Bangalore SHG June 29, 2013 report

Work Smarter and More Easily by 

"Sharpening Your Axe"

If I die in a war zone,
Box me up and send me home..
Put my medals on my chest,
Tell my mum I did my best
Tell my dad not to bow,
He won't get tension from me now
Tell my brother to study perfectly,
Keys of my bike will be his permanently..
Tell my sister not to be upset,
Her bro will not raise after the sunset
And tell my love not to cry,
Cause I'm a soldier, born to die..

Bangalore SHG group salutes the Indian Army for the selfless sacrifices made while recusing homeless and stranded citizens in Uttarakhand floods. Saving hundreds of lives and leveraging billions of hope, they made us realize that our country still has superheroes guarding and protecting us throughout the eternity of civilization.  

Welcome to the Bangalore SHG meet for the last week of June 2013.

Though the monsoon weather created a dark gloomy ambience outside, but the SHG classroom was illuminated with the bright sunshine of hope, confidence and spirits of the members Sairam, Akash, Avnish, Anshuman, Navdeep, Abhinav, Nishil, Piyush, Shrikumar, Dinesh, Anand,  Pramod and myself Nayeem

We started at sharp 2:00 pm. This week meet was facilitated by Dinesh. Time tracking was done to check how many members could make on time.

Activity – 1

The first activity for the day was public reading. Contrary to the routine we started with two people in a group where one person should read one line and pass it on in round robin fashion. This ensured that we read slowly and there are enough gaps for each member for easy breathing. This made us realize that long pauses and easy breathing would relax the vocal muscles thereby reducing stutter.

Activity – 2

Time tracking was used to identify the late joiners and they were asked to speak out for the following questions.

1. Why are you late?
2. What can you do to come by 1:45pm?

These questions made the late joiners to introspect themselves and they pledged for better time management.

Activity – 3

The third activity is about the public speeches in the toastmaster’s style.

The eight speakers dominated the public speaking stage electrifying the whole group through their eloquent speeches.

1. Avnish: Short Stories

The speaker took the opportunity in using short stories to convey meaningful messages. The stories were inspiring and motivating at the same time envisioned the whole audience about life and attitude towards it. The story of a blind girl regaining her eyesight by the sacrifice of her boyfriend, the woodcutter who fails to sharpen his axe and the professor who explains to his students the importance of family, personal life and friends with the help of jar which contains stones, pebbles and sand are worth mentioning.  

Special thanks to Dinesh for evaluating the speech.

2. Nishil: The fall of Indian Rupee

This speech engulfed the whole audience into the current global market crises.

The economist within the speaker described the cause of rise of Dollar against the fall of the Rupee. The speech took off describing India as a developing nation and why it still needs development. The speech self-educated the audience about money flows in and out of a country and why a country gets investments from foreigners. The speaker instructed the audience in buying and promoting commodities originating from Indian brands.

Special thanks to Navdeep for evaluating the speech.

3. Abhinav: Mentorship

The speaker started with the below lines…

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” thereby propagating the importance of mentorship in everyone’s life. The speaker brought out the principal differences between mentoring, counseling and coaching. The intention of this speaker being to identify and allocate a mentor for themselves who believes, supports and shares pride when the mentee reaches his/her goals and aspirations.

Special thanks to Piyush for evaluating the speech.

4. Akash: Failure is the road to success.

The speaker narrates through the journey of his past experiences on how failures play an important role in constructing the road to success. Though the experiences are heart pounding but revealed the true self of the speaker and showcased on how positive attitude kindled with persistent hope can lead to successful career and perceptual happiness.

Special thanks to Nishil for evaluating the speech.

5. Piyush: The softest skill

Just when the whole audience immersed themselves into the thought provoking speeches delivered during the day, the speaker comes up with more engaging and interactive speech stirring the topic with life examples and revealing the fact on how meditation can increase focus and concentration in everyone’s life. The speaker conveyed the message “More you resist, more it persists”. The speaker believed and guided the audience to inculcate meditation as a daily routine.

Thanking myself for evaluating the speech.

6. Navdeep Kaur: Horror Movies

The audience was well aware of the fact that the speaker herself is a huge horror movie fan. She used her own movie watching experiences to enlighten why watching horror movies are an excitement to specific genre of people. The speaker fantasized the ill effects after watching horror movies which are based on true stories. The speech made the audience to realize that fear originates because of the mystery of the unknown and instructed the audience few tips on overcoming this fear.

Special thanks to Anshuman for evaluating the speech.

7. Pramod: Anant Pai

Pramod always comes up with a new topic which catches the attention of the naïve audience. The topic about Anant Pai sounded familiar once the speaker connected to the comic series Tinkle. The speaker enlightened the audience about the author’s creativity and his moral message to the society by showcasing the stories about Tantri, the Mantri and Kalia, the crow. Through these examples the speaker demonstrated these characters do exist in the current society and we need to identify friends against foes.

Special thanks to Abhinav for evaluating the speech.

8. Dinesh: Maa

The last speech is from our very own SHG organizer and he took up an adorable topic about Mother. The speaker time journeyed the audience back to their childhood memories when they were blessed with their first best friend ever in the form of mother. The speech showcased how mother’s love remains the same and the shackles of love do not rust over a period of time. The speech was a gentle remainder to the audience that mother’s love and care cannot be paid back and the descendants should always ensure to bring happiness and prosperity for the parents.

Special thanks to Pramod for evaluating the speech.

Activity – 4

Table topic speeches were organized for the members who missed the opportunity to come up with prepared speeches.

Though the SHG members vacated the classroom soon after 5pm but still are connected among themselves through phone, online chats, skype calls as they are bonded through friendship, hope and persistence to succeed

This bond is still open for more…..wanna join?

Please contact 

Dinesh @ dinesh.daredevil at gmail dot com - 98800 50526 or 

Abhinav @ abhinav.singh8 at yahoo dot com

Note: Missing the other folks, hope they join the session this Saturday

Written By - Nayeem