The Humd!nger vol 3

VOL III MARCH 2018

The Humd!nger

VOL III MARCH 2018

Humoroids Advanced Toastmasters

Editor | Pratima Mishra Publisher | Judith Serrao Editorial Team | Shuchita Udas & Manmohan Sreedhar Design & Layout | Archana

Follow us on

www.humoroids.toastmastersclubs.org

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4 Editors Desk 5 6

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Passion and Humoroids Club

The Team

President’s Message

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Choices, Chances, Changes

MOVE

Reprogramming your life through NLP

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Where do I go now?

CO NT EN TS

Writing Comedy

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Culinary showcase Africa Calling

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Those A poem

The Gallery

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Editor’s Desk A year has gone by, leaving us with splendid memories, wonderful experiences that enriched our lives. Now it’s time for the final edition of our favorite newsletter - The Humdinger Congratulations to the Club for pulling off a spectacular 2017, thank you all for making it possible. In Humoroids we believe a good leader should be articulate, have a flair for language and possess a good sense of humour. This newsletter is a testimony to all the above.

TM Pratima Mishra, CC CL VP Public Relations

I believe it is the potpourri of talents and characteristics of our members is what that makes our club unique. As you go through the Humdinger you will experience all that the Humoroidians have to offer. We hope you enjoy the newsletter and that it will inspire, enrich and entertain you.

May the Humdinger be with you!

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President’s Message

What a wonderful year it has been serving as your President. In 2007 when I joined Toastmasters, all I wanted to do was just get through a speech and move on. I never even thought that one day in the future I would be a Club Officer, a Club President, an Area Director or a Division Officer.

Each new leadership opportunity stretched my potential, built my courage, character and confidence. So my dear Humoroidians, don't shy away when you get the opportunity to be a Club Officer or a Leader in Toastmasters. Grab the opportunity and say ....Bring It On !!!!!

Occasionally obstacles and roadblocks may impede your journey, and you may want to give it all up, but remember that this journey is your personal development. It is your roadmap to success, and for your betterment.

So keep faith and move forward.

Judith Jancinta Serrao, ACS, ALS President

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The Team The Humoroids Advanced Toastmaster Club Officers 2017 - 2018

President Judith Serrao, ACS ALS

Secretary Ceanlia Vermeulen ACB ALB

VP Education Shuchita Udas, ACS ALB

Treasurer Archana Manmohan

VP Membership Tessy Girl

Sergeant at Arms Sunita Pinto

VP Public Relations Pratima Mishra, CC CL

Past President Manmohan Sreedhar, DTM

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MOVE Wisdom from TM Sultan Al Hajji

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hen I was young, my parents and teachers asked me to MOVE forward in performance. When I stepped in to my professional career, my superiors, coaches and mentors told me to MOVE forward in performance. When I was asked to lead a team, I told my team members, “Let’s MOVE forward in performance.” They seemed convinced about the MOVE that brought the enhanced performance and success. For me, MOVE stands for Motivation, Observation, Virtues and Empathy. Without all four of these, we cannot perform successfully. As individuals, we ought to have an inherent drive, the motivation to excel in our performance, in all the areas – personal, professional, social and spiritual. Ideally, this has to come from within.

TM Sultan Al Hajji, Patron

In our formative stages this motivation is invariably derived from the successes of our idols, heroes and role models. We may not have that enlarged vision which some of the greats have. But we can see what they see by observing them. Observation is the key to analyse the cause and effects of our efforts and converting our performances into successes.

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We learn from our experiences. Really? At a closer look it seems that we learn with time. Experience is only a part of it. Different people react differently in the same circumstances. We too would react differently to the same situation over a period of time. Our ability to react, which decides success or failure, comes not only from our experiences but also from our observations on how our heroes had or would have reacted.

End justifies the means. Really? People may reach their goals by unethical means. Achieving a goal in such a way cannot be called a success. Eventually, individuals and organizations having virtues, values and ethics will succeed. “Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue”, said Confucius.

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Eventually, individuals and organizations

having virtues, values and ethics will succeed”

Empathy is the ability to identify with and understand the wants, needs, and viewpoints of those around you.

Success is handy for people with empathy because such people are good at recognizing the feelings of others, even when those feelings may not be obvious.

As a result, empathetic people are usually excellent at managing relationships, listening, and relating to others. They avoid stereotyping and judging too quickly, and they live their lives in a very open, honest way. Being empathetic, we can conquer our weaknesses and play on our strengths to perform successfully. In Arabic, we say “In moving, there is blessing” Keep MOVE-ing and be blessed. Success is all yours.

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yrics from the popular Elvis Presley song! Only in this case, the singer is not in love, but he’s about to give a speech in his toastmasters club.

So who do you think of when you are in such a predicament? A savior! As an NLP Master Practitioner and NLP Coach, I have seen several people come out of the anxiety of public speaking, thanks to NLP inspired techniques.

What is NLP?

Reprogram your life through NLP

By DTM Uma Radhakrishnan Past Regional Adviser

“Well, my hands are shaky and my knees are weak, I can't seem to stand on my own two feet! Who do you think of when you have such luck?”

Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP originated in the 1970’s at the University of California. It evolved when Dr. Richard Bandler, a psychologist and John Grinder, a linguist decided to conduct further studies on the way language reflects our neurology.

NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) explores the relationships between how we think (neuro), how we communicate (linguistic) and our patterns of behaviour and emotion (programs).

In other words, NLP is about identifying the ingredients for success, documenting that system

and applying those ingredients to improve the way we interact with the world. By changing the core of our linguistic system (the unconscious), we can create real change and evolution and reach where we want to go.

To help you understand better, think of the last time you achieved something really impressive or a happy moment in the past that that made you feel really good about yourself. This has an instant positive impact or reaction in you without you having to give it any conscious thought. You find yourselves smiling and you immediately start to ‘feel good’ about yourself. Through NLP, we can access these moments consciously where you become more aware of your actions and you’re able to re-invoke those ‘feel good’ moments whenever you want it. This is based on an NLP technique called anchoring. When athletes pump themselves up before a race they are exercising anchors.

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It’s all in the State.

When a speaker who’s not confident about himself goes on stage there are several things plaguing his mind.

The auditory internal dialogue, that little monkey sitting in his head pulling him down saying ‘I’m going to forget’, ‘People are not going to laugh at my jokes’, which because of their negative nature pull the person down. And the thing is un-resourceful states like ‘fear’ have a way of finding themselves into our presentation, where the message would become weak, body language would

are caused by the interaction between your thinking patterns, your physiology and your neurochemicals. Changing any of these can influence your state.To control or manage an un-resourceful state all you have to do is Change the pictures in your mind, Change the activities that you do with the body and Change your Auditory internal dialogue (self-talk), whichever works for you.

A Practical tool Here is a basic NLP technique to help you perform better in Public speaking. Close your eyes and think of a time you were

right fist.

Whenever you need to feel confident,all you need to do is gently close your right fist to invoke that confident state.

You look forward to Public speaking!

The benefits of NLP are wide ranging- It improves interpersonal skills, helps with personal challenges such as Smoking, Drinking, Anger Management, Weight management, Negative Behaviors, Limiting Beliefs, and Fear of failure to name a few. It helps you re-design your life, the way you want. NLP is so simple

“The solution is to ‘control the state’ you are in. When you are in control of the emotional state you are in, the rest will control itself. It’s extremely easy.” become stilted, voice would become high pitched or low. Even if it doesn’t manifest is so many ways, the audience would detect it at an unconscious level and respond accordingly, bored or un-cooperative. It is as if we have set the stage to fail! The solution is to ‘Control the state’ you are in.

When you are in control of the emotional state you are in, the rest will control itself. It is extremely easy. States

extremely confident. Once you have that memory in your mind, ramp up the visuals, sounds and feelings associated with that memory. Make it bigger, brighter, bolder, louder and feel that warmth of the memory coursing through you. Gently close your right fist to anchor that state. Open your eyes. You are confident.You have anchored the confident resourceful state on your

that even children are benefits. It helps them learning patterns, keep focused and motivated states of high confidence.

able to grab its understand their themselves goal and getting into

We all use NLP in our daily life unconsciously.

Learning to use it consciously will re-define your life!

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WHERE DO I GO NOW?

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s a newbie in Toastmasters, a medium ager or a veteran, March 20th for many of us was a red letter day.

PATHWAYS as well all know the brand new education system of TMI was rolled out in the Region.

DTM Sujith Sukumaran Past District Director

While this triggered happiness of freshness for some, for some others it brought chaos and panic, akin to “OMG.. syllabus is changing� anxiety. While there are some who have now got the required revitalization to restart and supercharge towards the finish line (which leads me to love the old name Revitalized Education Program) as it has infused a sense of energy and vitality in the TMs who are halfway down in their journey towards DTM, there are others who have given up and some who are confused. For ease of reading, here is a simple table that may be useful in determining where to go from here especially for the legacy program chasers.

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This is not to discredit the existing program in anyway but to rather give you all perspective on where to go within the existing program. The only roadblock possibly presented is that of being a District Officer. In case you are late for it this year or do not have any credits yet in that regard, do not worry, there is time till June 2020.

The above matrix is a ready reckoner and can definitely help you to choose your course. For me, personally, I will be definitely pursuing Pathways, having already completed my legacy DTM in the traditional path. I have even chosen my first path, that of Presentation Mastery.

Remember that true progress only comes from continuous improvement and purposeful reflections of the journey we have charted thus far!

I wish all of the members across the district the very best in all their communication and leadership pursuits whether in the legacy program or within PATHWAYS

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Choices, Chances, Changes You must make a Choice to take a Chance or your life will never Change.

By DTM Nagabhushan Balaji

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hat is exactly how it all started for me. Basking in the glory of a new job in a bank and enjoying the evenings with lovely walks, I was surprised when I was invited for a formal meeting at Abu Dhabi Chapter.

Little did I realize that by attending this particular meeting, I would be hooked on to it for life. So much so, that during the last two decades, I was asked to choose between work and my passion -Toastmasters in my career by my Seniors. There was no hesitation in my voice – Toastmasters as that is the place which gave me my extended family, friends, career and growth. Starting off as a member, my first exposure to leadership was also at the Abu Dhabi chapter as the Sgt. At Arms of the club during the year 1999-2000. I was also asked to volunteer as one of the Sgt. At Arms for the Gulf Toastmasters Annual Conference in

1999 held in Dubai and I agreed. It was a pleasure to serve members of this great organization. While I delivered my speeches to perfection (thanks to my mentors in those days who ensured that I repeated many projects to work on my areas of improvement), I also started learning the art of leadership.

As I moved to Dubai due to career changes, leadership became a passion. I used to watch leaders in action and wonder as to how they could carry themselves so well; how could they get the support of all the people; what is it in them that people respect them. These questions were answered when I took to leadership at higher levels – like V P Education, VP PR, Treasurer, President, Area Governor and Division Governor. There was one common aspect to answer all these questions and that was SERVICE.

Today, the values of Toastmasters International are four – Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence. However, we in the Abu Dhabi chapter had learnt about them even before anyone had coined these values or even when the electronic word did not exist. We were told that the Ten Promises of Toastmasters International had to be upheld at all times and to do so, the first quality we needed to have was INTEGRITY. The rest followed because with Integrity, we learnt how to RESPECT people, SERVE with a smile and LISTEN to people giving us feedback that we always delivered to Excellence.

Thank you Abu Dhabi Toastmasters for such a beautiful foundation into my Toastmasters Career and all those people who have been the founders of this Organization in the U.A.E right from when the movement started in the year 1995.

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As I moved up the ladder to better pastures and higher levels of leadership, l realized that leadership is all about connecting and influencing. A true leader is one who empowers and develops future leaders.

Serving and empowering people brings me immense happiness and satisfaction. Sometimes I feel I have not done enough and have miles to go.

Toastmasters is an Organization where leaders are made and I am a firm believer of this. I have been made from nothing to something and will continue to grow in the future. I am sure there are a lot many out there who can take this route.

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Change is the only Constant.

Change is the only Constant. If we do not put our effort into changing ourselves, it will come upon us.

Just like how the world has become smaller due to advent of technology, Toastmasters also has brought the world closer with the introduction of Pathways, the online platform. It has been a pleasure to lead District 105 as the Program Quality Director and also the leader of the Pathways Implementation team.

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DTM Nagabhushan Balaji Program Quality Director, 2017-18 District 105, Region 11

As I continue on my leadership journey, I urge each and every one to seek out leaders in your respective clubs, areas and divisions for mentoring and coaching. We need to create Leaders who have the attitude to Serve with Respect, Integrity and Excellence. We need to have leaders who listen to the voice of the members and bring forth quality into everything we do Let us all gear up to create the best of Leaders, Clubs and of course the Best District in the world.

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Passion and Humoroids Chapter Dr. Nasef Dhafari Past Division Governor

It has been always a pleasure and honor to participate in writing a note in the TM materials. When I had been asked to participate in the newsletter of Humoroids Chapter, I knew it; it would be a tough task, not because of writing, but because of what to write.

This chapter has gone through tremendous improvement since its 1st year, back to 2010. I had the privilege of being among those seniors who had launched the chapter, and throughout the past few years, the chapter has seen many difficulties. However, since the last 2 years, Humoroids chapter is witnessing a peak in its performance (members` expansion, quality of meetings, contribution towards Division H performance).

Whenever I think about this phase, I can attribute to ONE reason and that is PASSION. Nothing in life can be achieved without Passion.

Passion nowadays became the key word in people's life and in the societies as well.

To me, as a member of TM community in Abu Dhabi, Humoroids Chapter, is where members and guests can experience the peak passion in its simplest form (simple meetings but with lots of love).

I am quite sure that, Humoroids Chapter will continue to deliver and achieve its objectives in the coming years, because it has a pool of talented members and dedicated leaders to excel with Passion.

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Nothing in life can be achieved without Passion 15

WRITING It's been said that analyzing comedy is a bit like dissecting a frog: you arrive at a greater understanding of the frog but the frog does tend to die in the process, (and hopefully it is not your audience from boredom!)

The first time I attended a live stand-up comedy show was in 2016, in Abu Dhabi. I was out with friends, and someone suggested to try out a new venue that had a standup comedy show. I sat in the first row, and interacted with the comedians, and laughed a lot. I particularly noticed the diversity of the comedians’ backgrounds which was reflected in their jokes. After that night, I got more interested in stand-up comedy. This curiosity lead me to enroll in a comedy writing course that ended up with me performing my first set on stage, next to the comedians I adored that night! When I personally got involved in

stand-up comedy, I realized that there are many misconceptions around it. The most widely spread one is that “stand-up comedy is spontaneous funny talk”. Therefore, if you think you are funny, you can just go on stage “unprepared”, and just say a few jokes, and the crowd will always laugh. Sadly, I have seen over and over again, many new performers, who are actually much funnier than me in real life, fail miserably on stage because of this belief. I know from experience that when you are new in this field, embarrassing yourself in public could either break or make you. However, it does not need to be that dramatic and you don’t have to go through that thorny path. Why not go prepared instead? The easiest way is to learn the basics and rules of comedy writing from a professional. Then combine this with practice, as much as you can, in order to

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COMEDY ~ TM Kholoud Abdullah deliver your set in a more confident manner. What nobody tells you is that comedy writing is the cornerstone of stand-up comedy. Start to gather funny material from your surroundings, be original and be real. Write about something that you really know, and then spend some time on editing, phrasing and rephrasing the words to be in the right length, at the right place, within the right time frame!

Jerry Seinfeld in an interview with the New York Times emphasized that: “Comedy writing is something you don’t see people say they are doing, it’s a secretive thing. In Comedy, what you do is you think of something that is funny, and you go from there.” When asked about his techniques in writing a joke, Jerry Seinfeld explained, “I like the first line to be funny right away. Then I start looking for the connective tissue that gives a tight smooth link

between the jokes. If it’s too long (seconds long), I shave letters out of words, count syllables, more like song writing. Then comes the end that is the hardest part as it should get the biggest laugh! In my world, the (more wrong) inappropriate undeserving something feels, the righter it is to be used in comedy”.

The British comedian, Susan Calman’s advice to new comedy writers is to; “Write often and write lots. Eventually, or at least hopefully, the rubbish will lessen and the gold will increase. Use language deliberately. Details can be so important. If you’re writing a joke about a car, then what type of car is it? Does it help to mention the color? ”She arrived in a puce Nissan Micra” can help an audience get an immediate idea of a character. Concise use of language is a joke writer’s secret power. “Someone came to my door last night

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and indicated I should answer it”, is far less efficient than “Knock, Knock”.

In general, a joke has two main parts which are a set-up and a punchline: ❏

Set - up lines: are the foundation of a joke or the first part of a joke that contains a target assumption to misdirect the audience

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The Punchline phrase: is the statement of a joke producing a sudden humorous effect

Keeping in mind that the gap from set up to punchline has to be of the right distance. In addition to, always put the punch word (the surprise word) at the end, never to be mentioned before.

In more detail, a typical joke can be structured as follows (not all parts must be included other than the set-up and punchline): Premise: a Broad description Set-up: a specific description Punchline: Surprise Tag: Another surprise Act out: acting out the punchline Call back: referencing later in your act In conclusion, I would honestly say that I learned a lot from this journey in stand-up comedy writing and performing. The most important lesson is that TRUTH is funny. In comedy, it’s 80% truth, and 20% lies.

What I used to avoid, as shocking or disturbing news, is becoming now my main source of inspiration, as every cloud has a silver lining. This really helped me not to take everything seriously, and to see things from various perspectives, which reflected positively in my personal life!

Another lesson is that I became a good editor of my own stuff, as well as I began accepting criticism as feedback that gives me insights and room for improvement. Finally, I learned the valuable lesson that “Brevity is the soul of wit” (William Shakespeare). I learned to be concise and pay attention to the rhythm of a sentence. This took more time and hard work but the results were always rewarding!

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DILL BUNS

y r a n i l Cu case Show ao

th Serr Featuring TM Judi

These Buns are soft and delicious and I bet my last dirham that you cant stop at one

Ingredients: 450g flour 1 teaspoon salt 40g (roughly 1/2 cup) yoghurt 20g (roughly 2 tablespoons) sugar 1 cup or less (250g) milk 1 tablespoon oil 1 small egg 1 teaspoon yeast 2-3 tablespoons chopped dill 150 grams (roughly 2 medium potatoes) of mashed potato Add yogurt to the warm milk. Dissolve sugar and yeast to this and leave aside for 10-20 minutes till foamy.

Method: 1.Take a large bowl and add flour, salt, potato, egg, dill and oil. Mix and then add the yeast mixture to it and knead till a soft dough is formed.

2. Cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for 2 – 3 hours.

3. After 2-3 hours, punch the dough and form fist sized balls. Arrange randomly about 1/2 inches apart, in two circular or square baking trays or heat-proof glass dishes. Leave to proof for 1 hour, covered and till they are joined together and look intertwined.

4. Brush with melted butter and then egg yolk on the top and sprinkle with dill or sesame seeds (optional).

5. Pre-heat over to 200 deg. C and bake for about 30 minutes or till they are golden brown. Remove and brush the top of the hot buns with some more melted butter.

6.Serve when warm.

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Africa Calling

TM UDAY SAUL

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had always heard of Africa from many sources that included the wildlife documentaries I watched as a kid about the migration of wildebeest and African big cats.

Then there were the songs. Elton John’s “The circle of life” and Toto’s “Africa” made me wonder what could’ve inspired such powerful music. For years I had been talking about visiting Kenya but most feedback was generally cautionary. Incentivised by a special discount, I finally decided to fly to Nairobi in June 2017.

The very evening I reached Nairobi, I was at the Carnivore restaurant, and had my first taste of Crocodile, Ostrich, and Ox balls. The next morning, we had a vegetarian breakfast – in fact the only vegetarian meal on the trip, which included all meals, usually buffet. As I sat sipped my tea in the outdoor area, I couldn’t help notice how beautiful the weather was, and the sheer size of the trees. Everything seemed to be so much better and bigger in Africa.

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It was a budget group trip, which meant lower prices, and free company . The tourists were grouped into mini-vans that carried up to 6 people and driven to the Maasai Mara for the safari. I was cooped up in a mini-van with two Filipino couples, one of which had a young child too. This worked remarkably well for me actually, since they had absolutely no dietary restrictions and didn’t try to get me to speak other languages. In fact, I rediscovered just how much I liked to talk. We had many interesting discussions, ranging from food to travel to politics. Although the day trips were always fun, sometimes we were often dropped off early back to our hotel. Once even as early as 4pm. I’ll leave you to imagine how the many couples on that trip would’ve spent their evenings, but I was feeling rather bored in my big room. I asked the tour guides, what now? And they told me, well just grab a beer and relax. I took their advice but decided to have more of the poison, watch YouTube music videos, and post-process some of my photos. I also “discovered” a new song, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the Tokens. That song is now my phone’s ringtone and I’m transported back to the Maasai Mara whenever I receive a call.

The trip helped change my perspective of life. On all my other vacation trips, the scenery I was photographing was either inanimate or predictable. However, the sheer spontaneity of the large animals of Africa opened my mind to dreams. Unfortunately, perhaps, we never saw a predator take down prey.

But we had quite a few interesting sightings. We saw a pair of elusive black rhinos. Another time we saw an amorous lion couple, who seemed more graceful than bestial. We also saw the fresh remains of a wildebeest- a grim reminder of life in the jungles; the lions had all but cleaned it up, leaving just a few morsels for the scavengers.There remain very few places on earth where large predators roam free, reminiscent of an earlier pristine age, untarnished by the adverse effects of human civilisation on nature. The Maasai Mara is one of the last frontiers of true wilderness.

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We never saw the predators take down prey, unfortunately, but we did see a few interesting sights.

Yet, even here the ugly effects of climate change can be noticed. There was a shortage of rains that year affecting water level in the river, and thus the whole ecosystem, during my visit. If nothing else, I hope that the inherent love of man for nature will drive us to reduce our harmful impact on the environment, so that we the human species can author a new story, of the preservation of nature as a result of human civilization.

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Those A poem by TM Hemant Mundhra

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write, not for those learned for they have followers of their own, for whom, getting across their point is not a challenge They are the champions of their cause those who move around in literary circles cafes, coterie and conventions a safe distance apart from those who have myriad faces, But instead for people who can hear and still mutely get on with their lives for to be heard one day, gone or here!

Those who journey through life have been far from the best yet consider themselves nonetheless, lived for others, Blessed; life is an open book they give to others without asking, why those whose life is not on Facebook but in the realm of face to face; Those who can write a book Every single day to riches Yet view others riches With no envy or greed I write to awaken my soul Those unheard souls to write; broken, blessed, belittled words, To come alive I soberly promise A day shall never go by Without those in my thoughts When I sit down to write It’s not about me It’s about those in my life.

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The Gallery Promotional posters

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The Gallery New faces

TM Abdel Rahman

TM Balamurali

TM Kholoud Abdullah

TM Uday Saul TM Sanila Basim 24

The Gallery Division H Debate Championship

12 Jan 2018: Area 41 represented by Benoy Joseph, Devlal (and Nikhil) won the Division H Debate championship

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The Gallery

Humoroids Advanced Toastmasters Club Contest

Humorous Speech Winner - TM Benoy

Table Topics Winner - TM Devlal International Speech Winner TM Ceanlia

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The Gallery Area 41 Contest

TM Katrak TM Benoy TM Devlal

TM Ceanlia

Table Topics - 2nd place Winner

Humorous Speech - 2nd place Winner

Evaluation 1st place Winner

International Speech - 3rd place winner Evaluation 3rd place winner

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The Gallery Humoroids Advanced Toastmasters

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW DAD! TM ABHAY!

The Gallery Achievements

Humoroids Advanced Toastmasters won ‘The Talk Up Toastmasters’ - March 2018

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