What a blissful evening to have aspiring minds joining us through hybrid session.
No matter where you are , just a single click is enough to see each other , communicate , collaborate and improve.
Also with launch of AI tools, life has become very smooth
Is there any one in this room who do not use any sort of AI tools??
Definitely Not
Well did you try asking chatgpt what Bhavana is going to speak about today ???
(Waited for the little smile to light up)
Let us be mindful that only we control the technologies and never let the technology control us.
I am Bhavana, hailing from interior South.
Today I would like to highlight a fact about Girls from interior South
There, the girls are raised to remain very silent, irrespective of their innate nature, they are well trained, well taught, well tamed to be silent.
Coming to the exposures; be it in education or experience; They have very limited exposure considering their safety and security.
If we tweak into my teenage and childhood days, I have a very limited exposure of being only to my Granny’s village .
That is a village perfectly blessed by nature, You can see a vast green layout everywhere, colourful flowers, beautiful birds chirping very happily. Thats all together a peaceful place to spend time. The houses there are completely devoid of internet boxes. Only way to spend time is to spend time with nature. I was brought up in such a widget free environment. With These experiences when I stepped into Chennai , metropolitan city to start my career; found the life is upside down.
People were tightly coupled with their Electronic Gadgets . I found myself as a misfit toy .
I started feeling very cold. These thoughts and feelings de-promoted me to be very timid, silent and shy . I even mind toward speaking out a word. Life was very miserable those days. But Changes do HAPPEN.
One fine day , there was a woman at our Office. It was her first visit to Tamilnadu.
In spite of being timorous, I have a very good habit of welcoming and greeting people That’s how I got to talk to her .
Our conversation was just a minute long
I was very much conscious on my speeches, asking “Hi, welcome to Chennai”(in a barely audible voice). But that women was exuding confidence
“HEY , Thank you, Thank you for your warm welcome”
She caught my attention. She exuded sublime confidence, body gestures and It was really nice to watch her speaking. Though She was an acquaintance, She had a very profound impact on me.
I also have a good habit of imitating people in front of the mirror.
I started speaking like her with my chin up, walking like her with her very boldly, started following up her gestures. What I witnessed was a different me
I found myself moving from a weak and faint hearted to a Bold and Beautiful girl.
That was really a magic. From then on I started coming out of my shell and Life started giving me very good experience.
One such was my FIRST STAGE EXPERIENCE.
Like our Toast master Sripathy I was also very keen to perform on stage, but not for dancing
But just for skits. I shared the stage with my fellow companions; We did well and received good applauses. By then I realised that holding the audience attention gave me a great delight.
From that day I started being on stage.
Then came my SECOND STAGE EXPERIENCE.
One day my Manager gave us an open opportunity that anyone can host a meeting.
Without any second thought, I volunteered. I was very happy very cool because I have already been on stage and I can do well. But as the time was approaching , I started feeling cold ,
Fear was creeping till the top of my head, My throat was stuck not able to speak, when I try to talk , Only air flew out and there were so many butterflies not in the room but in my stomach.
I was very tensed. By then my conscious was telling me “This is not going to be like your skit,
You are going to be all alone on the stage, All eyes will be on you,You have to speak out very confident” But I took a minute, deep breath, recollected my 1 minute acquaintance and somehow I managed. I was able to make it.
The beauty is that the experience still continues.
I hope that you people didnt see my Butterflies. Were you ?
Thats glad. This is my way all along to Toast masters.
I thank all the toast masters for guiding me and making me land here
Thank you