I welcome General evaluator to take over the stage and elucidate the roles and responsibilities and introduce your team and their respective roles and responsibilities
** General Evaluator and TAG team details their roles **
Thank you General Evaluator and TAG team players for elucidating your role and responsibilities
Lets return back to our theme – “Tales of wit and wisdom”
What kind of stories pops up in your mind
Which tale resonate better with you in regards to today’s theme?
Awesome!
You know I feel very reluctant that I missed ages by not reading any tales/stories during my school days.
But will regret help ?
To keep the regret out of the bay I started reflecting and am super happy to start over. I have started reading books to narrate to kids
I take an opportunity in this meeting to narrate again the stories that imparted wit and wisdom to me
Story1:
How Birbal and King Akbar bumped into each other ? Any idea about their first meet ?
Akbar loved to hunt animals. Once, after a hunting trip, he lost his way back to Delhi. As he and his soldiers tried to find the right path, they stumbled upon a small village. Unsure of which way to go, they decided to ask for directions.
They saw a man named “Mahesh Das,” who seemed very innocent. Akbar and his soldiers asked him, “Will this way take us to Delhi?” To their surprise, Mahesh Das began laughing hilariously.
Akbar, puzzled by his reaction, asked, “Why are you laughing?”
Mahesh Das replied, still chuckling,
No road will take you . You should only take the road to reach Delhi
This sounds like a standup comedy . But the vital element here is presence of mind
Impressed by his wit and presence of mind, Akbar realized that Mahesh Das was no ordinary villager. He invited Mahesh Das to join his court, where he later became known as the wise and clever Birbal, one of Akbar’s most trusted advisors.
The wisdom that I Gained is
As a leader , As a communicator , As a speaker we have to speak clearly and concisely putting the write words in.
Whether u r communicating with Human / LLM / Humanoid, your instructions has got to be precise to get the work done at right time
With is wisdom, lets dive into our first segment of prepared speeches
He is evaluated by
.
I welcome on stage to read out the objectives of the speech
Thank You
I welcome on stage our first speaker
< Name of Speaker 1> < Name of Speaker 1>
**Speaker 1 delivers the speech **
He is evaluated by
.
I welcome on stage to read out the objectives of the speech.
Thank you .
I now welcome on stage our second speaker < Name of Speaker 2 > < Name of Speaker 2 >
**Speaker 2 delivers the speech **
Story 2:
Switching our focus back to the Tales of wit and wisdom
So many advisors adorned the court of king Akbar, yet Birbal has been the most eminent.
Do you know how ?
I would share another story where other advisor tried to beat Birbal.
One evening, Emperor Akbar, his trusted advisor Birbal, and a new advisor were strolling through the royal gardens. They came across a donkey which was tasting a mouthful of tobacco and immediately recoiled in disgust
The new advisor, eager to impress Akbar and undermine Birbal commented “Your Majesty!
Even Donkey doesn’t like the tobacco that Birbal is fond of”
If you are in the shoes of Birbal how would you respond ?
Birbal’s retort was “Indeed Majesty! Donkeys dislikes the tobacco that I cherish which simply implies that few things are well beyond the comprehension of donkeys!”
From that witty response it dawned upon me, Birbal’s aim has never been to impress the Emperor but to give his best shot in everything he do and that’s how he has been the most trusted advisor
With that learning Lets move on to exciting phase of Toast master meeting – Table Topics Segment.
I welcome the Table topics master of today to take over the stage and enlighten with your questions** Table topic master elucidates the role and conducts Table topics**
Thank you Table topics master for those insightful questionsStory 3:From the tale of wit and wisdom its evident that Birbal possessed exceptional ability.The ability stems from his mindset to grasp the big picture, keenly understanding the nuances and intricacies involved. Birbal has a flair for reasoning and rationalizing everything by delving deeper to comprehend better than others.My dear fellow toast masters and guests – The best lesson I drew on reading these if you want to excel – understand the big pictureTo get us the big picture of how we fared in Today’s meeting, here comes our General Evaluator and Team with their reports to help us understand our thick and thins, ways to improve our thin to thickI welcome back the General Evaluator to the dais to give the big picture of the meeting** General Evaluator and TAG team reports their observation, shares constructive feedback and areas of improvement **Thank you General Evaluator
last but not least, every relationship faces hardships and silent conflicts. There were numerous instances when Akbar condemned Birbal and barred him from attending court. During these times, Birbal remained silent, creating a void that eventually made Akbar realize Birbal’s wisdom and correctness on many occasions.In essence wisdom lies in maintaining a calm mind during tough times, never giving up, and continuing to move forward. Silence can be a powerful tool, often bridging gaps more effectively than words.
Be wise – choose words and silence appropriately for better and long-lasting relationshipsWith that I hand over the stage to our president for closing remarks