I have attended many
Toastmasters meetings. In a Toastmasters’ meeting one is expected to speak
being focused on the objectives of the project. Seldom would one find so. During
one of my visit to Ibn Zhar Toastmasters club I found a person who was
analytically focused about what he spoke. I came to know he was a Lean six
sigma specialist and his approach of being focused and analytical was a trait
he owed to his profession. I learned that he was a well-read man. The club members
used to call him Naresh Iyer.
The visits to Ibn Zhar were
occasional and they remained at low profile till 2010-11. Come 2011-12 and TM
Khalid Matlagaitu emerged as the District-79 Governor. He propagated the idea
of language clubs under which Jubail Tamil Toastmasters Club was one of the
clubs that came into existence. I was Assistant Area-17 Governor (Education
& Training) and JTTC was under jurisdiction of Area-17.
In one of the JTTC
meetings Naresh, Uma and myself were present. She came to know that my family
name was Patel and it was during the tea break that she came up to me and asked
“Are you from Gujarat?” I replied in affirmative; She replied back, that she
was born and brought up in Gujarat, particularly Porbander, the city of Mahatma
Gandhi and Naresh was born and brought up in Amdavad. She was happy to relate
to somebody from her state of residence. She gracefully invited me to be her
guest someday.
Three months down the
line Saudi Arabia Toastmasters Annual Conference (SATAC) was scheduled to take
place at Dammam Sheraton. Waheed Lateef the conference chairman was looking for
dedicated and committed Toastmasters who would share his responsibilities. He
wanted me to be the chairman of Public relation and media committee, further
more Naresh would be supporting me. I expressed a different opinion, why not
have it the other way, let Naresh lead and me assist him. Naresh accepted it
and then started our team work. Naresh was very clear in his vision, as usual
he would analyze things to the finest details. He wanted me to specifically
focus on e-magazine. He efficiently managed a conglomeration of diverse team
members. The hidden hand behind his apparent personality and success is Uma
whom he has narratively described as “Those beautiful eyes” and in response Uma
says “I love him for the reason he is a person so open that he never masks
himself, the feelings from his heart come out through his words unaltered.”
Back home many would like
to listen to me, some student expressed that they came to learn French but the
learned many things apart from French, in the Toastmasters many used to ask me,
how do you organize your speech? How do you arrive to the climax of your speech?
From where do you get thoughts? These were the questions those inclined me
towards the thought of writing a book.
It was on our way to
Damaam that I expressed my desire of writing a book. He expressed, instead of a
book, why not write a blog? I told him I do not know anything about it. One day
he invited me to be his guest, opened a blog site for me, loaded five of them
and said this is your baby, take care and keep going, when in trouble, call me.
When I expressed my thanks, he said it’s nothing; anybody could have done it
for you.
For him it might be like igniting a match stick but for me it caused a bonfire and made things visible clear. It has helped me set a benchmark for myself; it has helped me reach you readers across the globe which wouldn't have happened had I opted to write a book. This blog marks the
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