Communique18

TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club, Mumbai Club # 616631

COMMUNIQUÉ June 2018

Odyssey

Express Engage Evolve

Executive Committee Jan- Jun 18 President VP Education VP Membership

Sameer Patil Nayan Jain Rohan Gupta

VP Public Relations Abhilash Kuvalkar Secretary

Vaibhav Sarkale

Treasurer

Manju Jacob

Sergeant At Arms

Anand Vajjala

Editorial Team

Editorial

Dear Readers, Did you miss us? We missed you too!

Welcome to the 14th Edition of Communique.

This year has been particularly eventful, and for all the right reasons. Be it the 500th meeting celebrations, the International Speech Contest, or the Moments of Truth session, the journey has been embellished with some beautiful memories. Be it a Women's Day Special session, or a Membership Drive, our club has left no stone unturned, in striking a chord with it's audience.

And yes, we've had some really impactful sppeches and performances, which now remain ingrained in our memories, and have been creating waves beyond our club.

As our club goes on to achieve milestone after milestone, we can't help but reminisce on the journey which has brought us here. This voyage has been no less epic than Homer's 'The Odyssey'.In this edition, we go down the memory lanes of our club, delve into the glorious past, and pull out some hidden gems.

Also enjoy the contributions posted by our talented club members; their writing prowess on full display.

We know this edition was long due, and we just hope it was worth the wait.

Happy Reading!

Vaibhav Sarkale

Yusuf Campwala

Anand Mourya

Payal Shivram

With love.

Your Editorial Team

Presidents of honor

Smita Desai July 04 - Dec 04

Jayesh Anandapara Jan 08 - Jun 08

Indrajit Suryavanshi Jul 13 - Dec 13

Chinmaya Dave Jan 14 - June 14

Ankit Jain Jul 16 - Dec 16

Deepak Ramnani Jan 17 - Jun 17

Ajay Bijoor Jul 08 - Jun 09

Mohit Chabbra Jul 12 - Jun 13

Adit Paul Jul 09 - Jun 10

Fadhel Mohammed Jul 10 - Jun 11

Anurag Sinha Jul 11 - Jun 12

Surabhi Shah Jul 14 - Dec 14

Pramod Mohandas Jan 15- Jun 15

Kannagi Mishra Jan 16 - Jun 16

Raunak Kulwal Jul 15- Dec 15

Shruti Sinha Jun 17 - Dec 17

Sameer Patil Jan 18 - Jun 18

Contents 01

President's Message

09

International speech & Table Topics Workshop

02

Immediate Past President's Message

10

Odyssey - The Journey of TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club

03

Super Heroes of our Club

11 14

500 and the Journey continues...

Compete with yourself, not others Article By G.M.Subbramanyam

15

One sided Love affair - Article by Faraz

An Ode to Laziness Poem By Nisarg

16

05

Club Officers Training

06 08

Interviews

International speech & Table Topics contest

Contents 18

A trip to paradise Article by Kunal on club outing

22

How are u?I am CAU! - Article by Manju..

19

The heavenly affair Article By Yashwanth.

24

Absence - Poem by Rushvi Jain..

21

Hues of life - Article

By Krity.

25

A day dedicated to service .. Article by Shruti

26

A passionate cyclist Article by Anand Kumar

28

Wall of fame

27

Our Milestones

President's Message Sameer Patil

When my son was a toddler, it was a struggle getting him dressed. It was more of a struggle keeping him in those clothes. Now he is a ten year old kid who gets dressed without any nudging from his parents. Getting dressed has become a part of his routine. Similarly when you get up in the morning, you never think, "Should I wear clothes today? ", since wearing clothes comes naturally. We have been conditioned to do it as a part of our daily routine. The question that I would like to ask you is, " Is attending Toastmasters sessions a part of your routine ? " Just like Thanos making the superheroes disappear in the latest Avengers movie, with a mere click of his fingers, we often see a few members disappear from our regular Toastmasters sessions. Due to various reasons, the members find it difficult to take out time every week. I feel the main reason for these disappearances is ,'Toastmasters session is not part of your routine'.

As the current ExCom team, we understood that this presented a unique challenge for the overall functioning of the club.

Attrition rate of our club is 40% to 50%. Sadly, members that leave after an infrequent stint with Toastmasters do not realize what they lose out on. It takes at least six to seven months of regular attendance, before a member can realize the tangible benefits of Toastmasters.

I wouldn't reiterate the importance of Toastmasters on our lives and personas. We have experienced it first-hand when having listened to seasoned Toastmasters like Pramod, Faraz , Subbu Sir and me (just kidding).

In this situation, mentors can help you to add Toastmasters in your routine. Mentors can reach out to mentees on a regular basis, understanding their aspirations, setting up goals for their Toastmasters journey. Mentors establish a connection with mentees which gives a human touch; whereas Toastmasters as an organization may not be able to create that human touch. It becomes very easy to urge people to do something if there is a personal bond.

Having said that, let us not put the onus of retaining members completely on mentors. We found that some best practices got lost during the period of transition. For example , few years ago, we used to recognize members reaching important milestones. We could unfortunately not continue this practice deligently, during the current term. Since such motivation is important to encourage a person, I feel this could've been a potential tool to bring down these disappearances. I see this as an area of improvement for our future club leadership.

How can team members improve on being regular attendees? Here is something that worked for me. When I want to incorporate something in my routine, I pretend that there is no other option . Suppose your alarm goes off in the morning.

In that moment you have to decide if you will attend Toastmasters session. Hitting 'Snooze' and lying in bed is not an option.

Another good habit is to mark your calendars. Have a recurring meeting invite for Toastmasters will help you plan and juggle your work assignments and our weekly meetings.

"Excellence is not an act, but a habit", as Will Durant once said. Five years has passed since I delivered my first speech at Toastmasters. Attending Toastmasters session has become a habit; a part of my routine. Is it part of your routine?

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Immediate Past-President Message

Shruti Sinha

As the President (Jun'17- Dec'17) and the IPP (Jan'18-Jun'18), my precept for a great term was, in the words of Henry Ford - 'Coming together, Keeping together and Working together to success.' It was an absolute pleasure to work with the ever enthusiastic and dedicated team of the Executive Committee and the zealous members. Being a leader and a guide, I have thoroughly enjoyed this year's journey and have come to know more about others and myself. There have been immense opportunities to learn while working with the passionate team. I've seen the club work hard, struggle and then get back with double the energy without any push - that's what makes our club special - Resilience! This club has been one of the major reasons I have been a part of TCS for a long time.

The club offers colossal opportunities to build confidence while speaking to an audience. Also, working at different leadership positions teaches one the art of dealing with various kinds of people and handling challenging situations while holding our nerve. An elixir guaranteed to induce growth both professionally and personally, Toastmasters offers a journey nobody should miss. I would encourage every member to make use of these opportunities to improve as a speaker and a leader.

The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.’: This quote summarises what I feel for the club. Encouragement, Support, Friendship, Appreciation, Togetherness, Unity, Growth and Love are some of the many things that I’ve felt with my heart as I have walked through my years at this sanctuary of learning. I've been a beneficiary of the magical transformations that Toastmasters brings with it. Working with the club has never felt like a professional commitment, it is a family that has given me memories to cherish forever. Keep Shining, Team TMTC!

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Super Heroes of our Club

President Sameer Patil : After 5 years , I summoned up the courage to apply for role of president. It goes without saying that it was such an honor and privilege to serve as president of this wonderful club, Initially I was worried if I could fill in the big shoes of some of the great presidents in the past. Then I decided to concentrate on the basics stuff . As a part of this vision, we had set goals for everyone in execute committee, I was fortunate enough to say that everyone in my team exceeded expectations. At the end of the six months , I feel really satisfied that I got a chance to work with such a talented and hard working team.

VP-Education: Nayan Jain: Serving the club as the Vice President Education has turned out to be one of the most educational experiences of my life. It has taught me a good deal about my strengths and weaknesses, and has helped me get to know my fellow club members better. There may be a few things that I did right in my job‌ but what I need to really look at is the mistakes and the unfinished business, and help my successor do what must be done to keep the oldest club in District 98 rocking!

VP-Membership Rohan: "Toastmasters helped me build up Confidence and take challenges head-on. The sheer amount of support that I got from fellow Toastmasters was amazing.Being VP Membership head helped me develop social and leadership skills. It also gave me an opportunity to get to know so many people. Converting a guest into a member was such a delight. This Toastmasters journey has been fruitful and always will be very special to me."

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VP-Public Relations Abhilash: I was afraid to nominate for the role. My mom used to say, if you can't differentiate between green and brown, how can I then be a VPPR? But with friends around you, I guess one should not be afraid of things. Mistakes happen, but you do learn. It helped me to connect with new people.

Treasurer: Manju: I like the Tortoise character from the "Hare and the Tortoise" story. Therefore, it took me 9 long years in Toastmasters to explore an ex-com role.Being a Treasurer, I thought was a cakewalk, but VP Membership did such a wonderful job, that it no longer remained a cake walk :)Most of the nights, after coming back from office, I reminded myself, there is a receipt that needs to be sent, either that night or atleast next morning. Thereafter, the prompt payments to TI and reporting. This work brought a rigour that led me to believe, if I wanted to, I can.

Excom and members were so supportive that I never felt this role as added responsibility. I was fortunate that my first excom experience was a great one. Thank you, club for giving me the opportunity to serve you.

Secretary Vaibhav: It was a great honor to serve as the secretary of this fantastic club. I joined the executive committee to improve upon my organization skills and also because I thought it is the most diverse role in which you get an opportunity to do many things. With the encouragement of all the club members, I discovered many new things about myself, from writing summaries to organizing meetings!

Moreover, this role gave me a very good reason to use my hobbies like drawing to good use. The biggest lesson for me was that you can create a difference irrespective of the position you are in. Thank you TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club for giving me this opportunity to be the proud Secretary of this wonderful club.

Seargent At arms : Mourya.V: Lazziness and indiscipline were the two traits that were deeply embedded in my bones since many years. This role of Sergeant at arm's which came like a surprise guest into my life,helped me to get rid my laziness and kicked off the indiscipline in me .I got an opportunity to meet some distinguished leaders and to work with some invincible mega minds. This journey of six months for this wonderful club as a Sargent at arm's was like a thriller ride .It left an indelible impact on me and my interpersonal communication skills.I wish I had some super powers, so that I could relive this six months, to witness magical moments again.

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Club officers Training

Vaibhav S

The new year of 2018 dawned with the renewed fresh winds in all the Toastmasters Clubs with the newly installed Executive Committees raring to go.

All such budding leaders from clubs in Division A, B and M assembled for the Club Officers Training Program on 15 January at Yantra Park, Thane.

The chief Sergeant at Arms, Neha and the Master of Ceremonies, Nisarg greeted all the participants with a warm welcome address. This was followed by short address by Hasnain, Raunak and Shijin, Directors of Division A,B and M respectively. DTM Leo Paulose educated the audience about the upcoming Pathways programme.

Finally, all the Club Officers were taken to their respective training rooms for their orientation. The programme was fortunate to have the services of veteran Toastmasters as trainers for each role in the Executive Committee. After the session, the participants witnessed a short but creative pitch by the PR team for the upcoming event Eloquence 2018 , the Semi Annual District 98 Conference held at Hyderabad.

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Toastmaster Pramod Mohandas conducted the ‘Judges Training Workshop’, in which he explained in detail about the various aspects of judging speeches for contests.In the final segment of the program, all the role players and trainers were felicitated for their contribution. Our Club won two awards i.e. the ‘Pillar Of the Division Award’ and 7 officers trained award’.

Compete against yourself, not others - GM Subramanyam out the areas which I needed to work upon. In the very next year in August “We are competing against ourselves.” 2016, I stood 2nd in the Club level Evaluation contest and progressed to These were the words of the world’s greatest athlete, Ashton Eaton. He is a Area level where I stood in 3rd two-time Olympic champion, who holds place.Since the 2nd place winner of the Area level winner backed out for the world record in both the decathlon some personal reasons, I got a and indoor heptathlon events, and is chance to compete in the Division the second decathlete to break the 9000 point barrier, with 9039 points. On level Evaluation contest in Oct 2016 August 29, 2015, he beat his own world where I stood in the 3rd place. Though I couldn’t progress further, record with a score of 9045 points.

I strongly believe that you should aim to improve your performance on a consistent basis and not to bother much about the results. Don’t bother if you don’t get any trophies in any competition. Results will come on your way if you improve. Try to compete against yourself and not against others. Enjoy the journey by improving your performance on a consistent basis.

Let me share my Toastmaster’s journey. I joined Mumbai TCS Maitree Toastmasters in March 2012 and I took nearly 4 years to complete the 10 speech projects in the Competent Communications manual. I was a novice when I first competed in Evaluation contest at club level in September 2015. I lost and some of my friends made fun of me. In my opinion, my evaluation speech was reasonably good considering it was my first attempt at a contest. My mentor, Toastmaster Parakh Kukreja pointed

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I was glad that I lost to a veteran Toastmaster Pramod Mohandas, who eventually became a District 98 Evaluation Champion in 2017.

In September 2017 I tried my luck in Humorous Speech Contest and surprisingly stood 1st at the Club level and 2nd at the Area level. In March 2018, I contested in International Speech contests from 3 clubs across 3 different Divisions ( as I was holding triple memberships then ) and lost in all of them. I realized that there are many areas I need to work upon. However, I stood 1st in the Table topics contest at TCS Maitree Club contest which took me to subsequent levels – Area, Division and District. This time I could manage to get through all the levels by securing the 1st position and eventually won the District 98 Table Topics contest at Eloquence, Hyderabad in May 2018.At each level, I identified the areas that I needed to work upon and strived to improve it . I was mentally competing against myself and could improve upon on an

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You must set performance oriented goals rather than result oriented goals for your progress...

incremental basis, step by step. I owe my debt of gratitude to many Toastmasters who shared their wisdom with me at various stages. I sincerely believe that being the District 98 Table Topics Champion is not an end in itself and I have a long way to go .

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Remember you have no control over the performance of others, but have absolute control over your individual performance. You must set performance oriented goals rather than result oriented goals for your progress not only in Toastmaster contests but also in other areas.Let me conclude with the following words of Saina Nehwal, India’s badminton champion : (Source: Book titled “Winning Way” by Anita Bhogle & Harsha Bhogle) “I want to be 100 per cent at every tournament. I’m not concerned about rankings. If I win, my rankings will improve. My focus is on improving my game and fitness. If that happens, everything else follows” What are you waiting for? Participate in all contests and keep improving, no matter whether you win or lose.

The lost song: An Ode to Laziness - Nisarg Shrivats He barters twenty five coins a quire.

With only a coin left, a piece of paper is all I need.

With a flint to start the fire.

Inking the paper would save the song, But that would be another sheet ,so I cede.

It's yet another night of rain, and solitude and serenity.

Shallow waters, and rivers running cold.

But my cabin is still hot, a welcoming amenity.

For I didn't let the logs go damp.

Which I had bought in exchange for gold.

I pick them from the woodchuck's camp.

Dry them dry when the sun is up.

I chop them small and with a chisel and clamp.

And get ready for the inclement night's ire.

At evening comes the paper pup.

The paper is my tinder again.

Hence I lose the song, for I feel the urge.

To burn the lyrics with no disdain.

And in warmth, let my madness surge.

Every night the choice is same, To burn the logs or save a song.

I keep it comfortable; sans shame For the song can be hummed along.

Hence the song is lost, for the warmth the paper provides.

Hope there's a sunny - night soon, Then I would save the paper aside. and wish the ink won't be dry by noon..

A tribute to all the lazy urban balladeers. :-)

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International speech & Table Topics Contest Workshop

Mourya "My dear son, I seeeeeeeee something in you.�

Whenever we watch this video by Dhanajaya Hetiyaracchi on YouTube, we get high and imagine ourselves delivering a world class speech in front of a big crowd and dream of ourselves as a world champion in public speaking.

He narrated with a few short stories, the dos and don'ts while we write a contest speech and how to influence the ISC ballot. He concluded the session by saying, that a good speech is always natural, which is true to your own heart, which can resonate millions of hearts around you.

Soon our dreams are burst like soap bubble, when we start writing our speech for the International Speech Contest and our hopes get buried. To help aspiring Toastmasters in writing a perfect speech for the 'International Speech Contest' and to tackle everyone's nightmare of the so called 'Table Topics Contest', TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club organized a workshop on 24th Feb 2018.

People who attended were very active and energetic despite being a cool Saturday afternoon, not because they were served Red bull, but because it was Pramod Mohandas, who conducted the workshop for International Speech Contest session in Pro-Mode. He gave some brilliant tips and examples to prepare a perfect speech for an International Speech Contest.

The Table Topics Round would certainly create a chill in the spine for many of us, but not after attending Dr. Brillian's session on how to tackle the tricky Table Topics Contest. He used his usual style of humor to share a few priceless tips, to face a table topic.

He introduced the concept of making a bridge between the topic given, and a topic where the speaker can comfortably speak. He taught us how to highjack a topic, when we have no clue of what the topic is. He conducted a mock Table Topics session, where some of our club members participated. He finally wrapped up by cautioning the participants, of a few mistakes which we commonly make when we give an impromptu speech.

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The session ended with a Vote of Thanks speech by our beloved President.

Cover Story

Odyssey

The story of a club...

We express. We Engage. We Evolve. The journey of TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club has indeed been a breathtaking one. As the club enters into its 15 year, our Editorial team dug down in the archives of history to understand the story of initial days of our club, It is not only a story of strife and struggles but also a story of their fun and frolic too.But above all, it is the story of leaders who lead from the front.

Who was the first President of TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club ? Where are founder members and reviving members now ? Our trio of Mourya, Payal and Yusuf find out...

Add heading 10

Adit Paul (DTM) Adit Paul's happiness knew no bounds when he came to know that somebody from his beloved club had tried to contact him after such a long time. He is a distinguished Toastmaster and a senior bid Manager with TCS. He was the President of our club from July-December 2009. Presented below are excerpts from a short interview of Adit with Mourya...

If you were to describe your Toastmasters journey in one word, it would be...?

Broadening.

What are some acheivements which you look back on with nostalgia, throughout your Toastmasters experience?

There are so many that it all come glittering to me now. Be it the first time we were Presidents Distinguished Club, or be it the first time I represented the club at the District level, or when I became the Division Governor at age 25.

There are so many, but the next has to be receiving the DTM plaque in hand. All the hard work just makes it all worth it.

How has the Toastmasters experience helped you in your career?

Toastmasters has been for me a big learning and enriching experience. Personally and professionally it has aided in so many situations. It opened up a whole new world of people and culture which broadens one's perspective of the world. It has helped me interact with multiple professionals other than IT, and that aids in discussions with customers and negotiations.

to let associates attend the Toastmasters meetings. And in the initial stages, many would approach me by saying that they want to improve English speaking skills, and is this personally development classes and all such questions.. :-) We had to be patient to guide them about the benefits of the forum. It was worrying, when someone asked me if they will get toast in the session.. ;) How have you been able to manage Toastmasters activities along with your professional commitments?

It was alright at the start to juggle both work and TM. It was later when I started taking up roles like President of the Club, Area Governor, followed by Division Governor, that a lot of responsibility started coming up. Though it was a task, the multitaksing enabled me to work more efficiently and manage multiple projects at once. Even my

Do share with us some interesting events from the TCS Maitree Club.

I started with TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club in 2007, when we were probably about 15-30 members strong. I still remember fighting it out with Project leaders,

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managers took notice of efforts in both places, and realized that I had the potential to take up larger responsibilities at work.

What is your advice for budding Toastmasters who aspire to become champions in public speaking and leadership?

The TM program in my opinion is a very stable and enriching journey. It's a well structured program that gives enough material and practical experience for every individual to excel. Best advice would be to explore other community clubs which have good speakers. Since they come from non-IT backgrounds, it helps broaden our perspective. Stick to a good mentor, and attend atleast once in a while a community club meeting. It will go a long way.

Anurag Adit PaulSinha (DTM) Anurag Sinha Sir is the man who is credited for pulling the club out of abyss and giving it another lifeline when the club had briefly become nonoperational till 2011. He was president of the club from July 2011 to June 2012. What was the journey like ? Toastmaster Payal finds out...

We at toastmasters all know you as the person who received the club from stagnant period. Can you please tell us if you were a part of the club before that ?

How exactly did the thought come to your mind ? Was it your idea alone or there were few other people ?

When I joined the club, Toastmasters club was active in 6 offices but none were working smoothly. One fine Saturday, the session was kept in YP Thane and when I reached almost 30 minutes late (due to heavy traffic), I was the 8th person to enter the room.

Before this I had attended a session in Mulund Toastmasters Club just to understand how meetings are conducted. I was introduced by Jayesh Anandpara (who was reporting to my boss Nikhil), to Toastmasters Club. I saw great value in this initiative, so inspired most of Malad team members and later Powai / Borivali people to join the Club.

We brought the culture of Thursday 9:30 meeting....and Meeting would start dot on time...even during heaviest of he rainy day.People used to commit for speeches for next session in that very session.

I have myself benefited a lot from Toastmasters. Communication, organizing, planning, introspections, negotiation, handling crisis situation, risk assessment and planning for Plan B, networking ...the list goes on. You Sir can you please tell us about how name a field of management, the club exactly you used to encourage the makes you learn it unknowingly. To people to join toastmasters ? give you an example Raunak had an Apart from improving quality of meetings, opportunity to hold full district we did roadshows in some offices, conference with 400 members at worked on awards from Toastmasters Indore. . club, were lucky to get enthusiasts which resulted into club success.

Sir, can you please tell us about People in community club recognised our any memorable incident you effort when Rajiv Perumal and Anushree remember in relation to Pandey qualified to compete in Division toastmasters journey ? contest. Anushree also gave TEST The kind of speeches we have heard SPEECH in DISTRICT competition (that in our sessions , make us learn lot time it was District 98 - India Srilanka about life. Vaibhavi gave a speech on combined). It was an honor for our club. color of the pills (medicine). Do you think someone can give a speech Is there any toastmaster whom you such a small daily routine item? Or admire the most ? you can have speech as great as Difficult to name any one. Mohit "Journey of Crossing English Chabbra, very enthusiastic . He was VP Channel" which almost required 2-3 Education when I was President. The years of effort. Unknowingly, I have standard of meetings have gone up since promoted Toastmasters in TCS Pune, I left. But people like Chinmay, Pramod, Nagpur and Gandhinagar.

Can you please tell us about Kannagi, Rounak, Ankit Jain, Inderjeet Toastmasters has helped me make your journey at toastmasters.

Suryavanshi, Surbhi Kinariwala, Surbhi great friends, grow in personal and Have you been a part of any Srivastava, Vashika Srivastava and even Professional life. other club apart from TMTC ? current Excomm Sameer, Sai (I may not Main contribution i would say was know all names) have done wonderful People ask me what have you gained to bring in discipline in club job in his journey. (Please excuse me if i from Toastmasters. My reply is, meetings, they started on time, have missed any name) Toastmasters journey cannot be agenda was discussed a day prior. Not to mention Yasha Nanda, Vaibhavi, explained but has to be There were meetings with 6 Shaheen, Swatimala, Saurabh helped in EXPERIENCED. speeches and we did not have initial days of Toastmasters. time for table topics. Membership from 25 went upto 86. I got good You are in such a big leadership role support of Adit Paul and Mohd yourself. Can you please tell, for the Fadhel. . I had attended session benefit of the new joiners, how of Mumbai and Bombay toastmasters helps them in thier Toastmasters to get the feel of leadership skills? their sessions and adopted a lot of learnings 12

Pramod Mohandas In this interview with Mourya, our newly appointed District Marketing Officer shared his thoughts on his Toastmasters journey, and how it has made a difference to his life...

When do you consider yourself as success ?

It is easy to perceive success as a destination. Success for me has to be a journey where every checkpoint makes me realize that there is so much more to explore and achieve.

Eventually, success has become a perpetual process of learning and sharing. The more you share, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the more checkpoints you cross.

Can we know a few highlights that make you nostalgic,in this journey of 5 years as a toastmaster ?

Delivering my first speech The Ice Breaker (In the Web of Life) at our club meeting will always be a special memory. Representing the club at contests at the District Conferences has been a fulfilling experience. It has played a vital role in grooming me to become a good Toastmaster and a better person. First role in the club executive committee as Vice President Education, being sworn in as the President in the succeeding term, working in the first team of District 98 as an Area Director; well, these are some memories that always make me smile.

I always have had a voracious appetite for reading..It started with the ever so wonderful Amar Chitra Katha, Panchatantra stories. The world of comics led me to to the Marvels and DCs of the world. The second decade of my life saw the influx of the Twains, Stevensons, Dumas which graduated to the Archers, Orwells and Tolkiens. In the recent years its all about non-fiction for me. The current book that I am reading is Phantoms in the Brain by Sandra Blakeslee and Vilayanur S Ramachandran. I would strongly recommend this book to the students of the human mind.

What is the one characteristic that you believe,every leader should posses?

A leader should be humble. It is only with the attitude of unwavering humility that one realizes his true potential to improve and progress. It also makes you appreciate people around you more; eventually helps you understand them well, work with them better and align all the thoughts as a true leader.

After serving at club excom,What made to serve for higher leadership roles? How it helped you as a person to get a different perspective?

It's all about graduating to the next level and to take the opportunity to learn to serve as a better leader. More significantly, Toastmasters gave me a What's Pramod Mohandas's platform where I can experiment and favourite book ? explore leadership, which is not possible Without a doubt it is the in real life. It helped me to sharpen skills Competent Communication like planning, time management, Manual. Okay I’m kidding! I interpersonal communication, delegation wouldn’t be fair if I name one book and groom myself to be a better leader. here. Being an intrigued soul,

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What were the thoughts that were running in your mind,when you were holding District 98's best evaluator trophy?

When I heard my name called out loud as the winner, there was a bit of a blur in my mind initially followed by a surge of happiness. When I walked towards the stage, I saw the audience standing and applauding,my friends, my mentors and everyone I learned from over the years. It was very satisying to have them all present at that moment. As I held the trophy on the stage, I felt truly blessed to have such love and affection from everyone. When I saw them enjoying the moment of victory more than I did, it only reinforced that the joy of celebrating together far outweighs the happiness of winning alone.

500 and the Journey continues..... ~ Yusuf

The literal icing on the cake was a cake, which the club members cut and sang along. It was followed by a music session, where the club members showed off their groovy dance moves. The members gorged at the variety of food the restaurant had to offer. Some went ahead and juggled the lunch and the dancing, literally dancing with the food plates in their hand.

TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club celebrated its 500th anniversary, with a full fledged party on the 7th of April 2018. To celebrate this colossal milestone, the club members assembled at 'Village' restaurant in Thane, for a fun filled celebration, and had a whale of a time.

The host for the session, TM Saikumar, started off the meeting in elan, and was followed by TM Sunil's beautiful Ice Breaker. Then came up segments which were arranged specially for the occasion.

TM Manju hosted a fun filled awards segment, with award categories which left the audience in splits.

TM Vaibhav hosted a Games section which kept the participants on their feet, and added to the thrill of the session. TM Maurya showcased his humorous talent, by delivering a Standup Comedy segment, which had the audience crying with laughter. From the breathless to the Retro, the fab Five of Yashwant, Nayan, Pramod, Vimarsh with the Guitar Maestro Nisarg left the audience mesmerized.

When it came time to wrap up and call it a day, no one was ready to leave the venue; the gossip, music and revelry continued. The restaurant had to beg us to leave the place. What else do you expect, when you put a bunch of Toastmasters in a social situation?

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A One sided love affair

Faraz

We all have heard about one-sided love affairs, we all have been in one at some point in our lives, haven't we? One-sided love sucks. Giving your everything and not getting any returns, hurts. After a certain point you stop loving what cannot love you back. But has this got anything to do with Toastmasters?

When I was pushing myself I was trying to love something that was not meant for me.

Maybe humor isn't my forte, but later I realized sarcasm is. I fill my speeches with subtle humor and sarcasm to evoke interest and it has worked for me well.

I joined Toastmasters to break free from the monotony of work and be a part of this amazing platform that helps me grow. But little did I know that one day I will lose my heart and fall in love. Yes! I fell in love with the charm of Toastmasters,theatrics, humor and the decorum.

At our meetings, we try so hard to do a role in a certain way because we have seen others do it. May be you always quote Shakespeare out of context to begin your speech which makes no sense to others, give metaphorical evaluations comparing every speech with a cake rather than focusing on helping your speaker improve, or in ExComm roles you put your personal opinions above the rule book or for the greater good of the club which may infact be unhealthy.

I wanted to be popular and be seen as a great communicator. One thing that I found common in all great communicators was the effective use of humor, to mesmerize the audience. Being a huge fan of standup, I always knew I had a funny bone in me and a great sense of humor until I picked up the humorously speaking manual to win the humorous speech contest.

Forget about doing well in the contest, I barely managed to make a small audience laugh at my club meetings. The jokes that I fell in love with writing, nobody got them. All those hours of effort put in, couldn't love me back. It was like trying hard to make a relationship work, taking her on a date and then being called just a "good friend".

Find that thing which you've consciously or unconsciously fallen in love with. Are they good for a long term relationship? Does it uplift you as a leader or as a speaker or does it bring you down?

Its time to let go of those one-sided love affairs, now more than ever. But before you do that as Lana Del Ray would sing it, "Kiss me hard before you go."

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International speech & Table Topics Contest

Payal

TCS Maitree Toastmasters organized its International Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest on 25th March, TCS Yantra Park. After a feast of samosa and sandwiches complimented with beverages, the Master of Ceremonies, Suhasini Sharma introduced the Contest Chairs of the Speech Contest and Table Topics, Rohan Gupta and Vimarsh Jani.

They invited the contestants to come forward and choose a card which would decide the order in which they were to speak. The International Speech Contest began and was followed by the Table Topics Contest with the topic being "Maturity comes with experience and not age". All the contestants did a wonderful job. We witnessed few of the finest speakers of TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club

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The contestants breezed through with utmost confidence and perfection leading to zero disqualification. The chief judge Pramod Mohandas had coordinated and briefed all the contest role players and took care that the contest went smoothly. The contest ended with felicitating the role players and participants.

Winners of TCS maitree toastmasters club's International speech contest were: 1. Faraz Mohammed 2. Shruti Sinha 3. GM Subramanyam

Winners of TCS maitree toastmasters club's Table topics contest were: 1. GM Subramanyam 2. Shruti Sinha 3. Sonal Joshi The Winners of both the rounds qualified to contest in Illuminate 2018, which was the area level contest.

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A Trip to Paradise

Kunal

While working a regular 9 to 5 job, it's often necessary that we break routine. For most people working in TCS , weekends are spent lying across the bed with eyes shut, recovering from the grind of the week that has passed.

However on June 9, 2018 the TCS Toastmasters Group decided to break custom and planned a one day get away at Pavna Huts, Lonavala.

The planning for the same was done adequately by Nayan Jain and the payments were coordinated by Rohan Gupta. The night before saw heavy rainfall which led to a few members backing out. Yet, 32 people decided to stick to the plan.

The route leading up to the picnic was nothing short of entertaining. Antaakshari and dumb charades were the choice of activities to pass the time.

Hungry, the group reached Pavna Huts in the morning at 10:30 a.m. The place was an 8 acre plot of land managed by a sole proprietor who had provided employment to a few elderly people working there.

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The higlight of the day was watersports and Kayaking (albeit in 3 feet shallow water). While some people experimented with some wrestling moves, others chose to be hoisted on the shoulders of another.

Parakh Kukreja acted as the photographer for the day. The group also held a competition for the most time spent holding breath underwater. Elimination rounds took place and Pramod Mohandas, Kunal Kher and Anjali Sharma finished respectively in first, second, and third place. In the evening, the group decided on a game of Khokho while a few others decided to pass the time playing cards. The host at Pavana Huts decided to serve pakoras which everyone enjoyed.Then it was time to bid the place goodbye, and thus came to an end, a memorable trip indeed.

The trip was considered successful given that no one went missing or was injured on the trip. Experts are still arguing whether this counts as the 8th wonder of the world. :-)How soon will the group hold it's next trip?

That's anybody's guess...

The Heavenly Affair !

Yashwanth

Heaven, in my opinion since my childhood was just a fantasy. But as I grew up, my tryst with night sky made me realize that it's nowhere but in the dark sky at night filled with tiny glittering Stars, Galaxies, Clusters and our own Solar family members called Planets.

As I inculcated the hobby of stargazing, I started to lay down on my terrace in the heavenly affair and look at various stars and and understand the constellations. The much excited moment for me was when I spotted the International Space Station with naked eye with help of https://spotthestation.nasa.gov in my early days of stargazing. As I was blossoming to better myself in this affair, I explored an app Heavens-Above which helped me to spot the ISS quite accurately. It also aided me to locate the Chinese Space Stations Tiangong1 (Disintegrated on 2nd April, 2018) and Tiangong-2, the planets - Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, very rarely visible Mercury and our next home in heavens - the Mars.

Toastmasters introduced me to a bunch of like-minded heavenlovers. Vimarsh accompanied me to a long awaited Stargazing Event organized by a club of amateur

astronomers, Khagol Mandal at Saguna Baug near Neral, 83 km from Mumbai-South on Apr 14th, 2018. That night was the night which I had been waiting for years in my heavenly affair. The most exciting moment for me on that night was to spot the ISS through my Heavens-Above app and to help the fellow Stargazers witness the biggest man-made construction in the space.

I mentioned my first stargazing experience in one of my speeches and interestingly received very positive response and found some space enthusiasts from our club who were so eager to make it to the very next stargazing event.

The Toastmasters cum Spacelovers of our club, Faraz, Vaibhav, Mansi, Rohan, Keya, Anand Mourya, Ritu and Lakshmi packed their bags with all the necessary arrangement like snacks, yummy dinner and mats. I accompanied them on demand as I was supposed to act a guide for them .

The event started with the telescopic view of the our sister planet, Venus which is also called the Evening Star followed by the introduction of different telescopes

by Khagol Mandal's president Mr.

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Pradeep Nayak. He located various significantly visible stars with the aid of a laser and explained them with the concept of constellations with their corresponding Sanskrit analogy. The Orion, Auriga, Scorpion, Ursa Major, Hydra,Aquila, Cygnus, Bootes, Leo and Libra are a few of many constellations which we could clearly observe with the help of the event guides and young volunteers of the club throughout the night.

Who don't want to see the King of the Planets - Jupiter's beautiful bands and Saturn's stunning rings and probably our next home, the Red Planet - Mars? We pointed our eye towards those heavenly worlds through the telescopic lens and fell in love in the so called heavenly affair. đ&#x;˜? The *Star Clusters and Nebulae* were add-on to our Stargazing feast of the beautiful night.

The event was not just like an astronomical event but a picnic indeed. The time we spent sharing all the delicious homemade dishes became an unforgettable supper.

This curious bunch of space enthusiasts were so much engraved in the Space talks and Q&A sessions to find answers to their mind boggling queries on space.

Each moment of the night was so memorable that I cherish would forever. The feel of laying down on a mat under the open dark sky filled with adorable and glittering jewels - the Stars, our neighboring worlds - the Planets was a perfect heavenly affair for me.

Now I can sense that you too wish to lay down under the dark sky and experience such a heavenly affair, right? đ&#x;˜‰ So don't worry! Your terrace is not too far from you. OK, you want more peace and don't want to miss many stars? Just make a plan. Our Mother Earth has already blessed us with some beautiful places to satisfy our craving for this *Heavenly Affair!*!

constellations with their corresponding Sanskrit analogy.

About Khagol The Orion, Auriga, Scorpion, Ursa Mandal Major, Hydra,Aquila, Cygnus, Bootes, Leo and Libra* are a few of Khagol Mandal is an many constellations which we could organization of amateur clearly observe with the help of the astronomers in Mumbai, India. event guides and young volunteers Established in 1985 by handful of the club throughout the night. of astronomy enthusiasts, the organization has grown into a Who don't want to see the King of membership of 1000+ within the Planets - Jupiter's beautiful past 24 years. bands and Saturn's stunning rings and probably our next home, the Khagol Mangal organises Night Red Planet - Mars? We pointed our Sky observation sessions at eye towards those heavenly worlds regularly in Suguna Park in through the telescopic lens and fell Neral. These are night long in love in the so called heavenly shows in which people are affair. đ&#x;˜? The *Star Clusters and introduced to basic concepts of Nebulae* were add-on to our Astronomy and also include Stargazing feast of the beautiful observations of Planets, night. important stars using powerful telescopes.

For more information visit http://khagolmandal.com/

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Hues of Life...

Kirty Nanda

I stepped into Mumbai in August 2014, after my wedding. The journey from Bengaluru to Mumbai was full of excitement and curiosity. Of course, I had heard of Mumbai before, from my friends and fiancée but never had a chance to witness it myself.

The moment I landed at the airport, I could get a sense of its urban vibe, the fast paced life and the buzz. I am a big Bollywood fan and the mention of “Bombay” as it was formerly known in most of the movies had always increased my urge to know about this city. I used to wonder why is it referred to as “The City of Dreams”, “ The City which never sleeps” etc. and why is it so different than any other city, till I got to know it myself.

IMumbai is always on the move! But what is it which keeps the city awake when everybody else dozes off?

Isn’t it ironic that “The City Of Dreams” that turns dreams to reality never sleeps itself! The city embraces all with open arms whoever it may be. One can discover people of all genre flocking into the city everyday and it’s a delight to hear stories of people from varied walks of life and their never ending journeys. It’s the survival of the fittest attitude that works in Mumbai.

One more thing which I always wanted to experience was the Monsoon. Yes ! you heard it right..

Mumbai Rains is a thrill to watch and believe me Mumbai is enchanting during the monsoons. It’s truly a photographer’s delight to capture the

verdant terrain, waterfalls, clouds and the mist.I just love it! Heading out on a long drive during monsoons and making a stop-over on the highway, sipping cutting chai along with vada pao and spicy sweet corn would make your day. Although it rains incessantly here but the most amazing part is that, life neither stops nor halts. People move on with the same pace and enthusiasm as always. Irrespective of whether you are in love with this city or not, Mumbai monsoon will make you fall head over heels.

Mumbai being the financial capital and the entertainment hub, each one is assiduous towards achieving their goal. They work hard and party even harder! :-) Night life, pubs and discotheques keeps the city rocking till wee hours of the morning amidst the regular drudgery! So no matter what time you enter the city, the electrifying energy that the city sparks out will astonish you in and out. Commuting is a challenge but local trains serve as the lifeline of the city. Embarking and disembarking of the humongous crowd is a sight to watch.

Whether you like history, shopping, beaches, culture… the city has something to offer to each.

I might have come here for a reason but it is the acceptance and warmth of the city that has carved a niche in my heart and now I feel I am a “Mumbaikar” and this is “Aamchi Mumbai” …:-)

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How are you ? I am CAU !

Manju Susan Jacob

“Woman, do you know the prowess in you, Every time you pick up the baton, To fight against odds, to prove yourself, Do you know, that you have it in you?

To set everything right.

It’s within you my dear woman To surge forward and excel in whatever you do”

2. My daily routine begins at 4 am with no device ringing alarms except for the buggy alarm in my semi-conscious mind that jerks me out of my sleep. I jump out of the bed with a screeching brake “Am, I late? Nope, it’s the same old time.”

Hurricane’ who is in high school. Make sure he is ready with everything he needs. After hugging him and say goodbye for the day, get on board to wake up lil” Tsunami”. Sleepy eyes cuddling says “Mommy, don’t go to office today. I no go to school, we play” I say yes that’s a 3. Tiptoe on my toes, so as not to wonderful idea, but how will you get wake up lil toddler ‘Tsunami’. Before your toys for playing. I need to go to I step out of the bed, make sure he office to get money to buy you toys. is sleeping tight and cozy. Get on to These were the lines that my soul my routine activities, get my kitchen whispered out, when I felt my energy levels going down the drain at the end ready, pack the “dabbas”, then wake up my ‘ of the day. Few more meetings to attend and close. Whew! What a hectic ” That sounds logical, he day. lets me go. (again, he I am used to hearing our TCS US goes by his mom for that banking customers say “BAU trait, you can win such (Business as Usual)” when asked, species over only if it “How is life?”. When I am being asked sounds logical) this same question, I reply, “CAU (Crazy as Usual)”.

4. After I have left lil Now, do I need to explain why my life ‘Tsunami’ at the day always seems to be “Crazy as Usual”? care, rush to get my 1st Would that not be the case with all of mode of humble you who are in the same boat as me, transport- the auto where the boat description is as rickshaw from house to follows: 1. A mother of 2 crazy boys whom I fondly call as Tsunami and Hurricane.

They are notorious for their innovative ways to bring the house down.

Probably got the genes from me, who else? ;-)

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I wonder if he had come out with his theory of “Survival of the Fittest” after travelling in the VC local (VirarChurchgate local). Getting into a VirarChurchgate local train (VC local from henceforth) is a lifetime experience. I am a believer of ‘no wastage of fuel’ hence driving kills me more than the thrill of the VC local. After a ride of almost 1 hour, I sprint, hop, jump, jog (no wonder I wear my fully covered shoes sometimes to office – 1. a great defense mechanism of not getting stamped with those high heeled pointed shoes 2. Morning shoes are always good for jogging your way to office – Fit4Life). I reach my 3rd mode of transport “The Metro” - a far better one than the 2nd mode, since they have doors that close and make sure you are not hanging out of the train.

Fifteen minutes ride and I again hop, skip, jump and whiz past through long queues. Make it to the final leg of my daily journey that again ends with the 4th mode of humble transport – the auto rickshaw from the metro to the office. There finishes the 2 to 3 hours one-way journey to office. Whoa! I don't know if you have seen anyone as elated as me rather than famished by this journey. A sense of victory sweeps across my mind having won over the first part of the day as I reach my office

5. On the dot, for the meeting to begin. Getting the logistics in place, making sure all the nitty-gritties are taken care of. Back-to back calls, didn’t even realize it was lunch time till the bio-clock reminded me of my hunger. Had a speedy lunch, back to my desk to finish off the reminders of the day.

6. Never ending tasks, day long meetings. Aha! I thought the day is finally ending but here comes another call and another report to be done. Finally, I hear someone standing behind me calling, “Madam, ladies cannot stay after 8:30 pm in the office.” I smirk and say, “Thanks” to the Security Personnel for reminding, hurriedly pack my bags. A hop, a skip, a jump, as I hum my favorite melody down the office stairs to the humdrum of the Mumbai office rush back home.

7. By God’s grace, my lil ones were back home safe from their schools and day care... ready to spend whatsoever their few precious moments of the leftover night with their “CAU” mommy.

That was a peek into the daily life

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of any working parent who lives her life – ‘Crazy as Usual’ taking all in her stride as she walks past the lobby with her head held high of what she has achieved. She is reminded every time of all those wonderful women who has touched her lives. Be it the one who carried her in the womb, or the ever-smiling vegetable lady vendor down the street, or the office lady security personnel who exudes pride in her profession at the end of day….and the list goes on. Salute to all those ladies she tells herself. “It’s because of you, who I am and it’s because of me, where I am".

Her reflections echoed back “It’s within you to get inspired and keep moving”.

This piece of writing, I dedicate, to the One who continues to inspire me.

Absence ~ Rushvi Jain

When they leave, it's a whole new ball game Questions on how and who How do you move on Who do you talk to How long will it take And who will be there How many more will leave And who is the one this time?

Whatever happened to constants and pinky swears Are you prepared for this Oh, you never were and never will be It'll make you cry.

And take everything that's inside of you to go to the same places And act like nothing ever happened It's just the same But it's not They are in different cities, states and countries Places you stepped together, clicked a zillion selfies and later hated each one of them Movies you watched and songs you danced together How the eyes did the talking when words weren't enough It's been months and you don't know why Sometimes you cry very hard And the next day, you spot a new person in the same place This person will leave soon And this shall pass too.

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A Day Dedicated to Service - Shruti “They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.” ~ Swami Vivekanand Not all days offer us an opportunity to live for others, but I believe if such a day is found, we must never let go of it. One such opportunity knocked our doors when we received a mail from TCS CSR team about a volunteering initiative for desilting work at the ‘Pathardi’ village in the Palghar district. A CMO of Maharashtra initiative, Sahabhag (social responsibility cell), invited people to be a part of the team that would help in desilting of a bund to increase the water storage capacity of the water scarce village.

Three of our Toastmasters – Anand Deethi, Sukanta Saha and myself registered for this volunteering work and joined hands in the unique experience.

The afternoon of 19th May, saw about a hundred volunteers from various parts of the state, embark on a journey which would change their perspective of the relationship between humans and nature.

As our bus drove through the picturesque landscape nestled in the wooded hills, we engaged in conversations with people who were going to be our ‘team’ for the next two days. Hearting exchanges of stories and loud laughs filled the bus and forced me to ponder – Why do we not meet new people more often? Anyway, even before my thoughts could lead me to a conclusion, an arcane looking village popped it’s head up through the window and the bus came to a sudden halt. We were asked to disembark and were guided to the ‘site’. A huge, but unprepared bund is what we were supposed to desilt manually.

Our instructor gave clear guidelines as to how the work would start. He added that we couldn’t waste time as the work was huge. However, our enthusiasm was just too much for any timeline to surpass it. Hence, we, rather deferentially, followed the orders and arranged ourselves quickly in three neat lines – two for carrying filled up gamelas (Plastic containers to carry the soil) and one for passing down the empty ones, while others took turns to dig up the earth with spades.After three hours of hard work, we headed to our hotels for dinner and rest. Next day we were up at sunrise for another day of work, but this time it was harder as we had to work in the sun. However, the team’s spirit was never down. As one got tired, the other was ready to take her/his place. With the periodic call of ‘Ganpati Bappa Mourya!’, our spades kept hitting the earth and we worked relentlessly with the villagers. After the end of five continuous hours, we stopped to see what we had done, and lo! we had desilted a substantial part of the land, enough to cater to the needs of the villagers for the coming months!

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Every great work has an award. No points for guessing ours! The village women treated us to a sumptuous, delicious rustic meal and we couldn’t ask for more! After a ‘Thank You’ speech from the organizers and certificate distribution, we bid adieu to Pathardi and got back into our buses for the return journey.

This gratifying and humbling task made me realize - how much is to be done, and how little we do; but only if we continue with such work, we can certainly do a lot. Even one weekend can positively impact the lives of tribals and other people who don’t have enough.

After all, someone did say – ‘We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone!’

A Passionate cyclist ~ Anand Kumar Deethi

Life is like riding a bicycle, to stay balanced you must keep moving it. The famous physicist Albert Einstein reportedly used a wonderful simile that compared riding a cycle with living successfully. People are like bicycles. They can keep their balance only as long as they keep moving. With the similar motive, on 25th Feb 2018, Saksham had organized Mumbai’s largest cyclothon event at Marine drive. Saksham Cyclothon is India’s Premier Cyclothon, which aims to create awareness among the people about the fuel conservation, environment protection and promote the use of cycle for short distances, which will not only save fuel but also help in creating a greener environment, preserving the biodiversity and better health conditions.

The spectacular event witnessed over 10,000+ participants across Mumbai including young, old, professionals and people from all walk of life. The event had in 3 categories – Amateur Men – 28 Kms Amateure Women – 28 Kms meant for professionals while Green ride - 8 Kms was meant for beginners.

India’s first formula one racing Narain Karthikeyan along with model, actor, fitness promoter Milind Soman are the celebrities who graced the grand occasion as Chief Guest. Although I had much wonderful cycling experience before, what was class apart about this event was paddling alongside of beautiful queen’s neckless promenade. The presences of the creeping sound of flamingo, the crystal clear sky and the splashes of the Arabian Sea waves was quite evident, because of the fact the roads were completely blocked for other pollutant vehicles for a while. Surely the nearby resident must had a sign of relief from the constant honking and movement of vehicles, at least for few hours. While the event flagged off on time,

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just like our Toastmasters meeting, it was enthralling to witness the camaraderie so many people racing along with their bikes in fluorescent Ts, helmet and padding other safety elements. Paddling at South Bombay has always been prestigious to me, and this time I managed to finish 8 Km race in 20 min, that was another feat of achievement for me. The event in the end was peppered with zumba dance, luck draws, refreshment for participants and the best part was a couple of selfie with Milind Soman�.

Cycling has always amused me. If someone asks me to choose between Harley Davidson and Montara Cycle, I would always choose Montra Cycle. Cycling has many advantages, the research says that every one hour you ride a cycle, you get an hour back.

Besides that some of the amazing facts about the cycling are it doesn’t cause noise or air pollution, that means you can breathe fresh air, it toughens your muscles, reduces stress, expands your lungs, gives bones of steel, strengthen your heart, shapes your whole body, finally it burns fat, not fuel thereby contributing as pocket friendly vehicle. Moreover, you do not have to worry about the soaring petrol and diesel prices.

Our Milestones Ganapati Gadad Trek

Quad Meet

On 20 Aug 2017, a nineteen member Gung-Ho group of TCS Maitree Toastmasters Club started for a trek to the famous Ganapati Gadad Caves. A comparatively easy ascent turned into a rather tough one as the rains pounded incessantly. However, it added to the overdose of fun we had and was worth reaching the scenic head of the waterfall next to the caves.

The four big clubs of mumbai - TCS Maitree, Capgemini, Accenture and KJSIMSR came together to conduct this wonderful meet on 11th Nov 2017. As usual, our club swept away all the major awards as Best Role player was grabbed by Grammarian Nayan, Best Evaluator by Faraz and Best Speaker by Nisarg.

Pramod Mohandas took a session on 'Art of Communication In Corporate Life.'

Tall Tales Contest Hindi Session What is going to be remembered as a 'Benchmark' in the history of our club, on 6th October 2017 we conducted our club's first 'Hindi' session. Right from the speeches to the scripts of the role players, everything was recited in hindi. The evaluators had a tough, but fun time presenting their evaluations while the members enjoyed the meeting dressed in traditional attire! We wish for more such sessions in the coming future.

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1st December 2017 saw the club conducting it's first ever 'Tall- Tales' contest. The contestants were allowed to go to another level of crazy with their speeches, and so they did! With wonderfully spun tall tales the speakers left the audience in splits. While Yashwanth and Deepak were the runner-ups, Faraz emerged as the winner of this contest

Outdoor Session

On 16 Dec 2017 TCS Maitree TM club conducted their first ever Outdoor Meet! Held at the luscious green lap of the Ambedkar Udyan, Powai ,the session saw speeches, fun games and snacks, accompanied by some mellifluous background scores by crows and mynas! One great fun day to remember!

Wall of Fame

Pramod Mohandas was declared the District Champion in Evaluation at Confluence 2017! We couldn't be more proud of his feat.

Deepak Ramnani emerged as the champion at the District level Table Topics contest at Eloquence 2017.

The funny man of the club made us so proud!

Sameer Patil became only the 46th Indian to swim accross the English Channel !

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Raunak Kulwal was the convener of Confluence 2017. As everyone would agree, it was one of the best district confluences ever, and we are proud of Raunak for being the one responsible for the brilliant show.

Shruti Sinha was awarded with the 'Tripartite Award' for having completed three educational awards in a single educational year! We are proud of her achievement.

Tcs Maitree Toastmasters club welcomes you ...

SWEET LIFE IN THE MAYAN RIVIERA

Our Beautiful Odyssey continues.........Â