November 13, 2009

TISA & our journeys: an Interview

TISA has been registered as a Public Charitable Trust at Vikasnagar (Dehradun) today on 13th November 2009. Nitin Tomer was here in this connection and JP took the advantage of the ocasion and interviewed him on wide ranging topics: his vision for TISA, what ails SHGs, what needs to be done, how our personal journeys have brought us to the idea of self help etc. and finally, can stammerers hope to find a mate :-))
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Acceptance was like "Freedom"


After acceptance, what …? JP, you have started a very interesting topic to discuss. It would be really interesting to get to know different experiences after having accepted one’s stammering.

Acceptance for me was like freedom. A feeling of being set free from a long standing imprisonment. Living with stammering, I used to see myself as a bird, captive in a cage, and wanting to rip apart the bars and explore the world outside. Acceptance was like ripping those self-created bars apart. With this new feeling, surprisingly, I got motivated more. Acceptance surely made my life easy, it also reduced my stammering, but it didn’t eliminate it completely. And here is where the motivation was born. I was motivated to conquer my stammering to the level which some others (Hrithik Roshan, Gareth Gates and Julia Irani) have been successful in achieving. Stammering may not be 100% eliminated. But it can be managed to such an extent, that it becomes a negligible part of our lives.

A couple of other things that I have experienced after acceptance are the reactions of other people. When I began to say to them that I stammer or stutter, the reaction of one of them was – “Do you?” Another friend (office colleague) said, “Whether you stammered or you didn’t it never mattered. And with time, I think you stammering has been reducing”. I got more such reactions about my stammering being reduced compared to what it was in the past. Another reaction was, “Actually I also stammer when I am nervous”. All this responses just told me different perspectives others held towards my stammering, and it collapsed all those castles of myths that I had build over the years, guessing what others may think about my stammering.

I would however like to conclude with a frank confession. I have accepted with many of my friends and colleagues. But I still find it difficult to accept my stammering in front of the person with opposite gender. I am working on it, and finding my way out.

Stammering in workplace (part 5)

Bangalore SHG meeting on 08-Nov-2009

The meeting of the Bangalore Stammering SHG, on 08-Nov-2009, was held in Cubbon Park. In the morning, I got a call from Sharan and he wanted to know whether the session would be held and whether there was any change in the location as it was drizzling. Amith who is the coordinator of Bangalore SHG, called me when I was about to start, telling he wouldn’t be able to come. Karthik 1 had already communicated his inability to come. Since it was drizzling I had a feeling that the turnout would be low. I reached the place at 10 AM, but nobody was to be seen. I decided to go to the hut where we usually meet and decided to read the newspaper and leave after 11 if nobody came. After some time, I got a call from Sharan and he told he was on the way and that he would reach within 20 minutes. After some time Vinay joined me and we began to discuss the activities we did in the previous week. By this time I received a call from Karthik2. He was in Cubbon Park and wanted to know where we were. He had gone to the hut where we met for the first time and couldn’t find anybody. This was his second meeting as he could not attend any meeting after the first one. I told him to come to the library building and went there to bring him to the hut where we were.

We started with the introduction as Karthik2 was not known to Vinay. We almost completed the introduction when Sharan joined us. So I requested Vinay to introduce Karthik2 to him. There was a suggestion from Karthik2 to have a session of extempore speech on any subject. Sharan suggested the topic of ‘our achievements’. We decided to implement the techniques that suit us the most and give the speech. We started with Sharan himself and he decided to speak slowly. He did a good job, though there were some blocks. By this time it began to rain heavily and some people came to the hut. Next it was my turn and I decided to speak to these strangers and try bouncing. I spoke to them about the SHG and asked whether they would like to join the conversation. None of them wanted to join us and luckily almost all of them left soon, thus leaving the hut to us. I tried bouncing and prolongation. Next it was the turn of Vinay and he tried slow speaking, which was followed by Karthik2.

After that Karthik2 spoke about the technique of energy passing which they do in drama rehearsals. To do this, we sat on the ground in a circle and held the hands of each other. The left hand is for receiving the energy and the right hand is for giving it. So the left hand face upwards and right hand downward when we hold the hands. Then we closed the eyes and he gave some positive suggestions. Then we imagined some force coming from above the head and entering our body. Which was followed by chanting the sounds Aa, ae, ee, ae, Aa and Ohm.

In the end we decided to go to a restaurant and have some snacks. We went to a good restaurant suggested by Karthik2 and had some food and then dispersed. I could implement bouncing even in the restaurant and it was really satisfying.

Stammering in workplace (part 4)

Stammering in workplace (part 3)

Part three of JP's thoughts on stammering and workplace..

Stammering in workplace

JP on stammering and workplace..Not entertaining (to quote a chance viewer!) but certainly honest and engaging!

November 12, 2009

What after acceptance?

When I learned about accepting our stammering, it was love at first sight, as the fighting against it, has never helped me for all my life till that point of time..But now looking back into hindsight as I see now, it created a new problem, that was lack of motivation..Now I didn't had anything to fight..So continuously working on my speech & communication everyday, day after day, became a challenge..I felt a big void in my life..there was nothing to worry about most of the day and I was not used to a free and relaxed mind..But now with meditation and involving me in therapy of others and trying to help other people who stammer, has brought back that motivation and I am back on the right track.
I want to know from others, their experiences with acceptance..Was it what they expected or did it made things more complex? Did you enjoy the journey after acceptance or was it difficult to live without "Giants in chain syndrome"?

November 11, 2009

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani Movie Review



Ranbir and Katrina rocks ........Never seen a bollywood movie showing stammering in this way.
At first I thought that only Ranbir is playing the role of a stammerer but then I came to know that Katrina is also a stammerer in the movie.
APKGK is a story of Prem(Ranbir kapoor) and how he falls in love with the pretty Jenny (Katrina Kaif). And it's the story of how Prem goes from being unable to express his love for Jenny, to finally finding the words to tell her he loves her.

Prem is an unemployed school drop-out who, along with the fellow members of the Happy Club (of which he is President), spends his time conning the local uncles into joining (and coughing up the membership fee to keep the club afloat), mooching meals from his frustrated father, and occasionally arranging an "abduction" (like the one that opens the film) in order to unite couples in true love. It's in the course of one such "abduction" that he meets the pretty Jenny. They become fast friends when they realize they both are given to stammering when overcome with strong emotion. Prem falls in love with Jenny, wants to ask her to be his life partner - but in true filmi fashion, he waits too long to do so.

There is a scene when Katrnia slaps Ranbir, as she feels he is stammering to copy her. But later on she comes to know that he is also a stammerer.So from here the love story starts.

I think this is the first movie in which both the Actor and Actress are playing the role of a stammerer. It was great to see that 1st time in Bollywood history someone has introduced stammering in a positive way and not just for making it a source of fun and comedy for people. Before this shahid also played thr role of a stammerer in Kaminey. But Ranbir and Katrina were better than shahid .

So overall it is a Good movie and all the stammerers must watch this movie.


November 10, 2009

5th meeting of jammu SHG

On 8th nov (sunday) we had our 5th SHG meeting in jammu.This meeting started at 3 pm and ended at 5:45 pm. Aditya was a little late but Rajesh reached at the venue on time.
It was also raining a lil bit at that time.Both of us discussed a lil bit about our experience of last week.

Rajesh told me that he was using the prolongation technique and slow speech very effectively. Then after about 10 mins Addy came and we started our session. We discussed few more techniques such as post,pre and In-block corrections.

Then we started playing some games that I learned from JP at samagra.After that we started a story telling session which was totally based upon our imagination.One of us was suppose to start the story by saying one or two sentences and then the next person had to use his imagination and start the story from where the other person left . It was really fun and we all enjoyed this.

Then Rajesh said that we should start speaking on a topic which triggers us to get more excited and stressed.Bcoz it is easy to talk casually and we are quite a lot fluent .But we suddenly start stammering when we get too much excited and stressed. So we started a different topic and the result was really surprising.
I started stammering and my speech got out of control. I was trying to implement the techniques but was not able to do so.My rate of speech also increased and was not able to control my breathing too. This was what R was trying to prove and he was right.
So next time we will try to have a small discussion on this kindaa topic and we'll try to control ourselves and our stammer too.

Then Addy told us about the latest movie "Ajab prem ki gazab kahani" in which both Ranbir and Katrina are playing the role of a stammerer. So this week I am going to watch this movie too.

Stammering in workplace..

Here are JP's thoughts on an issue, which we all have thought about but rarely discussed; JP is on a sabbatical with sachin at Samagra, working with children who stammer and working on himself as well:

November 8, 2009

Goa SHG Kicks Off !

“Co-ordinating a SHG is like a marathon, and not a 100 meter dash” – were the words of Dr. Sachin, when I revealed to him my desire of co-ordinating a SHG in Goa. And his words stood vindicated, and were the driving force for me to make the first Goa SHG happen.

As the scheduled day – 8th November was approaching, it was approaching with all odds against me. I co-ordinated with 3 of my friends out of which 2 had willingly accepted to attend the meeting. One day prior that is on 7th November, one of my friends called and told me, that he couldn’t make it for the meet. So, finally it was only two of us – Me and Stanley. Also, from nowhere, it started raining and the roads were jammed due to the ONGC I-league football matches.

Taking a tip from Manpreet’s Jammu SHG, and Dr. Sachin’s advice, that even starting with 2 is a success, we decided that we both should kick off the meeting.

Amid the drizzles and traffic jams, we finally kicked off the meeting. Stanley, is a businessman, and is running a Printing Press in Margao. I had known him when I met him during the Partha Bagchi workshop in Margao, years ago.

I had already told Stanley about TISA and SHGs. We started by sharing a few of our experiences in the past. Stanley told me how his stammering was very severe, when he was in Mumbai. Years ago, in late 90s, he then moved to his homeland – Goa, and he said that his speech was much better.

I also told him about my experiences and how people questioned me about my stammering during my interviews. After exchanging a few experiences, we then discussed about practice.

Stanley told me he practices one hour a day. He practices slow reading, and talking to himself by looking in the mirror. I told him I do slow breathing exercises, daily and that’s it!

Then we decided to be each other’s critic. We both gave a frank feedback on each other’s speech. Stanley said that he thinks my stammering was very mild now, as compared to what he saw years ago during the workshop. He also said that I do speak slow, but sometimes the speech gets too monotonous. He suggested I should try to make my speech interesting, by varying the speeds as and how required.

I then gave Stanley feedback about his speech. I told him that he speaks too fast, and breathes very shallow while speaking. I suggested that he should breathe before staring to speak, and having enough air in the lungs is like a fuel to our speech.

The good thing about this exercise was that, we both took the criticism sportingly, and were looking to learn from it.

Just before parting, we sat over a cup of coffee in a near by restaurant. During this, we decided that we will next meet a fortnight later. Stanley also insisted that I should do reading practice. We then decided that in the next meeting, we will carry some reading material for doing slow reading practice.

TISA Mumbai meets after a gap..

After a long break we were able to conduct a meeting.Now onwards Mumbai will meet on 2nd and 4th Sundays at 9:30 a.m.

Mumbai get together was attended by four members ,

1)Ajit Potdar

2) Ankush Pedambkar.

3)Raj Samal

4)Vikas Bindal

This meeting was different from our previous meetings in many aspects.First time the Mumbai meet was held indoor unlike our previous meetings which was held in open spaces.

1) Meeting was started off by breathing exercises,neck rotation exercises,meditation.This helps us to relax ourself and it was clearly reflected in members speech.

2) In the second round members were asked to read the paragraph from a book using speech techniques.

3) In the last round members asked open questions to each other on various topics like sports,politics.Here the member has to answer a question for which he is not prepaired.

4) Members give review on other members speech. It will help us to improve our speech techniques.

5) Members present in the meeting decided to meet every 2nd and 4th Sunday now onwards.

--
Thanks & Regards,
Ajit Potdar,
99300 66424,
potdarajit@gmail.com.

November 7, 2009

Jammu SHG meeting schedule on 8th November.

we are having a meeting of jammu SHG.
Venue : Baghe Bahu
Timings : 3pm to 5pm
Contact : 9797666432
Hi all,

This is Manpreet.Any member from jammu if interested can come to Baghe bahu at 3 pm or contact me on the above given number.

3 minutes to happiness

Guys check this 3 min video..
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/70

November 5, 2009

Inauguratory Goa SHG meet

After a lot of discussions and phone calls I have been finally able to schedule the first ever SHG Meet in Goa. The details of the meeting are as follows : 

Venue : Nehru Park, Gogol, Margao - Goa
Time   : 5.00 pm to 6.30 pm

I have observed that there is a very less awareness of TISA and it's idea of SHGs in Goa. My agenda in this first meeting will be to acquaint the members about TISA, discuss about it's role with PWS, and the importance of having SHG.

If you are reading this and are from Goa, then please dont hesitate to contact me on my cell : 9823211467. 

Lets not let stammering rule us ... Let us rule stammering !

Mumbai meets

Dear Friends,
TISA Mumbai Chapter is going to conduct its next meeting on Sunday 08 Nov 2009 at 9:30a.m. Kindly find the meeting details given below,
etails given below,

Date:8 Nov 2009
Time:9:30 a.m.
Venue:III Floor,Niwara Chambers,
Raghoba Shankar Road,
Chendani Koliwada,Thane(W).
Contact:
Ajit Potdar:9930066424
potdarajit@gmail.com

November 4, 2009

4th meeting of Jammu SHG

On 1st nov (sunday) we had our 4th SHG meeting in jammu.This meeting started at 4 pm and ended at 6:15 pm. In this meeting, there were 3 members(Aditya, Rajesh(new member) and me) .

First of all we started introducing ourselves.R is working in a finance company.He never got a chance to go for a speech therapy. So it was our duty to tell him about the few key points that would help him to manage his stammer.

R came to know about the Jammu SHG through a social networking site (orkut). So I visited his orkut profile to know a lil bit more about him.His profile was quite interesting but there was no Communities related to stammering in his community section.So I got a hint that he is still hiding his stammer. So my main focus was to let him know the benifits of Accepting stammering.

Aditya and I focused on Acceptance for the first 1 hour or so.R also shared some of his feelings with us. R said that he is very ashamed of his stammer and that was the reason why he didn't joined any stammering community on orkut. He said that he just hated the word "stammer".
He was not having too much secondary symptoms. Then he told us that because he is working in a finance company, very often he has to speak the word "credit" and this was the word on which he struggles the most. The initial sound of kkkkk was the problem . So we started to explain him the techniques such as bouncing,prolongation ,light contact etc which would help him to speak the difficult words with ease.

We also told him about the importance Diaphragm breathing and slow rate of speech. I think that about 80% of our stammering goes away if we breathe properly while speaking and try to speak as slow as we can. The slow rate of speech wont be easy for anyone and will take sometime to get use to this rate of speech. It would be good if we keep on practicing this slow speech and implement it in real life situations .

In order to totally change his attitude towards stammering, the documentry movie "The unspeakable" by john paskievich is very important. So in our next meeting I am going to give him few documentry movies on stammering.

November 3, 2009

Bangalore SHG meeting on 01-Nov-2009

Written by Vinay Sindhe
The details of the meeting on Nov 1 are as follows:
After promising Amith of joining the meeting some weeks ago, this was my 1st meeting with the SHG members (glad that I made it :-)). It was scheduled on the 1st of November @ 10 in the morning. Keeping up my word I reached the Cubbon park @ around 9 30 and found no one but elderly women discussing house old chores.

I was roaming around, hearing the chirping of birds and thought of calling up Amith @ 300 seconds to 10:00. He told he’ll be late by 15 min and gave me Mr. Sudheendran's number. Upon calling up, Sudheendran told he’ll arrive in 5 min. Rightly so, I saw him and we greeted each other and he introduced me to Subhash. Subhash guided me to the hut and v found some couple to our disappointment :-(.

Meanwhile Sudheendran brought along Sharan Kumar to join us. Actually I, Sudheendran and Sharan knew each other as we had met in Prabhakaran's clinic. Amith joined us and Pavan and Shanmu followed. Courtesy to Amith's heroics, we shooed away the people in the hut and occupied our seats.

We began greeting each other and started discussing about the techniques which we follow. I decided to stick to prolongation and slow speed (was not possible to a great extent though) while Sudheendran was acing @ his "Bouncing technique". By this time we were joined by Karthick and one more Pavan.

Ms Deepika of The Hindu fame was scheduled to meet us at around 11:15 for a casual interview session and made her presence around the same time. She noted down all our names, the techniques which we follow to overcome stammering, the cause of stammering and all. She promised to publish the article at the earliest. Sharan made an important point of having to spread the message in the rural areas wherein the media and the sort of urban help are questionable.

Deepika left after taking a few Kodak moments. Then we exchanged our action plans for the rest of the week and left the place. Personally I was damn satisfied :-).

Opportunity : IPWS in Kolkata

Dear friends,
Now I am at Nasik for 2 Weeks training programme. As a part of the training I am visiting Kolkata on 5 & 6th Nov and leaving to Chennai by evening flight on Nov 7th. I am staying at Kolkata, most probably in VIP Continental hotel at Free school street. Anyone intersted may meet me after 8PM on 5th & 6th; and 8AM on 7th- to discuss anything related to stammering or starting a SHG. I have only limited access to email and I may not be able to post another mail due to my tight schedule. Please feel free to contact at my mobile number given below after my name.
Regards,
V. Manimaran, Mobile: 098842 89989, 09600002303

Bangalore SHG meeting on 25-Oct-2009

Last week the meeting had to be cancelled as the members were not available on account of Deepavali. This time we stuck to the usual plan of meeting on Sundays and met on 25-Oct-2009. Navin and Praveen were out of station and had informed about their inability to come for the meeting. Subhash had reached the spot by 9.30 AM itself and was roaming inside the library. We met by 10 AM and were soon joined by Kartik.

The hut where we met in one of the meetings was very close to the passage and Kartik wanted a secluded place where he could shout. We searched for a suitable place, but could not find one. By this time Amith joined us and we decided to go to the hut itself. At that time, Amith got a call from Pavan, who used to interact with him before the SHG was formally launched. He was a +2 student and was planning to come for the meetings for a long time. So, this week we had a new member.

We started by introducing our names and the activities we did in the last week. Pavan told he was going to a speech therapist and was practicing the breathing technique, in which he would inhale through the nose, exhale a bit through the mouth and then speak. We encouraged him to read and speak using that technique. Though he struggled a bit, he could manage it. Then all of us spoke about a topic for about 15 minutes using slow speaking, bouncing, prolongation etc.
Kartik raised the concern that the strength of the group was very less and then we decided to explore the possibility of giving news about the SHG meetings in newspapers and approaching some of the therapy centers to check the possibility of putting the details of the SHG in their notice board.

We dispersed by 12.30.

November 2, 2009

Jammu SHG Contact details

Manpreet Pa ji
Ph: 2474161
Confirm time and venue with Pa ji
Time: 4-6 pm, Saturday or Sunday
Location : Baghe Bahu
Contact : manpreet_rieit@yahoo.co.in

What can SHG do for you?

Self help movement in many other countries have achieved a lot. Here, we have learned to depend on state and other actors, a little bit too much. But the experience of participating in a Self help group can do a lot of wonders to our faith in ourselves, to our sense of belonging to others with whom we share our uniqueness and it is an oportunity to say what we think without bothering about how to say it.. Here is a member from Banglore group, sharing his thoughts with his group; He represents many IPWS in the country today:

Hi guys.... last Sunday it was really nice... I am happy that such group is there to help people like us... all u guys were so supportive & encouraging.... I hope everyone felt very comfortable like i did... In future I would like to do more for this group... i know many people who stammer... but the toughest part is they all try to hide & no one want to talk abt it... next sunday if someone has a handycam or digicam plz bring it... I would like to take small video of out meeting so that i can show to other people which will surely encourage them to join our group.
And if possible kindly email me (pavan.wind@gmail.com) your name - mobile number- gmail ID- skype. so that i can make a list of it & send it to everyone instead of exchanging single single contacts. send me asap guys.


TISA thanks Banglore chapter. Best wishes!

October 31, 2009

Are we so gullible?

I have been sent an email by a young PWS from a metro. He shares his therapy
experiences. It seems that a therapist in this metro-city uses almond oil to
soothe the sticky tongues of stammerers! (reminds me of snake oil and quacks)
Here are other things he does:
1. Hypnotises the client for 20 minutes and gives suggestions like- you are
flying, you are talking fluently etc..
2. Then he applies almond oil with a cotton bud..
3. He charges Rs 1000 for a session as above lasting about 45-50 minutes
4. His consultation fee is Rs 500 in addition, in the first visit..
5. He does not do or teach anything else in these sessions...

I have posted it - not to point fingers but to warn other IPWS; The old adage
still holds true: the fool and his money soon part company. My advice to young
people is: browse on Internet; lot of helpful information is available for free.
Set up a self help group and help yourself. Ask TISA for guidance, if you need.

Here is the email, I am referring to:
"..he charges rs.500 for consultation and rs.1000 per session
Each session consist of 20 minutes and in that he hipnotisous the patient and
then gives him some imaginary thoughts like flying in the air,your talking
fluently,your feeling fresh
after the hiptonism he calls for badam rogan oil of haward company and ear bud
and with the help of ear bud he applies badam rogan oil on your tongue and at
the gums of your teeth and then tells you to do certain tongue excercises lik
moving your tongue where the oil is rotating it up and down and with the help of
a machine he loosens your chin,lips,throat .The feeing of the machine is such as
when you kill flies..."

October 29, 2009

ISAD at Maihar, MP


Here is a picture from Maihar- JP, Prakash and another friend from Rourkela. Dr B K Singh was the host of a one day awareness camp at Maihar on 22nd Oct 2009. There is a beautiful temple dedicated to Divine mother atop a hill here- considered very old and sacred. Later during the day, we all had video conferencing. We suggested that PWS who come to Dr Singh for treatment, should try to organise and start a SHG for PWS in their cities. This will ensure that they would get a chance and right atmosphere to practice whatever they have learned. TISA thanks Dr B K Singh, his wife and his team who are doing a great service to children and people who stammer.

October 27, 2009

Humor - the best medicine

Hetal from Surat has submitted a very interesting link- quite a spoof but very funny. Humor is the best medicine for many of us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mglrN6HWb5w
Check it out and let us know, what you think.

October 21, 2009

ISAD special

Dear Readers
Tisa has put up an ISAD special on its website, stammer.in. There are six authentic stories of Indians who stammer. Some videos too.
http://stammer.in/articles/38-cat-stuttering-related/221-my-life-is-based-on-a-true-story-isad-special.html

Happy browsing!
sachin

October 19, 2009

More videos on stammering

Friends
Some more videos...

Children talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoPlaNABcHY
What is stammering?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbJPKxui8ow

sachin

October 16, 2009

Festival of lights !

TISA wishes everyone a very happy and uplifting season of festivals..

October 14, 2009

JP's Interview

JP's Interveiw
Part 1/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNHQ1kgbkLA
Part 2/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz4N72I8GgY
Part 3/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq5RrPTARfY