Ice Breaker


 The following piece was my Ice breaker speech in Toastmasters International, a club to hone our public speaking skills. This is an introduction of me as on September 13th, 2020.

No Man Is An Island

  Poet John Devon says, “No Man is an Island, entire of itself “, he talks about how we all are interconnected. There is a lot of talk about equality and empowerment in the society these days. Of course, we are all equal but we are not the same. The unique characteristics that differentiate us from each other are what make us equally important; and playing our differences to our advantage is what empowers us. As social animals, we all are a mixture of introversion and extroversion in varying degrees.

How many of you here are Introverts?

How many of you are extroverts?

How many are not sure?

Chances are you are an Ambivert – an equal mix of both. I am an Ambivert, at times I balance both simultaneously and other times I dangle between the two. This is what makes me unique. In essence, an introvert makes the time and space to get a different perspective of life and its issues; an extrovert is very approachable and brings people together. I had started reaping the benefits of being an Ambivert long before I realised I was one.

   Coming from a Tamil speaking family, I was bedazzled by my Anglo Indian school teachers. They were very different from the women at home, they had fluffy ponytails and coloured lips, wore flowery blouses cinched inside their pencil skirts, they had a snazzy gait in their heeled shoes. And..... they spoke in English.  Oh – so – Stylish!

    I was ever curious to know why they were different; and wanted to experience a slice of their life. The closest I could get to that was to imitate the way they spoke. No one at home was interested in having mundane conversations with me in a language they were not accustomed to. So, to pacify my obsession, I resorted to pretend playing as a teacher to a class of imaginary students. My family was convinced that I was barking mad.

  Fast forward to when I was 12 years old; my uncle was to throw a party for my cousin's 1st birthday. Just about then, despite the awkwardness of adolescence, the extrovert in me was eager to put up a good show. I asked my uncle if I may organise and host the party games......  to my surprise, he agreed.  On the big day, when I took the centre stage with a house full of live audience in front of me, I revelled in their undivided attention; I helped break ice, engaged everyone in the party games and cracked jokes...... all in English.  While the guests appreciated me for being a good entertainer, my family was flabbergasted at how fluent I was in English. I wasn’t mad after all.



Then on, I embraced my need for both solitude and attention; it did have a good effect on myself and those around me.  It helped me learn new languages, accept new ideas and cultures and expand my horizon. As I matured, the Ambiversion that helped me forge new relations also helped me severe toxic ones. 

 Indeed, the only strategy for successful relationships is mutual progress, be it material, intellectual, emotional or spiritual.A couple of years ago, on a gloomy winter afternoon, I crept into my warm bed and introspected.

   Marriage is a crucial investment; but I was a rather ‘bullish’ player. My endeavor of 15 years resulted in irrecoverable losses, bereft of any goodwill. When you put up with incorrigible manipulative behavior for years together, you either inherit it and perpetuate the flow of abuse or regress with despair and negativity. Neither was good for me and my son. That is not what my family and Alma Maters raised me for; what about their returns on investment? undoubtedly, I am still immensely capable of adding value to the society and find fulfillment at that.

    After a lot of ‘bearish’ contemplation, I decided to part ways. It was a calculated risk; I’d rather take the heat for my decision here in Tamil Nadu, than endure the cold shoulders in Jammu Kashmir. 18 months since, life has assured me that my decision was not wrong. I am now banking on my extroversion to build new bridges and this ice breaker is my first step towards that!

    Good evening Toastmasters, I am Shrinika Neethi and I’m thrilled to meet you all.


Comments

  1. Divya6 June 2021 at 22:52

    Well written and knowing you, it would be safe to say, well spoken too.
    PS: I imagined you giving this speech with an Anglo Indian accent and it was quite fun.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PUT IN PLACE

Image
Me bored Boredom was a common feeling in my childhood. At such times, I’ll run off to my ammamma’s house which was walkable distance from my home hoping that a change of place would amuse me. One such afternoon in 1996 when I was 11, going there didn’t help either. I was so bored, so bored, I almost cried. Mindlessly changing channels on the cable TV, I saw an advertisement for Coca Cola, it had just penetrated into smaller cities like Trichy and was aggressively marketing. The drink came in an attractive red, first-of-its-kind tin can that you got to pop open, all the cool white skinned teens in the ad were drinking it and seemingly, having the time of their lives. Anything new in the market, I had to try it; so, I decided to entertain myself by drinking some cola. A coke can costed Rs. 20 and I had 0. What do I do for funds? Ammamma can be my financier, I thought. She was in the dining hall serving lunch to my mama. I put on the sweet-grandchild face and politely requested her to gi...
Read more

Sambhar Idli for the Hungry Soul

Image
 I have collected many tiny memories of my relatives and mine and strung them all together into one fictional story. This 15-minutes-read is set in the late 1980's small town in Tamil Nadu,India.The picture of my father and me is to add some character to the story . The last gulp is the sweetest, thought 5-year-old Babbu as she drank the lemonade freshly squeezed by her ammamma. It was almost nightfall on a Sunday. Babbu had a rollicking weekend at her ammamma’s house playing games like lock-and-key and hide-and-seek with her cousins. It was then time for her to go back to her house which was in the next street. Mother called out to her elder sister who was reading a book sitting on a branch of the guava tree, an advantageous location for when she wanted to snack on her favourite fruit. Babbu, amma and akka bid farewell to everyone and started their 5 minutes’ walk to their home. There was an eerie calm in the atmosphere, the sky was darkening, all the shops in the street wer...
Read more

Vidya Daanam

Image
  This is a continuation of my previous post about everyone in the society being knowledgeable and skillful. Click on the link to read that https://hridayakamala.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-day-in-life-of-boutiquewali-skill.html Siddhayogi Shrimaan Adinarayanan and Matrushree Smriti Rekha Adinarayanan   #education Good education is necessary for people to acquire knowledge and skill. A sizeable portion of our income is spent on our Children’s education; graduates lap up high-paying jobs in different cities to pay off their education loan and hold on to them to afford good education for their children. So, to bring down the costs we first need to spend. To spend, we take a loan. To pay off that loan, we raise the cost of our services and spend further to cope up in a costly society thereby not bringing down the cost. How would it be if timeless education was made price-less? My son studies in one such institution where education is given as charity – VIDYADAANAM. DHARMA GURUKULAM in...
Read more