eloQuence No 63 by WMC Toastmasters Club

eloQuence ISSUE NO. 63

OCTOBER 2021

TOASTMASTERS NEWS

OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION PAGES 2-5

PAGES 29-37

FEATURE PAGES 6-11

REFLECTIONS PAGES 23-28

PERSPECTIVE PAGES 14-22

We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives.

WMC TOASTMASTERS CHARTERED IN 2003 | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN CLUB #603459 | AREA 9 DIVISION D | DISTRICT 20 WMCToastmasters

wmctm

WMCToastmasters

The President's Desk

TM Abdul Rahim

When Toastmasters Turns 100…! The year 2014 marked the 90th anniversary of Toastmasters International…! A truly unprecedented journey marked by milestones in education, communication, leadership and friendship & fellowship. Isn’t itinteresting to ponder what our founder, Dr. Ralph C Smedley, would think if he were to see our organization today…!

First, of course he would be awed by how we are now a global organization of more than 16,000 clubs in 145 countries with members exceeding 300,000. Since 1973, when women were first admitted, female membership has grown to now represent more than half of all members. Second, Dr Ralph would find it unbelievable that most Toastmasters business is conducted through a magic box that has been named a personal computer, and that information is passed through thin air known as the internet, as opposed to the leisurely mail delivery service he was accustomed to.

If he found all of this hard to grasp, just as many of us still do, he would certainly be overwhelmed by the explosion of social media and mobile devices. Yet despite these changes of gigantic proportions, Smedley’s vision has remained unchanged: to empower individuals to become better communicators and leaders through overcoming their fears of public speaking and enhancing their confidence. However, Smedley’s vision remains more relevant today than when he sowed the seed almost a century ago. As our world shrinks rapidly and becomes increasingly complex, the need for more effective communication and leadership is now more badly felt than ever before, isn’t it ? Today's world is highly driven by technological advancement that allow us to be more connected than ever. However, it has come with a price; technology has made our communication easier, not necessarily more meaningful. The reality is that face-to-face communication has almost gone extinct and we are now longing to communicate and connect more humanly in today's digital world. While technology is becoming more humanfriendly, it will never be entirely human. I consider technology to be an enhancement, not a replacement, of human communication. This is why we need to go back to the basics of communication to reflect on what truly makes sense for us and what truly matters in how we communicate every day. I wish each one you the very best in your quest to become better communicators...!

A Note from your VP Public Relations I have always loved magazines. I read the articles, stared at the photos and studied how text and image combined to create in my imagination stories, people and news events. All of us here have this same affection for the print media, the value of good writing, the matching of art and text, typography, heart, wisdom and thought laid out onto the pages of a magazine. Pulling together this bundle of stories, art and photography each quarter and then sharing this tangible gift with you is great fun.

TM Prabodha Sarangi

I can't imagine that one day such opportunity came on my way.. to design a magazine. It's my privilege of taking over the designing part of our WMC Toastmaster's quarterly eloQuence. The magazine has come a long way since it's inception and it's revival under our immediate past VPPR TM Sukumar Swaminathan. As I am following his foot steps by observing his creation, I must be thankful to him.

Our feature in this edition is an article by the keynote speaker Dr. Samuel on 3rd Sept. 2021 where he presented his life experience in this land of Pearl, Bahrain. Happy Reading!

Education Update Congratulations! TM Pragati Nagendra Kumar! For completing Pathways Level: 1 Leadership Develpoment

Congratulations!

TM Kiran Poithaya!

For completing Pathways Level: 1 Leadership Develpoment

Congratulations! TM Abdul Rahim Hasan! For completing Pathways Level: 2 Motivational Strategies

Membership Update

DTM Manoj Kumar Pandey

TM Thirumalai Ponnambalam

WMC Toastmasters Club wishes its members A Happy Members Day (1st October 2021)

TM Dr George Mathew

TM Renjith Pillai

TM Suresh Kakkoth

WMC Toastmasters Club takes pride in welcoming its new members & reinstate member...

Happy Toastmastering! 5

Feature

TOASTMASTERS KEY NOTE SPEECH ON 3RD SEPT 2021 Honored chair, talented Toastmasters, ladies and gentlemen, It gives me immense pleasure to address an enlightened audience such as you. I must confess that I have no experience in speaking, but I gave into the urging of my friend and colleague Dr. Babu Ramachandran. Please bear with me if I don’t meet your expectations. Though I have the dubious credential of being a member of the first batch of Toastmasters on the Island of Bahrain, I have not had any encounter with the organization since I resigned in 1976. It was in 1975 I started attending Toastmasters meeting of the then Manama Toastmasters club. We were about 15 to 20 women and men from Banks, School, Offices and Businesses, who met monthly on a Thursday evening in DELMON HOTEL. Meetings were conducted in the pattern mandated by the International Toastmasters Club. I resigned because of my commitment to the Ministry of Interior where I held a position of an Officer. We were asked not to be a member of any Social, Religious, Political or other organizations. I had to even give up my membership in the Bahrain Sports club-now known as the Indian Club. My connection with Bahrain began in September 1973 when a doctor from Bahrain met me in Bangalore and offered me a Job. I willingly accepted. I waited and waited till December 1974, there was no news from this Doctor. Just when I had given up, I received a cable from an Agent in Bombay, asking me to send my passport details, as they received an appointment order for me from Bahrain and they wanted me to come as early as possible. I thought it was an April fools joke as the cable arrived on the first of April 1975.

When they came to me, he took one look at my passport, stepped back in Military style and saluted me, I got scared! To cut a long story short, I arrived in Bahrain Airport on the 23rd of July 1975, on an AIR INDIA flight. There were about 40 of us all men, waiting at the immigration counter, when a couple of police men were checking the passport of each passenger. When they came to me, he took one look at my passport, stepped back in Military style and saluted me, I got scared! They took me out of the line and within minutes, escorted me to the Black Mercedes that was waiting at the entrance. I was taken to the Delmon Hotel, where I stayed for three nights, till they allotted me residence in Adilaya. Thus began my tryst with the Ministry that lasted 30 years. Bahrain was a protectorate under the British. It was given independence in 1970. It was named State of Bahrain, and His Highness late Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa was the Amir of Bahrain. Bahrain became a Kingdom only in 2002. .... Continued... 7

The population in 1975 was about 250,000. And the Island was smaller in size than it is now, as reclamation was going on all around Bahrain. The land reclaiming was simple, as the waters surrounding the Island was shallow, huge machines will pick sand from the outside and throw it on the inside, thus creating a large area of land with some water in it which will dry up eventually. The ground where Sheraton Hotel and the World trade Centre are now standing, was one such n area when I arrived in Bahrain. There was no Juffair and the gulf waters were splashing against old Gulf Hotel wall. The compound wall of Hilton Hotel, which is now called Golden Tulip was also in the coast. When the tide is low, there will be boats kept upside down in the beach beyond Hilton Hotel, I used to sit on one of those and watch the sunset, which was as beautiful then as it is now. In the Ministry there were several British officers and few Bahrain officers. I was the first Indian officer, and I was given a rank of Lieutenant, I went to work in Uniform with two stars on my shoulder.

a treasure trove

As the time moved on, the ministry began to grow, force of 2000 members in 1975, became 25000 when I retired in 2005. With the growth of the force, we had to grow also to meet their health needs. When His Highness the late Prime minister, visited us in 1985, he was surprised that we were managing in such a small Clinic with five rooms and two porta cabins. He ordered a special project and they built a Health Center with 120 rooms, fully equipped with dental chairs, Xray, Laboratory, Physiotherapy, minor operation theatre etc. They gave me the keys and asked me to run it. I had to go to India, Pakistan and Philippines to recruit staff for the new Health Center. I had a tough time, organizing the various functions of the Health Centre creating protocols. My colleagues and coworkers were very helpful. It was formally opened in 1989 by His Highness, the late Prime Minister himself. With 11 Doctors,4 Dentists, 250 staff and several departments, wards and a minor operation theatre, etc. we managed more than 700 patients a day and our referrals to the secondary care Hospitals reduced considerably. Our work in the Health Center was to look after the Primary medical care of the staff of the ministry, Officers, other ranks, civilians and prisoners. We also had several other responsibilities, one of them was medicolegal, to investigate and certify each and every death that occurs outside medical supervision. Every month I was taken by Helicopter to the Jidda Island off the coast of Budaiya, where high security prisoners were held. I remember looking down on either side of the single lane Budaiya road, the desert with shrubs and trees, with isolated buildings, it has now become, a fully developed residential locality. I had to even fly to Hawar Island once a month to look after the ten police families who were housed there, just to keep the Island as part of Bahrain. The pilots used to take me on a patrolling of the QatarBahrain border, which was just an imaginary line ...Continued... 8

High on the hills we have seen the nests of huge Arabian vultures, with their young. During my service in the Ministry, I received several Medals and five promotions. I started as a 2-star Lieutenant and retired as a Colonel in 2005. After retirement I joined the American Mission Hospital, as a General Physician. Having spent 30 years in a government job, the Mission Hospital atmosphere was like a breath of fresh air. I had a chance to work with Doctors like Dr. Babu Ramachandran, and meet patients of all nationalities. I worked in Manama and Sar and stopped from 1st June 2021. I think I should stop blowing my own trumpet, and tell you something about the Island of Bahrain. Bahrain attracted a lot of businesses and banks from Beirut, when Lebanon was in crisis in 1979. They called it Singapore of the Middle east. The Bahrain Saudi Causeway that opened in 1985 accelerated the progress. His Highness late Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Amir of Bahrain was a very benevolent man. I had the pleasure of shaking hands with the late Amir, twice in a year, once on the First day of Eid al Fitre and again on the National day. All men will line up to greet the Amir on these two occasions, he will begin accepting general public early after the morning prayers, so we used to be there by 6am to greet him, I did this year after year, and even took some of friends who had come new. It was a unique experience. It was stopped only after His highness passed away. On 21st of January 1976, was the maiden flight of CONCORD aircraft. We were a large crowd, at the Airport, watching the beautiful landing of the plane like a bird, just in front of us, and waited till it took off. It was a sight to behold. In 1979 Queen Elizabeth made a visit to Bahrain, standing on the road side, we could get a close look of the Queen. I can go on for hours telling you about the various interesting experiences I have had in these 46 years. But the time has passed. In all these happenings, one thing that stood out is the Grace of God, it was grace that guided me in all

my endeavors, my faith in my creator and His plan for me became my purpose in life. Hope played a major role, as nothing was certain. Every two years we were getting ready to get back to India, as we did not know if the contract will be renewed. There was absolutely no job security. But through these years what gave me strength was contentment. I never felt I was in need, for God supplied all my needs and I have nothing but gratitude for His provision and wisdom. My wife and friends were there to support me. You have been a patient audience, I can assure you, that in the 75 years I have lived, finding meaning in life has been my primary objective. My relationships were the pillars on which I built my world. In my encounter with likeminded people and the many people I crisscrossed in my life, I found a similar longing for meaning. I can repeat the well-known saying, yesterday is only a dream and tomorrow a vision.

Today well lived can make every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision 9 of hope. ...continued...

I plan to return to India later this month, I like to say good bye to you and pray that God will provide each and every one of you the very best life has to offer. Let me wish you in the words of an Irish prayer, “May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm on your face, the rain falls soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand” Thank you.

GAVEL'S CORNER "he was silently seething by the time his thoughts had concluded"

Gav Nishad Hubert

Light was peeking out the washed out curtain covering the huge window reflecting upon the boy’s slightly pale skin that had not seen light for weeks. He was lying at a comfy and soft couch stained from heavy use. Lying leisurely at the couch, he was leafing through a novel he took great pleasure in reading but his mind was in turmoil. He worried about his ever decreasing fitness and was worried about how dangerously lazy he had become but there was something else that was gnawing at the back of his mind that made him restless.

This restlessness grew until his eyes rested on the paper but his mind pondered upon all things he was missing since the start of quarantine. Sports used to pump adrenaline through his veins and his heart used to have a sudden urge to jump out of his chest when he shot a goal or the heavy disappointment when he had missed a game winning shot by a few inches. The mere journey to the nearby park with his neighbours too, relaxed and refreshed him. Now he missed it all, and was stuck here with nothing to do….he was silently seething by the time his thoughts had concluded, he decided to go back to reading his novel to get his mind off things but just as he was about to open the book something struck him, a simple question that at the time he would have never reckoned it would prevail to be the question that changed the whole of his quarantine. ‘Am I really stuck with nothing to do?’ He safely tucked the book under his arm and sat in reflective silence. He started going through and trying to list what he could achieve with the ocean of time he had. His perception has completely changed now. He thought ‘Is this a curse? or a blessing?’ Now armed with an ocean of time on one hand and a new perception on the other, he went into rapid fire. He could learn to code, watch many educational videos or even art, craft anything, anything was possible. Now, today as I write this I realize how far my mindset has been altered, the real curse was not quarantine not my health, it was my very own mind, my mind that helped me create and destroy. It has been a long time since this chain of events occurred and I am still striving to make best use of the time I have and the maddening gnawing at the back of my head that used to make me feel restless for days on end, has been vanquished. The raging bonfire in my heart that is my desire to learn wants to devour everything coming its way...and as far as I’m concerned I will keep feeding it

“Children are the living message we send to a time we may not see” ~ John F. Kennedy, 35th U. S. President.

Gav Nathan Crasta

Why do we go to Toastmasters? Is it to overcome our fears and anxiety of public speaking? To socialise and make new friends and contacts? To find ourselves accustomed to the spotlight and Educate, Embolden and Entertain our fellow members and guests, judges and friends? From my own point of view, I believe that despite the various differences members have in their motives, their goals and their beliefs, Toastmasters offers all of us a place to learn who we were in the past, and to become something even more in the Now. As President for WMC Gavels Club 2021-2022, I look at my club and think of the various ways each and every one of my members have and can improve and adapt to the rapidly changing times of the 21st century. We are students and teenagers, drawn to this club for almost all of the same reasons as our elder Toastmasters have to their own, but as maturing teenagers, we still have a lot to learn, and there can be no greater source of inspiration for us budding toastmasters... Than our respected Toastmasters themselves! Our Counsellor, TM Ponnambalam has worked hard to ensure that our Gavels Club prospers and brings in new potential members and helps our current members grow and develop themselves as well. I will forever be grateful for his tremendous support, but as the old saying goes, “Many Hands make Light Work.” Toastmasters, I ask that all of you lend your hand too and attend our Gavels Meetings, whether as: ·Workshop Hosts ·General Evaluators, and maybe even... ·bravely and fearlessly volunteer as a Table Topics Speaker! As the caretakers of tomorrow’s world, we gaveliers have a long and arduous road far ahead of us, but for now, we can learn and prepare for ourselves for the near future with your help, Fellow Toastmasters! As our theme of the year puts it so eloquently, we ask you to Educate, Embolden and Entertain us with your own experiences, be they success or failure, comedy or tragedy. We Gaveliers may be the Future, but we will not succeed without learning from the Past. Nathan Crasta, President of WMC Gavels Club 2021-2022

Perspective

DTM Rekha Utham

KAZUO ISHIGURO – An author who lets us see what it means to love and be human. When he was given the Nobel prize for literature in 2017 the prize motivation note read "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world." Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan. When he was five, the family moved to Guildford in Surrey, England, where his father, an oceanographer, had been invited to work at a research institute. He studied English and philosophy at the University of Kent and then creative writing at the University of East Anglia, completing his Masters in 1980. Since then, he has worked as a writer. Memory, time, and lifelong deception are central themes in Kazuo Ishiguro’s works. His perspectives have been shaped by his childhood in England. His most celebrated work, The Remains of the Day, published in 1989, is about an English butler and his feelings for a housekeeper at the time around World War II. In later works Ishiguro approached genres such as fantasy and science fiction. His language is characterized by restraint, even when dramatic events are portrayed. His lyrical tales of regret are infused with subtle optimism and the hint of an aroma of the past floating towards a future. Two of his novels Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun examine in-depth what it means to be human and to love. It brings up the moral corruption that can arise if humans use science to defeat death or substitute love. In 2005 Ishiguro published Never Let Me Go (filmed 2010), which through the story of three human clones warns of the ethical dilemma’s raised by genetic engineering. It is a novel which shows what can happen when a society uses

scientific development without considering the moral implications. It’s a story about friendship and about longing for the past, as well as a novel which allows the reader to question the ethics of human cloning. Never Let Me Go, like the clones it portrays, has in the end something of a double nature, for it both attracts and annihilates. I felt I had to literally clone myself to read this book – one “me” who can be blind to its ugly facade, and the other “me” who can see into its delicately conflicted but beautiful soul. I related more to its abject horror leaving behind a bruise on the mind, a shackle on the heart. Whatever it is the one thing that you can’t escape is their pain, that pain devoid of radical and pure emotions. Never Let Me Go, exposes us to these clones and that inevitably makes us take sides. He leaves many questions unanswered. Where did they come from? One character does say that we come from the trash, the junkies and the unwanted. Are these clones a form of life or not? And if they are, could it be considered a form of human life? And regardless of whether it is human or not, would any form of life deserve a destiny like theirs? A destiny which Humanity has written for them? Kazuo Ishiguro achieves in this novel a pure sample of science fiction, without technical devices of any kind, manages to expose a moral dilemma of the imminent future that, not by trying to avoid, will end up being essential to answer. Klara and the Sun published this year, is set in the near future and centers on a droid who serves as an “Artificial Friend” (AF) to a lonely child. He is adept at slowly deepening our awareness of human failing, fragility and the inevitability of death. But what he reveals more by not saying a word is the astounding magic it is to be alive in the first place. Like a medieval saint walking around an intricately carved temple, Ishiguro leads us in simple steps through the big existential themes which is beyond us otherwise. That is the reason Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go become the most affecting and profound novels written in our times. The story is set in a United States of the near future, a place divided by tribal loyalties and fascist political movements. Technology has rendered many people "postemployed" and created a blunt caste system where the so-called "lifted" that is those who have been genetically engineered or modified are on top. Though that is the social backdrop of this novel, our narrator however is Klara – the AF who sees most 15 things as boxes arranged in varying shapes.

Klara grasps that, ‘They fear loneliness and that's why they behave as they do.’ Klara has an “appetite for observing and learning ... [and] has the most sophisticated understanding of any AF in this store” as the store manager puts it. The AFs have been designed as companions for the children of this society who, for some reason, don't go out much and are mostly taken ill due to some mysterious ailments which hints at their being so due to being ‘lifted’. Josie chooses Klara to be her best friend, and Klara is packed up and sent to Josie's house. Loneliness is one of the signature emotions that Ishiguro's novels fathom, and in her new position, Klara has many opportunities to observe the strategies that humans devise to fight off loneliness and conceal vulnerability. Then, slowly, Klara grasps that, ‘They fear loneliness and that's why they behave as they do.’ Klara is wise. She sees through the games Humans play to get accepted by others. “I'd begun to understand also that ... people often felt the need to prepare a side of themselves to display to passers-by — as they might in a store window — and that such a display needn't be taken so seriously once the moment had passed.” Though we are familiar of this way, how we project ourselves on social media etc. we would have never been able to put what we do exactly in those words! Klara is such a compelling presence that I think most readers of this novel will say, yes, she's a sentient being. But what does our intense connection to an Artificial Friend do to the belief that, as one character puts it, there's "something unreachable inside each of us [human beings]. Something that's unique and won't transfer.” Without question, Klara certainly seems capable of loving. Josie grows weaker and Klara, who's herself solar-powered, beseeches the "kindly" Sun for "special nourishment" for Josie and, then, bravely sets out to make an offering to the Sun. Klara's misperception of the Sun as a caring deity

calls to question our own limited human understanding of, well, everything. Like Klara, who sees the world through grids that sometimes go haywire, we humans only see through a glass, darkly. In loving Josie Klara also understands and explains to us what it means to be human and to love. To the scientists working hard to observe Josie in order to program Klara later on; in effect ‘continue Josie thru Klara the inevitable question is the capacity of a human being to love. That secret Klara begins to understand. With all the science and technology, we human beings are forgetting the essence of love, what it means and how integral it is to our existence. Ishiguro through Klara sees it clearly when he makes Klara say “I did all I could do to learn Josie. But I don’t think it would have worked out well. Not because I wouldn’t have achieved accuracy. But however hard I tried I believe now there would have remained something beyond my reach. The Mother, Rick, Melania Housekeeper, the Father, I’d have never reached what they felt for Josie in their hearts. Mr. Capaldi believed that there was nothing special inside Josie that couldn’t be continued. He told the Mother that he’d searched and searched and found nothing like that. But I believe now he was searching in the wrong place. There was something very special, but it wasn’t inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her. “ That in essence is being human,this amazing capacity to love another beyond our own self.

DTM Rekha Utham

hey... what on earth are you doing here... you are digging the pit and he is filling it!

TM Abdul Rahim Hasan

Have you delivered a poorly prepared speech ? While attending a club meeting some time back, I could potentially see the drastic scenario when a member presents a speech without adequate preparation. Honestly speaking, I am sure there have been occasions when each one of us has come to a club meeting unprepared or poorly prepared, either to give a speech or execute an assignment. You might have felt somewhat embarrassed and hence short of confidence because you realized that you did not perform to your fullest. You just did the job for the sake of doing it. What happens when you do a job for the sake of doing it ? There were two men working on a field. One was digging a pit and the second man was filling it. This activity went on for hours. Seeing this a passer-by stopped as he was curious. He asked them “hey.…what on earth are you doing here.….you are digging the pit and he is filling it” The man said “well sir,we had a third person. He was supposed to plant the trees. But he is on vacation…so we are doing our job” Doing a job just for the sake of doing does no good to anybody. Have you ever thought about the ripple effect your lack of preparation can have on the meeting?

Do you remember the commitment of the Toastmaster’s promise that you made: “to prepare all of my speech and leadership projects to the best of my ability …” What harm can a ill-prepared assignment do ? The answer is simple. It affects everyone including yourself. Lack of preparation shows lack of respect for members who make up the audience and a disregard for the time those members commit to listening to your presentation. It may also deny the speech evaluator the opportunity to evaluate a worthwhile presentation and effectively raise points of commendation and points for improvement. In addition, by not presenting a speech to the best of your ability, you are usurping a speaking opportunity that could have been given to a member who might have been well prepared. However, by not preparing, the person you harm the most is ..…yourself. By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Worse still, when a guest observes un-prepared members delivering lack-lustre speeches, it often results in a poor first impression and the loss of a potential member.This guest eventually may end up joining a club where members conduct high quality meetings with well-prepared role players. Quality clubs, ultimately, depend on quality meetings and meeting quality entirely depends on well-prepared, well-practised assignments delivered professionally. Remember the 5 P’s of preparation – Proper Practice Prevents Poor Performance. 17

As I started thinking, a Kaleidoscope of a variety of beautiful memories popped up in my mind TM Yashodhan Abhyankar

Writing Challenge! Two years back I received a WhatsApp message from my friend asking me if I was up for a unique challenge of “writing every day”. It sounded weird, but exciting. The challenge was to write a minimum of 200 words every day for the next 30 days. I was not sure if I would be able to do it, but I decided to give it a try, and replied with a thumbs up.

What a wonderful journey it was. The satisfaction of completing this challenge was beyond words. For the first time in my life, I did some ‘disciplined writing’. It gave me the confidence that I can write on a multitude of different subjects. Last year I initiated this challenge yet again and I was glad that some of you actively participated in it. Dear Buddies, if you want to discover yourself, take up this unique challenge. I am sure you will enjoy it. Keep writing.

There was only one rule; and the rule was that there was no rule. Neither the topic, nor the maximum number of words were restricted. You could write on any topic under the sun. Another interesting part of this challenge was that it was “for your eyes only”. No one was there to check what you have written. So, you could write practically anything you like. I wrote about topics ranging from my childhood memories to places I visited. I penned down my feelings like love, compassion and even hatred for some people around me. As I started thinking, a Kaleidoscope of a variety of beautiful memories popped up in my mind. Oh my God, there were so many things to write about. There were some incidents which I had completely forgotten about. Once again, I found myself reliving those moments. Not all days were as rosy however. On some days I was not able to write minimum of 200 words; couple of days I could not write even a single word. Sometimes I used to think that I had so many things to write about a subject, but I could not write more than a couple of paragraphs. At times I went on writing multiple pages about a very minor topic.

After so many years, I got 7 days to just sit at home and enjoy my mother’s food TM Thirumalai Ponnambalam

Its All about how I looked at it “Oh, this vacation was a useless one”, Is what I said to whoever I met; Is what I kept telling myself. My summer vacation this year started on 14 July. The closest bubble flight to my home was available only on 13th July and 20th July. Frustrated at not being able to get a day leave to travel on the 13th, I booked my flight for the 20th and travelled then, bitter for spending seven days out of my precious vacation in Bahrain itself. On landing in India, the mandatory quarantine claimed another seven days and I was still stuck at home. India being one of the Red listed countries, I had to also come back 10 days before the official start of work for appropriate quarantine measures. My vacation of 45 precious days got sadly cut down to 21 days.

Even if it was for just 21 days, I could travel this year and see my parents. Unlike every vacation, I could finish the semester-end formalities, travel shopping, packing peacefully. This time, I could peacefully finish my work and had 7 days to finish all pre-travel activities and reach the airport relaxed on the day I actually travelled. After so many years, I got 7 days to just sit at home and enjoy my mother’s food, watch the rain without being constantly bothered about the tasks in my things to-do list. The 10 days quarantine at the end in Bahrain, gave me enough time to prepare for my next semester. So, when I look back, everything did in fact work out in my favour. It was, simply, all about how I looked at it.

During the time that I did get in India, our movement was pretty restricted due to lockdown on weekends and for ensuring extra care due to my aged parents. Not to mention, the tension of waiting for the Covid test results after each quarantine. Oh! this vacation was a useless one! Then I could hear my inner voice tell me, Wait. Really? Is this rational? Are you actually talking sense? Then my lines of thought started falling in place. No, really.

When the failure occurred, the leader owned it up. When the success came, he gave credit to his team.” - APJ Abdul Kalam

TM Ovin Crasta

Standing tall These were the statements from a great human being, that we ever came across in our life. An eminent nuclear scientist, The Ex-President of Republic India. Often, he narrated to tell stories from his personal life, lessons he learnt from experience with morals to take forward. Below is one such story, he rendered while talking about the leadership. This story, he was particularly fond of : It relates to the launch of a satellite by the Indian Space Research Organisation in July 1979. Kalam was in charge of the project at ISRO(Indian Science & Research Organisation) and when some members expressed reservations about its readiness, he overruled them and ordered it to go ahead. The launch failed; instead of going into space, the satellite plunged into the Bay of Bengal. As team leader, Kalam was humiliated by the failure and terrified by the prospect of announcing it before the press. He was saved from embarrassment by the chairman of ISRO, Satish Dhawan, who went himself before the television cameras to say that despite this failure he reposed complete faith in the abilities of his team and was confident that their next attempt would succeed. The following August, Kalam and his team tried once more to launch a satellite into space. This time they succeeded. Dhawan congratulated the team, while asking Kalam to address the press conference. In telling the story in later years, during and after his term as president of India, Kalam would feelingly recall: “When the failure occurred, the leader owned it up. When the success came, he gave the credit to his team.”

Ditto to that, we toastmasters are asked to take up the leadership and help others to become leaders and the leaders like the one mentioned in the above story. We too are encouraged to come out with our personal story in toastmasters like APJ used to do. I encourage, all our team members to positively contribute towards the club by taking up the roles and display the leadership skills. Let us be better communicators to lead from the front and to become a better communicator, one must participate regularly in toastmaster meetings and take up different roles along with speech projects. It is of paramount importance to deliver speech projects, thus contributing towards the personal growth as well fulfilling the DCP requirements of the club. Let’s be a beacon of hope not only in the toastmaster’s organization but also in the society by taking up the different roles and exhibiting the exemplary leadership skills like Satish Dhawan. Wishing all the members the best of luck and looking forward to a great term as VP Education. From the desk of VP Education

Exposure to artificial light interferes with their activities, decreases their chances of finding food and mates and exposes them to predators.

TM Prabodha Sarangi

Switch it off! Living beings depend on daily cycle of light and dark that governs behaviors such as reproduction, sleep and migration. Watching the night sky, the stars and other astronomical objects is an absolute delight. Who can forget the synchronized movement of fireflies on a dark night? While one may still observe these phenomena in rural areas, they are becoming increasingly rare in densely populated urban areas. The presence of artificial light in the environment is a major reason behind this. Other than restricting our ability to observe the wonders of nature, the presence of excessive light has grave impact on living beings. Light pollution Light pollution is an unwanted consequence of outdoor lighting and usually occurs due to excessive and inappropriate artificial light. There are five overlapping components of light pollution: Urban sky glow, light trespass, glare, uplight and clutter.

Poor placement of signage and streetlights, excessive and inappropriate use of light, high population density and a higher road density and traffic density contribute significantly to light pollution. At times, certain environmental conditions such as smog, fog and high levels of suspended particles also increase the intensity of light pollution. Impact of light pollution on plants, animals and human beings Light pollution interferes with living organisms’ biological activities. Living beings depend on the Earth’s daily cycle of light and dark that governs behaviors such as reproduction, sleep and migration. Artificial light at night has negative effects on these behaviors. Plants are affected by three characteristics of light: quantity, quality and duration. Broadly speaking, light pollution affects plants by interfering with photoperiodism. Based on their sensitivity to light, plants are classified as long-day plants, short-day plants and day-neutral plants. The presence of artificial light, beyond natural light hours, can disturb the photoperiods of these plants. ...Continued...

Urban sky glow refers to the brightening of the night sky over urban inhabited areas. The falling of light in an area where it is not intended or needed is called light trespass. Glare is the excessive brightness of light, causing visual discomfort and disability. An uplight is directed toward the open sky, causing a very strong, localized form of light pollution. Clutter refers to an excessive grouping of lights, commonly found in over-lit areas.

Many plant species bloom only at night and depend on nocturnal pollinators for pollination. Increasing lighting can prevent flowering and pollination in such plants and hamper reproduction. Similarly, animals are also affected by light pollution. Exposure to artificial light interferes with their activities, decreases their chances of finding food and mates and exposes them to predators. While light pollution can potentially affect any organism, its effects are particularly pronounced on insects, amphibians, sea turtles and migratory birds. Artificial light at night is one of the prominent causes of global decline of insects. Amphibians are sensitive to ambient light and can detect light intensity at far below human limits. Amphibians perform their mating calls at night. Long exposure to artificial light can interfere with this process and affect their reproductive success.

Mitigation measures We should use light only in places and at times it is needed. Installation of time and motion sensorbased lighting can help achieve this. Whenever possible, efficient lighting should be used and should be directed at the ground, not the sky. A good lighting design should optimize the visibility of the intended object and minimize glare and light trespass. Artificial light should be minimized in ecologically sensitive areas. Proper guidelines should be introduced regarding lighting on the highways and roads in or near forest regions. Awareness about this lesser-known form of pollution needs to be augmented so that we can fine-tune our activities to reduce the negative impacts and make the world a better place for all beings.

Sea turtles lay their eggs on beaches. When the eggs hatch, the hatchlings find their way to the sea by detecting the bright horizon over the ocean. However, artificial lights on the coasts draw them away from the ocean and in the wrong direction. Nocturnal birds use moonlight and starlight for navigation and hunting and thus, become disoriented by a large amount of artificial light. The collision of birds with brightly lit high-rise buildings, lighthouses, wind turbines and seabased drilling platforms results in the death of numerous birds and is a common phenomenon in many cities. Artificial light causes major sleep disturbances in humans. Brain wave patterns, hormone generation, cell regulation and other biologic functions are examples of these processes. In human beings, disruption of circadian clock has been associated with a variety of medical issues, including depression, sleeplessness, cardiovascular disease and cancer. 22

Reflection

Beauty of Bahrain thru my mobile camera

TM Anil Kumar

Sunsets are proof that endings can often be beautiful too. No matter what happens, every day can end beautifully

Meeting #425 on 8th Oct 2021

Meeting #424 on 17th Sept 2021 26

Meeting #419 on 9th July 2021

Birthday Celebrations

14th Oct 2021

20th Oct 2021 28

Toastmasters News

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Designer: TM Prabodha Sarangi Contributors : WMC Members Feature Contributors DTM Dr. Babu Ramachandran : Article & Photos

Stock photos: Canva.com

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